Games That Can Have Social Impact - Jane Ji
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Passion should be what drives the creativity behind our games. When you deal with subject matter that rarely would become a theme for a game expected to be a commercial success, you need passion and perseverance to make games that have social impact. Our genuine concern about biodiversity and ecosystems inspired us to create innovative game mechanisms that fit well with the nature of the content we would need to create iBiome, a game series that teaches kids about environmental science. Worried about the future of our children, two concerned moms decided to fight back with educational games that they believe will engage kids in environmental stewardship. With none partnership and less than $2000 of marketing budget to start with, we went through a path that has led us to where we are today: awards, iTunes store features and two games in the series. Find out how far we are from success after four abandoned prototypes, countless failure to sell to k-12 schools and struggle to raise funds.
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Games That Can Have Social Impact - Jane Ji
- 1. Springbay Studio Ltd. Committed to making great educational games to help people appreciate and understand the beauty of the natural world that surrounds them. Design Games with Social Impact
- 2. Connected with the environmental cause
- 3. How can we make it?
- 4. A game about ecosystems
- 5. What gameplay is appropriate for ecosystems? Sand-box, simulation and park management Puzzle and logical thinking
- 6. Initial version - a god game
- 7. Make the food web itself fun to play
- 8. Make Biology rules the game
- 9. Initial launch “iBiome-Wetland is a beautifully designed and well-researched game that engages students quickly.” - Mike Farley Gr.7 Teacher University of Toronto Schools
- 11. ”See what happens when you add extra of one species to your biome. Students will see right away how species depend on one another and how easy it is for an ecosystem to get off-balance. “- American Association of School Librarians Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2015 Unique virtual experiments on ecosystems
- 12. Featured by the iTunes Store worldwide five times https://youtu.be/_im63C4Hklw
- 13. Explore the natural balance of ocean habitats. Build diverse and intricate ecosystems Celebrate the rich diversity of sea life. Study the human impact on our oceans Oceanic ecosystems
- 14. Introduction of the ecological interaction between us and the oceans. Oceans and Us!
- 15. Build and see how different everyday items such as cars and water bottles, create challenges for sea life. Learn our responsibility as environmental stewards through stories. How can everyone help?
- 16. Example: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9 Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic. Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9 Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.5 Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.7 Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2 Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.3 Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.8 Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area. Reading Science/Technical Source: Common Sense Education BrainPop https://www.commonsense.org/education/app/ibiome-wetland https://www.brainpop.com/games/ibiomewetlandschooledition/
- 17. Example: MS-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Next Generation Science Standards 5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. MS-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Source: Common Sense Education https://www.commonsense.org/education/app/ibiome-wetland
- 18. • Using chart to ask kids to identify the ecological roles for the species in the game • Ask students to draw a diagram of the entire food web for any habitat Handy lesson plans Env Pro Con Prey Pred Env Pro Con Prey Pred Soil Wasp Sun Hoverfly Water Willow Algae Viceroy Butterfly Cabomba Mosquito Water Lily Dragonfly Snail Blue-winged Teal Pickerelweed Red-winged Blackbird • Use Post Game Analysis to drive further thinking
- 19. Online http://www.schools.springbaystudio.com/ Easy access via Online and Tablets iPad iBiome-Wetland School Edition https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ibiome-wetland-school- edition/id1069411327 iBiome-Ocean https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibiome- ocean/id1207917622?mt=8 • Download the apps with the Apple’s Volume Purchase Plan to save 50% • Install the app on your school iPads/ iPad mini • Start engaging your students with a fun learning game. • Select the right subscription to fit for your class, school and district. • Contact us to finish your subscription • Share your login info with your students • Start engaging your students with a fun learning game.
- 20. “We are polluting the ocean more than we think." Children validated our mission https://schools.springbaystudio.com/Student_feedback_summary.docx "I learned that everything is impacted by us and that we need to be careful with what we throw out and recycle.” - Students learned how ecosystems are impacted by changes in species’ population. - Students learned how modern technologies can contribute to environmental damage and also how they can use these technologies in an environmentally sustainable way. - Students liked building virtual biodomes, and receiving rewards for their work and were motivated to keep playing. Key findings from a students survey report
- 21. Follow us: @SpringbayStudio #SeaStudent Like us: https://www.facebook.com/SpringbayStudio Visit us: https://schools.springbaystudio.com
Editor's Notes
- Hello everyone. My name is Jane Ji, co-founder and president of Springbay Studio. When my cofounder and I started our studio, we wanted to develop casual games from the female perspective. We wanted our games aligned with the values that we believe in: caring, nurturing and encouraging. When we developed our second IP – Living Garden, a Facebook game, I wanted to add some simulation of the ecosystems into your virtual gardens. Like taking care of the critters there, attract critters from your friends’ gardens to yours, and etc. For that, I was doing research on pollinators. Very soon, I was shocked by the environmental issues surrounding bees and pesticides. I knew about pollutions, WWF and Green Peace, but like most of people, I never thought that I can do anything about it other than being a responsible citizen. But as a mother, I couldn’t stop from my research on environmental issues, because I need to know how the situation affects my children. I was very actively learning about this, and came across some respectful scientists who inspired me to do what I do now: David Suzuki, James Hensen, James Lovelock. It was a critical turning point in my career as a game designer and game developer.
