Civics!
Game Design, UX, Content Writing, Researcher
"Civics! An American Musical" is a web-based game, part of a series for middle school students that teaches how to analyze primary sources and promotes the importance of civics. The player acts as the production assistant in an upcoming play, and must help the various crew members through assessing primary sources. For this project, I was tasked with creating a game for the existing franchise in an installment centered on the founding of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Research
Research of primary sources was a very important factor in this franchise. The historical representation of the content and characters in the Civics! games required a vast amount of research and fact-checking of the content, which was to be woven into the gameplay.
Spoiler Alert: I crafted the ending of this who-done-it, as not to point fingers at any one character, and more of a combined "whoops!" to maintain the playfulness of the scenario.
It turns out, someone left out a half-eaten sandwich, and someone else left a window open-- the perfect opportunity for a curious raccoon to live its best life and wreak havoc and make a clean getaway.
Concept
Once establishing the primary sources, I wrote and designed a "who-done-it" style game, unfolding in the backstage area of the theater. The player discovers the dressing room has been ransacked with their precious historical outfits and items strewn about. As the player assesses the scene, they must help sort and match the costumes, using primary sources of historical characters, while discovering clues as to who the culprit must be!
