Outbreak Development Wiki - Recently Updated Pages

Research

inokon — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:29:05 CDT

Research is an integral part of our process. We research throughout the design. The following pages divide our work into sections:

Interviews - Find research about our audience and their needs
Playtests - Find research about prototype reviews
Resources - Find a list of books, articles, and news
Similar Games - A list of other games we've played and a review

Learning Assessment - A design for testing learning
Expert Reviews - Feedback from other designers, educators and professionals

Home

inokon — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:28:22 CDT

Welcome to our development wiki

Outbreak is a pc-based simulation that immerses adults ages 18-35 in a bird flu pandemic. Players control every turn of the game using unique toy-based simulators to explore management, scientific and personal strategies.

On this site, you will get a behind the scenes look at how we developed our game. Our style is highly iterative moving fluidly between research, prototyping and reviews. Use the site map below to navigate.

_____________________

Sketches

Interface Demos

Game Walkthrough

______________________

Playtesting

Expert Reviews

Learning Assessment

______________________

Overview Presentations

Official Website

Our Process

Contacts

______________________

NEWS:
07.29.06 - Palo Alto Online News highlight on video game.
07.28.06 - Outbreak presented at Stanford Expo
06.06.06 - Outbreak wins first place at Berkeley Serious Games Design competition

Expert Reviews

inokon — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:27:38 CDT

Outbreak has received feedback from experts in a variety of industries including: education, medicine, anthropology, game design and epidemiology.

A selection of the reviews are given here:

"Great concept. Nice description of learning theories and application to design."

"Very impressive and aggressive approach to the problem. Well thought through, well documented, excellent storyboarding. Hope it's out in time. "

"Creative and original, timely, good presentation, worth developing further."

“Be careful about making the art too western. "

“Focus on a more finite number of game types. Having a wide variety will confuse people and make it take too long.”

“Cleary defined problem and need for solution. Game is engaging.”

“Motivation is basically fear-based and rightly so, also conisder inspirational aspects -- Emergencies luring out worst and best in people. “

“I can’t wait to play! It’s a terrific application of learning, tech and design.”

“Concentrate on how to get people to bring this into the world.”

“This game is a fantastic blend of gaming and learning. It’s wonderful that you have maintained the commitment to learning across the individual game."

Process

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:17:18 CDT

The single greatest asset in this design experience has been our process. We developed a fast-paced, highly iterative process full of user reviews and prototyping.

Our process included rounds of research, prototyping, and reviews. We conducted reviews with users, professors, professional game designers and even the serious games experts. We also engaged in intense 24-Hour Design Jams in which we would focus on our design for two days. During the meetings we would discuss a topic, prototype it quickly and review it. The meetings were highly productive in shaping the design as it appears today.

Design Pillars
We defined design pillars that are central to our design philosophy:

Stay core – understand the core mechanic of the game and stick to it. Our core mechanic was these fun, tinkerable simulations. We found through informal observation that simply providing people simulators like NetLogo or FallingSand was very engaging.
Make it sticky – make sure players are taking the content out of the game and into real life by implementing strategies like personalization and viral marketing
Make it a toy first – the game should be fun to play; In the words of Scott Kim, imminent puzzle and toy designer, a good toy looks like its fun to play before you even know what it does
Stealth education – the game maintains a balance between entertainment and learning. At no point in the game should it feel like we are “teaching” in a traditional sense.
Rapid – prototyping – the design was iterated through constant reviews with audience representatives and experts;
Human-centered design—the learner is at the center of why we are making this game. The games should be easy to learn and user-friendly.
Don’t set the player up to fail – the game is balanced to make the player feel like their decisions are meaningful and not arbitrary. The game is about a pandemic which will happen. The game is setup to make the player feel they are winning by saving lives.
Balance emotion using subtle comedy – the game introduces humor and light comedy strategically in the design. It is used in three occasions: to teach moral lessons without being preacher, to teach some preventative information, to relieve stress after intense play. Humor is a tool for enjoyment and promotes positive learning (Fitzsimmons, et al)Tastefully integrated comedy will make for lasting play and learning.

Backwards Design
Backwards design is the process of thinking with the end in mind. It is born out of the educational tradition of curriculum development. Game design is a form of curriculum design. Games have all the key elements needed to define curriculum -- has content, purpose and organization. Our goal was to start with our highest vision for the learner - the enduring understanding- before designing specific activities. One of the challenges in serious game design is avoiding "empty fun" - that is play for the sake of play. We found “thinking with the end in mind” was a great anchor.

To learn more about our process, please see the PowerPoint walkthrough video.

Sketches

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:59:11 CDT

Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.
Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.
Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.

Reference Art

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:58:40 CDT

Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.
Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.
Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.	Type your photo caption or credit here.

Assessment

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:44:41 CDT

Our objective is learning, so to determine if learning is happening we use assessments. This section explores what we deem as acceptable measures of learning and what evidence we've collected so far.

On assessment - A challenge

Our goal is to enable people to prepare for and survive a pandemic. Essentially we want behavior change. Perhaps the truest measure of whether people learn to survive a pandemic is observing them during one. However, it's impractical for us to wait until a pandemic. We therefore defined what near term measures we could assess that would form reliable prerequisites to survival during a pandemic.

We also want to prove that people will survive, but we want to show that our theoretical approach is sound. We've designed a unique cognitive-approach where we use models to teach emergency preparedness. It could be argued that a more behaviral (stimulus-response) approach would be more effective. Behavioral methods have been used successfully in fire safety training through the use of songs and repitition as in Stop-Drop-And-Roll. So then we looked at mental model research in education to use their assessment design as a best practice.

We faced another challenge in that our game is varied and that basic components build upon each other. Our design is to layer these building to form a framework of understanding. Therefore we felt we needed the entire finished game to reliably assess learning.

