An element project was next within the module. A way of teaching/ showcasing elements to either 10 year olds or chemistry undergraduates had to be created. It was encouraged to try and think out of the box for this such as a VR game that explained elements or an interactive app/website.
Research
In preparation for the project I thought that I would begin by researching competitors and seeing what element apps/websites are already in existence.
I found a website that had a section on the periodic table. There was a different one for adults (as seen in the first image) and another one for kids (as seen in the second image).
I found it interesting to analyse these two different sections. The kids one featured a lot more colours and was a bit more playful in nature but was still really wordy and contained a lot of text which I feel like would be hard for kids to read and remember. The adults page was a lot more plain and I felt that It could appear more visually pleasing and be displayed in a easier to understand way.
At this point I decided that I wanted to cater my elemental projects towards 10 years olds, with this decision I was able to make my research more specific and research competitors better.
Site Map
I created a site map of how I thought my game would go and the different screens that could be seen. This is important as it allows for my game to have a functional user flow that works and makes sense to the user
I started by creating a draft:
Afterwards I then created a final version of it:
Planning – Sketches
Afterwards I began thinking of possible ideas for what my elemental project could be and which devices it could be on.
(Image of idea generation)
I then chose one of my ideas that i felt could hold value which was a discover app, where the kids would discover the elements. I presented this idea to my lecturer (Kyle) in order to recieve feedback.
Feedback given was that I should maybe have it as a finding game, where’s waldo is a good example of a childrens book/game that does this.
With this feedback in mind I went back to developing my idea. I started by researching the children’s book where’s waldo and see some of their visuals.
Having a look at the Where’s Waldo I then began having some ideas about what could be done for my elemental project
Once I had a my idea and some visual inspiration I then went on to creating my sketch wireframes
With my game wireframe done the next thing to do would be to start researching inspiration for characters that could be within my game.
I figured that I would make each character match and signify the element that they were supposed to represent. Instead of having the character appear in a human like form I thought id go with a more obvious cartoon look instead to appeal to the kids.
I then began sketching my characters:
while doing my character sketches I started thinking about how its almost as if its a game of hide and seek.
Thinking of the game this way gave me a new idea. The game would almost be a digital version of the much loved game of hide and seek. With that being said I decided that I would instead maybe have the game of hide and seek take place within a digitally created neighbourhood and have the elements that have to be found be everyday objects that contain elements instead of having cartoon characters as I thought that this way the kids could learn more about elements in everyday life.
examples of what I had in mind:
I then began sketching my new game design:
