Forest to Frigate: Exhibit Interactive for the USS Constitution Museum

DESIGN DOCUMENT

GAME GOAL: Control boatbuilding variables: LENGTH, WIDTH, GUNPOWER and see how it affects your ship

AUDIENCE: In-gallery game for kids and families

LENGTH OF GAMEPLAY: Unlimited time for building, 3 minutes for battle mode

WIN: This is still in discussion, options are: • Tallies of total hits and damage sent to your screen • Message to compare with other players. • Congrats messages-- you’re a “dreaded pirate, decent sailor, admiral” • Amount of time you keep your boat sailing

LOSE • Sink your boat at launch • Get shot enough that your boat sinks • Sail off the bottom of the screen (time out)

GENERAL PROJECT GUIDELINES

MAP

START

PLAYER 1

PLAYER 2

PLAYER 3

SET LENGTH, WIDTH, GUNPOWER LAUNCH!!

POOR DESIGN: SINK!

GOOD DESIGN: SAIL!

LAUNCH!!

LAUNCH!!

SHIPS BATTLE IN THE WATER.

CONTINUE PLAYING UNTIL YOUR SHIP IS

SUNK

START

START

SET

SET

POOR

POOR

GOOD

GOOD

1. Approach the table. “Bot ships” auto- sail on large screen, small screen says “BUILD YOUR SHIP!”

BEGIN

BUILD YOUR SHIP!START

2. Tap START to begin building

BEGIN

3. Screen begins with default settings for length, width and guns. Adjust variables to change your ship

BUILD

4. Player is alerted when ship parameters match that of an existing historic ship

BUILD

This ship is similar to the

USS Constitution!

5.Speed, Displacement and Firepower are automatically adjusted below

BUILD

6. Players can “Build” their ships for an unlimited amount of time before they choose to tap “LAUNCH”. The build phase is

not timed in any way.

BUILD

Do you want one dial and players will tap the screen to decide which parameter it controls or three individual dials?

QUESTION:

Tap to control parameters

One dial

Three Dials

How would we like to deal with unseaworthy ships? We can: Warn the player that this ship will sink and not allow launch (kind but no fun) No warning, wait until the ship launches and sink it (not kind but amusing)

Sink the ship in the “design” phase and return it to default parameters (somewhere in between)

QUESTION:

7. Tap LAUNCH (or hit LAUNCH button) to end the building phase and begin the battle phase

LAUNCH

8. At LAUNCH, ships are released into the “open water” from the bottom of the screen. The water is populated with other

players’ ships and Bot (NPC) ships.

LAUNCH

9. Wind comes from the west. Move the buttons (or knobs) to tack around the screen. Ships stop when they’re “at irons”.

After 3 minutes of battle, your boat will be gradually blown off-screen

LAUNCH

10. Press FIRE to fire on another boat. Boats take 10 seconds to reload before they can fire again. “Life bar” below the boat

shows how they’re doing

LAUNCH

LAUNCH

11. Crashes do damage to both boats.

12. When a boat has full damage, it sinks

LAUNCH

13. Large boats can give and take more damage but move and turn extremely slowly. Small boats give and take minimal

damage but can out-maneuver large boats.

LAUNCH

14. Game ends when your boat goes off the board

LAUNCH

How would we like to “score” the game? We can: Give a tally of shots fired, ships sunk, damage taken and award it a “score”

Give them a score for the amount of time they were able to stay alive Give players “huzzah” messages and assign them a type of naval tactic (your ship was fast and

nimble, you’re a sloop like the X, which fought in X) Give them a simple “Game Over”

QUESTION:

HUZZAAH! 60/100 POINTSYOU’RE A BRIGADIER!

BOATS HIT: 3 SHOTS FIRED: 30

LONGEVITY: 1.30 min

BUILD YOUR SHIP!START

Screen returns to original “resting” phase waiting for a new build phase.

FINISH