Research Findings
Kids love competitive & collaborative games.
Complex games are not enjoyed.
Current environmental education in Pakistan is not sufficient and engaging enough.
There is a dire need for children to reduce screen time.
Attention span slightly increases to 25-36 mins at the age of 12 years.
Inspiration
UNO Card Game: Helped develop the final game mechanics.
Battleship Board Game: Helped develop the initial form of the game.
Goals
Short- term Goal: Lower the temperature in the game on the interactive temperature meter.
Long-term Goal: Awareness on how to actually lower the temperature of the Earth using real life solutions.
Affinity Diagram and Empathy Map
The affinity diagram (top) and empathy map (bottom) were in-class exercises in groups of 5-6 students. It helped me gain insight from different perspectives and guided me in developing the direction of my game. Furthermore, it helped me understand how the potential user of my game will approach Climate Chaos.
Personas
These are personas of a middle school-er, a parent, and a teacher. These personas taught me that all three users have very different needs. When designing the game, it was important for me to keep the primary user - Azam - in the center of the whole process.
Scenarios
The sketches below highlight the step-by-step gameplay of Climate Chaos.
Each player starts with a Cause Card, highlighting one of the main causes of global warming, and four solution coins. The solution coins are practical solutions to global warming. The main objective of the gameplay is to be the first player to lower their temperature all the way. The temperature can only be lowered by strategically placing the correct solution coins that align with the respective Cause Card. The interactive temperature meter provides feedback and informs the player if they made the right decision by increasing or decreasing the temperature level.
Implementation of Game Theory
Game theory studies how individuals, called players, make decisions in strategic situations where the outcome depends on the choices of all participants. It analyzes interactions in scenarios known as games, where each player's decision affects the others.
Prototypes
This was my functional prototype. The only purpose of it is to display the function of the game. Climate Chaos is not just a normal board game. It incorporates the use of RFID technology to provide feedback on the player's actions. Each Cause Card and Solution Coin was programmed together and imbedded in an RFID chip. Inside each board is an RFID reader - once a Cause Card is inserted in the board, the Solution Coins need to match the card to accordingly lower the temperature. Later on, I provided a diagram explaining each Solution Coin's functionality which further explains how each card is programmed with each coin.
Usability Testing
Conducted two focus groups of total 16 members to gather experts' (science teachers) input on the current teaching methodologies of global warming education.
Next, I divided the students (users) into two groups - Group A & Group B. Both groups listened to a lecture on global warming and afterwards were given a questionnaire to test their general knowledge.
Group A: Filled the questionnaire after playing Climate Chaos and listening to the lecture.
Group B: Filled the questionnaire after only listening to the lecture.
The Results
Group A retained more information and performed better than Group B. The users described the game as fun, entertaining and challenging. The teachers agreed Climate Chaos can be a helpful educational tool in the classrooms to enhance student participation, resulting in an impactful learning experience.
3D Models
Cause Cards
Each Cause Card highlights one main cause of Global Warming, with an illustration and brief description. These illustrations are not my creation. My main aim was to deliver the layout and visuals of the cards.
Solution Coins Functionality
I designed this diagram to help me plan out which solutions match with which cause of global warming. I did not want to make this a straightforward game, resulting in short game play time. Instead, I categorized the six Cause Cards into three main groups and planned out two Direct Solution to each Cause Card, along with Indirect Solutions. The difference? Well, the Direct Solution decreases the temperature by two degrees (basically turns off two LEDs) and it does not apply to any other Cause Card. Indirect Solutions on the other hand decrease the temperature by only one degree and can by applied to two Cause Cards.
Branding
Century Gothic
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vanilla dreamers
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Learning Outcomes
I spent a lot of time understanding the curriculum of environmental education to fully identify and understand the gaps and gather information about young teens playing habits. I strengthened my skills in contextual inquiry by consulting with environmental science teachers.
Design is an iterative process and I kept coming back to my research when designing the game mechanics, ensuring that I am filling the gaps. It was important to make the game fun and competitive rather than an educational lesson in the eyes of young teens.
I strengthened my skills in usability testing the more I interacted with potential users and observed them playing the game. This helped me narrow down the project scope and finalize each Solution Coin's functionality.
There are a couple loopholes in the game, but as the sole contributor, I think I did a decent job! The future steps would be to refine the game mechanics even further to eliminate loopholes and increase the replay-ability of the game.
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