TEAM GDD

Blue Planet is a survival game where marine life fights against the ocean’s plastic pollution. Each player represents different species of marine life where they get to draw events that connect to the stories of their lives which can work in their favor or not. Each player needs to keep track of their own plastic ingestion due to having a potential in dying or receiving aid from marine doctors. One large source of plastic ingestion is the garbage patch, whereas players encounter early in the game and more gets accumulated as the game progresses.

5 Player experience goal(s) + atmosphere users should experience

Targeted aesthetics and desired player experience goals

What (desired emotion and player experience goals)

We would like for the players to feel a sense of excitement from being able to embody a marine animal with their role and then a sense of horror as that marine animal begins to ingest plastic. We would also like for our players to experience a sense of connection and empathy for their animal as they go through these trials and tribulations.

Why

Imparting these emotions is important as the combination of empathy and horror allows the player to feel more connected to the events transpiring in the ocean and how it affects marine life. This would ideally make these issues more meaningful and therefore make the player more aware of the plastic issue by inspiring them to be more involved in spreading the awareness.

How

We would achieve this empathetic link by having the players take on the role of a specific marine animal. As this player moves throughout the board, they experience stories and events relating to their animal and the ones of their fellow players. The horror would come from a board of 12 spaces (4x3) designated to each player representing their animal’s stomach filling up with plastic. Each time the player pulls a specific event from the card deck, it can be: a natural event, a boat event, or a story event. The natural event is targeted towards moving the player, the boat events aim to place a garbage patch anywhere on the board, and the story events focus on ingesting plastic. The horror also comes from the garbage patch which forces the player to choose between events that give other players plastic.

Analyze your desired and actual UX using the below rating matrix

Items from Lazarro’s 4 Keys 2 Fun (2014):

Hard Fun”: mastery, achievement, “fiero”):

not at all |------------------------X----------0-------------| highly so

Easy Fun: Exploring, Imagination, Curiosity, Absorption

not at all |---------------------------------------------0X| highly so

Altered States (Purposeful/Serious Fun): Values & Meaning

not at all |----------------------------------------------0X| highly so

People Fun: Relationships, social bonding etc.

not at all |---------X-------0-------------------------------| highly so

Items from Yee’s Gamer Motivation taxonomy (2021):

Action— Appeals to players seeking an adrenaline rush and excitement. Players who find fast-paced play thrilling

not at all |--------X---------------------------------------0| highly so

Social —Appeals to players who want to interact with each other, whether in a competitive or collaborative fashion. Players who enjoy talking, engaging, watching others and being seen.

not at all |-----------X0------------------------------------| highly so

Mastery—Appeals to players who are seeking a strategic thinking and challenge. Player who want test their skills and make difficult decisions.

not at all |------X------------0-----------------------------| highly so

Achievement —Appeals to players who try to collect all the items or amass power and prestige in the game. Players who like completion and winning.

not at all |-------------X---------------------------------0| highly so

Immersion— Appeals to players who seek storytelling and fantasy, who imagine themselves as part of the game world and/or enjoy watching a story unfold.

not at all |----------------------------------------------0X| highly so

Creativity—Appeals to players who like exploring possibilities or finding ways to express themselves in the game. Players who see the game as a creative outlet.

not at all |--------------------------X--------------------0| highly so

8 items from Hunicke et al’s taxonomy of “fun”:

1. Sensation: Game as sense-pleasure

not at all |-----------------------------X---0---------------| highly so

2. Fantasy: Game as make-believe

not at all |------------X--0---------------------------------| highly so

3. Narrative: Game as drama

not at all |--------X--0------------------------------------| highly so

4. Challenge: Game as obstacle course

not at all |----------0--------------------------X-----------| highly so

5. Fellowship: Game as social framework

not at all |--------X----------------0-----------------------| highly so

6. Discovery: Game as uncharted territory

not at all |------------------------------0X-----------------| highly so

7. Expression: Game as self-discovery

not at all |-------------------------------------0X----------| highly so

8. Submission: Game as pastime/go-to leisure activity

not at all |--------------------0--X-------------------------| highly so

6 How does it address the design challenge of a Transformative Game?

What’s the underlying challenge/problem your game aims to tackle, and how could addressing this help make this world a better place to live?

