More thoughts on the fire safety game (23/1/2014)

* When sharing my findings with the team leader he seemed pleased with the research I had done, but had the following comments.

• Really liked the idea of the in game cards that would include information and either a picture or animation on the side. However, he felt today's children wouldn't print the cards to play with or the certificate due to them preferring digital resources. 
• Felt the scrolling trivia wouldn't be relevant to the overall work as I described it to be more focused on historical fires.
• He thought the interactive menu was a good idea and therefore I asked the programmers if it could be done. They said it should be possible.
• With the above card idea in mind Jon recommended that I share it with the programmers to see if it was possible, maybe as some sort of achievement system. Since swapping between game play and the menu may not be possible, they said they would have to look into it, but otherwise liked the idea. Speaking to Ryan (the designer) he suggested that we keep the idea of the achievements, but have a little notification pop up in the corner of the screen when such a thing is unlocked, thus not pausing the game. When further thinking of this idea, I felt this could be used for when you unlock defences as well.  

Overall, Jon recommended that I look at the brief again in order to make sure I had a clear way of telling the story since he liked my ideas, but felt they would possibly last too long with a scripted phone call or mission brief, though he didn't want to dismiss them either. 

The notes were as follows...  

Reception:

• Ch. understand how to keep themselves safe near fire or hot things.
• Ch. understand the role of the fire and rescue service.
• Ch. know to telephone 999 in an emergency
• Ch. understand that fire is deemed to be unsafe at their age.
• Ch. understand that the consequence of touching or getting too close to fire is a burn or scold.
• Ch. understand that the safe choice is not to touch matches or lighters.

Extension - KS1 Years 1/2:

• Children know how to “stop, drop and roll” if their clothes catch fire.
• Ch. understand key message: Get out, stay out, call 999. 
• Ch. understand that a fire escape plan helps them to know what to do if there is a fire in their home and that it is important to make one with their parents/carers.
• Ch. know that a fire alarm detects smoke and warns people about a fire.

Extension- KS2 Year 3/4/5/6:

• Ch. know to touch the back of a door to check if it’s hot.  
• Ch. know to get down low and crawl.
• Ch. understand the need to learn their address. 
• Ch. understand the dangerous consequences of making a hoax call.
• Ch. know to test a fire alarm by pressing the button.

* Jon and Ryan also asked me to go away and come up with some example information to put on the cards, write down the possible stories in full to see the difference (maybe time them as well), think of the questions that would be asked and finally think of the narrative for the digital comics which would show if the player gets the answer wrong (thus teaching them, not penalising them). 

I spoke to Adam who said he was ok with me doing the narrative for the digital comics and sent me the example he had before so that I could write in its style. I also asked Bonnie for her sprites so that I could use them to make some example cards which the players would unlock. 

* Despite all my research I admitted to my lecturer that I was slightly worried about letting down the team due to a tower defence games narrative usually being short and /or stretched throughout multiple levels. He completely understood how I felt and recognised the challenge, therefore he offered to look into the subject himself.

Meanwhile I decided to see if any existing safety informing tower defence games existed since other types of safety games do, and how they got information across.

Defend the Gird:

Made to teach maths, this tower defence game has the player choose which tower they wish to purchase before placing it on the grid by filling in the coordinates e.g. A/1 , G/7, C/5 etc. Although it was a good game for teaching maths it unfortunately had no narrative. Thus my search continues...  

Harvard Referencing:

• Unknown (Unknown) Defend the Grid [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.fuelthebrain.com/Game/play.php?ID=152 (Accessed: 21/1/2014).