shroom hunters
an interactive game-like experience that allows the user to embark on a journey helping a mushroom find his lost friends while learning about fungi in a fun and interactive way.
final design.
an immersive and gamified interactive experience for young science museum goers, enabling them to explore a captivating hand-drawn world while assisting a mushroom find its lost friends. Through this experience, users will learn about various mushrooms and their characteristics.
title screen
The title screen features the shroom hunters logo, a prompt to play now, as well as social and website links
introduction screen
The introduction screen serves to introduce the user to the game's story inviting them to help "fun guy"
tutorial
The tutorial teaches users the controls by walking them through the locations and function of each button.
map screen
the map screen is the playing area where users can search for the missing mushrooms.
mushroom journal
The mushroom journal serves as a record of all the mushrooms a user has caught or has yet to catch.
found mushroom
The found mushroom popup occurs after a user encounters a new mushroom.
prototype.
A kiosk or tablet for use in a museum, science center, or exhibit that allows an under stimulated museum goer to engage hands on with educational material by searching for lost mushrooms. Users can learn about the individual characteristics of mushrooms in a fun and accessible way.
project goals.
Gamification
make the learning experience feel like a game not a lesson plan.
Accessibility
Intuitive navigation with limited interaction needed making it useable for kids.
Education
teach users about mycology and different types of fungi.
increase engagement
allow users to fully engage with the fungi learning material.
research phase
the research phase was spent doing competitive analysis on existing products as well as developing a moodboard and wireframes to establish a visual direction from which i could start designing.
competitive analysis
Current mushroom foraging games focus on a collect and sell gameplay loop rather than education. They typically have realistic graphics and are not geared towards children or people unfamiliar with video game controls due to a lack of onboarding.
moodboard
An illustrated, colorful, kid-friendly design based on existing children's games and apps like club penguin or toca boca. Incorporate hand drawn elements to add a friendly touch to the characters and environment.
wireframes
initially I created low fidelity wireframes in order to visualize how I wanted to layout the app. Though this changed a decent amount through the iteration process, the essence of these low fidelity wireframes is still present in the final product.
design iterations
in design, iteration is everything and a lot of iterations went into what eventually became the final design. Learn about my thought and design process by looking through them.
iteration 1
For my first design iteration, I created a title page that was in 3d as i initially planned to create the game in a 3d environment. This plan changed however due to the timeline of the project as well as the design direction moving toward more hand drawn elements.
iteration 2
For my second design iteration, I started to create the world map that the mushrooms will be hidden within. Initially I was happy with the direction this was headed, but after some thought I wasn't satisfied with the map being only one environment, it felt cramped.
iteration 3
For my third design iteration, I expanded the map to include several different environments and added a road system connecting them all. I also added the map zoom feature due to the increased size of the map. I started to conceptualize the mushroom journal, but didn't like how much of the screen is covered by the journal in this iteration.
project takeaways
My main takeaway this project was the art of keeping things simple. initially I wanted to create this project in 3d, but after finishing the final product I could not be happier with the hand drawn elements. the simplicity of the design creates a unique and cohesive style throughout the app.
