THE GAME CHANGER

My role

UI/UX - Worked in a team that consisted out of four teammates

Worked on

Desk research: Finding out from which angle we want to tackle our problem by asking ourselves the question: Do we want to better the gaming behaviour of children so that their sleeping quality will be improved? I also have done research about how people sleep and what kind of REM phases there are.

User research: Finding out how we can positively impact the behaviour of our target audience and implementing it in a way that attracts the user.

Ideation and Concepting: Showing our idea to the client and then reiterating based on the feedback.

Testing: Testing our concept to see if it was working as intended.

Type of product

Physical product

The problem

Young children have a lot of free time. They can choose to play outside but also can game whenever they want. They often spend multiple hours gaming in a row. These long sessions of gaming could make them end up being game addicts. Gaming too much could lead to sleep deprivation.

Design Challenge

Design a product that positively stimulates the gaming behaviour of children between six and twelve years old. It was quite a challenge to design the UX of this project. This was also my first time designing a physical product so there was a lot to learn.

The solution

The Game Changer is a timer that is specifically designed for children between six and twelve years old. It keeps track of the playtime of your child. You simply enter how long the child can game and the timer starts running. If he decides to stop earlier than planned, The Game Changer will give him a reward in the form of extra time. This 'bonus' time can only be used if their parents allow it.

Setting up the chicken

When the chicken is powered on, you will start with setting up the security settings. This will be done by registering your fingerprint. After having set up the system you are able to choose between the gametimer or setting up a bonusday.

The chicken has feelings!

You stop the gametimer by pressing its mohawk. The Game Changer will become happy if you stop 1 hour before the timer ends. You will get that one hour plus half an hour extra that you can use for a bonusdays. When you stop half an hour between an hour the chicken will look concerned. When the chicken is concerned you will get 15 minutes bonus. If you stop half an hour or later the chicken will be sad and you won’t get any bonushours. The numbers at the right side are the hours that have been saved up.

Adjust the timer

You can rotate the beak to adjust the gametimer. When you want to change the selection of hours and minutes, you can click once on the beak. When you are done setting up the timer, double tap the beak to start.

Bonusday

When your child has been very nice or if the holidays have started, you might consider starting a bonusday. By initiating a bonusday The Game Changer will use the spare hours that have been stored. You can start a bonusday via the main menu. The timer starts immediately. When the child is done, he can press on the mohawk to end the bonusday.