D.O.N. User Interface

No Pointing or Steering device. The game is played through Point and Click and the buttons on the mouse will remain constant functions. The player uses the mouse to navigate through the cities.

The layout of the screen will be a static map of a city or town. The destinations will be different popular restuarants and businesses. There will be weighted roads between different destinations. In the bottom left of the screen will be a checklist of the destinations the player needs to travel to. In the bottom middle will be the music player as well as the reset button, and the budget calculator. In the bottom right, will be a static image of the boss. He will occassionally give hints and advice as well as make random useless comments. He will be like unto the paper-clip dude in Microsoft Word. In the top left will be a menu button which will allow the player to return to the menu and navigate to other levels as well as exit.

This game is a puzzle game, which means that the interface needs to be very simple, so that the player can focus on solving the puzzle instead of being distracted by extraneous details.

The menu will be very simple. Each set of levels will have a button, and then each level will have a button. Players will win stars (two per level). One star will be rewarded for completing the level under budget and one star will be rewarded for finding the optimum path. As the player gets more stars, more levels will be unlocked.

Each business has an icon, which will be representative of the real icons of the businesses in real life. They should be easily identifiable.

The player will need to understand the numeric weights assigned to each road, as well as the total budget. The budget calculator will automatically subtract roads from the total budget, so the player does not have to compute the arthimetic himself.

Businesses will glow until you travel to them. Roads will turn red once you have crossed them.

The game design will be simple and straightforward.

There will be cute dings whenever a player goes to a business as well as a happy sound when the player successfully completes the level. There will be a music player so players can choose what music they are listening to, so they won't be forced to listen to annoying music.

D.O.N. User Interface

No Pointing or Steering device. The game is played through Point and Click and the buttons on the mouse will remain constant functions. The player uses the mouse to navigate through the cities.

The layout of the screen will be a static map of a city or town. The destinations will be different popular restuarants and businesses. There will be weighted roads between different destinations. In the bottom left of the screen will be a checklist of the destinations the player needs to travel to. In the bottom middle will be the music player as well as the reset button, and the budget calculator. In the bottom right, will be a static image of the boss. He will occassionally give hints and advice as well as make random useless comments. He will be like unto the paper-clip dude in Microsoft Word. In the top left will be a menu button which will allow the player to return to the menu and navigate to other levels as well as exit.

This game is a puzzle game, which means that the interface needs to be very simple, so that the player can focus on solving the puzzle instead of being distracted by extraneous details.

The menu will be very simple. Each set of levels will have a button, and then each level will have a button. Players will win stars (two per level). One star will be rewarded for completing the level under budget and one star will be rewarded for finding the optimum path. As the player gets more stars, more levels will be unlocked.

Each business has an icon, which will be representative of the real icons of the businesses in real life. They should be easily identifiable.

The player will need to understand the numeric weights assigned to each road, as well as the total budget. The budget calculator will automatically subtract roads from the total budget, so the player does not have to compute the arthimetic himself.

Businesses will glow until you travel to them. Roads will turn red once you have crossed them.

The game design will be simple and straightforward.

There will be cute dings whenever a player goes to a business as well as a happy sound when the player successfully completes the level. There will be a music player so players can choose what music they are listening to, so they won't be forced to listen to annoying music.

The Traveling Salesman - Extras

There will be a sandbox mode, where players can develop their own graphs to play. There will be a drop down menu of businesses that players can click and drag onto the screen. They will then connect businesses through a network of roads.

Once the player has designed there level, they must successfully complete the level. The reason for this, is that not all graphs are possible to find a route, and if it is not possible, then the user will have to add more roads. The money the user spends during their play will become the amount to beat.

Successful levels will be available to other players to download and play. Players will be able to rate levels based on how much they enjoyed playing it. Levels will be sorted in the download list by popularity and also by newness.

More about Traveling Salesmen - Environmental Dimension

Each set of levels for our game will be set in a different geographic location. The earlier levels will be in a small town, and the character will walk from place to place. As the game continues, the character will move to larger and larger locations, traveling from horseback, to car, to bus, to taxi, to planes and boats, and eventually to spaceships. Although most of the gameplay seems to be set in a society at our current level of technology, the ending levels will be in the future where space travel is possible.

The only people in the game is the salesman and the boss. The salesman will have a very simple avatar that will be seen moving from place to place. The boss will probably be a fixed image that will tell the player what do to through pop-up messages, and maybe give some hints every now and then. The relationship between the two characters is that the boss is in charge, and the player whose avatar is the salesman does what the boss tells him to do. If the player succeeds then the boss will commend him, and if the player fails then the boss will chastise him.

This world is based on capital. Everything that matters in gameplay is money. The goal of the game is to save as much money each level as possible. The world is industrialized, with common everyday businesses, like McDonald's, showing up in every level.

