EDUCATION + GAMES
Educating on a particular topic through the medium of games.
Mind Maps:
From some aspects, our two topics “Education” and “Game” are not opposites. Game can be a way of education. And there are a lot of topics that can be combined to spread knowledge and educate people through the medium of games on topics like societal issues, global issues and teaching different theories. After brainstorming, we decided to choose pollution as our topic for ‘Ideas in Form’. Why Pollution? You might be thinking isn’t it a topic which has been discussed about almost all your life repeatedly, be it in your school, your high school and everywhere. But, having talked about the gravity of the situation numerous times, do you think the problem of environmental pollution around you has been resolved? Or reduced to some extent at all?
Research & Precedents:
The gravity of the problem of environmental pollution is definitely a paramount issue we should ponder about and take out some time to contemplate that who are we actually harming by maltreating the environment and the creatures that are supposed to co-exist with us. The short animation film ‘Man’ by Steve Cutts aptly summarizes the egocentric behavior of humans and the contemporary situation. There are various types of pollution namely air, water, soil, air, noise, radioactive, light, thermal & visual pollution that exist around us. Have you ever thought why?
Our topic will focus on water pollution. What are the causes? Dumping of industrial waste in water every day, oil spills in the oceans choking the marine life, spraying of insecticides & pesticides on plants which pollute the groundwater system and so many plastic wastes thrown on the beaches.
BBC Documentary: Blue Planet II
This documentary shows the severity of plastic pollution in oceans. Almost every time people in the documentary dive into the water, they discover plastic wastes in the ocean, such as plastic fishing line, candy wrap, plastic bottles etc. These plastic wastes are killing animals, sometimes binding them, choking them as they consume it confusing it to be edible. Because the smell of decaying plastics is similar to the smell of seaweed, some marine animals mistakenly confuse the plastics to be food and eat them. An albatross baby dies in the documentary because it eats a plastic toothpick which pierces it’s stomach, the reason being that the albatross’ parents found the toothpick and fed it to the baby.
Games:
1. Pollution Blasters Game
Positives: Easy to play
Colorful Graphics
Shows resources of water pollution
Negatives: Too much text
Confusing visuals
2. Come Get that Plastic, Bae
Positives: Cute appearance/visuals
Easy to understand
Negatives: Confusion about eating/dodging the plastics and the reason behind it.
3. Eco Tower
Positives: Interesting way of playing
High playability--Fun
Cartoon graphics
Negatives: Confusion about some objects
The character don’t make sense
Logic- Why collect bottles and why avoid acid and CO2?
Design Statement:
To design visually appealing and fun games for children of age group 5 - 10 years to educate them on the menace of water pollution.
Our Aim:
Educate people on the gravity of the situation of water pollution.
Encourage them to make efforts to protect the environment.
We want to design the game from the lens of an aquatic animal.
Feedback/References:
1. ABZU
2. Leviathan (2012)- Documentary on the commercial fishing industry
3. Vandana Shiva- Chipko Movement
4. It’s Nicky Case!- https://ncase.me/
Medium:Digital or Analog?
“Advancements in both virtual reality and augmented reality are going to become highly dependent on some type of tactile, touch-based feedback in order to improve the “reality” of the experience they offer.”
Next Steps:
Rethink:
- Age group we would focus on.
- The preferences of game medium for different age groups.
- Research on existing different forms of games
PART II:
Thank You