Team 15: Ticket to Safe Haven

• 

  This is the homepage of Ticket to Safe Haven

• 

  These are some of the controls of the game

• 

  This is a character in the game

Inspiration

In a world centered around technology, it is easier for people to reach out and become aware of crises that others face. We were inspired with recent debates regarding the Syrian Refugee Crisis and political actions put into place. We wanted to help raise awareness about the power of the individual and how we can take a small step to expose the struggles and realities to youth, since they are the future generation.

What it does

Our game allows the player to role play in a simulation as a family in Syria devastated by war. They have to make life altering decisions that result in both benefits and consequences in an attempt to help the family escape their situation to a safe haven. They choose between the options provided and try to make the best selections, depending on the status of the characters, so that the family can survive.

How we built it

As soon as our group agreed on concentrating on Syrian refugees, we wanted to incorporate the war struggles that Syrian citizens face on a daily basis in their country. This would involve their health and hunger, in addition to how they would have enough money for basic necessities while saving enough to purchase a ticket to escape to a safe haven. As a result, we added an energy and health bar so that the player will be able to track their health throughout the game and attempt the status to not drop too low. Additionally, instead of using a simple deterministic model, we challenged ourselves and implemented a probabilistic model for scoring. We built this game through the usage of the Scratch program. With each person focusing on a specific task, we were able to work around the lack of multiple device collaboration on Scratch and produce a finished product.

Challenges we ran into

Challenges we ran into include coding specific key commands, receiving multiple commands simultaneously, and having the sprites react a certain way to different situations. Another challenge we faced was determining how to incorporate limitations onto the coding program so that negatives do not appear on the status bars besides the amount of money. We were creating our project through Scratch, but the site did not let multiple people work on the coding at once; we had to figure out a way so that all of us can get our tasks done in time efficiently.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the fact that our group has run into multiple challenges and were placed in difficult situations that were very stressful, but we persevered through struggles. We found solutions to our problems or adapted to the circumstances. Another factor that we are proud of is that we were productively communicating with each other and supporting one another on our different ideas. As a result, we were able to enjoy the process of collaboration, regardless of the outcome. Furthermore, our group had a very basic idea of coding when we entered the workshop. However, we were able to learn many new concepts and push each other's limits by challenging ourselves. We handled the stress by channelling it and molding it into a vigorous atmosphere and never discouraged each other.

What we learned

We learned that communication and organization is crucial in team work. Without properly discussing our progress, we were not able to effectively create a functional project. If one of us provides an idea, it is best to build off of their recommendation and learn from one another. Organization is also another key component because with sufficient planning, it is easier to work in a fast paced environment without the extra hassle of stress.

What's next for Ticket to Safe Haven

Ticket to Safe Haven, we hope, is one of the first steps to providing a better opportunity for the Syrian refugees. With the targeted youth playing our game, this project will help raise awareness of the people who are struggling to survive in a war ridden community. We will continue this project by partnering with a nonprofit organization that helps Syrian refugees, such as IRC, in hopes that it will provide us with more research opportunities and help make the game as realistic as possible. This will include different perspectives and experiences of the refugees so everyone's story is incorporated.

Built With

• scratch