Alien Alphies Shape Sorter

Evaluation

I am very pleased with how the game turned out it looks exactly how i envisioned it. i tried to get a good balance between the visual side of it ( the art work, characters, buttons and backdrops ect) and the technical side of it (coding and the actually assembling the pages and making sure they all work properly with no glitches)   and i think it payed off. obviously if i had more time i could have improved both sides of it by adding more detailed artwork and going far more in depth with the coding.
in terms of the educational side of it, it helps the names and look of the shapes stay in the kids head and after talking to my auntie who is a professional child minder and part time teacher she thinks that it is an effective tool for learning and gets the balance right between education and fun. that brings me on to the the replayability, after unleashing it on my aunties kids they all seemed to love it, BUT i will need to add more levels if i want them to keep playing it!
The sounds i have used seem to fit and add to the game positively if i had more time i would have added a few more but didn't want to over do it to much!  
So in conclusion i feel the project went well with the time that i had and i think that i have learnt a lot about flash, sound and interface design that i can apply to projects in the future. :)

Flow Chart

Game Proposal, Initial Art Work and Mind Maps.

After much deliberation i have decided to make a drag and drop style shape sorting game called "alien Alphies Shape Sorter"  the story line behind the game is, an alien called alphie travels to earth to learn about shapes and its the kids job to teach him!
the reason i chose this idea is because it covers a lot of good game design aspects for 5-7 year old kids like: having a non human character (an alien), making it educational, being able to use bright colours, ability to include interesting graphics and sounds.
The sot of shapes i will use will be split into 2 levels easy and hard, the easy section will include: Squares, Circles and Triangles. The hard section will include: Rectangles, Pentagons and Octagons. I have done research into  shapes for this age group and have proof from my paper prototype that kids can do this and learn something from it!

Here is some initial art work for my game, i was exploring different types of aliens.

In the end i decided to go with the one in the bottom right corner as its simple and i think it looks good. also i can easily change the expressions, stance and can apply him to most enviroments.

Below is my Intitial Game Ideas i decided to use post it notes because it was abit more creative some parts are hidden under some of the post it notes, but this would take far to much time to scan in (i still have the paper coppy if needed.) 

 

 Here is a diagram of my initial ideas made using postit notes and pens, you cant see all of the parts as some are hidden but i still have the papper copys if needed.

 now ive got all this out the way its time to get cracking with the final project!

 

 

Research into kids Interfaces.

In order to make a decent game with a working and effective interface i need to do a lot of research into what is already out there and get some helpful advise from industry professionals! in this section i will show some of the research i have done and show some examples. 

Here is a effective interface for about the same age group im aiming for (5-7) 

The first thing that hits you about this is the bright, vibrant and primary colour scheme used this will clearly appeal to kids in the target age group. the second thing iv noticed is how simple the layout is all the buttons are big and extremely visible and the graphics are good enough to hold a kids attention but not to in "in your face" to cause distraction/confusion. the use of a "printable" section is a nice touch as the kid could use it to go and brag to his mates or parents about how well he/she did, adding a sense of competition and replayablilty.  another thing to take note of is the use of a non human character, a monkey called curious George, kids of this age group are said to relate to non human characters better than human characters.  

The points i will take away from this interface are: To keep it simple, use bright interesting colours, develop interesting visuals, don't over clutter the page and come up with a non human character that the kid can relate to.

This is another example of a good Kids interface.

This is more of a space age/ technology inspired interface, you can tell bu the use of a control panel style hub  with buttons, screens and spaceships. again the colours are simple and eye catching, the buttons are simple (maybe not as simple as the last example) and there is enough content to keep the kid interested. the one down side is the advertising banner it ruins the look of the interface and cant see kids being interested in it. 

They key thing to note here is that all the games are EDUCATIONAL! i need to ensure that kids learn something from my game aswell.  

  

Paper Prototype

This is my paper prototype for my game called Alien Alphies Shape Sorter. this is an extremely simplified version of my game and the final out come will both look a lot more impressive and may differ in terms of layout and length. 

Research Interface Design Principles

User Interface Design is the design of applications and programs, focusing on the user's experience and interaction. The main goal of user interface design is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as possible.
The main principles to consider when designing an interface are....

1. STRUCTURE! the design should be organised to fit the purpose for making it in the fistplace, keep it clear and cosistant keeping related things together and separating the unrealated. structure should be aplied to all interface design.
2. KEEP IT SIMPLE! make the design as simple as posible, making a user over think is never a good idea! make common tasks easy and fast, and provide short cuts for more complex things.
3. MAKE IT VISIBLE! all the important info/buttons need to be visible, clear and easy to find. dnt distract the user with non essential info and graphics that distract from the subject.
4. KEEP ME INFORMED! make sure you users are aware of the actions they have taken, for example using a bread crum trail allows the user to know where they have been. also updating the user if something goes wrong. just make sure this is kept CONCISE and to the point...
5. MAKE IT FLEXIBLE! this is to reduce the amount of mistakes that can be made by the user, this can be done by simply adding an back or undo button.
6. RECYCLE, RECYLE, REUSE! by reusing cmponents you can maintain consistency, and reduce your work load considerably.