Oceans are getting filled with plastic and that deteriorates the health of marine life. All the plastic pollution in the ocean has not been completely removed because of its million leftovers spread across it. Addressing this problem could raise awareness of how many marine lives have been lost and could potentially continue to be lost in the years to come if this problem is not tackled now; from the creation of plastic to when people discard it.

Background research on underlying problem/challenge that your game aims to tackle

What is the real underlying problem?

Plastic, defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2022), is a material that is mainly used in commercial and industrial facilities, construction, and personal items (para. 6). If it is disposed of in the wrong way, it can affect the environment and biodiversity.

It is known that at least “14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year” which makes “80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments” (para. 7). This marine debris continues to have a negative effect on marine life and deteriorating their health.

In addition, the Clean Water Action corporation portrays in their article that the California Coastal Commission explains that plastic can end up in the ocean as a cause of unused fishing equipment and garbage that is dumped overboard from ships (para. 1). Referring to IUCN, marine life can ingest plastic when it is smaller in size caused by natural factors such as solar UV radiation, wind, and currents (para. 9). This means that the environment can make plastic easier to be ingested by marine animals.

What is out there in terms of relevant information?

The relevant information about plastic pollution in the ocean involves a statement written by Clean Water Action explaining that plastic affected 267 marine lives including “86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species” (para. 5). This is caused by “ingestion, starvation, suffocation, infection, drowning, and entanglement” (para. 5).

Furthermore, the Ocean Plastics Pollution organization explains that there are more than 15 trillion plastic leftovers in the ocean (para. 5). They also say that plastic covers all the ocean and that EPA reports that “every bit of plastic ever made still exists” (para. 8) due to taking a lot of years to disintegrate. This leads to the major plastic mass called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that is located in the Pacific Ocean (para. 9).

Additionally, Bryce and Heart explain in their article “How does plastic pollution affect the ocean?” (2022) that China’s Yangtze is the biggest river that contributes to the biggest source of plastic that enters the oceans which is more than 1 million metric tonnes (para. 6). This is due to other countries “outsourcing their plastic waste management to China” (para. 6). Bryce continues by stating that if companies continue to create and distribute plastic it could make all marine life disappear by the year 2050 (para. 10).

References

Bryce, E., & Flora Hart, M. (2022). How does plastic pollution affect the ocean? China Dialogue Ocean. Retrieved from https://chinadialogueocean.net/en/pollution/14200- how-does-plastic-pollution-affect-the ocean/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAjbagBhD3ARIsANRrqEsBa5whYu1HOqEKlo- RDP5x4z1oLv9QeCg612xEHj5UKK1XnI0SftsaApjREALw_wcB

Marine plastic pollution. IUCN. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/marine-plastic-pollution

Ocean plastics pollution. Ocean Plastics Pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/

The problem of Marine Plastic Pollution. Clean Water Action. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cleanwater.org/problem-marine-plastic-pollution

Team motivation

Based on previous courses where the topic of plastic pollution in the ocean was brought up, we find this issue alarming and under-represented. Using this background, we decided to do further research on the problem and use it as the foundational issue behind our game.

Why would a game be a suitable approach to tackling this challenge/problem?

A game makes this issue more approachable and more hands on than other mediums like documentaries or articles. A game also allows the player to experience what it is like being a marine animal as they step into the magic circle and allow themselves to step into an experience other than their own. It also allows for a more hands-on impact as a player’s choices directly affect the life and health of their animal.

Desired “transformation” and impact of game on players

Make players start to become aware of the waste that fills up the ocean, to be mindful of the plastic that is used every day, and to start to adapt the habit of recycling and using alternative materials such as a reusable water bottle instead of repurchasing ones. These help to make players have a behavioural and cognitive change about the problem. In addition, our main focus is to change people’s behavior and make them interested in our topic. A behavioural change is what could draw players to not use plastic often and think of other alternatives to stop the use of plastic to preserve marine life.

How would you assess the game’s impact?

