Embedded Files
Navigation Controls:
The player can move throughout the game world using arrow keys or by clicking on the location they wish to walk towards. To start an interaction, which may include talking to a non-player character or picking up an item from the larger world, the user must face the object of interest and press either “Z” or “enter” on their keyboard. If textual entries are required by users, words can be written by clicking on letters or by using the arrow keys and “enter” key to locate and select letters.
In-Game Menu:
ChemQuest’s internal menu can be launched by pressing “X” or clicking on the button with the three horizontal lines on the top right of the screen. Within the menu, the character profile can be seen on the top left of the screen, which depicts information about the current character, including health, level, class, and the name of the player. On the bottom right of the menu screen, the game displays the player’s total amount of in-game currency. The right edge of the menu mainly consists of links to eight sub-menus, six of which will be discussed in greater detail. The full menu can be seen in Figure 25. The player can exit out of the main menu or any of the sub-menus at any time by clicking the arrow in the top right area of the screen or by pressing the “esc” button on the keyboard.
Figure 18: ChemQuest Menu
Sub-menus:
Item: Within this menu, the player can explore their options and select from the items, weapon, armor, and key items within their possession.
Skill: Within this menu, the player can view and read about the skills corresponding to their class that can be used when in battle. This menu provides descriptions of the connection between the class and periodic group and the skills and the properties of the associated periodic group.
Equip: Within this menu, the player can see their stats on features like attack, defense, agility, and luck. In addition, they can select different physical items like weapons, shields, and clothing items.
Status: The status menu is relatively similar to the equip menu, but also indicates the player’s current amount of experience points as well as the amount of experience points needed to reach the next level.
Options: From the options menu, the player can adjust sound settings, such as the volume of the background music or sound effects. Other features involving character movement can also be adjusted.
Save: Within this menu, the player can save their game progress to four different files. ChemQuest has an autosave feature but the save menu gives the player more flexibility in game files.
Game End: From this menu, the player can choose to exit the Title Screen and finish playing or launch a different save file.
Battle Controls:
During a player’s turn in a battle, the player can select between “Attack,” “Skill,” “Guard,” and “Item.”
“Attack” deals a consistent amount of damage to one enemy. The strength of an attack is based on the rating of the weapon equipped by the player. When “Attack” is selected, there is a random possibility of landing a critical hit, which will deal a higher amount of damage than normal.
“Skill” varies between the classes and includes two or three options based on periodic properties of the selected class. These skills will vary between the classes and may vary between dealing damage, providing healing, strengthening damage, or more. “Skill” may affect the enemy, the player’s character, or both parties. Some skills can only be used once and some skills can be used multiple times.
“Guard” allows the player to forfeit attacking the enemy and instead fortify their defense. When the player is attacked during the enemy’s next turn, the player’s character will take less damage than normal.
“Item” allows the player to use potions, healing items, or other miscellaneous things from their inventory to provide themselves with an advantage in the battle. Items are typically consumable and will be removed from the player’s inventory after one use.
If the player selects anything other than “Skill,” the game will execute the action and the turn will shift to the attacking enemy. If the player selects “Skill,” they will be prompted to choose from the two or three options. A battle will end when either the health of the player’s character or the collective health of the enemies is completely depleted. Winning a battle will result in a boost in experience points and may result in the collection of an element that can be added to the player’s inventory.
Suggestions for Implementation:
ChemQuest is not meant to be used as a learning tool or in substitute of academic learning, but rather act as a vessel by which to interest elementary and middle school students in further chemistry learning. As such, the game is best implemented in the classroom as an option for structured free-time or as a reward. Students should be encouraged to collaborate and make decisions while playing together on one device and one save file. To mitigate the negative effects that screen use in classrooms may have, such as distractibility, the game should be played in sessions of twenty minutes or less. ChemQuest is designed to give players a meaningful experience and sense of progression within short time periods to maximize player engagement while minimizing the drawbacks of screen use in educational settings.
User Experience Flowchart
The following flowchart documents the user experience through the demo version of the game.
Figure 19: Player Experience Flowchart
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