Visual Progress!

Last night I started work on the visual presentation of the creature in it's world. This will help make the project more tangible for the children, so there is something cute with colour that expresses something.

Here is a snapshot. It shows an area with a happy little green creature on it.



Here is the same creature, but now sad, because it doesn't have enough energy to play.


And here is the creature dead on it's back, because I killed it.


Very rudimentary, but the bits are starting to take shape. Also not shown here is the "sick" creature when it's health gets low. I drew the images in about 5 minutes, including the background (trying depict an indoor space and an outdoor space, something that needs some work!)

I've decided to keep the visuals very simple, just being a two-dimensional world that has objects in it, including creatures. The UI needs to be designed in a way to support multiple creatures, because I think there is really interesting potential there, and I want the children to see that aspect, something they don't see in their tamagotchis.

Olivia and Emily are away for a few days, but I'll get them together with Benj when they're all back and I'll show them where it's at. Mostly to cement the concepts that we've talked about so far, and to keep their interest going. I'll also think of some way they can contribute to the design of what is going on so they feel part of it.