In an educational video game created by a team from UW-Whitewater, users are given the mission of helping lonely Wisconsin frogs find love.

A frog dating game of sorts, "I am Lonely! The Solitary Frog's Lament," is one of three student game finalists in the 2008 Serious Games Showcase and Challenge. The winners will be announced Dec. 4.

Players are assigned a female frog native to Wisconsin and then must find an available stud by listening closely to mating calls (ribbits, snurgles and croaks) and cozying up to the right pad, or habitat, for a frog rendezvous.

The idea is that users will be so engrossed in the flying frog pheromones that they will forget they're learning at the same time.

"A big problem in educational game design is that things have to be fun," said Elena Bertozzi, a multimedia digital arts and communication professor who oversaw the project. "But making things fun is really hard."

Bertozzi and her students have created other educational games, such as "Keep Johnny out of Juvie Jail," which is about making good life choices, or "Colin the Colon," a game about word usage. Because it is a growing field, there is a proposal to expand courses and officially make game design part of the multimedia digital arts track at UW-Whitewater.

Jeff McKinnon, a UW-Whitewater biology professor, two years ago asked Bertozzi and her class of undergraduate students to develop a game that would teach Wisconsin high school students about frogs. She said two different classes of students created games that were educational, but lacked an element that would make high school students — an admittedly tough crowd — care about frogs.

On the third try, Bertozzi decided to take a more active role in the game concept. Inspired by a scene in the movie, "Team America: World Police," in which filmmakers create mock sympathy for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il with a song, Bertozzi thought she might be able to use the same concept with the slimy-skinned amphibian.

There are 11 different frogs in the game and each one has a unique call and prefers a certain environment. For instance, the toad sound resembles a UFO beaming someone up, a leopard frog makes a sound like a person rubbing a balloon, and a bullfrog sounds like a horn.

The game uses frog sounds and photos captured in nature.

"The goal is to really engage the player emotionally in trying to make them care," Bertozzi said. "If you don't succeed, the frogs let you know."

If you make the unfortunate error of, say, mistaking a frog for a toad, you lose energy and eggs.

But who said frogs are cold-blooded? In this game, a frog's blood can run hot for the right match. And Bertozzi is hoping users will also find a frog to love, warts and all.