Where Gaming Meets Learning: Interview with Dot Dot Fire
This week, we’re excited to be sharing an interview with EdTech startup Dot Dot Fire.
Dot Dot Fire specializes in creating video games for e-learning — their aim is not to make kids learn, but to make them want to learn. They have crafted unique edgame solutions for STEM, math, and financial literacy through weaving virtual and physical tools.
Co-founder Franco Lam founded Dot Dot Fire with a vision to help kids who don’t learn well in the traditional classroom. In fact, he was almost kicked out of school in Grade 9 but defied the odds and ended up achieving his life-long dream of becoming a commercial pilot. Inspired by his own struggles and journey, he now aspires to pave roads for others to flourish.
Alongside Franco, co-founder Hilary Lok is also a storyteller and designer. She studied Mathematics and Physics before majoring in English Literature in university. She finds excitement in learning and relishes in new challenges and hopes to impart this sentiment to others through Dot Dot Fire’s edgames.
How did Dot Dot Fire get its start?
We see a lot of kids with high potential struggling in the current educational system – some of these kids were our peers, our close friends, and even our co-founders. We wanted to create a space for these kids to flourish that was different to the usual classroom experience.
Every start-up needs a bit of luck and a lot of fate. Our co-founders came together as a group of misfits wanting to change the education status quo and we’ve been working towards that since.
The most rewarding aspect of our work is definitely watching students play our edgames. Seeing kids whose teachers have told us weren’t very receptive become engrossed in our products and really come out of their shells is immensely rewarding.
What do you think are some challenges facing your organization and youth today?
It’s hard to change something that’s as established as classroom education. People are skeptical of our claims that yes, really, kids will be able to learn through video games. We’re still working to overcome this preconception, but everyone who has tried our games so far has been a convert.
One of the biggest challenges the new generation will face is how to adapt and remain relevant in an ever-changing technological landscape.
We see certain skills, such as computational and mechanical skills, becoming more redundant as technological developments advance, and so we work to impart transferable skills and adaptable mindsets to our students through our edgames to tackle whatever changes the coming century may throw at them.
What are some strategies your team utilizes for keeping multiple projects on track and staying sane?
We’ve found that a lot of the time, putting 150% into one project gets things done a lot quicker. It’s tempting to multitask, and sometimes it’s inevitable, but staying focused on one project is preferable more often than not. In terms of staying sane, I’d say we’ve just given in to the insanity – it actually helps us keep working at full speed!
How does your team like to decompress?
One of the top choices for decompressing across the team is playing games – we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves game developers otherwise!
What tips would give to someone feeling inspired to make a change?
Take a bubble bath and really think about your idea. If it still seems like a good idea afterwards, then maybe you’re onto something. There’s no secret recipe to success, but you never know until you try!
What’s in store for Dot Dot Fire?
We look at companies that have grown out of garages and dorm rooms that now occupy Silicon Valley and it’s a huge inspiration to us as a start-up that created its first products in Franco’s spare bedroom. To us, these companies are an aspirational model.
Our latest edgame, The NeighborMood, tackles financial literacy. It’s coming out by the end of this year and we’re really excited about it! It’ll be available on iOS and Android, so keep an eye out!
