Inspiration
We were inspired by the Hoppers bunny mascot and decided to adopt it for our game character. With a focus on fun and exciting games for kids with an emphasis on education, we decided to create a game that could be played easily in the classroom.
What it does
The name 'Hungry Hopper' is the best way to describe the theme of the game. Once the children participating decide on what their answer is to the question displayed on screen, the teacher will enter it on their behalf. To make the game high stakes, there is a timer ticking down while they are deciding on their answer. Every ten seconds, Hopper gets a little hungrier, his health depletes, and his icon changes to reflect this. If the group answers correctly, Hopper is fed a carrot to make him happy and full. If they fail to answer it correctly, Hopper remains unfed. Eventually, if Hopper is not fed for long enough, he will die.
How we built it
We decided the best way to tackle the project was first to brainstorm together and work out the scope of the project, then divide and conquer different sections of the project. We built it using python, the interface on pygame, and visual studio.
Challenges we ran into
Our biggest challenge was our 'language barrier'. Two members in our group were comfortable using python to code, the other two were using Visual Basic. This made integrating our project a lot more difficult. We decided to try to convert all code to python but found it particularly challenging to try to work with a language some of us had little to no experience of. Another challenge we had was using github, as this was unfamiliar to us and so we had to familiarise ourselves with a platform we had never used before in order to collaborate on a project effectively.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We think that the project is kid-friendly as intended. Our goal was to invest kids with an exciting and challenging game, so that they would hopefully enjoy the learning process of STEM subjects throughout. We are also proud of our teamwork! We worked really well collaborating as a team, helping each other out when we got stuck and celebrating when we got a new section to work.
What we learned
We learned what it is like to work in a group project, how to manage tasks effectively, and how to communicate concepts and ideas to each other to ensure we were all on the same page. We also improved our technical skills on platforms that were new to us, such as python (for some team members), pygame, and github.
What's next for Hungry Hopper
We had a lot of ideas on how we could continue to improve our project given more time. For example, we would like to introduce difficulty modes, more questions, and advanced visuals to keep kids engaged.
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