User:Rdistler/projects
From ReThinkWiki
Rebecca's World Wide Workshop Internship Projects
MyHLife Rethink Projects Page
Contents |
Assignments
My group game! -->> Fix It With Food
Game Reviews
Jimmy vs. Splurge
Developed by John Rhea, this game features a boy named Jimmy who must travel alongside Dr. Eatwell and fight the evil Splurge, destroying all the bad food while using the five food groups to stop him. The interesting thing about the game was that the introduction and background to it far exceeded the game itself. As a student, I don't think I’m really learning much about nutrition – and in fact, the game itself is hard enough to manipulate. The directions are too complicated and don’t actually apply to the game – for example, the hydration level goes down when you eat a bad food, but there is no way to replenish it and no information on why its nutritionally important to stay hydrated. And while there was a cool back-story on how Splurge had kidnapped Dr. Eatwell’s team, the game only featured two members being rescued, and did not connect their rescues to each other. It was also hard to tell what you were supposed to do – what you were supposed to fire at, if you were supposed to collect something at all. I think it would have been a lot clearer if you were told to avoid bad foods and collect good foods for fighting powers or lives or points. That would have provided much more of a learning experience. On the positive side, I thought this game had one of the best graphics I’ve seen yet. I think the game concept was a little too complicated, so while everything was nicely laid out and visually pleasing, I wasn’t sure how to incorporate what I saw into my knowledge of how to play the game. I know that I want to create a game that has that much of a background – and I loved the dialogue between characters that appeared at the end of each level, which made the game feel much more like a game than a project or teaching tool. I’d love to design an interesting and inviting flash introduction like the one this game had, but I would make sure to keep more of the educational aspect than this game did. 
Jimmy vs The Splurge Game
Mission Nutrition
If I could somehow combine this game with Jimmy vs. The Splurge, I’d have my ideal game. While Mission Nutrition lacks the creative introduction and meaningful play, it does a better job executing the actual education of health and has much clearer and cleaner cut instructions. I also love the use of sounds and animations – you are very much involved in this game, as you are with The Splurge. I also like how if you choose the wrong answer, you learn why you are wrong. For example, when searching for a snack that gives you carbohydrates and protein, if you click on cookies, it tells you that they have carbohydrates – but if you pair it with a glass of milk you can get some protein. Or how even though pretzels aren’t the right answer in the game, they are still a good option for a low-fat snack. I think its also helpful that the game is set in a kitchen – it’s lessons are not so abstract so as to confuse the students. However, I do think the game, while animated, is slightly boring. It is missing the action that the Splurge has, even though the Splurge is missing the educational value Mission Nutrition offers. There is no reason to play this game other than to learn, and I don’t think that children would play it as willingly as they would play the Splurge, even though teachers probably would like this game more. I’d like to incorporate the educational value and the use of sounds this game has into my own game design – and I definitely want to have the kind of information about wrong answers available to the players.
Mission Nutrition Game
Learning Game Design
Here are my two attempts at learning to program flash. The ball is an example of what NOT to do - I used scenes instead of keyframes to create the animation. On the other hand, the colorful circle/wheel was created using keyframes, which is the easier and more efficient way to create animation.
Assets
Comments
Imagining Your Game
Assets
Comments
[Fix it with FOOD!]
GAME PITCH
- Audience Kids of all ages with an interest in learning about healthier food choices!
- Game Play The player sees through the eyes of a teenager. They are in a messy room and are trying to navigate themselves through it. They will come to different obstacles in this maze of a room. At each obstacle they will pick something up that will present a problem to them--problems characteristic to teenagers. For example, they'll come across a printed paper on the floor. When they pick it up, it'll be an essay with an F on it. The problem will be you have to rewrite this essay for tomorrow in order to save your grades. You're probably going to have to pull an all nighter--what should you eat? Two choices will come up and the player will have to choose the smarter one. If they choose the right one they get to go on, and if they choose the wrong choice three times in a row then they get a "stomach ache" and have to go to the doctors office...The goal of the player is to make it to the weekend. (5 or ten phases/questions; 1 or 2 questions per day)
- Fun Factor What is fun for the player is navigating through the room maze and answering questions that relate to decisions the player themselves may have to make.
- Smart Factor The player learns healthier food choices that won't lead to stomach aches at the end of the week. The player will probably make these decisions at one time or another also.
- Style Factor The game will look like a room, and a messy one at that. There will be funky sounds to keep the game fun to play.
- Originality Factor Because of the teenager factor that kids can once again relate to.
- Team Introduction(Names and roles of team members)
DESIGN PLAN
Title Scene
1. Describe this scene (What do you see?)
This is my title page/introduction to my game:
2. Describe the action in this scene (What is happening, how do you complete the activity here?)
This is the title again, along with two scenes. The first scene shown will actually be the last - it is in the room and you have to jump from level to level and answer questions each time you get to the toothbrush, notebook or mirror. You will also have to avoid junk food in order to even get to those questions. The questions give you points needed to complete the level, so it is not enough to just avoid the bosses - you have to answer the questions correctly as well. The second scene is somewhere in the middle - you will climb a pile of laundry and get injured (hence the red cross) and will need to help heal your injury with food.
July 7th, 2008: These are my new, redesigned screens. The game is now moving in more of a scavenger hunt direction - you will be asked a question and then must get past different bosses on a level pertaining to that question and seek out the food that fits the answer. For example, before the gym screen, there will be a question such as "What do you eat before you work out to prevent cramps and increase energy?" Then you will play the game and have to get past the desserts to either the bananas (which is the answer), apple or orange. If you reach the bananas you win, but if you get hit by a dessert you lose. If you make it to the wrong answer, you have to start over.
