Intrerestellar Academy

What is this project about?

It is a Serious Game about space and rocket science that can teach a lot of content from STEM subjects. It brings the possibility to create interactive and interesting mechanics and dynamics while keeping the same theme throughout the game.

Artistically it has a minimal, low poly style with colorful textures and materials to make it appealing.

The game is split into themes, each theme has 3 or 4 levels that are focused on different subjects. Levels can be played in a logical order for the game or selected to meet the teaching necessities. Completing each theme should take about 30 minutes.

The game narrative has 3 parts, first quarter you try to reach orbit, second quarter you go to the moon and in the third you try to reach Mars.

Problem formulation

This project tries to make students learn science subjects with more motivation and engagement through the use of minigames with a narrative, providing new ways to do homework and review the syllabus before the exams.

Objectives

A Serious Game is a mix between education and entertainment, which means the objective of this kind of game is to teach using the funny mechanics of a video game. These are designed to balance the subject’s material and the gameplay to make the player gain the capability to retain and apply the information in the real world.

So the main objective is to research and understand how to make a Serious Game and implement all the characteristics I previously investigated. 

The second objective is to create a prototype by applying all the information and knowledge gathered in the first phase of the project. I want it to be functional and have a pretty and funny aesthetic.

The third objective is for the game to be attractive, players must be concerned with the result, and it has to be satisfactory. Also, I want it to be enjoyable multiple times, the experience has to be different every time and the challenge presented has to evolve.

The fourth objective is to try it in a real situation, making sure the prototype is in a beta state, and trying its performance in a high school in my hometown. This is the most difficult one because I depend on the school and it could be hard to add this to their schedule.

The unconscious goal is to transform explicit learning into implicit learning. This can be achieved by making the theoretical concepts understandable through interactive visual representations. It is a way to facilitate the process of understanding the subject.