The two Rangers vs. Planners players use coordination, and Sprout technology, to design a realistic city, manage the city’s development challenges, and balance the needs of the humans and animals inhabiting the city. Packer and Morelli used Sprout’s 3D scanning technology, which can be used to turn your desk into both a physical and digital workplace, to design the game – users just put an object on the touch mat, hit “Scan,” and the technology captures a 3D color image of the object, so they can build a 3D model.
“We created a virtual world which is altered by the actions on a board game,” explained Packer. “One player takes on the role of a city planner, rolling the dice to collect resources and allocating those resources into various buildings which they place on a map. These buildings increase the player’s score, but also have an environmental consequence for the other player within the digital world.”
A city’s wildlife population is very vulnerable. Player Two has to take care of the animals by designating necessary construction-free zones in the city. Their score is based on how healthy they’ve managed to keep the environment. The final score tabulation for the two players is made up of a total of the scores based on development and environmental protection.
Packer and Morelli are both interested in discovering more ways to increase the use and play of hybrid games, such as the one they created together. This is a relatively new genre in games, but it’s good that they were accepted into the Meaningful Play Conference, as it brings together industry professionals and scholars to understand and improve upon games. The primary conference themes are exploring meaningful applications of games, and issues people come up with when designing meaningful play. Packer and Morelli also believe that educational games, especially paired with new technology like 3D scanning and printing, have endless opportunities.
“Not many people realize what is possible with this new technology,” said Morelli. “During our game design phase we uncovered the prospect of helping individuals with a variety of disabilities. From motor to cognitive impairments, I see numerous ways this technology can change the way people live their lives.”
3D printing and scanning definitely play a major role in educational games these days, from the Kideville Kit to the interactive Little Designer book. We definitely hear a lot about the technology being used for younger students, but I think Packer and Morelli’s new game is a really fun and important way to bring the technology to a university setting. Discuss in the HP Sprout forum at 3DPB.com.
[Source/Images: Central Michigan University]