Again, we had to define a near term measure before we build the entire game.
Thus we came up with the following assessment measures:

Long Term Goal	Near Term measure
Learners know how to behave during an actual pandemic	Learners are able to recall information in a post-test. Knowledge is a basic pre-requisite to behavior change. If learners remember what they learned they are more like to transfer it to an actual situation. Learners are able to transfer learning other related emergencies.
All 100 minigames together form an integrated framework of understanding.	If 1 mini-game causes learning, it is probable that 100 may do so as well.
The game is highly sticky, people transfer lessons to real life.	Are players likely to send information from the game to friends. Does information from the game come up in conversations with friends and family a week after the game.
The game is highly motivating. The short, toy-like games encourage game play; more learning.	If people want to play the game it is likely they will increase exposure to learning elements. A measure would be playtest interviews and observation of play.

These smaller near term assessments become what we call "formative assessments" where we gain information during the development process of whether people are learning. We will note here that usability and game play assessments are performed during the design process and are separate from the "learning assessments described here. To see an example fo a usability test, go to the Playtests page.

Example Assessment for the Travel Game

The travel game is designed to:
- Give people a gut-level understanding of the wild-fire spread of viruses
- Build an awareness for the way public transportation affects spread

Method:
We will use interviews and playtest observation to measure learning. Players will be given the travel game to play for 20 minutes. At the beginning of the test, they will be background questions and then be given a scenario. After they play they will be given another scenario.

Pre-interview Question:
- How many people are in your home?
- How would rate your knowledge about bird flu on scale of 1 to 10?
- Do you play video games
- What is your age and gender?

Phase 1: Pre-Game Interview
I’m going to give you a scenario and I’m going to ask you to tell me what you think might happen next. Here is the scenario
When you go home tonight there will be a news report about 400 people falling ill in Hong Kong, Russia and London due to a deadly virus. The virus is believed to be highly contagious. It’s still very early, but experts have studied the virus and have qualified it as a pandemic, meaning it could spread to every nation on the planet. Just at the close of that report you hear some breaking news, one case has just appeared in Seattle.

Questions:
Think for a minute and tell me what you imagine will happen. What sort of activities do you imagine will happen next?
What would you personally do?

Phase 2: Post-Game Interview
I’m going to give you another scenario. This scenario just happened in the United States. A strain of bird flu was found in an animal last week. Scientists are unsure whether this is the lethal strain killing people in Indonesia right now. Tests are being run over the next couple of days. Health officials have been notified. The nation awaits an answer.

Questions:
Think for a minute and tell me what you imagine will happen. What sort of activities do you imagine will happen next?
What would you personally do?

3.0 Learning Principles

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:38:27 CDT

The goal of a serious game is to teach. We want to give people systems of information so that they can use to better prepare and handle emergency situations like pandemics.

Learner Needs and Content Design

We conducted a survey of nine members of our intended audience to get a baseline of what they know to uncover their learning needs. We basically coded these topics into three content domain areas – management, scientific and personal. Though fewer respondents identified management subjects as a learning need, our research indicates their personal welfare is impacted by knowledge of how the disease is being handled. For more survey responses, see our Interviews wiki page.

Learning Outcomes

Based on our understanding of their learning needs we cast a vision of what they will gain after playing this game.

At the end of this game the learner will be able to:

Raise their own awareness of the factors that go into preparing and managing a pandemic
Understand the types of decisions that are made at a national and global level and how it might effect them
Plan and prepare for a pandemic, stockpile food, adopt good hygiene practices, investigate local emergency planning procedures in their community, workplace and nation
Interpret media information and not become vulnerable to panic, threats or misleading advertising
Change their attitude toward emergency planning and take health information seriously
Unlearn any myths about hygiene, food, immunity, governmental preparedness, and viruses
Gain basic understanding of pathology and epidemiology

These outcomes are worded in terms of activities and attitudes that are measurable and can be used as a way to assess the effectiveness of the game.

Learning Theory and Solution

In this section we look at what literature exists that we can weave together to form our solution. Most notably we draw from the following theories:

Multiple Intelligences – out of Howard Gardner’s research we glean that there are eight styles ranging from linguistic to visual that determine how people approach learning. One of the most valuable takeways from his research are that there are multiple entrypoints to understanding. Good curriculum recognizes this and provides a diversity of entry points. Games typically reward a diversity of learning styles, visual learners especially enjoy the mix of media. But our game goes beyond just appealing to one style of learning, it provides a diverse number of perspectives on the same topic from different mini-game genres. In this way we not only recognize that there are multiple entrypoints we systematically introduce them.

Experiential Learning – a school of thought that blends into areas of constructivism and progressive ideologies out of which we glean a set of findings pioneered by Dewey. His research suggest that learners should be engaged in authentic learning experiences that immerse them into actual problems and provide experiences that encourage successive learning. He underscores that not all experiences are good for learning. To encourage future learning the topics must be fair, matched to the student’s interests and abilities and appropriately reinforced by the teacher. We are very sensitive then about the value of having student’s construct their own understanding on a topic while presenting them activities that are authentic and encourage future learning.

Cognitive Learning – the design presented in this paper stands on a cognitive approach to learning. Our aim is to build understanding and not just acquisition of facts. We believe that true learning occurs through understanding. So we model expert ways of thinking about disease and emergency preparedness. Our strategy is to classify the declarative, procedural, and strategic knowledge needed to think like an expert and present learning goals to teach them. Towards that end, we present stories and simulators to give learners a sense of the relationship between those elements. We lean on the learner being intrinsically motivated to pursue learning out of an intrinsic curiosity to toy with subject-matter. We build up these sophisticated understandings through use of scaffolding. Successful learning is measured on the ability of these learners to transfer learning to new situations.

Behavioral Learning – it can be argued that video games can be highly behavioral in their designs offering very extrinsic reward-based motivation and that much of gaming is stimulus-response oriented. It could also be argued that subjects of emergency response and survival should be taught in a very behavioral way where emphasis is on repetition to encourage instant recall in the event of crisis. We can all remember “stop, drop, and roll” imperatives when learning about fire safety. We were taught to memorize the strategy because in fact it goes against our human nature to be still. To overcome basic instinct we needed to reinforce message through songs and easy to remember jingles. Despite our mainly cognitive approach, we recognize there are strengths from behaviorism we want to incorporate. A system of rewards that motivate learning using scores, ratings and gifts to encourage review and reflection. Availability of simple rote exercises to provide a break from intense lessons and to reinforce subjects that have already been learned. Our approach is to use behaviorism to motivate and reinforce the connections we’re building cognitively.

