"Not going" assignment

It seems Tyon beat me to the punch on the anesthesia idea, but the gameplay of my design is different so I do not feel too unoriginal… My design is as follows:


Dreamworld

Age Group: 6 -12
Stressors: Fear of anesthesia and fear of pain
Genre: Sandbox/Strategy game

Platform: DS

The DS seems to have a lot of potential in a hospital setting because it is portable and can therefore be played conveniently in a variety of setups. By designing a game that uses the touch pad almost exclusively, the game can be accessible even to patients that may not be able to effectively use both arms and hands.

Player Goal: Create and lead a world of imaginary creatures.

Gameplay:

Dreamworld would feature open-ended "sandbox" play in which the player must create his own dream world, a place where hospitalized children much like him or her visit in their dreams when under the influence of anesthesia. The game would provide the player the freedom to choose the layout and other elements of the imaginary world and to populate it by choosing from a number of different imaginary creatures. World creation would occur from an above-ground, isometric view, much like the typical RTS game. After the player is finished creating or modifying the world, he can then visit it and interact with its inhabitants by controlling a customizable avatar, who acts as the world’s king or queen.

Aside from providing a mode that allows for complete open play, the game would also incorporate a series of “challenges” in which the player must create a world to fulfill the wishes of specific children. In addition, players can use wifi to connect to others’ games in order to explore and share the worlds that they’ve created, adding a potential social dimension to the gameplay.

Dreamworld’s design aims primarily to act as a potential form of pain relief, as the game would involve focus, imagination, and attention to detail, factors that would hopefully help distract the player from pain or discomfort. Also, the game’s theme and total lack of violence address the fear of anesthesia by focusing on the idea of sleep as a safe, peaceful state in which one enjoys interesting and fun dreams. Most importantly, Dreamworld would hopefully contribute to proper caregiver intervention by helping to “provide age-appropriate activities that foster sense of accomplishment.”

Other design choices include the use of the touch pad and stylus as much as possible in order to make play easy, accessible, and intuitive. Additionally, to accommodate children without a high reading level, or those that are just learning to read, the game would provide only short, simple text messages, relying as much as possible on symbolic images and other visual queues.