The Game Design Document [.pdf]

Heartland Game Design Document
Michael Pratt
Experimental Game Design
Overview
Heartland is an educational game designed to teach kids about agricultural, sustainable
farming and how our actions can affect it. By going through the process of selecting,
planting, raising, and harvesting a selection of crops, users learn not only how farming
works but how important it is to everyone. By manipulating and balancing environmental
and socio-political factors such as pests, irrigation, and pollution, the player learns more
about how they interact to bring food to our tables.
Artist's Statement
I want to create this game because many kids don't know exactly where food comes
from. A study in the UK showed that half of children aged 8 to 11 did not know that ham
comes from pigs. This is troubling especially since when they grow up, policy decisions will
have to be made about food, and if these children grow up with a lack of understanding
about the basics of food, they may make decisions that cost them. This game aims to teach
children the importance of food and how our decisions affect our ability to grow it. Children
need to learn these topics in order to properly apply them when they are making policy in
the future. I want a simple, fun, and easy educational game that will teach children about
the basics of agriculture in a somewhat irreverent manner that I hope to be engaging and
entertaining for kids. I chose the name Heartland precisely because it is so provocative and
gives us images of the great American farming midwest, reminding us what we are trying to
protect.
There are many controversial topics that can be covered in this game. To keep it simple
and not to overwhelm the user too much, I have decided to keep the list of topics at clean
versus dirty economics, sustainable farming, and governmental assistance. All of these
topics are very important to farming and keeping food readily available yet even most
adults do not know enough about them.
The following is an example of how little many people know about agriculture.
• Kids don't know where food comes from
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/kids-dont-know-theironions-about-food-674959.html
Predecessors
One of the first predecessors to come to mind is SimFarm, an older Sim game revolving
around a farming community. This is the closest game I will come to emulating, with my
game borrowing several concepts such as a town nearby to interact with. However, this
game, like most Sim games, is very complicated and involves many non-linear factors that
may be difficult to grasp for my targetted age group.

Another similar game along this genre is 3rd World Farmer. You control the lives of a
family living in a 3rd world country, buying and planting crops and dealing with the realities
of being able to send your children to school. While the game is fairly simple, I do not see it
being engaging for young audiences, and deals with deeper social ills that may upset them.
Additionally, I do not want this game to be moving kids toward foreign aid, but simply
taking care of home first.
Another Sim game that has a similar level and style of resource balancing is Sim Earth.
While not nearly as complicated as replicating an entire planet, Heartland will borrow on the
design that while individual factors can be directly manipulated, these manipulations have a
cost and a drawback in that they also can throw other factors out of balance if you meddle
too much in the wrong directions.
Along the line of research, the following website by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency has proven incredibly useful:
http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/crop.html
The following sites have also contributed to research:
• University of California Sustainable Agriculture Program
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/Concept.htm
• Little Red Tractor - BBC Program teaching about different aspects of farms to young
children
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/littleredtractor/
Target Audience
I am aiming this game towards grade-school age children, from 5-10, to be used in both
a home and/or educational setting. The game is simple and self-explaining so as to allow
children of varying educational levels to play it. There will be no mathematics or
memorization of complicated game mechanics as everything can be seen as simple benefit
or detriment bars. The video clips explaining the mechanics of the game and real life will
use simple terms anyone can understand while still conveying the necessary meaning.
Introduction and Impact
In this game, kids will control a small farm plot and manage simplified environmental
factors such as rain and pests. Progressing through several different and increasingly
complicated crops to grow, the children learn about what it takes to grow the fruits and
vegetables that go onto their plates. I hope that these children will grow up knowing how
important some of these factors like pollution and having enough land are, as we as a
nation are beginning to clash when it comes to agricultural needs. Armed with a basic
information of what plants need to grow and how humans can affect that, these kids can
help shape policy for the better when their generation is in charge.
Storyline
The rough goal of the player is outlined by their mentor, a second farmer named Stan,
characterized by a typical stocky, slightly overweight, plaid-and-overalls wearing man with a
piece of straw hanging out of their mouth. Stan is an older, experienced farmer teaching the