Once the players are done playing the game, they will be presented with a set of questions relating to how they felt about the experience of playing the board game. These questions will also include how they feel about the animal they embodied, what they think about the scale of the plastic in the ocean, and is there an experience from this game that has stuck with you?

If the player is ambivalent or bored by the game, maybe even considering it too preachy; we will know to adjust our game to have it strike a balance between being enjoyable and educational.

7 Inspiration Analysis

One of the inspirations of our game is Beyond Blue (https://store.steampowered.com/app/883360/Beyond_Blue/), a game where the player goes on dives in the ocean, scanning the marine life around them in order to learn more about them. The player experiences the ocean and all the life that inhabits it much closer than they could in everyday life. This game inspires our project through that concept of closeness with marine life.

The other inspiration we had was the game Raft (https://store.steampowered.com/app/648800/Raft/). This game takes place in a world that has been entirely consumed by water, with only remnants of the once dry world left floating on the surface. As the game progresses, the players uncover a story, explaining a little bit how the earth came to be this way. This game inspired our project as it does an excellent job showing the scale. No matter where the players travel, they are always haunted by the flotsam of a world now lost to the waves. The scale of the issue and its haunting pervasiveness is something that would be excellent if we could capture it in a board game.

8 Why Your Project is Innovative?

(a) Innovation

Blue Planet deals with real life events surrounding plastic contamination in the ocean. It strives to educate the player through the narrative of the player's chosen animal and the short stories found within the story events. The game also balances these educational elements with tense gameplay surrounding the danger of the garbage patches and the ever increasing amount of plastic ingestion.

(b) Relevance

Many people think that ocean pollution only affects marine life, without realizing it also has an impact on our health. It is a problem that affects not only the animals in the ocean but also humans as the microplastics ingested by fish enter the human body when they are eaten. This game shows not only how the ingestion of plastics affects fish but how people are a part of cause and consequences.

(c) Selling points

The game makes the process of learning about a serious world issue more fun and engaging. As ocean pollution is a very complex problem, we tell the events in a way that makes the players curious without confusing them.

9 Introduction

Premise & Theme

Plastic contamination in the ocean and the consequences of pollution.

Setting

The game takes place in the ocean with tiles representing different sections of it.

Game Objective

As a marine animal, survive the dangerous, unknown, and ever-changing events transpiring in the ocean.

Core Gameplay

The tile progresses along the circular board landing on tiles that correspond to events they player’s need to react to. These could be a medical aid which takes plastic from the player, a garbage patch which gives the player plastic, a neutral space where the players rest, and an event space where the players need to draw a card and react to the event.

Unique Elements

The story event card has stories that truly happened to marine life on Earth.

10 Narrative/Story

The narrative of our story is within the event cards that the players. For example, as a whale player, you draw an event card and it reads “A gray whale died after stranding near Seattle in 2010 with more than 20 plastic bags, a golf ball, and other rubbish in its stomach.” There is then an in-game consequence for the player who drew the card, they take three plastic tokens to place on their stomach board. These real life stories affect the narrative of the animals in the game either positively or negatively, connecting both the token and the player to the consequences happening in the world.

11 Game mechanics

Number of Players: 2-4
Target Audience: People 10 and up who are curious about the ocean and marine life.
Game Setup: The board is placed on a table and the players set down the related secondary boards and tokens. The players then choose one of the four marine animals, the first one to pick is the youngest of the players, taking the relative die and board with them. They then set down their respective animal figurines in the “start” square.
Procedures: Each turn the players will roll the die and then move the respective number of squares as presented on the die. They then take the action represented by what square they landed on. If the player lands on an event tile, they draw an event card from the deck and do the specified action. The turn then moves to the next player.
Basic Rules: The players take turns moving across the board, doing their best to avoid filling their stomachs with plastic. The plastic can come from events pulled from the event deck, more specifically the story events and garbage patch tiles on the board, and potentially other players. When the plastic is consumed, it is placed as a plastic tile in the player’s stomach board. When all the squares are filled up, it is game over for the player who owns that board. Also, the first player that completes two laps around the board, all the players count their plastics and whoever has less wins. The players get a chance to remove the plastic if they land on the marine veterinarian tile or get the event responding to the marine vet.