Prior Understanding and Scaffolding – we are aware that the learner comes with a set of prior beliefs and myths that will affect learning about avian flu (Duckworth). If we don’t take those understandings into consideration learners may revert back to those understandings after the game. With the case of the bird flu especially people have heard a lot in the news, but still may have some myths about disease management and the government’s preparedness. We intend to leverage those understanding early and then implement a system of scaffolds to connect them to higher levels of understanding. The scaffolds enable us to form bridges for learner to access our material. For example, we chunk our content areas into smaller mini-games to allow the learner to focus on one topic before moving on to the next. We stack those chunks together to form the complete picture of the curriculum.

Play, games and learning – drawing from research from James Paul Gee, Jean Piaget, Johann Huizniga and Lev Vygotsky we know learning happens through play. Play is basic way that children have learned from inception. We can imagine that through play learners actively construct their own understanding of a topic. In our work we create different types of play that feel more open-ended and others that are quite goal directed. We also recognize from Gee’s work that gaming in itself is a form of literacy. We look at creating games that are fun for people who may not be literate in gaming.

Finally, a school of thought or ideology that doesn’t get treatment here comes out of Noddings work on the Domains of Care. We recognize that the learner is a whole individual and we attempt to provide links to other domains like family and community so the learner takes the content from the game and uses it in the real world.

Toy-based simulation

A simulation that does not advance in real-time but gives the player opportunity to reflect and explore using mini-games or toys. Time in the simulation is advanced when the player makes a decision using their toy. Toys allow for a deeper dive into the subject matter giving the player control over specific strategies.

For example: The player might want to experiment on the effect of their vaccine distribution decision by tinkering with input variables like time to develop vaccine, population, and mutation probability. They might access a toy that would present these variables and let them tweak the variables. Once they are happy with the results, the data gets dumped back into the main simulation.

We expect that much of the accidental learning will occur just in tinkering with the toys.
Through tinkering people construct their own understanding of the topic which is sometimes more rewarding. Yet, the mini-games will provide some goal direction and feedback so learning is ensured.

Toys also allow us to chunk a complex subject into small bites. Each toy has one focused goal. Through the course of the game, the toys evolve to be more sophisticated requiring understanding of prior knowledge. The toys are the scaffolds we use to progress the student to higher levels of learning.

Not all toys are simulators, examples of toys used in this game:

Driving a truck (Action)
Distributing vaccine in a busy waiting room (Action)
Matching virus DNA (Puzzle)
Shopping Frenzy (Simulation)

Finally, toy-based simulations are more casual and don’t require huge investments of time to play. You can gain satisfaction by playing one short 5-10 minute game and then returning later to finish the chapter. This feature will be attractive to female learners who on average have less leisure time than men.

In summary the benefits of toy-based simulation are:

More control and instant feedback
Depth of experience into one aspect of a simulation without getting overwhelmed
Provides pauses in gameplay to pursue directed goals
Scaffolding upon basic toys allows us to slowly introduce advanced topics
Toys might allow them to test out multiple scenarios before executing on a decision.
Easy way to introduce non-gamers to simulations
People love to tinker, they enjoy open-ended play
Promotes accidental learning without sacrificing learning goal attainment

For a summary of the learning design and how it marries into game design see the PowerPoint Learning Design video.

Interviews

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:26:37 CDT

Needfinding Interviews

We conducted a survey to learn about our audience.

Survey Letter

Thank you for your interest in my product.

I am desigining a preliminary survey for my master's project. The product is targeted towards people our age with and without families of their own. I would greatly appreciate it if you would answer these questions.

Survey questions:

What do you know about the avian flu (bird flu)?
How did you learn about avian flu? (websites, tv news, blogs, friends, etc)
What more information would you like to know?
How would you prepare for a flu pandemic?

Survey Answers:

9 responses, Summarized

1. What do you know about the avian flu (bird flu)?

"Nothing much. Maybe just that it has to do with birds. So far it isn't being spread human to human (although that could me changing), so its not pandemic yet although everyone is afraid of it. I don't really know what it is exactly though."
"It is a virus that originated with birds in eastern asia. It has been spreading. It is believed that it will mutate"
"It is fatal and can be transmitted to human being."
"It's a potential pandemic. It could devastate the bay area (and the world).
Those who catch it have a 50% chance of living. The virus lives in the air or on a surface for several days - much worse than the common flu. Your likelihood for catching it now increases if have contact with birds."
"Not much"
"Not a whole lot… some people have gotten the disease from birds, chickens, etc. I remember stories of some kid somewhere in Asia I think, playing with a dead bird (??) and getting the disease. I think a brother or sister got it at that time too. I want to say there was another case in Germany, but seems to center in Asia. Mostly rural areas. (I guess the kind of place where there’s not much else to do than to play with dead birds!!) Not sure if there have been any cases in the US yet. It has passed to pigs I think, besides the normal bird-to-bird transmission. The virus is not yet able to trasmit human to human, at least that people can prove yet. It needs to mutate before it becomes a pandemic threat… I think it is quickly fatal – like you notice severe flu-like symptoms, and then you die quickly after that… not that you always die but I think the death rate is high… Not sure what the treatment is like, and how effective it is. I want to say that it is nowhere near 100% but there are drugs available. Probably not enough though, hence the pandemic fear. Oh wait I did hear a bit on NPR about where to store all the bodies etc. – like they have a task force in charge of this, in case of an outbreak. Some woman called in about some flu outbreak in the early 1910’s, where they just stacked bodies outside in the snow, like firewood, she said. <<shudder>>"
"Avian flu, also known as bird flu, virus targets primarily birds (mostly chickens). Every once in a while, it spreads, mostly in developing countries. However, there is no proof that it affects humans. If the birds are not properly cooked above 100 degrees Celsius, the virus may affect humans too. And it can be fatal. In humans, it can be cured with antibiotics."
"Not much. I think it is some sort of respiratory disease that is carried by birds, chickens mainly, or at least chickens are the birds that spread it to humans most often because we people are in contact with them more than any other bird (maybe, sounds good). I believe it originated in eastern asia but has spread from there. It is a dangerous and potentially fatal disease. I don't know the mortality rate, but it must be substantial given the fact that I have at least heard a modest amount about it."