- We understood the ability for games to engage people. Games are powerful forms of media that can be used to carry important messages. We wanted to Engage Students in Environmental Stewardship through Game-based Learning. For a few years, this image stayed as the wallpaper of my laptop. The challenge for environmental crisis is huge, the challenge to of breaking into the serious game sector was scary. It’s just like this polar bear in the photo. It needs to reach to the other end. The question is how can we make it?
- Environmental crisis is a social, political, economical issue. It’s so complicated that the science of biology, ecology and earth seemed too difficult for many to try and understand. To make educational games about environmental issues, we want to focus on the science behind this complex problem, and give kids a solid foundation about our relationship with nature: we are not gods who manipulate the natural world to our every whim. We are part of nature and we need to live with nature in harmony. To that end, we want to start with ecosystems, one of core mechanisms of how nature works.
- We started to look for inspirations. Like the “Sim Parks” from Maxis studio. A sand-box simulation and park management game. However, how to make your park profit and then grow your park is kind of far from the ecosystem theme we want to build. Economies don’t exist in nature. Ecosystems are about the food webs, the connections among species. One game got my interest is a puzzle game called “Doodle God”. It’s about thinking logically and discovering new elements by combining unlocked elements. Kind of like how food web works, energy and nutrition flow from the source to the upper levels.
- This was the initial version of our first iBiome game – iBiome-Wetland. By combining sun, water and soil, you can unlock plants. Combining those plants unlocked the animals that depend on them.
- But there are two problems: first, from our user test, kids did not understand why combining certain plants unlocked animals, as they first had to learn about food webs to make the correct guesses. Second, we are talking about food webs. This kind of gameplay is typical “God” mode, players “create” species. Even kids can guess what species to combine together to create another species, it’s too human centric. So we decided to try another approach: can we make the food web itself fun to play? So we changed the gameplay to be a drag-and-drop matching puzzle: we called “Crazy Web”: with a group of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components, players need to figure out who is playing what role, environment, producer, consumer, etc.
- Biology rules the game. When you are building a biodome, you need to introduce species to your dome in a certain order. All game levels are designed based on the food pyramid. Each game level, called “Current Task” in the game, contains one or two species for kids to learn about. Once players complete the task by playing “Crazy Web”, they will get the next task that will introduce them to more species from bottom up along the food pyramid. To make it more challenging, we want kids to apply what they learn about the food webs, and make all species in their virtual biodome flourish by changing the amount of one species at a time.
- If you follow me, you probably notice that I have not talked about business yet. In fact, we did think about partnerships at the beginning. We went to serious game related events and approached a few environmental non profit organizations and government agencies. But we did not draw the interest that we hoped. At that time, we noticed that some educational apps got some impressive success. Rather than waiting for partnerships and funding to be ready, we funded our first iBiome game – iBiome-Wetland and launched it in the iTunes store in 2014. On the day of our initial launch, it was so quiet that there was no downloads, no media, no one noticed what we did except us and our friends. You can imagine how disappointed we were. One of the teachers, Mr. Mike Farley, played the demo of our games before our official launch. His positive feedback was our only hope. After a week, we saw our first five star review on the iTunes store. But there were so many things we need to learn: marketing, app-store optimization. Operating on a limited marketing budget, we tried to free our app or reduced our app price in order to get parents attention.
- After the first four months of app launch, we got the first award for “iBiome-Wetland”. Then, one after the other, our game got 5 awards in 2015.
- The recognitions from parents and teachers helped us got some government funding to make the sequel: iBiome-Ocean. Comparing to its predecessor, this game got featured by the iTunes store world-wide at its debut and four other update releases.
- We learned from our wetland game that teachers want to use our games in their classrooms. So we listened to their feedback, and added more ecology to the ocean game as they requested. “Oceans and Us!” is a brand new feature in this game. We added some stories pieces to teach kids about three environmental challenges for oceans: plastic pollution, overfishing and ocean acidity.
- We also learned to prepare lesson plans to help teachers understand how to use our games in their classrooms.
- For different schools, they use different technologies, from iPads to Chromebooks. We built our online portal in order to provide the online access of our games.
- Selling to school is tough, even with the awards, app store features. Especially as a small indie educational game developer, we are facing the challenges of marketing, funding, as well as the product development. Have we made a successful jump? I don’t know, but I do know that kids get the important messages that we embedded in our games. We surveyed 45 middle school students at Centennial Sr. Public School in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, about their experiences playing iBiome-Ocean: School Edition. Students were asked what parts of the game they played and what they liked and disliked about the game. The results, summarized a student survey report, show iBiome-Ocean: School Edition was an engaging tool that helped students review material they were learning about ecosystems, food webs and ecology, and prepared them to be better environmental stewards. Almost all students (90 percent) surveyed did virtual experiments where they added species to the virtual ecosystems they built. Most of those students (78 percent) earned game badges associated with such experiments.