What was the challenge you started working on?
In gamelab student groups help solve problems for clients through gamification. The goal of Game Lab is that studentgroups have a game that can be published on one of the major game platforms upon completion (eg, Steam, AppStore, Itch.io, etc). The students of Nine Life Studios approached the Dierenambulance Groningen (Animal SOS) who needed help acclimating new volunteers to the work and the working environment.
What does your solution look like and what makes it so original/different (?) appropriate, and of value?
Research showed that the desired solution was to teach communication and teamwork in a playful manner through a cooperative game that they would play autonomously next to the rigorous training program. With this in mind Nine Lives Studios created the game concept Quarantine. It started as a puzzle that was simple yet challenging. After testing with volunteers confirmed it was fun and engaging, they created a 2 player digital prototype that required the players to communicate and plan together through careful game design. This concept served as the basis for the final game product Kriskras Kooien, a subtle and autonomous way of improving communication and teamwork between volunteers. The game is accessible to beginners while still offering depth and a high skill ceiling for experienced players. The cute art style with a huge emphasis on shapes and colours to give the game a broad appeal. And to ensure that the UI elements were easy to understand, it is designed to be simplistic, leveraging colour and shape recognition throughout. This makes the game enjoyable and engaging for a broad audience. Nine Lives Studio’s had to alter the way it was modelled to make them lower poly while keeping the original art style of the game. They didn't want the players to be able to notice that the game was made for a less performance PC, so they had to come up with creative ways on how to optimize the game. This game really impressed the judges of the annual Student Festival of the Bachelor Programme Creative Media and Game Technologies Groningen, making Kriskras Kooien the winners of the Best of the Festival Award out of 35 projects.
How does this reflect the CMGT's way of thinking and working (e.g. context analysis, prototyping, selected relevant technology, social aspect)?
The students from 9 Lives Studio have done an amazing job aligning the client’s needs and technological restraints to shape an ideal product for a possible franchise. Throughout Game Lab the students have openly communicated with the client while testing multiple prototypes to get to the best solution. The students from 9 Nine Lives Studios expanded their skill to “kill their darlings”, to get to the core of the problem, work with limited hardware and make a super fun game.