"Percolating the power of play" by Sarah Faye Cohen, Timothy Minder, and Laurent Nishikawa

The two games mentioned in this article - "Searchlight" and "Dustin King: Locked and Literate" - sounded rather interesting, so I visited the Champlain College Library's website and was able to find more information on the project:

Students play as Clara, a girl who has been charged with repairing the local lighthouse before nightfall. She travels across the various islands of her world and collects balls of light, which represent information that she can use to build her lighthouse in various styles. Every style requires a different kind of information that is found somewhere in the game world, so players must explore and learn to navigate the landscape of information before they can truly succeed. This metaphorical game includes seven mini-games, each with unique game play and stories.

Dustin King in Locked and Literate takes place in the laboratory and office building of the mysterious Dr. Spade. The player is tasked with exploring the building and delving into top secret information via computers, books, and office notes scattered throughout the complex. The player must navigate the building, web pages, and books to solve problems. In the world the main character Dustin, a secret agent investigating Spade Co., encounters a quirky worker from the complex along with a cast of unique, funny, and informative supporting characters who contact him through his wrist watch communicator. They help him find his way through the complex, solve problems he encounters along the way, and learn how to be information literate.

I must admit, the screenshots provided were of a much higher quality than I was initially expecting from their descriptions in the article ... In fact, after visiting this website, it kind of makes me want to play them!

When I first read the description for "Searchlight" in the article, I imagined that the presentation of the game would have a correlation within the "for-profit" gaming business with titles like "Harvest Moon" or "Lost in Blue" (simple item-gathering and resource-management experiences that would be appropriate for younger audiences) ... However, the artwork from the screenshot provided now suggests to me a mixture of child-like innocence with more darker undertones (perhaps not as dark as a game like "Limbo", but somewhere along those lines).

As for "Dustin King", the description in the article immediately made me think of the "Ace Attorney" series; however, looking at the isometric tile-based design suggested in the screenshot, I'm now thinking that the gameplay would more closely resemble something like "Ultima Online" or "Final Fantasy Tactics" ... very intriguing.

Unfortunately, it looks like both games are still "in development", so I guess I'll just have to wait :(