There will be no religions or superstitions built into the game.

The world will be made of bright colors with mostly straight lines for the roads.

The game will consist of buildings and roads. Each building will be some business from society. They will be brightly colored and easily recognizable. The roads will be black with yellow stripes.

The game takes place outdoors. The geography and architecture will be cartoonized versions of various businesses.

There will be a music player in the game. Players will have the ability to change the music to be something they enjoy. The mood of the game is a fun puzzle. We don't want people to stop playing because of annoying graphics or music. The graphics will be bright and colorful, but simple and pleasing to look at.

The details will be simple. We don't want extraneous details to distract from playing the game. Each screen will be very simple and the over user interface will also be very simple.

Reflections on D.O.N.

Last Thursday my group pitched our game design for D.O.N. (Drop Off Network), the game about the traveling salesman. I was very pleased with out presentation. Sarah made a visual representation of what a level would look like and I made some sample graphs to solve. We explained how our game would be played and the rules of each problem:

1. The player starts at any one business and has to travel to all other businesses along the roads shown.

2. The player can only travel on each road once.

3. The player can only visit each business once.

4. The goal is to find the optimum route that accomplishes this, although there is a small margin of error.

I realized that some of the graphs that I had drawn were impossible by those rules. This is probably were a computer is superior to humans. If presented a graph and told to find routes, the compiter would check everything and then say that none exists, while if told a solution exists, a person will continue to look and look, thinking that maybe they will find it soon, even if none exists. I wonder if this can somehow be incorperated into our game somehow.

We also need to come up with an explaination why people can't go across the same road or visit the same business twice.

We recieved some feedback on not having a reset button, so that we can better look for algorithms to solve this problem. However, I think we should instead collect data everytime the reset button is pressed so we can see the way the solution unfolded to people.

The Travelling Salesman

1. The player will play a travelling salesman whose goal is to find the optimum path between different destinations, or at least to be able to make it to all of his stops without running out of money. Criteria for the optimum path include travel time, cost of travel and distance. This is a problem in the mathematics of game theory, and hopefully by playing this game, the player will develop some of the thinking required in solving mathematical problems and logical thinking.

10. There are no special machines required to play this game. The user interface will be based on point-click interactions, so theoretically, the game could be developed for any gaming console, computer, phone or tablet.

11. The setting for the game will start small with a small village for the first level. As the player advances through the levels, the setting will grow through town, small city, county, state, several states, country, globally and eventually even to the solar system and some of the surrounding stars.

12. There will be several levels. Each level will be a different arrangement of destinations. The player will receive a limited amount of cash and will have to find a route within his/her budget to all of his/her destinations. As the player advances he/she will grow in rank from being an intern until he/she is the CEO of the company. If the player successfully navigates a path, then the boss will come on and congratulate them, and they will get to advance to the next level.

13. The narrative of the game will be the player striving to earn a place and then advance in a company.

Persuasions in Space

“Red Alert. Warning this ship has been targeted by unknown vessel. Unknown vessel is firing a plasma weapon. Shockwave will hit this vessel in five… four… three… two… one… impact.” As children discover through various encounters with aliens and situations not experienced in the world of reality, the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center (the Space Center) located in Pleasant Grove, Utah is an educational opportunity like no other. While some say that the Space Center is only a glorified video game, it is in reality much more so. Children learn team work, responsibility, social studies and a bit of science while having a blast.

The Space Center’s primary target audience is children in 5^th and 6^th grades. Each class in the area gets to come to the Space Center for a 2 hour mission once every school year. Having been told about the magic of the Space Center by older siblings, friends and classmates, it is the one day of school that no child wants to miss.

Based in the Star Trek universe, children (and sometimes adults too) become the bridge crew of the starship USS Voyager[1] and must defend their beliefs in order to reach the successful outcome of the mission. Each crew member is assigned a different position on the bridge and crews must work together in order to accomplish a goal. Crews control ship functions through computers using mostly mouseclicks as well as keyboard inputs. The captain and ambassador as well as other crew members interact with off-bridge personnel, the main computer, and other ships through microphone and main speakers. A tactical viewscreen provides important information to the crews throughout the mission.

The environment where the simulations take place by itself is educational. Children develop valuable skills during their time on the bridge. The captain learns how to delegate and lead because the captain is not trained how to do anyone’s job; he just has to tell the officer what he wants and expect that officer to get the job done. The ambassador learns diplomacy through interactions with aliens. The security officers learn tactical skills, through battle simulations. Children learn responsibility because each child has a specific job to do and if it doesn’t get done, the whole ship suffers the consequences. They also develop teamwork, because each officer is trained to do something different. Every child has to rely on the others to do their jobs, and every child brings something different to the task. When a problem occurs during the mission, every child sees it in a different way, and together they come up with the solution.

