Meal Time! Game Cncept Lucien LeMenager Kevin Mann Rbert Dyle Wrking Title Meal Time! Prject Thumbnail A game based n turn- based trading card games, Meal Time! pits players against each ther t crwn the best vegetarian! Players must ck recipes by cllecting and playing ingredients while trying t meet their daily nutritinal needs. Head- t- head cmpetitin gets fierce when players target each ther with special actin cards! This game teaches vegetarian players what cnstitutes a balanced meal plan, all while maintaining an air f fun and cmpetitin. Target Users Our target users are peple wh are r wish t becme vegetarian, r peple wh live with vegetarians, but dn t knw hw t create a balanced diet. Needs Analysis Prblem Statement It can be difficult fr vegetarians t find a variety f healthy fds that they can eat. Friends and family f vegetarians may nt knw what they shuld buy. Thse wh are lking t becme vegetarians might nt knw what ptins they have. Even if vegetarians knw what they are allwed t eat, they might nt knw what srt f variety they need in their diet. Different situatins can make it difficult t find / buy the fds yu want
There might be restricted access t fds fr cllege students n a meal plan. Learning Objectives 1. What cnstitutes a balanced, vegetarian meal? What t replace meats with? 2. What cnstitutes a balanced daily meal plan? 3. What kinds f recipes are vegetarian- friendly? Vegetarian versins f meat dishes Meals created with vegetarianism in mind 4. T shw what nutrients many cmmn fds have. 5. T teach players that they shuld aim fr 100% f their daily value. Ging t high abve 100% is nt gd. Hypthesis By playing this game, peple wh are r may be lking t becme vegetarian, r have friends and family wh are vegetarian, will be shwn different vegetarian- friendly fds and recipes, and will learn hw t maintain a healthy and diverse diet. Task Analysis Objectives 1. T quickly identify basic dietary needs 2. T identify what fds fulfill these dietary needs 3. Prmte gd eating habits Presented thrugh infrmatin rather than interactin Familiarize players with healthy fds. 4. Teach players what nutrients fds have. Steps t Take
1. Shw players basic recipes with cmmn ingredients. Shwn thrugh the three recipes t fill. 2. Shw players there can be variety even within the same recipes Allw players t use different fds f the same grup when pssible. 3. Have players practice making the recipe by playing cards t fit them. Becme familiar with what ges int recipes. 4. Have players practice cunting nutrient values and knwing what t lk fr. Dne thrugh scring at the end. 5. Teach players what nutrients fds have. Nutrients are critical t the game, where they cunt as the scre. User Interface and Envirnment This is meant t be a physical card game, playable wherever the players chse. Game Elements: Player hand Draw piles Recipes Ingredients Discard pile Cards Pictures Serving size Nutritinal Facts Game mat t shw players where piles f cards g. Interactivity The majrity f interactivity will take place in a multi- player card game. Players must cmbine varius base fds, represented n ingredient cards, int recipes by fllwing the requirements shwn n recipe cards. Ingredient cards will display the name, fd grup, and nutritinal statistics (carbs,
fats, etc.) fr each fd. Each recipe card will cntain instructins n hw t cmplete each recipe; fr example, a Grilled Cheese card might require any bread card and any cheese card. Players race t cmplete recipes t earn pints. Players get t see the recipes and ingredients in frnt f them. They practice cunting their daily nutrients in scring. Gameflw/narrative Each game cnsists f a pre- determined number f runds, and the winner f the mst runds is the winner f the game. Every rund starts players with three recipe cards in play, drawn frm the tp f the recipe deck. Bth players will try t make the healthiest versin f these recipes. Players draw a hand f seven cards frm the draw pile and play begins. On their turn, a player can perfrm up t three actins including: placing an ingredient n a recipe, discarding an ingredient frm their hand and drawing a new card, r playing an actin card. Players must cmplete recipes by placing ingredient cards t make a healthy meal. Actin cards can be played t hinder the ppnent r t prtect their wn meals. Used actin cards and discarded ingredients are put int ne discard pile; if the draw pile runs ut, the discard pile is shuffled and becmes the draw pile. At the end f the turn, players refill their hand t seven cards. Then, the ppnent takes their turn. The rund ends when a player declares Meal Time! A player can nly end the rund at the beginning f their turn (befre they perfrm any actins). At this pint, play stps and bth players calculate wh has the best set f recipes. Fr each aspect f their ingredient cards, they add up ttals frm the ingredients f all three meals, and whever has clsest t 100% wins. If either player ges abve 110%, they autmatically lse that rund. In the case f a tie, the higher percentage wins. If there is still a tie, n ne receives a pint fr that value. After all pints are calculated, whichever player has the higher pint ttal wins the rund Players can chse t play any number f runds and with any number f meal cards (three is recmmended). As time ges n, we wuld plan n releasing expansin packs t be used based n different themes. The expansin decks wuld fcus n a specific restrictin such as a gluten r nut allergy. Other restrictins culd include fds that wuld be in a cllege dining hall r having a vegan date. Example f Gameplay
