Making ecology learning fun through videogames

Jens Vanderhaeghe

CSC 895 - Culminating Experience Report

12/15/2016
 

Outline

• Ecology Learning
• What is World of Balance?
  • Overview of minigames

• Project Timeline
• Technical achievements & work
  • Team Lead
  • Git & Github
  • Code Styleguide
  • Wiki
  • Improved deployment
  • Improved software architecture
  • Android Version
• Lessons Learned
• Conclusion

Ecology learning

• Can be frustrating for kids
• Hard to stay focused
• Time Consuming
• Easy to get distracted
• Not interactive

Video Games

• Extremely popular medium
• Interactive
• Kids love games
• Rich audio and visual experience
• Collaborative

World of Balance

• Simulation of Serengeti Ecosystem
• Based on real simulation data
• Multiplayer
• Fun is the first priority
• Technical 
  • Based on Unity
  • Servers in Java
  • using ATN Simulation Engine

World of Balance

6 minigames

• Clash of Species
• Running Rhino
• Don't Eat Me
• A Sea Divided
• Convergence
• Cards of Wild

• Connected by Central Lobby

Lobby

• Central Home location
• Where users join minigames
• Users buy and maintain tiles
• Environment score based on real simulation data

Features

Central Chat System

Store: Buy animals & plants

Clash of Species

• Based on Clash of Clans
• Multiplayer 3D game
• 3 phases
  • Attack Setup
  • Defense Setup
  • Battle

Gameplay

• prey & predator relationships
• Strategic
• Rewarded for studying relationships
• Plants for defense

Don't Eat me

• Singleplayer
• Plants vs Zombies
• Match Prey & Predator
• Short
  • High Satisfaction
  • Easy to learn

Gameplay

• Predators move from right to left
• Match predator with prey
• Defend your plants!
• Real foodweb relationships

The game uses real animal relationships

Defend your plants by feeding predators in time

Cards of Wild

• Based on HearthStone
• Cards Game
• Multiplayer  - 1 VS 1
• More complex
• Competitive
• Rewards Strategic players

Gameplay

• Turn Based
• Rock / Paper/ Scissors
• Real strengths and weaknesses
• Knowledge and strategy is rewarded

Gameplay

• Destroy opponent Tree of life
• Each card or attack has a cost
• spend "Mana" to use cards
• Must spend Mana wisely

Running Rhino

• Infinite Racer
• Up to 4 players
• Very easy to learn
• Animals have different
  • Speed
  • Agility
  • Strength
• Based on real animal data

A Sea Divided

• Underwater game
• Multiplayer
• Competitive
• Underwater ecosystem
• Rich 3D Graphics

Gameplay

• 180 seconds rounds
• Eat as much fish as possible
• Beware of the predator
• And your opponent!
• Strategy rewarded
  • Lure predator to opponent
  • Study fish relationships

Convergence

• Fully Science Based Game
• Backed by ATN Simulation Engine
• Single- and Multi- Player
• Results contribute to research

Gameplay

• Goal: "Converge" graphs
  • Start Graph
  • End Graph
• Sliders: modify biomass
• Closest player wins
• Lots of information to study
  • Realtime results
  • Foodweb with relationships

Improving Fun Factor

• Convergence was "boring"
  • Lots of graphs
  • Lots of data
  • Not rewarding
• Solution
  • Introduced betting system
    • Competitive
    • Rewards Strategy
  • Graphical 

Project Timeline

Spring 2016

• Class with 35 students
• Team Lead and Project Manager
• Introduction of Git
• Clean-up of existing codebase

Fall 2016

• work in Small group of Master's Students
• Fix bugs
• Prepare for release
• Tests with focus groups

Problem Statement

• Very Large codebase built over the years
• Different programming styles and methods
• No source control
• Technical 
• Lack of documentation
• Many hidden bugs and features
• 35 students
  • Not everyone is familiar with Unity
  • Varying levels (undergrad and Master's)

Team Lead

• CSC 831: Multiplayer Game Development
• 35 students
  • Different skill-levels
  • Different backgrounds
  • Different interests
• Very large codebase
• Limited timeframe

Git & Github

• Allows all students to collaborate
• Issue tracking
• Fixing Merge Conflicts
• Full history of all changes
• Allows parallell development of features using branching

Code Styleguides

• Uniformity across all code
• With 30+ developers
  • Rules are required
  • Everyone must make concessions
• Improved readability
• Improved maintanance
• must be enforced!

Wiki-page

• Central
• Easy to maintain
• Easy to update
• Everyone can contribute
• Huge success: over 40 contributors!

Improved Deployment

Old Server Deployment System

• Manual
• Error Prone
• Server would constantly go down
• No roll-back
• Hard to maintain
• Hard to track bugs

Continuous Deployment

New Architecture

• Every Server is now standalone
• Improves reliability
• Improves redundancy
• Improves maintainability
• Reliable data-flow

Android version

• Mobile is a massive platform
• Android is the biggest mobile platform
• Basic version of World of Balance for Android
  • Clash of Species
  • Lobby
• UI Improvements
• Optimise for touch

Lessons Learned

Teamwork requires rules & coordination

• Developers with different skill levels

• Developers with different levels of passion towards the project
• Code Styleguides increase overall productivity
• Source control & branching improve collaboratoin

Failure to meet a goal does not fail the project

• Large project

• Always re-prioritize
• Beware of scope creep

Automate repetitive tasks

• Large project

• Always re-prioritize
• Beware of scope creep

Lessons Learned

Games should be fun in the first place

• Nobody wants to play games that are not fun

• You have to keep the attention of the player

• Create mechanisms so players come back 

• Make games competitive

Avoid too much complexity in games

• Complex games are hard to learn

• adhere to "easy to learn" - "hard to master"

Presentation and sound matter

• Sound effects increase immersion

• Great visuals improve learning

• Use a clear and consistent style across the entire project

Conclusion

• Great Project with a lot of variety
• Learned a lot
  • Games
  • Ecology
  • Software Engineering skills
  • Teamwork
  • Personal skills
• Special thanks to:
  • Dr. Yoon
  • Dr. Kulkarni
  • David Hoff
  • Abhilash Shrivastiva
  • All developers

Questions?