player how to bring up different crops and wants to challenge them. The objective is to beat
Stan's previous record in the country fair by producing bigger, better, juicier, etc. produce.
To do that, you must make your crop grow perfectly, reducing factors such as birds (who
may eat the crop), pollution (which makes it worth less, less tasty and such), and water
(crops won't grow well with too much or too little water). A goal is set, the previous record,
with the stakes being seeds for of Stan's other crops. In order to progress through the
game, the player must be a better farmer than Stan and acquire his crops. The player's own
records will stand in order for them to set and break their own former scores. The difficulty
level determines how hard it is to bring the factors into balance and also how high the
previous record is.
Delivery System
The game will be programmed in Python using the PyGame package. The game will be
exclusively distributed over the internet with optional bundle to install Python and Pygame if
the user does not have the interpreter.
Interface
Interaction with the game is meant to be simple. A isometric view of the world will show
the farming area, simplified and scaled down in order to fit on one screen with no scrolling
or other movement needed to see any part of your plot. Plants, trees, birds, pests, etc can
all be seen in this main view. The main view will also display how well the environmental
factors are doing: Too many pests will result in bugs appearing, too many birds and they
will start to land on your crop.
The player will be able to more accurately see each individual environmental factor in a
bar along the left. A simple plus/minus/star system will represent how well the factor is
being handled: Pluses mean you need more of that factor, minuses mean you need less,
and up to three stars indicate how close to balanced the factor is. A tool bin next to the
gauge allows the selection of tools to handle that environmental factor. For example, if
there are too many pests, the player can click one of tool bin icons and activate a crop
duster, which they can then direct with their mouse in order to cover the entire field. Money
is, instead of a limited in-out factor in most games, a simple build up "power" factor to
prevent the player from being able to just continually keep spraying pesticides and using
irrigation, for example.
Current crop yield and quality (score per yield) will be displayed as further gauges along
the bottom left. The player starts off with no yield, a low quality crop, and a bit of money,
which they must use to get their seedling crops above the ground. The player must continue
to keep the crops in balance and quality high until harvest time, at which point the final
score is taken and determined whether it beats last year's record.
A secondary view will be of the nearby Town, in which players can help direct the politics
and economics behind their farm. For example, they can at certain times request
government money, which will allow the money factor to recharge faster, or lobby to keep
major road projects away from the farm. These concepts will be briefly explained by a
narrator explaining the importance and will require little player involvement (simply

equesting roads stay away automatically grants it, for example) in order to show the user
what happens but not require them to balance economic and socio-political issues as well as
their own environment. The town will also serve as the menu in between games, with
different buildings serving as menu options (Town hall changes player, or a road out of town
quits the game, for example)
User Interaction
Most environmental factors will be activated by the user upon clicking the appropriate
interface icon, which then changes their mouse cursor into the appropriate manipulator.
Each factor will have a "basic" manipulator which costs very little money but does not have
a huge effect on the crop, which is useful for the start of the level. These manipulators will
be held on the cursor and activated repeatedly or continuously, with each activation
consuming money and affecting the crop without removing the tool. Examples of these tools
will be a water nozzle, pest swatter, or the popular "Dog Bark" tool to scare away birds.
Other tools, purchased later in the game, will be placed on the crop and work continuously
for a short time, consuming money as they are placed and continuing to affect the crop until
they disappear.
To get to the town, there will be a picture of the town on the interface near the
sunflower. Clicking that pauses the simulation and brings the user to the town. Different
buildings will activate different features, for example, the town hall will allow the player to
help pass or decline certain laws, and the bank will allow the player to apply for grants/
loans. All these interfaces will be very simple and explained by the narrator when they first
become available, and can be re-explained with a help button.
Level Design
Levels will be designed based on the crop they are growing. Potatoes will be grown in a
wide open field, corn and wheat will be grown in large circular fields, apples will be grown in
rows of trees. The game will be roughly tile based, though the user themselves cannot
select exactly how the tiles can grow. The tile growth and progression is determined by the
environmental factors. If conditions are right for planting, a tilled tile may turn into a plant
tile. If there are too many pests, tiles may start to exhibit insects. Tile growth parameters
will be defined in the level file, with separate parameters describing each difficulty level.
The Town
The town will be the hub of all activity not related directly to the fields. It will consist of a
few options to the player beyond the standard save, load, and exit. One simple option is to
return to the fields. Another will be the town hall, where the player may lobby for or against
policies that will affect their farm. Some policies will be outright beneficial or detrimental to
the player and they must take the correct action to give them better or easier success.
Other policies will be controversial and will both help and harm the player in different ways.
It will be up to the player to determine which side they want to go with depending on their
current situation. A short list of possible policies is below:
Build a large commercial airport, increasing pollution significantly and allowing