There are many different missions the Space Center flies, and each one of them persuades different ideologies. Two of the more prominent missions are Intolerance and Midnight Rescue. Intolerance addresses the concept of freedom and individual rights through an encounter with an escaped slave. Midnight Rescue persuades the audience that democracy is the best solution to foreign government problems.

A wormhole has just opened up near the Romulan Neutral Zone, and a small damaged ship comes through. A Federation scout ship, the USS Ranger made contact and found one lifeform onboard. On board is a slave named Rooll, who has been running away from his master for years. He is asking for political asylum, so that he can live his life away from the one he calls the Hunter. Thus begins Intolerance. Voyager takes over for the Ranger and discovers that Rooll is an eight year old boy and his family has died while running from the Hunter. This applies to the children’s sympathy. Rooll is small, weak and defenseless. The Voyager crew is the only people who can help him. Shortly after they meet Rooll another ship comes through the wormhole, commanded by someone called Pennou. He demands that Voyager return his property to him. The children must defend Rooll in order to beat the mission. Thus the children learn about slavery and freedom by interacting with an escaped slave and his master. It is a first time experience for most children, and they walk away understanding more about the ideologies behind the civil war and the civil rights movement. Not only do they understand more about the mindset of those in their history, but they know about it in through firsthand experience, and can more easily apply it to the world around them.

Midnight Rescue focuses on a small country named New Earth on the border of the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Although this country used to be a democratic republic, recent events have changed its political structure. It is now a dictatorship under the leadership of Chancellor Alexander. There are rumors of death camps and Chancellor Alexander has decided to close the Federation Embassy on New Earth. Voyager must rescue the embassy workers and as many innocent citizens of New Earth as possible, while stealing documents proving the existence of the death camps. These documents will enable the Federation to wipe out Chancellor Alexander and return it to a democratic state without causing the Klingons to start a war with the Federation. This mission is overflowing with foreign policy. The children are taught that relationships with one government affect the relationships with another government, and that it is always best to remain on the good side of the more powerful government. Chancellor Alexander is portrayed in the worst possible light. While the children never encounter the chancellor, they do meet the head of his secret police, who is a argumentative man. Many of his comments are designed to turn the children against him. Everything about the current New Earth government is viewed as negative, and the only hope for a better future is shown to be a democratic government.

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[1] There are actually five different simulators at the Space Center. Voyager was the first ship built and is the flagship of the center. While this analysis focuses solely on Voyager, the arguments presented can also be applied to USS Galileo, USS Phoenix, USS Odyssey, and DSS Magellan.

Freshmen Year

Freshmen Year is a game designed to introduce high school students to student life.  Players will control a freshmen student.  The game starts the weekend before school starts with moving in day.  Mom and Dad are there to help you move boxes.  The player will use the space bar to select a box and then use the arrow keys to move the boxes to the building and up the stairs.

Once the player has moved all the boxes, Mom will make sure that the player's bed is made because that is the most important part of a room.  It doesn't really matter if a student's room is unpacked or organized as long as there is a place to sleep.  Now it is time for the first shopping trip; Mom and Dad will provide $100 dollars for the essentials.  The player will get to choose between expensive fresh fruits and vegetables or frozen burritos and top ramen, as well as some other choices in the grocery store.  Once the player is done shopping, Mom and Dad leave for home and it is time for the real game to begin.

The first few days before school starts, but after they have moved up, they will get to socialize and meet new people by playing some mini games, such as volleyball, pinball, etc.  The more mini games the player plays, the higher their social points will be.

School finally starts, and the player has to balance between classes, homework, social life, health and personal beliefs.  All of the choices and mini games will be controlled by either the mouse or the arrow keys depending on the specific task.

The player does not have to go to class.  They only have to show up for the tests, but if the player skips too many classes, then the tests they take will get harder.  If they go to their classes, then they will get to read/watch/listen to (depending on the class) a short 1 minute lesson on common freshmen classes(English, Math, Physics, Creative Arts, and an intro to a major class).  Homework will consist of reading a paragraph and answering three multiple choice questions.  Homework and classes will prepare for the tests.  If the student does their homework, then their smart points will increase.  If the players do not do their homework then their smart points will decrease.  They will continue to have the option to socialize by playing mini games.  If a student has too low a social score, then they may become depressed or suffer a nervous breakdown.

Each day will last for 10-15 minutes and the goal is to make it to the end of the semester and pass finals, while balancing the rest of their lives.  The student will have the option to sleep whenever they choose (if they go to sleep, then they will watch sheep for 30 seconds and then it will be the next day).  8 hours of sleep is recommended, but they can use the time however they want.  Lack of sleep will lower health points.  Students will also have to feed themselves.  If they eat top ramen and other fast food, they will get more time, but their health points will go down.  If they choose to cook their own fresh food, they they will sacrifice time for health.  Players will also have the option to exercise by playing sports mini games.  If they exercise, then their health points will go up.  If a player has poor health, then they could be sent to the hospital or have other medical problems during gameplay.

