Screenplay Technology

The jam's goal was to use ScreenPlay, a technology provided by Holland Bloorview Children's Hospital. ScreenPlay  is an  alt controller using a grid of pressure sensitive plates or a Kinect  as input, allowing  children of all ability to  play only using their presence.

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To   help players make the connection between the  pressure plates and the game, a grid is featured, corresponding to  each plate in Screenplay.

While You Wait

Another design challenge we faced was to produce something that could be played without causing too strong an urge to engage, so kids would be fine with leaving the game to go to their appointment.

No win or lose states are in the game in order to achieve this.  The gameplay loop of herding sheep runs endlessly, as the supply of sheep available to herd always replenishes,   preventing players from feeling  attached to any kind of score.

All or None

In order to attract waiting room patients to play, I designed an attract mode that is launched when no players are detected on the grid for some time.

When the attract mode begins, the game will spawn sheepdogs that are guided by AI rather than player  presence,    moving mostly to stir sheep herds for an audience to watch.

The  attract mode also serves as a textless tutorial on how dogs interact with sheep.