Mycrobexplorer - Edu Game

In the course „Edu Games“ with focus on UX and UI Design we designed interactive applications and games for learning for children of different age groups. We developed the concept of the games and focused above all on the aesthetic implementation of these. I decided to use Adobe XD, Blender, Adobe Audition, Illustrator and Photoshop for my app.

What is Mycrobexplorer?

- take on the role of an explorer of a kind of parallel world

- your guide: the good bacteria Lactobacilli („Lacto“)

- turn your home in a place full of adventures and alien like beings (=pathogens)

- absolve exciting (and educational!) mini games

- get to know „mycrobes“ in the microbe gallery

What is the target group?

- children from 8-14

- Boys and Girls

- kids who are interested in science, in adventurous/ futuristic games

- Pokemon-Fans

Content in Detail

- how to prevent pathogens (hygiene)

- differenciation of good and bad bacteria & viruses

- location of microbes

- how microbes transmit

My secret goal...

I want to convey a complex topic simplified and playful.

Make something important, what is absent and invisible, present and visible in our everyday lifes.

Mycrobexplorer in Process - Behind the scenes

Here I show the step-by-step development of my app using some selected screens of the prototypes. Under each series I have roughly summarized my next steps.

First Prototype - Feedback/ next steps

develop more child-friendly aesthetics
anthropologize microbes
model weapons with Blender
further develop screens
(…)

Second Prototype - Feedback/ next steps

reduce elements on screens & make it more playful
humanize microbes
model weapons in a more futuristic way
cut redundant functions of the app
(…)

Fourth Prototype - Feedback/ next steps

create more visual hierarchy (highlight microbes, reduce text presence)
create tension through movement, light and shadow effects, etc.
work with sound effects
(...)

Lactos Development

I modulated all microbes in Blender. Over the weeks, what started out as very microscopic, gritty renderings evolved into excitingly fleshed-out characters. In Procreate, I gave my microbes an individual touch by adding eyes, eyebrows, and mouths. Iin Photoshop I experimented with brightness, color, and contrast.

In the upper pictures you can see the development of Lacto, the main character.