Primary Mechanics:

The primary mechanics involve the players rolling the dice to determine how many squares they are moving. The tile that they land on determines what they do next. Majority of the tiles are event cards, when landed on, the player must draw a card from the deck and respond to the event that happens there. If the event dictates that they must take plastic tokens, the player must take the stated amount of plastic tokens and place them on the stomach board.

Secondary Mechanics:

Some of the event cards are boat events. Should this type of card be pulled, a garbage patch can affect one specific player or all the players. Once the player lands on a garbage patch, a choice comes up, either:

The player decides on another player to take the plastic. More specifically, the amount of plastic depends on the amount of players there are, such as, if there are 3 other players, then the player gets to put 3 plastic onto their stomach board.
The player that lands on the garbage patch decides that all players get 1 piece of plastic onto their stomach board.

12 Play matrix

Blue Planet is mostly based on chance and not a lot about skills as the player advances based on the dice roll and the cards they get are also random. It doesn’t require a lot of physical dexterity, only moves their arm to roll the dice. The only mental calculation required is if the player wants to plan ahead how far they want to go.

13 Rule Sheet

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cDRKCNhOyybWwy4iIA2OiywZgQ7SL3C8be39H0_uIXI/edit?usp=sharing

14 Playtesting script including testing goals, questions, and assumptions/ hypotheses Introduction:

Introduce yourself and welcome everyone to the playtest session.
Briefly explain the purpose of the playtest: to test the game mechanics and get feedback on the overall gameplay experience.
Explain that the game is still in development, and that feedback from the playtesters will help improve the game.
Thank the playtesters for their time and participation.

Game Overview:

Give an overview of the game rules and mechanics, using the instructions provided.
Go over the different types of card events and their effects.
Explain that the objective of the game is to be the first player to not have any plastic in the stomach board at the end.
Demonstrate how to set up the game board and how to play a turn.
Answer any questions the playtesters may have before starting the game.

Gameplay:

Divide the playtesters into 4 players.
Have each group set up the game board and select their characters.
Explain that they will play a full game of the prototype, and that they should try to play strategically to win by surviving the plastic.
Ask the playtesters to share their thoughts and feedback as they play.
Observe the game and take notes on any issues or suggestions for improvement.

Feedback:

After the game is finished, ask the playtesters to share their overall thoughts on the game.
Ask them to identify any areas of the game that they found confusing or difficult to understand.
Ask if there were any particular events found to be overpowered or underpowered.
Ask if there were any events or resources that they felt could be added to the game to make it more interesting or challenging.
Ask if they would be interested in playing the game again, and if they have any suggestions for improving the game for future playtests.

Our goal for this playtesting session is to gather feedback on our recent design changes and to test our assumptions and hypotheses about the game's user experience. Specifically, we would like to answer the following questions:

Is the inclusion of the story events transformative? Does it make you have a strong emotional connection with the marine animals that are affected by plastic?
Do you feel like the garbage patch is a good addition to the game?
How often do you collect plastic, how often do you get rid of it (does it take too long?), and how much of the stomach board is filled up?

Observations:

How often do players have a choice in the game? Is it all based on luck?
How often do players encounter the garbage patch? Does it damage the player much?
How long does it take players to reach the goal?

Quantitative Data to Measure:

How many plastics are collected in one circular round? Does it take too long to collect ?
How often are the event cards picked up? including the natural and story events?
How long does it take each player to complete the game?

Questions to Ask Participants:

How did you feel about the inclusion of natural events and resources in the game? Did it add strategic depth and interest to the gameplay?
Were there any cards or game mechanics that you felt were too overpowered or underpowered? Why?
Did you feel a sense of progression and accomplishment as you moved through the game board? If not, what could be done to improve this aspect of the game?

Were the instructions and rules clear and easy to understand? Were there any parts of the game that you found confusing or unclear?
How long did it take you to complete the game? Was the game's pacing appropriate?
Were there any particular moments or decisions in the game that stood out to you as particularly enjoyable or frustrating? Why?
Overall, what did you think of the game? What did you enjoy about it, and what could be improved?
Are there any aspects of the game that you would like to see expanded or developed further in future versions?
Would you be interested in playing the game again?