cropdusters on demand.
Build a small rural airport, increasing pollution slightly and allowing cropdusters, but less
frequently.
Create a city-wide composing initiative, reducing fertilizer costs.
Require genetically modified foods to be marked, helping your final score if you are all
natural but hurting it if you are not.
Allow cloud seeding, costing money up front but increasing natural rain overall.
Open lands initiative, increasing public open spaces. Increases bee and bird populations.
The Environment
Most of the game is about balancing environmental factors. A key component to this is
that different factors will affect each other in unique ways that the players must learn.
Below is a rough draft of the factors, how the player can manipulate them, and how they
will interact with each other.
Water: The most simple of the factors, the crop's water level will decrease over time,
faster on sunny days. Water can be increased naturally through rain, or by the player
activating a water nozzle or placing a water sprayer. Ideal water conditions depend on the
crop. Water will decrease faster the more water there is, making it harder to maintain crops
with high water demands.
Pests: The bane of any crop, pests should be always kept at a minimum. The player can
remove pests by swatting at them or placing a "Big Bag-o-Bugs" which will attract and kill
the bugs. Pests reproduce exponentially, so they must be kept under control or their
population can explode very fast.
Birds: Certain crops don't mind birds, certain crops are eaten by birds. More birds can
reduce pests, but will also reduce bees, and in the case of fruit crops, reduce the yield. Birds
can be attracted to the area with bird houses, or driven away by dogs barking or a scare
crow. These are one time purchases from the town hall.
Pollution: Pollution should be kept at minimal levels to increase crop yield and quality.
Pollution will also drive away birds, pests, and bees. Pollution can be reduced by policies in
the town hall, and by setting aside part of your land for a forest.
Nutrients: Most crops must be continually fertilized, and each crop is different. Increasing
fertilization will increase the yield, but it will also increase pollution and pests. Nutrients can
be spread by a spreader truck throwing fertilizer or sprayed.
Bees: Some crops need to be pollenated, and bees are the answer. Local bee population
can be increased by policy in the town hall, setting aside part of your own land for a forest,
or by hiring beekeepers to place hives. Bee populations are reduced by birds and pollution.
The Crops and Difficulty Settings
The following common, easily recognizable crops will be featured in the game, in order of
difficulty and deliciousness. The crops were picked with the following criterion: Later crops
should be roughly more difficult to grow, be more "interesting" or tasty, and operate on a
seasonal basis. For this reason Apples was struck from the running as I could not figure a
way to incorporate the trees already having been grown and decided the Apple level would