2. How did you learn about avian flu? (websites, tv news, blogs, friends, etc)

"friends chatting, reading online a bit (news cites). Really all I've been doing is studying and so I am really ignorant..."
"TV news, websites, my mom"
"Websites in Chinese"
"Some websites, but mainly an expert who came and talked to our church group about how to prepare for it - how to construct an emergency kit."
"Obviously haven't learned much yet, but if I were to, I would probably wikipedia it."
"Initially? No idea. Just one of those things that creeps up on you. I did read a news article online yesterday morning about the topic… Some concern that a certain case of 8 or so people infected may have been a result of person-to-person transfer. I have an NPR podcast about avian flu downloaded that I haven’t gotten around to listening to yet."
"I learned about avian flu from newspapers and news Web sites."
"I feel I probably know what I know from a smattering of references on the news, web (news sites), and from people."

3. What more information would you like to know?

"I'd like to know a lot more info, such as symptoms, how you contract it, lethality, how it is spreading, what the plan is worldwide and/or country by country, etc."
"I would like to see a special on the discovery channel or PBS, some critical news source where they will give me a critical discussion on the virus."
"how it be transmitted and how to avoid or be immune to it"
"not much. (although I know I probably should)"
"Since I haven't tried to learn about it yet, I'm not sure what to expect to learn (for instance from Wikipedia), and so I don't know how useful (or useless) I might find that information."
"What is it about this particular virus that sparks fear of a pandemic? How did it start? How effective are medical treatments? Is the supreme power guy/gal punishing the world for Americans voting twice for Bush?"
" I’d like to know how to prevent it from spreading and how to know if one has been infected. And what precautions can we take to avoid this disease."
"Where it is. How it spreads. Preventative measures. Treatments.
Mortality rate."

4. How would you prepare for a flu pandemic?

"Well considering I know practically nothing about it nothing right now. If I knew how it was contracted I would probably take preventative action (stop hanging out with birds maybe). Also, if it began affecting my area, I might talk with my doctor about it, identify my local hospital and such."
"Avoid sick people"
"I don't know. God bless me."
"Get some masks (I forgot the name but it's nc10 or something like that). not much else you can do, other than be wary of contact with birds and others once they get it."
"I guess I would ask my physician first to find out whether there are vaccinations available. Otherwise, I'm of that mindset who thinks most of this stuff is media hype and I can't live my life constantly worrying about what's next to catch. So maybe I would in fact belong to a target group you are trying to target!"
"I have my little emergency kit in my apartment – water, food, radio, etc. I don’t know really how else to prepare. Like, do I just not leave my apartment for weeks and weeks? Is it going to be like the plague? Now that was a fun book."
"I’d keep medicines at home, avoid consuming potentially infected food, and learn more about the pandemic."
"I would probably go to the internet, a U.S. government or U.N. site and see what I can learn. I might go to a clinic or hospital to see what I need to do.
Maybe listen to the news or other people. Basically learn all that I need to. Though my efforts all depend on how serious I perceive the threat to be. And that would depend on the news. In other words. I probably wouldn't try to discover how dangerous a pandemic is, I would wait until I'm told that it is dangerous, then I would act. I never really thought about before, I am relying on someone else to tell me that I am in danger.
Why not spend some of the energy I would once I know I'm in danger to see if I'm in danger? You have begun to open my eyes with your well though out questions. ... I also think that it is weird that I would go to the internet before going to a doctor once I am aware of the pandemic."

Expert Interviews

I'm researching the viability of our game by talking to a series of professionals and experts

Ruby Wang, Stanford Medical student
Karen Snyder, Innomation
Noah Falstein, theInspiracy
Seth Carus, designer, Shaba Games
Peter Jenkins, Visual Information Specialist CDC

User Feedback
Anonymous, school teacher, Menlo Park
Anonymous, graduate student, Berkeley

Similar Games

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:26:21 CDT

Here are a list of other games that we might compare to our own

Non-Virus Games

Falling Sand Game
http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/
This is so cool. I've been running this "game" for 4 days. It's basically a toy with no goals. Essentially someone coded a particle effects generation where you can paint onto the screen walls, water, sand and see how they interact. Then there is this organism called a Namekuji that feeds on all this stuff. Just don't feed it salt!

Bang! Howdy.
http://www.banghowdy.com/
By the creators of Puzzle pirates. This is a turn-based strategy game. I'm playing it now. If it's like it's predecessor the mini-games contribute to the main game. A similar idea to our own. The saloon might have mini-games.

Sim City 4
http://simcity.ea.com/
Review: Great interface tools. Acts of God features.
Can be confusing because so many things are happening at once. Has one overarching implicit goal. It is unspoken. Nothing is concrete. In the expansion named Rush hour, you get explicit goals in the form of mini-games.

Food Force
United Nations game where you deliver food to remote place, drive a truck, fly a helicopter.
http://www.food-force.com/
Review: Nice looking game. Uses a mini-game approach too. No sim. Similar to our driving game concept.

Black and White 2
Has a really clean interface. The toolbar hides away. On the toolbar you have tools to control pet and access your objectives. On screen at all times is your main objective. Has a really hefty tutorial where you get up to speed quickly where you see these in game videos that show you what to do. Has mini-games that you complete. Includes optional objectives like (click on all the tip signs) The creature characters are not hard coded into the game. It is an example of how the game can be extensible.

Reccomendations:
I like their film strip view of missions. It would be cool if you got a short animation. They don't distinguish the optional ones from the required which I think can be improved upon. I don't see how they could show a pre-requisite nature to their design.

Myst IV
Must read the journals within the game. Find yourself going back to the library and reading those books in order to succeed. Completely exploratory. It's a linear game in that one decision is a pre-requisite to another yet the player is constantly exploring the terrain to discover which direction is the right one by touching objects. Goals are given by characters talking to you. This game you can't go back and redo a mission. You must save your game state.

