Tidal Waste
- Our Idea - Ocean pollution is an ever-growing problem in our world. Each of us individually can do their small
part to help by properly disposing of our waste, but the correct ways to do so are commonly misunderstood. To help with
this, we had the idea to create a game to teach users how to properly dispose of waste in ways that help reduce the amount of pollution.
The goal was to create a way to educate players on what they can do to help in a way that's engaging. We wanted to use a compelling story and intriguing characters to create an emotional bond, with fun gameplay that has the educational components well integrated. Tidal Waste is set in an ocean garbage patch, where the players use attacks related to waste disposal methods on enemies made of different types of trash.
CLICK to learn How Tidal Waste Addresses the Issue of Ocean Pollution
- Research - After we had the idea for our game, our research included 2 main categories.
The first was game design, where we looked through forums to research which turn-based RPGs people enjoyed, and what people enjoyed about them. Earth Bound was one in particular that we looked into, because it matched the tone and general gameplay structure that we were aiming for. We also looked into similar types of educational and environmental games, to see how educational components were incorporated into the gameplay.
Our 2nd category of research was looking into the issue of ocean pollution, where we found information that we based many of our status effects, enemies, world building, and items off of, to give it a basis in reality.
- Paper Prototype - As we worked on our game design, we created a paper prototype to test out the mechanics.
This was originally ran using cards and dice, but due to the COVID crisis, it was then transitioned into an online
version using Roll20. We ran it like a game of Dungeons & Dragons, where one of us rolled the dice, read the dialogue,
and controlled the enemies.
The prototype allowed us to test the battle mechanics, level design, balancing, and story writing before putting them into our eventual digital prototype. From testing, we learned that the enemy types tended to improve players’ garbage disposal knowledge based on pre- and post-game quizzes, but some of our more advanced mechanics caused confusion and failed to teach players.
The first version with cards and dice.
Our table of damage amounts, used in creating part of the battle mechanics.
The Paper Prototype level, showing the town of Dimrag from above.
- Digital Prototype – As we worked on our paper prototype, we took the feedback we’d received and used that to create
our digital prototype. It has the same layout in terms of level design, battles, and base mechanics, but it provided a different
experience for the game. In this version battles are much faster as nobody has to run the game, and we were able to show more UI
elements. Players had clearer visuals in terms of the actions they could take as well, and they received a pop-up on selection of
a skill so they would have to see the description before using it.
It was also easier for players to move around the overworld without a delay, and they got clearer visuals for the town of Dimrag. We also created pop-ups for the inventory and shop screens. These allowed players to more easily see item visuals and descriptions in comparison to the paper prototype where they had to keep track of their own items and refer to descriptions in a seperate tab.
- Music for the Game Demo - The development for the music was done in Garageband using different pre-recorded sounds and beats to create an immersive and emotional experience with the game and player. Piano pieces and certain sound sequences were done through connecting a MIDI to USB adapter from piano-to-MacBook Pro. After sample pieces were recorded, they were split and put around in different parts of the sequence surrounding other sounds and instruments. Sound pieces such as ocean waves, water drips, and garbage noises were included in the audio development in order to thoroughly portray and immerse the player in the world.
- Future Development - With more time on this project, there are several goals that we'd like to work on next. The first would be to adjust some of our
mechanics and skills, based on some of the feedback we got during playtesting.
The current digital prototype is published here on our website as our game demo. It's only part of the level that is seen in the paper prototype, and going forward we'd like to bring the full level in its entirety into the digital version. With this comes additional mechanics, enemies, and new areas to explore.
There is also the possibility of expanding the game much farther. This includes things such as creating new levels with different garbage path islands from around the world, adding additional party members to the gameplay, and many more enemies, items, skills, and, of course, puns.
PLAY HERE
Concept art for future enemy characters.