FamilyVille with Egale Canada
Egale approached Soft Chaos to collaborate on a project with the Ontario Board of Education to help make a game for elementary students, showcasing the diversity of Canadian families and marginalized genders.
Client
Egale Canada
Service
Full-Service Game Design
Date
Jan-Aug 2024
The Challenges
Egale came to the project with a vast cast of characters as well as a randomization mechanic that needed to be included in the game. The team also had a rigorous approval process to make sure that the game reflected the values of the organization, and a large age range they hoped the game could serve so that they could reach as many students as possible.
The Process
Soft Chaos came to the project with a proposal addressing the cast of characters already in place and the required randomization mechanic. We proposed a Neopets-style world full of minigames that all centered around a ‘Home’ where a random selection of characters would live together to create a family.
The Outcome
Once approved, Soft Chaos designed several minigames informed by the Ontario Department of Education curriculum. We outlined a detailed project management schedule and approval procedure, and consistently delivered on that schedule, resulting in a full and completed game ready to be distributed to Ontario schools.
Congratulations to everybody who made this project happen, we couldn't do any of this work without you and we thank you for the amazing work that was produced at the very end. We are super proud of what has been produced and can't wait to share it with others.
Amanda Wong, Egale Canada
The Project
Soft Chaos's task: design and develop an educational video game that will teach students in grades 1-6 about diverse families. The game also needed to be ready in 6 months and concretely address other learning objectives from the Ontario Curriculum.
The Client
Egale Canada is one of Canada’s largest not-for-profits serving 2SLGBTQI+ people. When they are not creating educational resources, they are supporting equity and justice for queer Canadians in the courtroom and providing support to 2SLGBTQI+ youth. Their mission is "to improve the lives of 2SLGBTQI people in Canada and to enhance the global response to 2SLGBTQI issues."
THE CHALLENGES
A 6-month timeline makes for a tight turnaround in game design; Soft Chaos would need to be extremely efficient in regular circumstances. But there were some additional challenges baked into this project:
- A high number of in-game characters the client had already listed for the project
- This meant a high amount of art and narrative writing for their interactions
- A randomization mechanic for the characters
- A large age range of students — the client hoped to reach as many as possible
- Making sure that the game reflected the values of the organization
THE PROCESS
After some brainstorming, our team proposed a Neopets-style world. The game would center around a "Home" with a randomly generated set of characters living together as the player's family. Several minigames outside the "home" at varying difficulty levels addressed the needs of students at varying levels.
The project could scale up and down depending on the available resources. (Egale could then add new minigames to expand the game and project in the future.)
Once the concept was approved, Soft Chaos began creating "FamilyVille."
To meet the short timeline and high content volume, we created a detailed project management plan, schedule, and approval procedure. Checking in consistently with the client ensured that all decisions reflected their organization's values.
We then contracted a project manager to streamline the process. (Keeping this team of highly skilled neuroqueers on task. Go, team!)
The project creation had five notable areas, each with its challenges and crafty solutions. They are: art, game design, narrative, programming, and, as a bonus, education!
Art
Engaging students with a visually appealing game was crucial. For this project, we brought on the extremely talented Lucie Viatgé. With her talent, each of the diverse characters in the world truly comes alive.
Game Design
We worked to leverage the design of the game to teach in ways beyond straightforward reading. We built opportunities for students playing "Familyville" to do activities like:
- Plan a potluck that meets all the dietary needs of their family.
- Create a comic strip addressing the interpersonal relationships in their family.
- Plan a green alleyway in their neighbourhood while learning about native species and waste disposal.
Narrative
Egale clearly explained why each character was in their game and what they represented. Translating the client's ideas into an experience for the user (the students playing) was tricky. And we were up to the task.
We needed to:
- Make it accessible and appropriate for different ages.
- Address multiple reading levels and those not yet comfortable with reading.
So our team:
- Wrote a personalized interactive narrative that players could explore as they got to know their families better.
- Brought on a voice actor so all dialogue could be listened to.
- Wrote all the narrative content at multiple reading levels that the player could toggle through.
Programming
- FamilyVille was entirely programmed in Godot — a free, open source, and cross-platform game engine. It includes web-based and downloadable play, making it highly accessible.
- All minigames allowed different combinations of characters to be present since families were generated randomly on each new playthrough.
- Players were able to create user accounts so they could save and return to a game.
Education (Bonus Level!)
- Going beyond the project scope, Soft Chaos proposed and produced content for an educational companion for the game.
- This companion included research for educators about the effectiveness of games and activities that would help students take their knowledge off the screen and into their lives. (Like how to create a green alleyway in your neighbourhood!)
THE OUTCOME
All in all, our team brought on an illustrator, a voice actor, and a project manager to aid in the project. We got to focus on the mechanisms of game design, programming, narrative, and education to round out a massive, and fulfilling, full-scale game design project ready for distribution by the client in 6 short months.