Great powerpoint on the history of simulations http://gamepipe.usc.edu/docs/StrategyGames.pdf

Virus Games

Outbreak at Water'sEdge
Discover the source of the outbreak that has hit the small community of Watersedge
http://www.mclph.umn.edu/watersedge/

Virus Prototypes and Pandemic games for the Navy
Contact: Russell Shilling, NRL
Game: model ship board dissease spread, you cant stop it on a ship
Has a project modelling a flu outbreak on a Navy ship.
Motivation: 25% of the military caught the flu that's 1 million soldiers, mirrored population numbers, navy may have been 40% infected. 57,460 died of the flu, war depart lost 8 million days among men

Outbreak by Trend Micro
Genre: Strategy(?)
Save the network from attack.
http://media.trendmicro.com/product/nvw/index.html

Outbreak
Turb-based game between 2-4 players. To replicate your own virus cells and mutate those of your opponent(s) so that you end up with the most virus cells left at the end of the game.

http://www.goldtoken.com/games/play?rules=Outbreak

Save Turkeys!
Save the turkeys from an avian flu infection. A student flash game.
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/discoverengineering/game.asp

Virus2 Game
Grow the virus to infect all blocks. Use the mouse button to select from the colored blocks at the bottom of the screen. The virus will grow to infect any blocks next to the blocks of the virus that have the selected color. Grow the virus in the given number of moves or the game is over.
http://www.arcadetown.com/virus2/index.asp

Virus Game
Puzzle game to stop the spread of a virus
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/57677

Disinfect the Core
You control the anti-virus balm program.Rotate green discs to destroy red discs.
http://www.thejab.com/newsite/balm.html
Review: Interesting puzzle. I wanted to figure it out. Hard to beat the computer. Might be fun against two players. Feels like Othello.

Fighting Back: The immunue system's battle against disease
Keep this body healthy against mumps virus.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aids/immunewave.html
Review: Horrible controls. They have placed educational materials in the help section.

Virus Game Project
An AI project using java to create a two-player game.
http://www.generation5.org/content/2000/virus.asp
Review: Has useful code for creating influence maps. Also introduces the concept of viruses jumping.

Virus Game - Do you have the apple?
Multiplayer non, video game. 5 people have the virus and must answer no to the question. People ask each other if they have the apple.
http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?display:913436113-29539.txt
Very cute: It would be interesting to see how people maximize their interests and how they communicate.

Virus (Alter Life 2)
http://www.tamestorm.com/games/al/index.html
After unsuccessful experiment of the military AI control has been lost. To obviate the results there has been determined to annihilate AI with viruses. Nevertheless, endless attempts have failed. AI has learned to take control of viruses and in that way has become increasingly mightier. Nothing has been left but to create a virus, a man will take under his control. Your aim is to resist AI by means of viruses. You will have to stand against AI almost on 30 levels. By way of constantly changing strategy and tactics you will pursue the single aim - to resist AI.
Review: An RTS game about computer viruses. I did not download.

MIT Virus Game
Genre: Augmented Reality
A participatory game through PDAs to teach people about viruses.
http://education.mit.edu/pda/ivirus.htm
Review: They use variables we might want to mirror:

Patient 0 - determines if the player starts with the virus
- Gets Sick - determines if patient 0 every shows "SICK"
Multiple Meetings - allows players to meet other players more than once
Immune - determines if the player is immune to the virus
- Immune Carriers - allows immune people to pass the virus along to others
Incubation Time - how long on average it takes from getting the virus to showing sick
- Variation - how much (random) extra time it could take before showing sick
- PO Additional Time - how many extra seconds it takes for Patient 0 to get sick
% transmit virus - the probability of passing the virus from an infected person to a healthy person
Recover time - time it takes to recover from being sick (0 means there is no recovery)
- Immune after recovery- if people recover determines if they are immune afterwards
Game mode - which round the game is in

Attack of the Killer Virus
Genre: Action, Shooter
A mobile phone game that lets you shoot viruses using your cameraphone.
http://www.midlet-review.com/index?content=review&id=268&rel=symbian
Review: Pretty innovative. It would be cool if the game had an offline component like this.

Virus
Genre: Action
Use the mouse to guide a computer virus around moving obstacles and walls.
http://www.pepere.org/flash-development_1_3x/flash-game-virus_u_9.html
Review: Annoying, but maybe inspire the hand washing game I was thinking about.

Virus Puzzle by Vibration13
Genre: Puzzle
http://www.vibration13.com/virus/
Review: I like the opening computer screen in which you are moving around the screen trying to click on stuff. It was funny twist on perspective. We could do some thing like this with the human body as the host for a virus. Where you can use an xray to see virus infections if such a thing were possible. The game was so weird. You were given hints and had to figure out clues to break the virus.

Virus: The Game (1997)
Genre: RTS, Shooter
Hunt through your file system destroying virus.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/virusthegame/index.html
Review: Not sure what to think of this. The innovation here might be they tried to integrate your real life "your data" with the game. Not a bad concept.

Infect. Evolve. Repeat.
Infect red blood cells to spawn more viruses, evolve to spread faster, become immune and the most feared virus ever.
http://www.2flashgames.com/f/f-Infect-Evolve-Repeat-1897.htm
Review: Best game so far. Nice graphics. Takes on the perspective of the virus much like our game.

FAQ

inokon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 02:24:24 CDT

Who are you working with?
The core team consistes of two students: Angel Inokon, Stanford University and Jeff Bowman University of California, Berkeley. We also have a team of advisors and contacts. See the people page.

What platform will the game run on?
The initial prototype will be a PC based game using Flash.

What do you plan to do with the game?
Plan to submit it to Serious Games competition at Berkeley. It will also be submitted as a Master's research project at Stanford. We hope to continue developing the game.

How do we know what people need to learn?
We ask them. We conduct surveys and then code their answers into categories which we later use in our content design and game design. We also look at what experts know and find a subset of information we believe would be meaningful to our audience.

How do you plan to manage the complexity of mini-games that all have to connect?
The game is essentially a linear story. Each chapter is basically a multiple choice test. There are not an infinite number of choices. We are careful to contain answers that are valid in that set. The player perceives that they have lot’s of choice. They are mostly in control of overall score based on the number of missions they play.

