Ever want to play a game that's just like traveling? Well here's something for you. Using Java, Python, and Renpy we made a "visual novel" choose-your-own adventure-type vacation game. Code file up.
Inspiration We wanted to create a deliverable based on sustainability to continue the spirit of the Makeathon. We wanted to use our gamer and storymaking/storytelling personalities as well. So, we combined the two parts into crafting a "green" journey to a foreign country by integrating our creative (humanities and writing) and technical sides of ourselves.
What it does It follows a character as they execute behaviors and think about the environmental footprint of their choices. It promotes the necessity of conservation, protection and mitigation as a means to carry out sustainable habits while traveling to another country. It draws premade code from an API to reveal quantitative data regarding gas and particulate matter emissions.
How we built it We took advantage of the features and functionality in Ren'Py to create different scenes using Python to make a coherent and plausible adventure abroad using pictures taken from the web and from our lives, and we contrived what the characters said. We used Postman to include the API that included carbon dioxide emissions due to clean energy, conventional energy usage, fuel consumption, various travel methods (air, car, public transportation, and motorcycle), and the number of trees cut to make paper.
Challenges we ran into We had to learn how to use Ren'Py and look through its extensive documentation to make a visual game with a plotline. Also, each of us were proficient in different programming languages (one of us only had experience in Java while the other was mostly acquainted with Python).
Accomplishments that we're proud of We successfully sent API requests to external sources for the first time and modifying, staging, and committing code changes on GitHub. We made a lot more progress than in the Makeathon because we improved our workflow from last semester and actually submitted a project this time. We used information from the First Time Hackers' workshop as well to brainstorm and plan extensively before implementing and connecting all the pieces together.
What we learned We know about the advantage of code reuse and management due to the usage of API. We also became aware that we could use a game engine and that GitHub offered an excellent way to organize our code into directories/folders and to track our changes as we went along so we could refer back to previous versions and avoid earlier pitfalls and mistakes.
What's next for Vacation Simulator We hope to integrate the API and the visual story game so the characters are concretely considering the sustainability of their behavior before acting and to show the traveling public that it is possible to be sustainable and make the most out of a vacation overseas. We would like to introduce more thinking and emphasis on sustainability in the tourism industry through our project if we had more time to implement it further.
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