Finished Survey. Good Luck.
I would welcom a relatively simple game that teaches basic navigation but might encourage the flight simulator approach that Diver0001 has discouraged.
I feel that it could be a much more powerful learning tool if you include other diving tasks in addition to the navigation task. Once past the the "book learning" of bearings and headings it is the combination of usual diving tasks and navigation tasks that can make U/W navigation (and other types of diving) difficult. When focusing on a navigation task awareness of other diving necessities can become lost.
Additional tasks could simply be "turned off" to give a in a simple navigation tutor and "turned on" later to increase the level of difficulty.
In addition to navigation a diving simulation can be used to help beginners develop an appropriate "insturment scan" habit to maintian awareness of depth, air, time and buddy issues and general situational awareness. The navigation task could be omitted in a "just swim around" mode just to hone these other skills aside from navigation.
I don't think an attempt to simulate bouyancy control using BC inflate/deflate would be very effective on a computer. I might simpy include a up/down control with drift thrown in to keep the student awake. However, the "drift" could resemble basic bouyancy physics (ie if no correction is made after an ascent, then the natural tendancy is to ascend further and vice versa with descent).
The student should have to click the mouse twice for each kick and should have to count his kicks himself. He should have to click icons to view air pressure time, depth, or buddy. When viewing these, compass view should be interrupted. (Or perhaps depth and compass could be viewed simultaneously.) It is the necessity of keeping track of all these things at once that will make the program truely powerful enough to improve mental diving skills besides teaching the relatively simple task of learing of how to use bearings and headings.
In addition to scoring the navigation task, the student should be penalized for:
Not looking at air pressure, time, depth, or buddy frequently enough, for running low/out of air, for loosing or getting to far from the diving buddy or for not being able to enter the approximately-correct total bottom time or max depth at the end of the "Dive". Of course all of these additional items should be options that can be turned on or off to increase the degree of difficulty.
I like the Otter-Cat's idea of including dangerous marine life (puleeeeeaze no sharks) and I wonder how it might be possible to introduce other situational or geographical "hazards" or "impediments" to increase interest. (For example a reef ridge or deep sand chute along the course that you have to navigate.)
Just my $0.02