Will the constantly switching perspectives be too much for the learner. Is it better to focus on one thing and learn it well and then move on?
Our domains of knowledge - management, scientific and personal - all interrelate. The game builds upon knowledge in one area and constantly returns to these subjects to reinforce learning. As for staying with one perspective longer, we suspect that this generation is more twitchy and will enjoy the diverse pace. It remains to be proven, further study will inform us here.

What if the perspectives conflict? What if what you decide on the personal level conflicts with the government level?
The simple answers is we would not present scenarios that conflict. If the governement says you can’t have vaccine, we wouldn’t present a scenario where you have an option of going against the policy. But we present things the family can effect like hygiene, quarantine and supplies. As another example, if you are playing as the virus. You would be limited to playing the virus in a lab where it is being contained and studied.

Will comedy be effective? When is it appropriate? Will people take the game seriously?
Comedy is a very effective tool when used wisely. It is an excellent way to capture attention, ease tension and teach moral lessons without being too preachy. In our game comedy is used after tense moments of gameplay to give the player an emotional break. We would use it in scenarios that are mostly preventative where there is no immediate threat of danger. We might also include it to show quirky sides of human nature to teach moral lessons. For example: In the shopping frenzy game, you might see a shopper hoarding food underneath their clothes and then getting caught for doing so. People will laugh because they can imagine themselves doing something like that. We believe in the first few turns of the game people will get how serious the subject is and these moments of light levity will keep them playing.

If these toys are too fun how do you know people will take it seriously?
Fun does not equate with lack of learning. The answer depends on the audience and our objective. We believe serious games can be fun. Their success is measured on whether learning outcomes have been achieved. We aim to pursue this question through assessments that gauge the effectiveness of the game for our audience.

What is innovative about this game? How will this game be disruptive?

Toy-based simulation.
Multiple perspectives. Be the president or Be the virus and infect people in a limited amount of time.
See the effects of decisions throughout the game
Promote action in real life outside of the game

Is the game accurate?
We gathered data from current events, advisors, professors, and experts to inform our models. We attempt to simplify real life decision making so it can fit within a digestable game experience. No it is not 100% accurate but it will be research based. We are looking for medical advisors to collaborate with us.

What is the alternative to this game? How do people learn about pandemics?
Media and health care advisors. People are over saturated. Some of the hype may be misleading or cause people to over-respond.

What is the risk if we don't build this game? Has there been an example where health information has failed with serious consequences?
The risk is another Katrina except widespread, long-term and more devastating. The government has already admitted that if a bird flu hits they can't help. We're on our own. We must be informed. I know of not game where health information has failed. We can't afford to fail.

Can disease be fun?
Yes. Just like SimCity or Sodoku is fun, people gain enjoyment by solving difficult problems. Disease can be fun if you present clear interfaces, fun play and attainable goals. Also the game offers a diversity of genres with some more "action-like" goals that require speed or fast thinking to respond.

How do you quantify preparedness? What things can’t be quantified?
Not sure.

Resources

inokon — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:07:41 CDT

Workshops

Simulation Workshop: June 26 & 27, 2006
Stanford, California
Attend this workshop to learn how to create simulations!
http://simworkshop.stanford.edu/06_0626/program.html

Video

Handwashing video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3407381191666591669&q=outbreak
Review: Great to use a piece of this to setup one of our info clips. We can capture a subset using flickr. Alternatively we could also use the concept of a black light in the game to indicate how we can tell if hand-washing wasn't perfect.

Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America
Tuesday, May 9 at 8/7c
http://abc.go.com/movies/birdflu.html
An american business man is infected in Hong Kong, went to his son's little league game. Movie suggests that wild birds would bring the virus.
NPR: Spread of the virus is through casual contact like a napkin. Scientists say you have to be in close contact of 4 feet.

Audio

NPR Science Friday, may 12, reality vs. some avian flu movie:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5401179
"It's a numbers game...like pulling the ace of spades out of a deck of cards. US needs to export proactive methods - clamp down on borders and watch birds that come into the country illegal. US has already been fighting bird flu in the US and have managed to contain them." In Mali a woman died, first in sub-suharan africa from chicken. Border control is more important than migratory birds.

NPR
March 31, about a vaccine:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5315150

Presentations

History of simulations http://gamepipe.usc.edu/docs/StrategyGames.pdf

Books and Articles

Seven Indonesian Bird Flu Cases Linked to Patients (Update1)
Confirmed cases of human-to-human transfer.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aWESsJvt6CFE&refer=asia

Fullerton, Tracy. et al. The Game Design Workshop
James Paul Gee, Learning about Learning from a Video Game: Rise of Nations

Video games improve performance of surgeons. New study
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/fun.games/05/24/video.games.surgery.reut/index.html

The Battle to Stop Bird Flu by Thomas Goetz
Follow the money to find the pandemic
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/birdflu.html?pg=4&topic=birdflu&topic_set=

Feel Sick? Follow the Money.
Shows a likely pattern viruses will follow based on airplane routes.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/start.html?pg=12

IBM, Scripps team up to stop flu in its tracks
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/local_news/epaper/2006/05/27/m1a_ibmscripps_0527.html

ESA Demographics Report
http://www.theesa.com/files/2005EssentialFacts.pdf

Tools

NetLogo - a tool that is used to simulate everything from viruses to bird flocking. Students can tweak variables and observe the affects. It can also be setup where each student is an agent in the system.

