Project Overview (Ranch Life)

Project Title: The Ranch Life

Target Audience:  Children age 9 – 15 years old

Objective:

-  Educating user about the types (breeds) and life cycle of a horse in a fun and engaging application.

- To differentiate between a domestic and wild horse.

Description:

- On the starting page, the user will be given a brief introduction of the application (list of instruction: helping the user to navigate, the goal: what the user should achieve by the end of the game, how it works: type of interaction in each level / understanding the reward system).

- Game mechanism includes: reward system, scoreboard, obstacles, hint/clues, level, gallery, buttons (play/next/back/cancel), sound (effects/background).

- The game starts off with the user in a virtual gallery. The wall of the gallery is decorated with picture of horses in three big frames. Different option box with brief summary of a level will appear as user walks closer to each frame.  The user can decide which level they prefer to go by clicking on the “play” button inside the option box. The user will then be transported to the scene of the picture by “put me there” travel method.

- There are two stages (levels) in the game which are: the life cycle of a horse and types (breeds) of horses.

-  The first stage (life cycle of a horse): Users are placed in a ranch type environment (grass plains, wooden fence, haystack) where they could interact with various ages of horses (Foal/Yearling/Colt/Filly/Mare/Stallion). Information and trivia is given to the users by asynchronous communication method, where text would pop out as users walk around the environment. The navigation type in this stage is wayfinding. Path following and landmarks are used in helping navigating the users around the application. The interaction in this stage involves feeding the horses and scavenger hunt around the environment to increase their points (reward system).

- The second stage (horses types and breeds): Users are placed in a long path guarded by wooden fence. Beside the fence, horses are seen roaming around the grass plains. As users walk down the path, facts and trivia regarding type of horses are provided to the users (asynchronous communication). Users navigate around with path following and bread crumbs as a guide throughout this stage. The interaction is limited to picking up objects and jumping along the way. By the end of the stage, users are given a pop quiz taken from the earlier information to increase their points and to complete the game.

- The stats (points, time taken and mystery item) of the user are saved by the end of the game. The user could play again and to completed their gallery slots.