Meeting Time

The meetings went good this week. Everyone had plenty to say about the games. Now we have a good idea about what needs to be done, what should have priority, and what would be nice to have in each game. Some of the clients were much happier with the games than the others, but that was expected.

Below is the General order that we wish to work on these different games.

1. Astronomical Bodies with Dr. Wright
2. Chemistry Simulation with Dr. Scott
3. @itsmaya with Dr. Veselka-Bush
4. Climate Goes Political with Dr. Chomphosy
5. Artastrophe with Sarah Donaghy
6. Cultivating Competencies with Tricia Burris and Leigh Lassiter-Counts

Astronomical Bodies

This game doesn’t need too much work, it just needs to be optimized, have more clarity, have updated visuals, show more data, and have a lot of tiny things tweaked to improve the overall experience.

ChemSim

Chemistry Simulation was overall very good, but it is lacking. There needs to be more reactions for those playing the game so that people can play around. The system in which people currently pick elements isn’t the best, perhaps we should use table that is a popup. There should be a volume mixer in the game, and there are visual aspects that should be changed make the molecules easier to see and the text easier to read.

@itsmaya

A lot needs to happen here. First, add a volume mixer! The current system with money should be replaced with relationships between you and the parents, teachers, faculty, and the community. The story should be tweaked to where the player feels more connected to Maya, but still not playing her. Everything in @itsmaya needs to become more adhesive, but at least we have most of the framework here.

Climate Goes Political

Dr. Chomphosy was pleased with what was created last semester, but he does want some things to be altered that are, to him, of low importance. The text in some places is passive voice, when it should be active voice. Find a way to implement the WebDice Model instead of the current number system. Make the equation be a ratio instead. implement playing online if possible. Add a volume mixer!

Artastrophe

I did not attend this meeting, but I know that a lot needs to be done visually to create a less confusing experience. It is very easy to get lost right now, and it is not that clear what you should do right away.

Cultivating Competencies

This game needs to be completely reworked, but it is also of the least importance. The big idea was how to set students up for a better career through career services. They should know, after playing this, that it is encouraged to go to career services as early as possible. This can be done by having choices immediately make better outcomes. There should be less dialogue and more that the player can do. More was discussed, but that is a good amount of it.

What now?

Now we start to work at all of the different games. I’ve already started to look at the code of them all to find how the different games are working and to see if there were any comments in the code. There was not much, so some parts may take a lot longer than others to figure out.