[GUEST POST] Get to know: Temasek Junior College
The initial brainstorming/ideation phase:
For the second task, I was assigned to create a template game with the theme of “school/work orientation”. As I was more familiar with how a school orientation worked, I decided to create a template that allowed students to learn more about their school and their new schoolmates.
Hence, I went onto the Gametize platform to look at similar templates, gain some inspiration and note down the creative ideas used. While referencing some templates, I realized a lot of these templates only have quizzes to introduce their organizations, lacking the aspect of team bonding. Thus, I tried to build on that gap and separated my game into two sections, quizzes and bonding games. To come up with unique bonding games, I gained inspiration from my own induction planning experience and looked up some team games online.
Desired outcome/goal
The game aims to allow the students to get to know the school better and bond with their schoolmates through icebreaker games, simulating an orientation.
Narrative
The game has four sections— introduction, bonding games, quiz and reflections. Starting off with introduction, users were introduced to the principal, school history, values and missions, etc. This section also included a short round of self-introductions from the students to allow social interactions.
Next up, are the bonding games, titled “The Bonding Challenge”. This topic included many fun activities that players could carry out with their team or a partner, such as “partner challenges’, “team challenges”, and “photo challenges”. These games enabled the students to socialize with one another and at the same time explore the different locations around the campus.
Following that, the quiz section allowed students to put their knowledge to the test. Students were quizzed with fun questions about the school. Lastly, a reflection segment was incorporated, allowing students to provide feedback on their orientation experience. The game can be played in teams that can be assigned by the administrator.
Visuals
Picture colorfulness, the presence of human face and facial expressions, and picture quality were the three most critical image characteristics taken into consideration in order to gain the attention of users. Thus, bright icons and pictures of humans were chosen to be included in the game. Pictures were also chosen from several stock picture websites, ensuring that the image quality of selected pictures was high.
Features of the Game
Throughout the game, many different types of challenges were used, each serving a different purpose. Users are encouraged to interact between each other in the standard challenges, by liking and commenting on others’ answers, with the hope of fostering bonding between users. Photo challenges are another methods of allowing socializing in the team while completing it.
Achievements and Rewards
For this game, there were two types of achievements that were available. The first one was the “Super Quizzer” badge for users who performed brilliantly on the quiz topic and achieved full marks. The second one was the “Bonded Team Badge”, which is a team achievement, awarded to teams who had completed all the challenges in the bonding challenge.
As for rewards, the team with the highest score overall would be able to receive a meal voucher of $50, allowing for the team to be able to go for a hearty meal together to celebrate the win.
Challenges Faced
While creating the template, I had encountered several challenges. An instance is where the parameters of orientation were unclear, which left me unsure if the template was for an online or offline event. After seeking guidance from my mentors, I decided that the game would have both an offline and online set of activities for users to choose from in the template. Thus, I overcame the challenge and even improved the game.
Summary
In conclusion, this template aims to provide a novel way to use Gametize as a platform to organize orientations. Hopefully, users can have an enjoyable and intriguing experience with the game.