Weekly Sprint 1: Research

I have always been a very organized person. I like to have my week planned by Sunday evening, and I like to do tasks ahead of schedule. So, when I decided to change my thesis project two days before the semester began, you can imagine how quickly my schedule became a stressful mess.

For the entirety of the fall semester, I had planned on building a remote-controlled robot that could pick up garbage on a beach. While thinking over the future of my project during the winter break, it started to stress me out more than motivate me to work. So, after one restless night, I decided to change it. My main idea remained the same: I wanted to create something that would help the planet. It’s vague and massive, I know. I finally decided to develop a video game that would serve as an educational tool to teach players about the dangers facing our planet.

Coded in GameMaker, the game will be a 2D platformer game with a variety of levels. Each level will represent a different habitat that is endangered, and the character will feature a species that needs to be protected. I initially started my objectives with eight levels (one per habitat) and three mini games. However, after accessing my skills and the time required for each level, I started to realize that I would prefer to have a few quality levels rather than a lot of lower-quality levels.

This week was focused on research, familiarizing myself with the GameMaker software, narrowing down my ideas, updating Trello, and finding and creating game assets to use in each level. Other than the board game that I created in sixth grade, I have never made a game in my life. So now you’re probably thinking “why not do something you are good at and already know?” or “Are you nuts?! What are you doing to yourself??” Well, I always want to learn new things, and I will never know if I can do something if I don’t try it!

Want to watch my progress? Visit my thesis website!