I wanted my game to show users how the SDGs were one collective goal and that it is a process, rather than a set of separate goals. The structure of the game will see the user completing different goals through tasks, which will help to complete other goals and unlock other goals to complete. To achieve this, I started by creating a flow to the goals, by linking them together.
<aside> 💠For this first attempt, I started with No Poverty, as this was the first goal, however after I realised that achieving no poverty meant ending hunger, getting clean water, education etc. While this was a good start, I needed to rework the initial section.
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After realising my first structure didn’t work, I recreated the diagram with a flow that worked much better.
<aside> 💠I was pleased with this structure as I felt it made a lot more sense, and would work well with the format. The user would start by completing goals, 2 3 4 6, which would then complete goal 1. This would give the player freedom of choice which would be more engaging. I could also see a version of this diagram that would work well as a progress map for the user.
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I wanted to expand more on the previous diagram and explore the story within it. To do this I created a flow chart to organise the story structure and where each of the goals come in.
<aside> 💠This was really useful as it allowed me to see what content was required and when it was required. What it also made me realise was that this was going to be a lot of content. The project brief allowed us to just focus on 5 SDGs, so I’m going to focus initially on the first 5 in the flow chart (1 2 3 4 6). I’m going to design the app that as if it covered all SDGs, but for the sake of time I’m only going to focus on the first 5. I may get more done, I may not, but my focus will be on the first 5 to start with.
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Before I could start writing the content, I needed to come up with the situations the content would be delivered. For example, to achieve goal 2, users would need to complete some smaller tasks which were part of how the goal would be achieved in the real world. I mind-mapped my ideas for each goal’s smaller tasks.
<aside> 💠It was tricky to boil down massive economic and social movements into short games for children, but I think the situations I managed to come up with worked well and would be effective at teaching children the overview of how implementing the goals would work. While some parts may have been really simplified, I think it’s important to teach these goals to children in ways that are relatable to them.
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