e boring. Note that the controls needed for each level do not match exactly with actual
agricultural practices, but I tried to make them match as much as possible.
Potatoes. The potato level will include water and pest control. This crop was chosen as a
starter because it grows below ground and is very hardy.
Wheat. The wheat level will require water and pest control, as well as introduce the policy
decisions. Wheat will require slightly less water but be more sensitive to pests.
Corn. This level requires a third control, birds. Corn will require moderate amounts of
water, be about as sensitive to pests, but very sensitive to birds.
Tomates. This crop will require a fourth, fertilization. Tomatoes require quite a bit of
water and fertilization.
Pumpkin. This crop requires a fifth, pollenation. Pumpkins require lots of water and
fertilization. While not strictly as large scale of an agricultural crop as the rest, pumpkins
still are grown and harvested. This crop and the next also act as rewards, being more
"interesting" than the others.
Strawberries. This final crop introduces no new requirements but each requirement
affects the yield and quality more due to the delicate nature of the plants. Lack of water,
too many birds or pests, all can devastate the crop yield.
There will be three difficulty settings. Easy, Medium, and Hard. Easy mode is as above,
with a maximum of five factors to balance. Medium mode introduces pollution to every
level, with each level being more sensitive to the pollution. Hard mode introduces no more
factors but each factor affects the yield, quality, and each other more.
Music and Sound
Sound will be whimsical and fun, not necessarially realistic. Some sound effects may
roughly be based on noises made by kids when playing with toy tractors rather than the
noises a tractor would actually make when tilling a field. Music will be upbeat, not too fast
but not too slow, in a jaunty but simple tone.
Art Design
The art of the game will be simple and clean-looking hand drawn and colored art. The
crops will be personified, with facial features such as eyes and sometimes mouths.
Machinery will be simplified and brightly colored. The only human, Stan, will have
exaggerated proportions, with a large head, hands and feet. If time permits, I would like to
animate the crops and the narrator flower to "dance" to the beat of the music, though this
will be a low priority. All art will have the same flat, cartoon, outlined style to maintain a
simple theme throughout the game.
Rules, Gameplay, Scoring
The game cannot be completely lost, keeping with a traditional supportive structure for
education and children's games. In order to progress to the next level, the current crop
must provide a certain amount of "yield" for the season. Below this amount and the player
must redo the current level. The player increases their yield by keeping environmental

factors in balance. The closer they are to being balanced, the faster yield increases. If the
environment is completely out of whack, the yield may decrease in harder difficulty levels
due to rot or infestation. Instead of fighting to beat a level, in this game it is simply an
attempt to beat it more efficiently, with higher yield, and a shorter time.
Three factors are used to calculate the final score: Quality of the product, which is
affected by how much pollution there was and whether or not the product was genetically
engineered. Quantity of the product, which is the yield of the season and is affected by how
well the factors were balanced. Asking for more money will decrease the end score, but only
by enough to keep players from abusing the feature. Stan has kept his eyes on you and will
judge the player and decrease the score accordingly if they used gene-modified seeds or
asked for too much money.
Once the final scoring has occurred, the record is either broken or not. If the record was
not broken, the player can try again. If it is broken, Stan gives the player the seeds,
unlocking the next level and allowing the player to continue.
A few other "fun" statistics that have no other effect on the game are tracked and
displayed at harvest time. For example, the game will keep track of how many bugs you
squished, how many birds you barked at, and how much water you sprayed.
Program Structure
Two main game states: In town and in the field. In town can be as the main menu out of
game or as part of a current game once a game has been reloaded. In the town, the
simulation is paused. In the field unpauses the game and allows the player to manipulate
the various factors.
Each game state will be kept separate by the game and held open but hidden as long as
the game is still running. The field game state will be loaded and modified when the levels
change, whereas the town state will largely be kept around as it is the menu and is loaded
from the start. If the player has not yet loaded a game, certain in-game functions (namely
the ability to go to the fields) will not be active.
During the game in both the town and fields, at certain times a secondary window may
have to pop up, for example to show an instructional movie or to allow the player to choose
field locations. Whenever another window pops up the game is paused (if it is not already),
the rest of the screen around the window is tinted to emphasize the window, and the player
may concentrate freely on the window. Once the window is gone (either due to being over,
like for a movie, or the user has finished with it, if they selected a location) then the game
resumes back to what it was doing before.