Once a week on Sunday, the player will have the option to go to church.  This will not affect any score, but if the player does choose to go to church, then some miracles might happen, such as better health, or improved test scores.

All of the classes build to the finals at the end of the semester.  The higher the student's smart points the easier the final tests will be.  The goal of the game is for the player to pass their finals without suffering a nervous breakdown, or being forced to drop out because of medical reasons.

Debt Ski - The (Un)Impossible Game

Debt Ski is a persuasive game about managing finances.  The player controls a cute piggy bank on a jet ski (using the arrow keys to speed up and the space bar to jump) trying to pay for the necessities of life, while collecting more money than you spend and being happy.   The player is also able to pay off their debt and might occasionally run into a tsumani which causes you to spend more money.  The game can be played at a website called: indebted.

At first glance of the game, it seems like the point the game is trying to make is to save more than you spend.  According to the rules, if you have too much debt the game will end, but there is no limit to the amount of savings you can have.  The interest rates for the credit only go up when you fail to meet a payment, but the savings interest rates seem to go up steadily.  If you are too busy trying to catch coins with your pig to pay attention to the fine print, then it is clear that savings are good and credit is bad by the colors.  Your savings show up in a green box, while your credit shows up in a red box.

However, as I continued to play the game, I felt that the real lesson the game was trying to teach was if you fail to buy the things you need (called necessities during gameplay), then you will die.  This is the reason that I have named this post the (un)impossible game.  Although the rules of the game talk of victory conditions, no matter how hard I played, I could not purchase all of my necessities and the game would end.  Unlike many other games, the player only has one life instead of three.  You could go into debt and still play the next level, but if you failed to purchase the necessities then the game ends.  I think that the game is telling me that if I don't buy food, I will starve and if I don't pay for electricity then I will freeze to death.

During gameplay, it is much easier to buy extra things like ice cream, airplane rides, and laptops than it is to buy the necessities.  On the upper levels, you have to go out of your way to purchase the necessities, but the extras are always coming down and are often unavoidable.  The game is making a statement, that although it is often much easier to buy things that are bright and colorful, you shouldn't purchase them until after you have bought the things that you need.

Debt Ski is a very entertaining, albeit frustrating game that teaches lessons about wants and needs in a procedural way.

What is reality?

When I was told I would have to create a blog for my class on video games, I thought long and hard about what I should name it.  I didn't want to name it something boring like "Julie's Social Gaming Blog" or something.  I finally decided on a simple question of which, I feel will become more unanswered and less clear as the semester goes on.  I do not intend to answer this question.  Rather I intend to blur the line between reality and everything else even more so.

During the summers I work at a marvelous place where children pretend to be space heroes and save the universe.  (Did I just say pretend, because I am not sure that is the correct word.  They are space heroes for several hours and they do save the universe.)  When I am working on the bridge of the star ship, commonly the last thing I will say to them is that, "And now, unfortunately, it is time to transport you back to reality."  Which comes from what the camp director would say to me when I was a camper there.  Near the end of the camp he would say something to the effect of "then you will go back to reality."  And we would all get sad.

I work in a place where imagination is King and the lines between reality and everything else are very blurred. The Christa McAuliffe Space Education is a marvelous place where children learn Social Studies and a little bit of Science through a simulation.  For a couple of hours, they literally become the bridge crew of spaceships and have to defend their beliefs against opposing views, normally Romulans or something of the like.  It is an experience like no other.  The children are immersed in a story in a setting that tells them that it is real.  (Now I know and they know that they really aren't astronauts in the 24th century, but for a few small hours they put on the WSOD {Willing Suspension of Disbelief} glasses and it seems real to them.  They really make a difference in the lives of others (I know that the others are made up aliens), and also to themselves.  They have proven to themselves that they can do something hard.  The Space Center changes lives, creates teams, and teaches children in a way nothing else can do.

Now what on earth does this fantastical place where I spend my summers have to do with a class on the social aspects of video games, where we read books called "Persuasive Games"?  I believe that the Space Center is the very type of persuasive game I will be studying this year.  It is more than a video game, but it is very similar and has all of the aspects needed for it to be a game.  It uses computers, stages, and imagination to create a learning environment full of procedures.  The Space Center is the ultimate persuasive game, and it is my intention to use this place, this wonderful place as a theme to this blog.

I believe that blogs should be informal writing about things that the author knows personally.  Although this blog is an assignment for a class, I intend to make it much more than that, and examine exactly why I love the Space Center in an academic pursuit.

Good night everybody.  Coming soon will be what makes the Space Center a persuasive game.