Websites

The 400 Rules of Game Design http://www.theinspiracy.com/400_project.htm
Dafont http://www.dafont.com/
Deviant Art http://www.deviantart.com/
Ark Institute www.arkinstitute.com

Mini-Game Inspiration
WHO
- Home page http://www.who.int
- Preparation Document http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/guidelines/pandemicfluprotocol_17.03a.pdf
MSNBC
- Scenario watch movie
- Where do diseases come from? http://www.msnbc.com/modules/sars/new_diseases/default.asp
Whitehouse
- Preparedness plan http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/nspi_implementation.pdf
U.S. Hospital Statistics http://www.aha.org/aha/resource_center/fastfacts/fast_facts_US_hospitals.html

Literature Review

Prenksy 2000
Pesce 2000
Berger 2002
Gee 2003
Williams 2003
Squire and jenkins 2004
Steinkueler 2004
Jean Piaget 1945
Huizinga - magic circle
Reeves and Nass 1996
Caillois

People

inokon — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:41:51 CDT

Core Development Team

Angel Inokon
Stanford University
email / google talk inokon@gmail.com
http://ldt.stanford.edu/~inokon

Jeff Bowman
University of California, Berkeley
email / google talk jeffbowman@gmail.com

Circle of Advisors

Roy Pea, Stanford Professor
Hal Larsson, LDT, Stanford University
Jessica Chuang, Chemistry PhD candidate
Action, Game Designer, Curiosoft
Sarah Walter, Gaming and Education, PhD student Stanford University
Joe Wong, Game Designer Activision

Not confirmed:
Sande Chen, Serious Games author (unconfirmed)

Sketches and Pictures

inokon — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:21:31 CDT

This page contains many of the pictures we created during our process.

6.0 Community

inokon — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 01:32:04 CDT

This page describes those features intended to extend the Outbreak game and create community.

Ideas for this page might include:

Web 2.0 integration
Player creation of virus and pandemic scenarios
Online discussion forums
Using real news reports and feeds
Google earth Mashups
Community forums and webpages with RSS news feeds
Multiplayer gaming ideas where players have their own cities and must trade, barter and defend against viruses
Comparing game concept to existing communities
Sharing of in-game tips
Building in a Micro-transaction model where players buy more content to create a happier ending
Providing hooks for in-game advertising and advermini-games

Free thought
this section of the paper was inspired out of the concern about what the game would be like if a pandemic were occurring. As designers we must think about how people will will react to the gain if a pandemic is currently happening within the world. Part of our challenge then, is to design a game that will meet the needs of people when they are hurting, isolated, and a afraid. Ultimately what we design for an educational purpose, might truly have the therapeutic purpose. What we may think is purely fun, may become a life line. The assets, it is incumbent upon us to think about how our design will support people in that event.

Important features during a pandemic:
COMMUNITY

the ability to connect with other people
discuss the virus
fun games to play while you are in quarantine
the ability to see updated data, real-world data
the ability to share stories about the game and how it impacted you
an online wall to remember people who died
the ability to defeat the virus by working together

What is community?

There are three important features of community. A community is a place where users return to over time.

here are activities that happened in community:

providing feedback
lending a volunteer hand
contributing to discussions and activity

Quotes from the reading
"The Internet, however, has produced dislocations of time and space in the process of offering new means of communicating." (9)

Playtests

inokon — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:51:50 CDT

Design Review - May 25, 2006

Location: Stanford University, Graduate Community Center
Time: 2:30 - 3:45 pm
Participants: 2

I had an 1 hour and 20 minute review with two young adults today. I had a review with a heavy gamer. Owns an xbox, gamecube, DS and PS2 lite who is a single male. In the same room was a non-gamer female with a small family. They both reviewed the game. I recorded the entire conversation. During the test they observed the 5/21 prototype and the game structure diagram.

Here are some of the highlights:

Interface

Menus should not obstruct the game screen, use a sidebar and restrict the playable area
Blink mission icons need more information - Have missions pop up with titles and then fade away, List mission on lower right
Vaccine game art is counter-intuitive. You should use the dropper to drop vaccine on populations
Don't mix photo realistic and illustrations. Only place you can do that is on a map
Be consistent with the use of colors across modes when displaying game stats
consider using a pie chart to display people's health status. they identitfied 4 states - contracted not dead, immunity, dead, and don't have it
hospital beds feels to granular, too specific. maybe call it healthcare infrastructure
Game needs a dashboard, some homebase
Should integrate the mini-game locations into the main screen so they are on the same screen

Gameplay

Sim levels feel like a multiple choice test. Need to clearly choose between what type of simulation will be presented. Will you manage complex situations in real-time as in (SimCity) or turn-based like Civilization or will you get a series of screens you click through.
game needs integration; too disjointed.
God view gets boring, having the family helps, but they want some familiar characters across the mini-games
introduce collectibles that relate to the goal of the mini-games to encourage play
collectible ideas:

something pretty, photo for the desktop
interface change
music
trophy or medal
access to harder mini-games or challenges
new characters
new tools - a better vaccine
personal mementos or pictures of lives you have saved that you keep on your dashboard

have extra challenge missions that are sub-plot to the main story that are very challenging and require higher skill
okay to play the virus just not in the main game

Learning:

Must scaffold learning. important to teach people about the pieces individually without throwing them into the full-functioning sim. Too confusing
Must provide goals, can't be as open as the Sims
Mini-games give the player as well as the designer a way to track and asses what they've learned; formative assessment

Other games to check out:

Startcraft - an RTS game
Rampart
Civilization - turn-based strategy game
*priority* Black and white 2 - has minigames and simulation
ACT Razor - strategy game with concrete goal
*priority* Trauma Center (DS) - has a challenge where you tackle a flu virus as a doctor

Recording
They have given permission to post this recording online.
Listen to the recording now

7.0 Technical Spec

inokon — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:42:50 CDT

Technical Spec

Technical Analysis
New Technology
Major tasks
Risks
Alternatives
Delivery
Development platoform and tools
Delivery
Other

Design

inokon — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:42:03 CDT

In our design section you will find:

1.0 Overview
2.0 Marketing Information
3.0 Learning Principles
4.0 Gameplay
5.0 Story
6.0 Community
Old Design Documents

or...Get the latest summary

Microsoft Powerpoint Presentation
http://www.outbreakthegame.com/media/Outbreak_prez2.ppt

Whitepaper

4.0 Gameplay

inokon — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:39:01 CDT

Gameplay

Overview
The game progresses over a 180 day period. The game however does not run in real time, rather it is divided into 9 episodes or chapters in which the player is called to solve a particular challenge in a foreign nation. Each chapter has 8 - 10 minigame missions. Minigames can be repeated but they do not affect the story line once you exit the level.Your success is measured on how many lives you save and your management of game economy items like:

hospital beds - the capacity of the nation to care for the sick while they fight the virus. Also reflects the number health care workers at work, medical supplies
vaccine - the amount of vaccine that available to treat the virus. Depends heavily on if the virus mutates.
hygiene - the cleanliness practices of people in the city. Population knowledge of hand-washing, sneezing, and masks
morale - the status of people's sentiments. Panic is effected by media information, availability of food and water, utilities, the rate of people dying

Each chapter incorporates three types of mini-games – management, scientific and personal. The game progresses from chapter to chapter and is interrupted on occasion by a concurrently running “B-Story” involving your family. See the diagram below.

