BRIEF: Produce a prototype of your project "Fishtopia" - an interactive design that effectively utilises interactivity to engage and teach someone something using Adobe XD.
CLIENT: Produce
CONCEPT: UX Game Design, Illustration
APPLICATIONS: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD
YEAR: 2022REFLECTION: This was my first time using Adobe XD, so I was quite nervous, however, once I started it was a breeze! I found it amazing and fun to see my game design idea unfold into an actual app without having to use any code or animations. The entire game idea gave a fully functional experience of what the final app would be like. I found it quite challenging to keep track of hundreds of screens by the end of it though, and my laptop couldn't function as well. Regardless, it was a fun and interesting journey through which I learned a lot about UX and how intense and detailed functional prototyping can be.
SYNOPSIS: The product I am designing is called ‘Fishtopia’. This is an educational children’s interactive role-play gaming app mainly to be played on the iPad which addresses the issue of overfishing through a fun interactive manner where the user has to first choose a method of fishing they wish to use, they are given a brief overview of the method along with an image and its name, once a method is chosen, it is rated out of 5 stars based on its sustainability. For example, a highly sustainable method would get 5 stars in comparison to an unsustainable method which would get a 1 star. Based on the rating, they are then shown a message with a consequence of their choice, the sustainable choice gives them a positive message and impact such as “X species is no longer extinct due to the choice YOU made!” whereas, the unsustainable method choice gives them a warning and a negative impact such as, “X species have now gone extinct due to the choice YOU made.” Further explaining the method and why it is considered unsustainable. This not only teaches children about overfishing but also that their choices have a consequence that may impact the world in a positive or negative way, hence, choose wisely.
To catch the fish, they must tap the screen repeatedly in a set amount of time, while the unsustainable choice may give them more fish when selling the fish, the shop owner may refuse to buy from you because of your unsustainable fishing methods or buy them for a lower rate than they would if you had chosen a sustainable method. In comparison, the shop owners may occasionally give you gifts that have rare items if you’re consistently sustainable with your fishing methods. Additionally, the users can go to different locations to catch different species of fish and plants, this makes it realistic and takes away the repeat factor making it more interactive for the users.
The users can also go back and track all their past catches in the logbook found in the menu, here, the catches are sorted into two different categories, marine plants, and animals to make it easier for the users to keep track and differentiate the two. The logbook is a log of all the user’s previous catches which gives additional information about the plants and fish such as the scientific name, lifespan, phylum, kingdom, health rating (e.g., great or near extinction), and where they were caught along with a video clip to get further information about the species such as what they look like and how would you sustainably fish them in the real world, their health and how you can help preserve them if they are on a risk of extinction making it educational for the users.
For further gameplay and interactivity, the game also includes a store where users can buy fishing rods, boats, bait, etc. from the coins they earn by selling the catches which give them a boost while fishing to help catch more fish which is then stored in the ‘equipment’ tab in the menu where the users can go back, select, and choose from their wide collection.
