Game Overview and Required Features Selection
Critical Thinking. We chose this concept because it was the easiest to relate to and best fitted the direction we wanted to take our game in.
Strategy (puzzle, riddles), adventure. We chose these because they are the most interesting to us as a group. The strategy aspect promotes reflective thinking and logical reasoning, while the adventurous aspect makes it more enjoyable and engaging.
Junior and intermediate year students from ages 11-15. We chose this age group because they will likely enjoy the game content the most. The game will also help develop their critical thinking skills, as age 11 is approximately when children start to develop their cognitive and logical reasoning abilities research-source.
The player type we are targeting are achievers and explorers. These player types were chosen because an explorer will enjoy discovering different aspects and mechanics of the world. The game contains achievements such as completing levels in a short time or not losing lives, which will appeal to an achiever player type.
Local Multiplayer (dual).
Two space explorers find themselves on an alien planet without enough resources to leave. They must explore the planet to collect resources in order to refuel and upgrade their spaceship to complete their goal of leaving the planet. The two explorers must collaborate to collect resources within different environments, while avoiding deadly obstacles. They must solve various riddles and puzzles along the way that lead them to resources that are necessary to move to the next stage.
The storyline fits the serious game concept of critical thinking because it involves reflective thinking and logical reasoning, as the players need to examine and utilise information around them to solve puzzles, decipher riddles and decide their next steps. Scepticism is also developed through the gameplay as some of the resources won’t be needed or could be harmful. The players would need to be sceptical and filter out unnecessary information and see beyond obvious links between item and riddle to be able to find the correct solution. The storyline fits the genre of strategy because it requires planning and thinking ahead. The alien world setting enhances the adventure aspect of the gameplay. It also provides a channel to include “alienated” resources that players are unfamiliar with and must try to understand how they can be utilised, further enhancing logical reasoning and reflective thinking.
Space with levels located on a desolate alien planet and in the spaceship. Each environment has different physics, e.g. gravity, and various resources to collect.
Players must move to the orange portal at the end of rooms. To move through the portal both players must be present and NPC quest state fulfilled.
There are two central characters that have to collaborate to traverse through the story. Both characters are human-like, with the same shape, size and “weight” and can move left and right along the platforms, and jump. They have no special skills but can move light objects around, such as boxes, use items like levers and pick up resources, such as currency and keys that unlock doors.
Characters explore different environments and collaborate to move to the next stage. The environments contain items such as boxes and levers that can be utilised to access a desired part of the environment. There are also resources and riddles throughout.
Characters can walk, jump and interact with items in the environment. Boxes can be pushed and levers can be triggered in order to reach different parts of the environment. Resources can be collected and used to solve riddles and puzzles.
Scores are based on the time taken in an environment. The faster times earn higher positions on the leader board. Lives are based on a 7-live system that both of the character share. When a character loses a life, the jointed total decreases. There are obstacles in each environment that cost player’s lives if not avoided, e.g. jumping into spikes or giving the wrong answer for the riddles.
Fixed level generation. Each level will have random generation for the placement of items in a fixed environment.
A welcome-screen is included where the player(s) can read the controls of the game and select levels.
After being presented with the option to enter their score in the leaderboard; a final cutscene with credits is included to finish off the storyline and indicate the game is over.
Items are randomly generated when loading a new level meaning the player doesn't know what item their going to pick up and the pathing they take on replaying will be different.
- Life/health system - 7 lives shared between the two players.
- High score system, where the score is the time spent completing each level.
- Monetisation, buying lives and hints.
- Sound and music, background music and sound effects from actions.
- Local Multiplayer (co-op) - with leaderboard.
Unity, Discord, Travis, Trello, Google Doc, Github – version control and documentation on a wiki. Link to private repository
