C: Project Definition

Project Name: “Gamifying Chemistry”

Client: Dr. Mitra Hartmann, Professor of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University

Team Members: Erin Park, Gabriel Villarroel Narvaez, June Hooper, Natalie Norquist

Mission Statement

To design a game that introduces elementary and middle school students to fundamental chemistry concepts and prompts interest in further learning through engaging gameplay mechanics.

Final Deliverables

• A final report.

• A presentation.

• A prototype composed of (1) graphics of chemistry characters, enemies, and a world map, (2) demos of turn-based battles against chemistry-inspired enemies, (3) four interactive buildings, including simulated conversations with Blacksmith, Librarian, and Alchemist non-player characters.

Constraints

• Time for project development and completion: Ten Weeks

• Budget for Mockups and Prototypes: Maximum of one hundred dollars allotted

• Design Environment: Fully virtual environment, which limits access to client and direct users

Users and Stakeholders

This game is meant to be utilized in early middle school and late elementary school classrooms by students aged eight to twelve years old. These students are our design’s main users. The teachers are secondary users in the design, as the teachers will be the ones to directly facilitate and implement the game as a non-conventional learning tool. The parents of the children are also stakeholders in the design, as parents are impacted by their children’s education, and the game may be played within homes in addition to classrooms.

User Profile:

Our design targets students between the ages of eight and twelve. Children these ages are either in late elementary school or early middle school. Although children within this age range may have a variety of differing levels of experience, our design will cater to those with a low level of familiarity with chemistry and video games in order for the game to be usable and fun for the majority of students.

Illustrative User Scenario:

A young boy rushes to the computer after his classroom teacher announces that the class has earned thirty minutes of time to play educational online games. He logs on to a chemistry game, picks the Alkali Metal class, and begins his adventure. He delights in the cute character design and turns to show his friend, who is playing a Noble Gas type character equipped with Neon. He customizes his character by changing the clothes, picks his name, and he starts his first battle. In his first battle, he clicks the flashing button to use his basic attack. Since he just started, his attacks are very weak, but he manages to defeat the sodium atom. He exclaims happily when he earns a sodium item from his win which he can equip and power up his character. Another one of the boy’s friends comes over and they play together and battle more molecules. They delight in the eye-catching colors, cute characters, and creative world. In an exciting turn of events, the boy discovers that he can talk to a blacksmith character in the game to bond his sodium weapon with a fluorine atom to gain a sodium fluoride molecule, which is a much more powerful weapon. After the thirty minutes of educational online game time has lapsed, the boy and his friend save their progress and excitedly tell their teacher about the quests they completed and how their characters powered up. The boy leaves the game happily and looks forward to the next time he can play the game.