The Game Design Document [.pdf]

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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
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