Laika the Space Dog Game

Assignment Brief

Science Campaign - Leeds Education Authority

Introduction to the Leeds Education Authority (LEA)

Education Leeds has a vision for brilliant learning, in brilliant places, led by brilliant people. We work alongside 219 primary schools, 39 secondary schools and 6 specialist inclusive learning centres.

We want all children and young people to be engaged in learning that:

• challenges their expectations;

• raises their aspirations, confidence, self-esteem and knowledge;

• enables them to fulfil their ambitions;

• celebrates and embraces diversity;

• equips young people as a skilled 21st century workforce; and supports them to be healthy, happy, safe and successful throughout their lives.

Brief

Education Leeds wishes to create a new campaign to revitalize the National Curriculum for children across the Key Stage 1-3 age groups in the subject of Science. This commission is to create an interactive learning tool supporting a Science subject area in one of the Key Stage age groups. The interactive should work on a tablet device and also on the Education Leeds website. It will be the first in a series of resources which help students with their homework and preparation for Key Stage assessments.

We are keen for this interactive to be quick to launch, quick to navigate and most importantly, fun. We’d like to create an accessible learning experience and for it to be funny, light-hearted and engaging and are seeking something fresh. Possible directions could be character driven, modern-day humour or possibly learning through game play. However we are happy for you, the designer, to approach the challenge with your own concepts and ideas. The specific science topic featured within the interactive is to be chosen by you, but must relate to at least one of the National Curriculum science topic areas. The Key Stage level and age group to target is also your choice.

It is important to emphasise that you are not being tested on your own knowledge of science – the science content can be found in the links provided and in basic text books. The brief is to bring that content to life in a way that encourages young children/teenagers to understand and learn it.

Visual Planning

About Laika

Laika was a stray Moscow dog who rode a rocket into Earth orbit. Overheated, cramped, frightened and hungry, the space dog gave her life for her country, involuntarily fulfilling a canine suicide mission. She was only given onemeal and only a seven-day oxygen supply. They expected Laika to die from being depriived from oxygen.

I want my interactive game to be a tribute to Laika. I’m going to make the narrative of the game to be to help Laika get home. I will do this by asking a set of questions to the user, and when they answer the question correctly, Laika gets one more step closer to home (Earth).

Why use interactive games to educate children?

As technology is growing, children have also grown up with it. Because of this, we should benefit from this by using interactive games on smart phones and tablets. Whether you are interacting with peers in the classroom or technology, it is important to make the learning process more engaging.

What makes a good interactive game?

- Must make sure that learning and play are integrated

- There is motivation in the game, for example rewards.

- Must have focus on the main purpose of the game (learning)

How do you design for children?

- Give kids clear and specific instructions by stating the goal of a game and how to achieve it

- Instructions should be clear and to the level of children’s understanding

- Reduce the amount of information your users need to carry around to use your interface because children have smaller working memory capacity

- Kids under 9 usually prefer a trackpad over a mouse because of their physical development, therefore say “click the bucket” instead of “use the mouse to click the bucket.

Visual Moodboard

This is a website which I found on Pinterest about space. It includes animation making the astronaut move up and down and the planets to move about the space.

These are the kind of animations I would like to use on my design. I like the illustrations used, however I think for my design I’m going to make my designs more cartoony and made on illustrator. However, I do like the use of space and animation and going to take inspiration for this.

This is a interactive game on bitesize. The game does not have a menu and instead takes the user through the revision materials and then plays an interactive game afterwards to test their knowledge. I think this is a great way to educate the user and makes sure that the user is learning as well as having a fun experience.

I am going to make my game in the same way to fulfil the edcuational side of the game.

Initial Logo Sketches

Here are my first initial sketch designs for my logo. I want to give a sci-fi look with little space indications.

Development

I developed these sketches onto illustrator and started experimenting with them. I decided to develop the idea with the underline which is combined with the L. I added stars to see what it would look like, and transforming the star into an A shape.

Fonts

For my logo, I wanted a bold, strong look, but also to be interesting a fun to look at for children. The first font I experimented with was “Starcruiser Italic” which had white dots already inside the font, giving a space feel. I found this font on dafont.com.

Final Logo

Typefaces

Colour scheme

Home Page Photoshop Design

Menu Page Photoshop Design

Quiz Page Photoshop Design

Personas

Scarlett

Age: 7

Gender: Female

Location: Dromara, Belfast

Surroundings: Lives in a house with her mum and dad, and has a little brother called Oliver who is 2 years old.

Biography: Her favourite subject is Maths and in her spare time likes to go to “Cocos” which a soft play area. Likes to be outside exploring and going on adventures. Very outgoing and smart for her age.

Income: Normal

Attitude to Technology: She loves to watch YouTube videos for arts and crafts, and also loves to play dress up games on her tablet that she shares with her little brother.

Context of Use: She would play the interactive game on her tablet at home and the school computers.

Key Goals and Needs:

• I want the game to be fun

• I need the game to work on my tablet and the computers at school

• I don’t want to have to learn too much just want to play the games

Pain Points:

• I hate reading

• I do not like “boy themed” games (action theme)

Thomas

Age: 10

Gender: Male

Location: Edgware, London

Surroundings: He lives in a flat with his mum and 2 older sisters.

Biography: His favourite subject is Art, loves crafts and getting messy but also loves playing games on his PlayStation. He plays games like Minecraft. Also loves playing football on the weekends.

Income: Below average.

Attitude to Technology: Plays games on this PlayStation everyday, but hardly ever uses computers/tablets/phones.

Context of Use: He would only ever play the game at school in science class or to revise for his KS2 exams.

Key Goals and Needs:

• “I want the game to be fun”

• “I want the game to be cool and not too childish”

• “When I grow up I want to be a footballer”

Pain Points:

• “I hate being treated like a kid”

• “I do not like feeling stupid and not understanding things”

Prototype

Before starting my prototype I wanted to organise which page/ topic comes when. My design is not going to have a menu, but instead is going to go through all of the knowledge needed for the big quiz at the end.