Mark and Chuck draw the recipe card. They have drawn Tast & Cereal, PB&J, stir- fry recipe cards. Tast and Cereal cnsists f Cereal, milk, and bread with ptinal jelly (fruit). PB&J cnsists f Peanut, Bread, Jelly, and ptinal fruit. Stir- fry cnsists f Prtein, rice r ndles, and vegetables (as well as up t tw additinal vegetables). Mark ges first, playing wheat bread, peanuts, and strawberry jelly n PB&J. Chuck ges next, playing wheat bread and peanuts, and plays the actin card spil n Mark s wheat bread, discarding the (nw mldy) bread. Mark replaces the wheat bread with white bread, and plays tw mre ingredients. Play cntinues until Chuck has filled all f his required slts, and decides t call Meal Time. They bth add up the ttal percentage fr Prtein acrss the ingredients in all f their meals. Mark has 95%, and Chuck has 98% s Chuck wuld win the pint fr Prtein. They repeat this fr the ther five values, and then check wh has the mst additinal ingredients. Paper Prttype Cnstructin T prttype, we made a lw fidelity versin f the game with cards n regular printer paper. After making a list f desired ingredients and recipes, we chse nly sme f them t be printed. Iteratins During the develpment phase, the game changed drastically frm making meals fr a week t what it is nw. Originally, we intended fr players t have their wn decks and fill their wn meal cards. The game wuld have been a race t fill a certain number f meal slts, at which pint the player with the healthiest meal plan wuld win. Under this versin, there wuld have been restrictin cards that limit what ingredients culd be placed in the rund. Restrictins culd have included allergies r vegetarianism, and there may be ne t three restrictins per rund. This game culd have becme very unbalanced, with ne player finishing all7 meals and the ther finishing nly 3 r 4. The restrictin cards wuld have made the game t difficult. We cnsidered lwering the number f meals t be made, fcusing n three meals a day and a snack slt in which the player culd place any fd. This versin wuld still have been cmplex and wuld nt have slved many prblems. When we decided t fcus ur game, we drpped the restrictin cards, and decided t make the game vegetarian. We discussed hw the game wuld wrk with players having separate decks, and hw the separate decks culd unfairly give ne player an advantage. Instead, we decided t have ne deck, which bth players wuld draw frm and have bth players trying t fill the same recipes. At this pint, we needed t add mre game elements, r risk the game being cmpletely luck f the draw. We added actin cards t disrupt ppnent s meals and prtect the player s wn meals.
Future Directins Seeing this versin play tested multiple times, we wuld want t further simplify the statistics f the ingredients t a five star system rather than percentages, with stars filled in t represent hw much f a nutrient is in the fd. We wuld cnsider different editins f the game, with decks t represent the different allergies and lifestyles nt encapsulated in the game, suck as allergies r veganism. Delivery Platfrm and Justificatin This game wuld wrk best as a physical card game much like Apples t Apples r Munchkin. It wuld be easy t prduce and sell, and culd sell expansins in related places, like supermarkets. The drawback, hwever, wuld be that we have little real- time infrmatin t assess the game. Technlgy, Tls, and Media A physical card game wuld require decks f cards fr bth ingredients and recipes, as well as an instructin manual. The visuals n the cards can be created using 2D image editing sftware like Phtshp. User Assessment As players cntinue t use the game, we will gather data n the nutrients f the meals they make via pints earned. We wuld expect t see imprvement in scres as players learn t recgnize healthy chices. Assessment f the game s real wrld effect wuld require players t vlunteer infrmatin abut meals they have eaten. On the menu, players wuld be able t submit infrmatin abut meals they have eaten, and be able t see what ther users have eaten recently, including featured meals. With this infrmatin, players will be encuraged nt nly t eat better, but t share their meals.
Evaluatin and Assessment T evaluate if ur game is effective, we wuld create a pre- and pst- test fr fcus grups. The tests wuld cnsist f multiple chice questins and pen respnse t gauge play tester s knwledge f nutritin. Alng with the factual prtin f the pst test, we wuld als ask pinin questins t see what play testers thught f the educatinal and entertainment value f the game. Sme example questins culd include: Which f the fllwing is acceptable in a vegan diet? (Multiple chice) Describe a nutritius meal yu ate in the past week. (Open Respnse) This game was fun t play. 1 (Strngly Disagree) t 7(Strngly Agree) Pictures Recipe cards
Three ingredients The Three Types f Cards (Actin, recipe, ingredient)
Initial Setup and Hands After three turns