SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
Hello, my name is Christian Ignacio and I'm a UX Designer based in Seattle, WA.
River Litter
Mobile Game
Overview
River Litter is an interactive mobile game that was developed using the Xcode program. This mobile application is fun mini game that teaches people more about environmental issues such as waste management and water pollution.
This project is a collaboration with a team of students during a two week game jam as a final in course B IMD 351. I explored learning how to work with the Xcode program in developing a mobile game promoting awareness of water pollution in Puget Sound.
Team
1 Project Manager, 1 Visual Artist, 1 Front-End Developer, and 1 Back-End Developer.
My Roles
Back-End Development
UX Design
Tools
Xcode
Time
Nov 2018 - Dec 2018
Problem
How might we help spread awareness on social issues using mobile technology?
The Pacific Northwest is best known to have gorgeous blue lakes, luxurious rivers, and breathtaking waterfalls. Even though the water in Puget Sound looks really clean, it is actually very unhealthy. In 2016, Puget Sound and the Duwammish River was ranked one of the top ten of "America's Most Endangered Rivers" due to water pollution.
Solution
River Litter is a mobile application that addresses the environmental issues of water pollution in our region. This game educates players in learning about the dangerous pollutants entering our local water systems while making it very fun and interactive.
First Mockup
Design Sketches
User Flow
In our mobile game, users play as a little boat in collecting trash while also traveling along the water. We want to encourage people to not only make an impact in our virtual game but also in real life to support our water systems by presenting Max Facts. This virtual environmental scientist teaches players about the impact they've made by collecting certain amounts of waste.
Final Project
Learn and Play
When players meet the game over screen, they are presented with an environmental facts based on how much items were collected during their play-through. Each score threshold generate new facts teaching users the importance of keeping our water systems healthy. This screen also presents tips and tricks for people to practice more safe and mindful practices.
Developing Code
Developing the code for the project, I created an array container that held all of the garbage assets to fall randomly on the screen. I've attached a collider method to the boat game object so when the garbage matches the x and y position of the boat, the object is then destroyed and 1 point is added to the game score. Same function is used for the kill zone placed in the bottom of the screen but instead it subtracts 1 to the life counter. When the life counter equals zero, the game freezes and displays the game over message.
Game Score
Pollution Facts
Object Array
Touch Controls
Life Counter
Player Score
Kill Zone
Reflection & Takeaways
This project was a fun experience in developing a mobile game. Throughout this course, I learned how to program using the Objective-C language which was difficult because it wasn't as popular than using Swift for Xcode for iOS development. This project was my first experience in working with Xcode and front-end development for mobile devices.