The four prompts our group received were Asian, Adventure, Science and Touch screen. our ideas ranged from an app that explains to you the nutrients/benefits of certain foods to an app that visualizes how foods and other substances make their way through our bodies and how it affects them. everyone in the group contributed equally in this section.
The blue and green post-it notes show the final idea we chose and the most important aspects of it. The idea is a Pokemon style video game based around Chemistry (mainly the periodic table and the way the elements react), as I did chemistry A-level I was in charge of making sure all the information we used was accurate, I chose 11 elements that would show a large range of behavior/properties and appearance (shown on the pink post-it notes and white page listing 11 elements). We used the properties and uses of the elements as inspiration for the designs of the element-creatures and values such as the atomic number, mass number and place on the reactivity series for their stats. The biggest differentiator between our game and Pokemon is the our game presents the player with obstacles out in the open world and they can only be overcome by using the elements collected or combining said elements for example if a fire wall was blocking the players path they could put it out by combining carbon and oxygen to form carbon dioxide, though that is not the only option as they could also combine hydrogen and oxygen to put out the fire with water.
These are the designs made for some of the chosen elements, as stated previously their appearance depends on how reactive the elements are, very reactive elements such as magnesium or copper will look more aggressive than less reactive elements like hydrogen. I designed the elements done in blue marker. at the end the character profiles are typed out, the character profiles give some inworld lore on the elements, their stats, size, name and element symbol.
As hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table we chose it as the mascot for the game, and hinted to the importance of the elements reactivity (and placement within the reactivity series for those that are metals) with the title of ‘The Reactivity Series’ (Designs for the logo done by Tabbs). I helped with the wording and information in the ‘What is it?’ and ‘Gameplay’ section. I also made the customer profile although due to the nature of this game it isn’t targeted to any specific race, gender or age just anyone who wants to learn about chemistry in a fun way. We chose to show the game through a Nintendo DS as this is what would be most familiar to people (because of Pokemon) although this game would be available in a wide range of touch screen devices such as phones and tablets.
This is the flow char, as the game is open world and gives the player a lot of freedom especially in how they over come challenges that full extent of the game can’t be shown on the flow chart however it does a good job at showing the basic idea and some of the options.