Save The Zoo
Made: May 2016
Tools used: Unity 5, Visual Studios, Illustrator
Group Size: 4
My Role - Creative Director/Gameplay Designer/Scripter
Autumn Scruggs - Programmer/UI Designer
Jack Pickard - Music
Angel - Sound
My Contribution:
Game Description:
Save The Zoo is a simulation/serious game. This game was developed by a team of 4 (including me), for our "Simulation and Serious Games" course. We were to create a zoo simulator where we had to incorporate accurate information into the gameplay, also presenting an educational and persuasive message to the player. The message of our simulation is how funds are distributed among all the animals in the zoo, and how the popularity of each animal is a factor in the potential funds it receives. The player is taking the role of a newly hired General Curator for a failing zoo, being forced to balance all the animals' happiness levels with the zoo's struggling budget. As the player progresses, he/she will encounter problems which will offer accurate information that actual zoos have to handle. Each problem will also teach the player about all the specialized jobs needed to solve these types of problems and keep a zoo operational.
Save The Zoo takes the player through a day-by-day simulation, which consists of 3 cycles. My team and I designed the game to have a pre-planning phase, where all the major problems will occur, staying active and negatively affecting the player's zoo until the player resolves the problem by spending the required funds on it. Phase 2 is an actual zoo day simulation, where accurate, spontaneous problems will randomly generate throughout the 3 minute day cycle. Each problem in this phase has a 30 second lifespan, visually represented by an animated, colored bar. If the player doesn't solve the problem in time, it will negatively impact the zoo's Happiness Level, which determines the zoo's profit for the day.
Save The Zoo is all based on a cycle. Each animal has 3 stats (food, maintenance, amusement), which all affect that animal's individual Happiness Level, which then contributes to the zoo's over-all Happiness Level. The game takes the average of the zoo's Happiness Levels during the phase 2 simulation to determine the profits made. Higher Happiness Levels equal higher profits, and more money for the player to spend on problems that will occur. However, the more popular the animal, the more that animal's individual Happiness Levels contribute to the overall zoo Happiness Level. Since the game intentionally throws problems at the player to represent a failing zoo, the player will have to choose which animals to help, and be conflicted ethically on which animals to help at times when the player's budget begins to dwindle, which it will.
The player loses whenever the zoo's budget gets below -$100,000, and/or when any animal's individual Happiness Levels reach 10% (half a star). The player's goal is to keep the zoo afloat for 30 consecutive days. The player does this by successfully managing the zoo's budget while maintaining the zoo's Happiness Levels, and dispersing the funds successfully. By the end of this simulation, the player should have a better understanding of all the specialized jobs it takes to maintain a successful zoo, as well as see how hard it is for zoos to distribute funds equally. The player will also learn facts about the animals in the game's zoo (penguins, pandas, gorillas, zebras, and kangaroos) through the problems they will encounter, as well as get a better grasp on how complex/expensive it is to fix potential problems zoos experience.
Tools used: Unity 5, Visual Studios, Illustrator
Group Size: 4
My Role - Creative Director/Gameplay Designer/Scripter
Autumn Scruggs - Programmer/UI Designer
Jack Pickard - Music
Angel - Sound
My Contribution:
- Pitched and led design for most of the game's features such a currency, stat system, and overall gameplay experience
- Worked closely with designers and programmers to design and build game's mechanics
- Coordinated with outsourced artist to establish art-style and direction
- Assisted in programming game's core systems such as the tracking of player's stats, UI functionality, and balanced/operational upgrade systems.
- Placed as Creative Director and researched information for game, ensuring message of game was clear and gameplay was engaging for players
Game Description:
Save The Zoo is a simulation/serious game. This game was developed by a team of 4 (including me), for our "Simulation and Serious Games" course. We were to create a zoo simulator where we had to incorporate accurate information into the gameplay, also presenting an educational and persuasive message to the player. The message of our simulation is how funds are distributed among all the animals in the zoo, and how the popularity of each animal is a factor in the potential funds it receives. The player is taking the role of a newly hired General Curator for a failing zoo, being forced to balance all the animals' happiness levels with the zoo's struggling budget. As the player progresses, he/she will encounter problems which will offer accurate information that actual zoos have to handle. Each problem will also teach the player about all the specialized jobs needed to solve these types of problems and keep a zoo operational.
Save The Zoo takes the player through a day-by-day simulation, which consists of 3 cycles. My team and I designed the game to have a pre-planning phase, where all the major problems will occur, staying active and negatively affecting the player's zoo until the player resolves the problem by spending the required funds on it. Phase 2 is an actual zoo day simulation, where accurate, spontaneous problems will randomly generate throughout the 3 minute day cycle. Each problem in this phase has a 30 second lifespan, visually represented by an animated, colored bar. If the player doesn't solve the problem in time, it will negatively impact the zoo's Happiness Level, which determines the zoo's profit for the day.
Save The Zoo is all based on a cycle. Each animal has 3 stats (food, maintenance, amusement), which all affect that animal's individual Happiness Level, which then contributes to the zoo's over-all Happiness Level. The game takes the average of the zoo's Happiness Levels during the phase 2 simulation to determine the profits made. Higher Happiness Levels equal higher profits, and more money for the player to spend on problems that will occur. However, the more popular the animal, the more that animal's individual Happiness Levels contribute to the overall zoo Happiness Level. Since the game intentionally throws problems at the player to represent a failing zoo, the player will have to choose which animals to help, and be conflicted ethically on which animals to help at times when the player's budget begins to dwindle, which it will.
The player loses whenever the zoo's budget gets below -$100,000, and/or when any animal's individual Happiness Levels reach 10% (half a star). The player's goal is to keep the zoo afloat for 30 consecutive days. The player does this by successfully managing the zoo's budget while maintaining the zoo's Happiness Levels, and dispersing the funds successfully. By the end of this simulation, the player should have a better understanding of all the specialized jobs it takes to maintain a successful zoo, as well as see how hard it is for zoos to distribute funds equally. The player will also learn facts about the animals in the game's zoo (penguins, pandas, gorillas, zebras, and kangaroos) through the problems they will encounter, as well as get a better grasp on how complex/expensive it is to fix potential problems zoos experience.