Client: Katha India Type: Game Design Duration: April 2018 game design • visual narratives • storytelling
Game as an Extended Narrative
As a part of the award-winning app - KathaKhazana, that was led by me - I designed and developed a 2D game for 4-12 year old that talks about space and sets a role model in the form of astronaut Sunita Pandya Williams, as she goes about her day in her space shuttle.
The game takes the child on an immersive journey through space where he/she learns what can be packed/ not packed for a journey to space, the constellations, phases of the moon and captures the sense of wonder about space.
The ideation of the game is inspired from my own childhood experience of reading Ms Frizzle's Magic School Bus - the space series which inculcated in me a wonder of space as a child.
Have a look at the games in the series here:
Co-Designing With Teachers
I conducted fun design game workshops with teachers who have experience teaching in low cost private schools and government schools in Delhi. Using tools of ethnography, the aim was to capture the kind of media, language, cultures and colloquialisms that children living in underserved areas are exposed to, and design a contextualised experience.
Testing
User testing with children is always a fun experience! Their unrestrained feedback and honest remarks helped in optimising the game to a great extent. The session was accompanied with a teacher who asked relevant questions from the story to see if the digital experience was as effective as the traditional method. We sealed the design process once we achieved that, and the smiles of the children. :)