Revision Ideas:

Based on player feedback, consider adjusting the power levels of certain cards or game mechanics to create a more balanced experience.
Look for ways to increase the sense of progression, interaction, and accomplishment for players as they move through the game board.
Consider reducing and relocating some of the event cards to make the game faster and make players not tired of the same routine of the game and further expand the storytelling and transformative concept of the gameplay.

15 Insights and results from playtesting: Test for foundation/fun and structure, then later for functionality, completeness, loopholes, balance, and dominant strategies

Playtesting Direct Feedback:

Game Version 2

Playtest 2: Playtester(s)/Playing Team 5 - Kelly, Cheryl, Tingting Liu, <March 21>

Photo of game prototype being played
What did you enjoy most about the game? Why?
- Kelly
  - I think the idea is pretty good! But the game takes much more than 20 minutes. The storytelling is really good because I can learn something from the events!
- Cheryl
  - I feel fun to compete with my opponent and have empathy to explore the game
- Tingting Liu
  - I like the concept of the game! you can relate to the animals and pick your favorite
What were major issues with the game? Why? Any suggestions on how the game could be improved?
- Kelly
  - I think can reduce the events card to make game faster
- Cheryl
  - I don't have too much choice, it’s all based on luck.
- Tingting Liu
  - More new features needed, because I am afraid people doesn't have a strong emotional to replay the game

link to video-recording of playtesting session

https://youtu.be/_5yyIa8TYaA

Observation and analysis table below:

Issue name & brief explanation

Issue category-

Playtesting session # where the issue found

Not having too much choice because every player’s movement is based on luck.

Playtesting session 2

High
Changing the board design, perhaps make the players reach to the “end” of the board rather than going in circles and make them choose their path to win faster.Incorporate new features to make players have a strong emotional connection to the game's completeness.

Playtesting session 2

medium
Perhaps expand on the story events or make each player have their own story based on the animal they picked to feel more connected to them. Also, maybe make the players have special powers so they can interact with the other players such as blocking their path or make them immune to plastic.
Reduce the event cards to make the game faster.

Playtesting session 2

high
Not make all the event cards in one deck and put the boat movement as a separate tile or every round.
Reduce the total game play because it's around 20 minutes.
balance

Key Changes/Revisions After Playtest (based on above observations & reflection):

We incorporated all the observations made by the playtesters and included all of the revisions. We incorporated choices for the garbage patch and the story events. We also eliminated the boat token since it did not benefit the game as we thought it would. We also distinguished the event cards to add more meaning to them since their role got confused; the natural events represent movement, the boat events represent the garbage patch addition, and the story events the plastic ingestion. Also, we added vet tokens to use when the player lands on the vet tile and doesn't have any plastic onto their stomach board. We decided that the youngest player gets to start the game to ensure fairness between players. Also, we added powers to the marine animals to add more excitement onto the game which the players can utilize their power at any time once per lap.

16 Analyze your game in terms of decision types, dilemmas, rewards, surprise, and endings

(a) Decision Types

Decisions were present in the form of players landing on the garbage patch tile then deciding what action to perform: Whether having each player ingest 1 plastic or one player ingesting all X pieces of plastic (the plastic amount corresponding to the number of players in the game).

A secondary piece of choice was players choosing when they could activate their special powers. Especially in the case of powers such as that of the fish and the whale. The whale was able to stun a player for one turn. The fish was able to swap plastic with players, lowering its own plastic count, saving itself.

Analyze for hollow, obvious, or uninformed decisions

One of the hollow decisions might involve consuming plastic or landing on garbage patch tiles not being impactful enough. It is important for the consequences of these decisions to be felt by the players and have a real impact on their progress in the game.

To improve this, the consequences of consuming plastic or landing on garbage patch tiles could be made more severe, such as having a larger impact on the player's ability to move or take actions in future turns. Additionally, the event cards could be designed to offer more diverse and challenging choices, providing players with more engaging decisions to make.