Since the mini-games have to be tightly coupled to the overall simulation, each chapter design description includes how it fits into the story, learning goals and the types of minigames. See two examples below.

See the Levels section for more information on Levels and Mini-games

[to be added]
Controls
Interfaces
Rules
Scoring
Flowchart
Editor

2.0 Levels

inokon — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:37:51 CDT

revisions:

5/30 - Removed old concepts posted on Old Concepts page - AI

added revision history
added task list

task list

identify bonus mini-games
create items list
workin learning objectives

Chapter 1: Indonesia

Day: 7
Goal: Try to contain the virus; Find and Quarantine the cluster
Learning goal:

Viruses are hard to contain and track. Can't always find clusters.
Media can cause unnecessary panic
Importance of planning

Story: The WHO confirms a new cluster of cases in Indonesia raising the worldwide emergency status. It's at epidemic status right now, but in a few days it could be a pandemic. The WHO along with your organization plan to contain it in the tiny populous country.

Mini-games:
Management
· Find the cluster
· Quarantine
· Make press announcement; Communicate how vaccines would be allocated.
Scientific
· Understand the virus
· Match a vaccine
Personal
· Prepare stockpile (Be ready)
· Create a plan (Be aware)
· Find trustworthy news sources (Be aware)
· Find out about plans (Be aware)

Exit Story
The virus has been minimally contained in Indonesia. But experts expect it is still on the move elsewhere. New flight plan data has been generated showing possible directions the virus might travel. Emergency teams are on call. A new location, signals the red alert - The United States.

Chapter 2: America gets into gear

Day: 14
Goal: Deploy stockpiles and implement response
Objectives:

Deploy vaccine (Manage)
Implement quarantine (Manage)
Protect your family from getting sick (Protect)

Learning goal:

Identify sick people from healthy ones
Become aware of the complexities of vaccine management
Build awareness on the detrimental effects of panic and fear
Recognize the importance quarantine

Story: The US sees it's first outbreak of HN51. The news spreads like wild-fire. People are lining up at grocery stories. The media is abuzz with speculation on the government's plans. Settle down the nation by implementing quarantine and vaccination strategies.

Mini-games:
Management
· Prioritize vaccine
· Decide quarantine - Limit non-essential domestic travel
· Deploy stockpiles allocating to sites
· Find the cluster (optional)

Scientific
· Check for mutations
· Speed vaccination creation

Personal
· Know the symptoms
· Don't Pass it on
· Keep your distance
Exit story:
The US settles in for what will be a long, unpredictable fight. Meanwhile in Geneva, Switzerland the WHO watches as 76 nations report outbreaks - the peak of pandemic is imminent.

For more information on the game structure, see the PowerPoint walkthrough video.

Mini-Games

Vaccine Game

Type: Puzzle/Sim

Objective: Manage who gets the vaccine first

Learning goal: Balancing ethics vs pratical decisions; Understanding the complexity of distribution

Setup: The vaccination has been created finally after 6 months of waiting. There still is not enough for everyone. Decide who gets the vaccination in the US. Queue five categories of people into a vaccination line. The line contains a finite amount of vaccination. Each block you put in the line varies in volume to the number of people in that category. You will leave some people unvaccinated. Run the simulator to see your results in your success variables which are immunity, hospital beds and panic.

Categories:

Elderly
Critical personal
Health care workers and first responders
Very Sick
Babies
Young people (15 < 40 years) or (<65)
Pregnant women

See: http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/nspi_implementation.pdf (pg 114)
See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12742507/
Source: NPR Science http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5401179
Source: NPR Science: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5315150

Why

full-life tradeoff;
healing the sick for organ donation
shouldn't be based on annual flu planning

Gameplay:
Stage 1: Setup: Enough vaccine for everyone. No considerations.

Goal: High survival rate. Use at least 70% of vaccine.

Stage 2: Setup: Enough vaccine for everyone. One consideration

Goal: mortality rate < 40 % for healthy people. It is W shaped and not U Shaped. Affects 20 <40 ages like 1918

Stage 3: Setup: Not enough vaccine for everyone.

Vaccine not effective enough. Must be administered in 2 doses at the highest levels. It takes much more vaccine. May only have enough vaccine for 25-40 million people world-wide out of 6 billion. Only 50% effective.

Goal: Only 12%. Young and healthy people are mostly affected.

Stage 4: Scientists figure out how to add adjuvants to lower the doses. Now there are 5 million doses.

... other stages
Stage V: Virus has mutated requires hire doses. It is less effective in certian types of people
Stage W: Fill in a limited amount of time.
Stage X: Maximize vaccination in a city like New York where first responders might be more important
Stage Y: Simulate vaccination decisions that would necessarily differ by state or city.
Stage Z: Famers vs city workers. In a stage two outbreak there might be a decision based on a local problem.
Stage ZZ: Use the computer to ramp the difficulty by calculating the top solutions and presenting in that order.

Interface:

There are buttons to grab and drag each of the populations onto the syringe.
There are read-outs showing the ratings in our 3 metrics: hospital beds, economy and people panic.
There is also a time button. Time doesn't run while you make decisions.
Vaccine amount 4 million doses

Controls:

Left mouse to start
Player picks their options by left-clicking with the mouse.
Left mouse to run the simulation. Animation shows each person dropping out of the syringe coating the earth. Time is running
Left mouse to stop the simulation.

Scoring:

Early stages the mini-game is just practice. There is no scoring that effects your simulator later it could be used in a final sim challenge to affect your score.
Your

Sketch feedback:

Fill should go from right to left not left to right.
Add a goal line to the left middle picture.
Deaths listed at bottom right is demoralizing. Perhaps list the survivals not the deaths. In raw numbers.
Check out fluxx card game. Goals of the game are constantly.