SIMPLE WAYS TO SAVE THE WORLD
A repetitive, persuasive game teaching people simple ways to reduce energy consumption against the clock to save the world.
OVERVIEW
Learn ways to minimize energy consumption in everyday life, through a lighthearted, fun and exciting game. Do your actions quickly to beat the clock and reduce energy consumption to save the world.
The world is dying from energy over consumption. Luckily, Superbean has come from the Eco-bean planet to save the Earth. The overconsumption is so large that he cannot handle it alone. You need to help him to reduce the use of energy, with a few, very simple, yet crucial actions.
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Single Player Game
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Game type: Puzzle
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Desktop and mobile phone
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User group: Explorers and achievers that play for knowledge - people who are conscious about their impact on the environment and curious about ways to improve it
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Age range: 8-16
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Unique Selling Proposition (USP): It is a fun way to learn what kind of actions are required to reduce your environmental impact without having to go through innumerable lines of boring text explaining them.
RULES
Players have a limited time to complete each puzzle. If they complete it in time, a new puzzle appears. After completing four puzzles, the level is complete, and the player must do the puzzles again in a shorter amount of time. These levels continue, shortening the time constraint every time. If the player is able to successfully play the game for 3 minutes straight, they ‘save the world’ and win the game. If the player does not complete a puzzle in the designated time, the player loses and ‘destroys the world’.
To play the game click here (download the file as zip, unzip everything and open the html file in Firefox)
ASSIGNMENT
(Persuasive)
Game design
DURATION
1 week
TEAM
Designer (me)
Software Engineer
Psychologist
MY CONTRIBUTION
Research
conceptual design
Prototyping
User testing
Preparing materials for exhibition
Presentation
GAME SCREENS
VALUE PROPOSITION
Currently, there are many games whose topic is saving energy. These games are usually designed for a specific age group and use different styles according to users' age. Most of the “energy saving” games goal is to inform the players of the ways of saving energy. The information is predominantly conveyed with the use of verbal rhetoric. The higher the age of the target group is, the more the interaction is based on written messages.
Simple ways to save the world is the prototype of a game, trying to move away from the verbal approach. The game has limited verbal content, and relies on associating certain every-day activities with saving energy, and therefore the world.
The game consists of four screens, each containing a simple task that has to be performed on time. To keep users engaged, the speed required to finish the task increases as levels advance.
PROCESS
A research on existing games about saving energy was conducted as benchmarking.
A brainstorming session, during which solutions for more engaging and non-verbal or low-verbal game scenarios were sought, resulted in a series of low fidelity prototype screens. These were evaluated by an expert on game design.
The feedback from the expert was used to create a high fidelity prototype (Alpha version).
The hi-fi prototype was developed in Unity 5.0 with the use of screens created in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
