Game design - Science communication - Packaging design - Information design - Illustration
"The gameplay was the most challenging part of this project. From learning about different types of gameplay to spending countless hours testing and iterating rules and ideas."
Central proposition:
How can visual communication design educate New Zealand school children about freshwater ecosystem protection through environmental DNA?
How can visual communication design educate New Zealand school children about freshwater ecosystem protection through environmental DNA?
Aim: Create a game-based science communication tool for broader eDNA education. Aimed at kids aged 8+ and will be played in schools.
This was my bachelor's project for my final year of university.
Discover, protect, restore: Use environmental DNA to discover New Zealand’s freshwater species. Build your own ecosystem, protecting it from risks you will encounter. Through my testing process, eRangers has a balance between luck and strategy. This allows kids as young as 8 to play it easily and older kids to get just as much enjoyment through the extra level of strategy. Everyone who has played the game has found it fun and educational. The game takes roughly 15 minutes, so playing several rounds is a good idea.
I have tested eRangers with kids aged 8-12, they have all picked up the rules very fast and have loved all the different species. One review I got from a 9-year-old was, ‘It was a fun and good quality card game’. He loved the cuteness of the cards and wondered if there could be a moustache on one of the species. The game consists of a box containing 108 cards, 1 rule sheet and 6 rule reminder cards. It goes along with an instructional video.
eRangers is now being sold & given to schools as an educational resource.
Product shots
Instruction design
Card Specifications