Analyze for desirable decisions

Informed decision:

Players have ample information about the consequences of their actions. For example, when a player lands on a garbage patch tile, they have to decide whether to take one plastic token or make one player take all the plastic tokens.

Dramatic decision:

The game taps into the players' emotional state by making them aware of the negative impact of plastic on marine life through real stories being featured in the story event cards.

Weighted decision:

The decisions in the game are balanced with consequences on both sides. For example, the whale's ability to stun a player for one turn comes with the cost of consuming more plastic.

Immediate decision:

The decisions in the game have an immediate impact on the gameplay, such as when a player consumes plastic tokens, it is immediately placed on their "stomach" board.

Long-term decision:

The impact of the decisions made in the game will be felt in the long run, as the players try to avoid filling up their stomach boards with plastic.

(b) Dilemmas

The current iteration of the game does not have any trivial dilemmas as the player just follows the instructions of the cards and accepts fate.

One possible non-trivial dilemma that could be added to the game is the choice between taking a shortcut and potentially encountering more plastic on the way or taking a longer route but encountering fewer plastic tokens.

This dilemma ties to the overall game objective of avoiding plastic consumption and makes the gameplay more interesting and meaningful by adding strategic depth. Players must weigh the benefits of taking a shortcut against the risks of consuming more plastic, which creates a more engaging experience.

This choice is part of the core gameplay and supports the overall game objective of avoiding plastic consumption. It is both interesting and meaningful, as it ties into the game's theme and requires players to think strategically. The dilemma improves the gameplay by adding an element of risk-reward and increasing the replay value of the game.

(c) Rewards

One of the rewards is when the player lands on a healing tile, where they can remove one of the pieces of plastic from their stomach. This tile represents the organizations in real life that save marine life. It prevents the player from filling up their stomach board and losing the game. It makes the player look forward to landing on one of the healing boards.

(d) Surprise

The one element of surprise that we have has to be with the event cards. The boat event determines where the boat is going to move and if the boat drops a plastic onto one of the good tiles, it turns it into a tile that the players have to ingest plastic, and if multiple plastics are in one tile it becomes a garbage patch in which the players have to ingest 3 more plastics onto their stomach board.

(e) Endings

The ending of the game is when the player that is the last one standing with the stomach board not filled up with plastic, wins. The ending that we have right now takes too long for the player to achieve and it loses the connection to the story and the worldwide problem portrayed in the concept of our game. The players feel a repetitive process and a lack of decision making. For the ending, perhaps we can add more quantity of the marine animals and create an ending space with another board layout to make players have decisions on where to go and hopefully achieve the goal quicker.

17 Overall Reflection

Based on the revision ideas and the playtesting feedback, it seems that the main issues with the game were related to balance, speed, and emotional connection. The playtesters enjoyed the storytelling and concept of the game, but felt that it took too long to play and that there wasn't enough player choice or emotional investment.

To address these issues, the team plans to adjust the power levels of certain cards or game mechanics, increase the sense of progression and accomplishment for players, reduce and relocate some of the event cards, and incorporate new features to make players more emotionally invested in the game.

Filming the playtesting session and creating an observation-analysis table to gather data on the issues players experienced during the game, was a good way to work on gameplay issues. It allowed the team to identify the issues with the game and come up with revision ideas to address them, such as length of the game (which was modified to a 2 lap system to reduce time played), ensuring that the changes made improved the game experience.

In the future, we may want to consider involving more playtesters with diverse backgrounds and gaming preferences to gather a wider range of feedback. Additionally, the team could explore different ways of incorporating emotional investment into the game, such as player avatars or character backstories. With this clear direction in mind, we look forward to seeing how a revised version with more emotional investment and optimised gameplay elements might improve future playtesters’ experiences.

18 Team Communication and Processes

After discussing it as a team, we would like to improve the way we work together doing “scrum” meetings because we don’t meet often enough due to different schedules. We set different agendas on figma and discord (our medium of main communication) and set daily reminders and meetings to see where everyone is at and what task needs to be completed next. The image we included below is an example of our weekly agendas and how we set micro-deadlines for each day/upcoming meeting.

Appendix A: Ideation/Conceptualization Activity Report