Reuzentranen
Client: Zwijssen
Development: Springlab
Software: Unity
Role: Game design, Interaction design, UX design, Level design, Interactive storytelling
Target audience: Age group 2-4
Released: 2019
At the start of the game it becomes clear that Puk and the children are in a giant forest! With humongous trees and mushrooms as big as a child. Soon, however, they hear the sound of dripping water. The dripping water forms a puddle, the puddle becomes a pond and the pond becomes a lake!
Quickly Puk and the kids jump on giant mushrooms to avoid getting their feet wet. But the water keeps rising and soon they have to jump from leaf to leaf to get themselves to safety. But what do they keep hearing? It sounds like someone crying in the distance. They decide to climb up high in a tree to see where that sound is coming from. Climbing from branch to branch, they climb up higher and higher in the tree. Then, all of a sudden, high up in the tree they find a giant! But the giant is sad and is crying big giant tears. So that’s what caused this lake of tears!
They try to comfort him by stroking his big cheeks, by tickling him and giving him a kiss. But the giant is inconsolable because he lost his piano. Descending back to the forest floor on the giant’s hand the children look around on the forest floor for the giant’s piano. After they find the piano underneath a pile of leaves they play a song for the giant. This makes him happy again! Together the players dance to the music while the giant is laying happily on the forest floor.
Development areas
This game focuses on the following development areas:
- Socio-emotional: The children recognize the emotion of another and try to take it into account. They offer help to others. The game mainly focuses on this development area.
- Motor skills / Movement: The children jump, they crawl on their knees over a balancing surface and move to music.
- Math: They orient themselves in space and make use of spatial concepts. They experience relationships.
- Language: They understand and carry out instructions. They understand what is being said.
Vreemde Vogels was developed in collaboration with Zwijssen. The game fits within the theme 'Reuzen en kabouters' from Uk & Puk.
My role
I developed the concept in collaboration with educational specialists from Zwijssen. I translated their ideas into a feasible concept while implementing the learning goals they wanted to incorporate. We built the game in Unity , tested it with the target group multiple times and went through multiple iterations to create a truly unique experience. Furthermore I was responsible for the level design, the narrative design, the game design, testing, iterating and the user experience.