Surviving Independence

Surviving Independence is a unique game designed to help at-risk teens learn essential life skills and prepare for independent living. Through interactive scenarios and challenges, the game aims to teach practical lessons in areas such as personal finance, time management, and decision-making, equipping players with the tools they need to succeed on their own.

here is a nationwide issue with teens who emancipate or age out of the foster care system, as many struggle to manage their newfound independence. Some face legal trouble and end up in prison, while others are unable to cope with life’s challenges and become homeless. Surviving Independence is a grant-funded project specifically designed to help these young people overcome these obstacles and build the skills they need to thrive independently.

The game places you in the position of a teen with two weeks left before emancipating from your foster care home. Your main objectives are to secure a job, find an apartment, and choose a roommate. Along the way, the player encounters various obstacles and is faced with difficult decisions, reflecting the real-life challenges of transitioning to independent living.

We designed the game specifically for tablet devices, making the entire experience touch-based. Players interact with characters and objects in the world by tapping. For example, tapping on a door will make the character walk through it, while tapping on a person will start a conversation. If players tap on non-interactive objects, a visual ping highlights all available interactive elements, helping them easily identify their options. Menus are contextual and only show relevant choices, keeping navigation simple. This interactive system made the game intuitive and easy to play for all users.

One of the key elements of the game was character dialogue. We needed a system that allowed players to engage in conversations with characters, as well as a way for characters to start conversations with each other and the player. I developed a conversation system that spawned a visual indicator between characters when they were actively talking, letting the player know they were engaged. If the player tapped on a character not in a conversation, a conversation circle would appear, and the characters would gather around it to talk. If the character was already in a circle, the player would join the ongoing conversation.

The dialogue was delivered to the player through comic-style speech bubbles. The challenge was allowing characters to speak at any time, while also highlighting key dialogue that required player attention. To address this, we created two types of speech bubbles: passive and important. Passive dialogue appeared briefly and then disappeared, while important dialogue stayed on-screen until the player tapped on it. Important dialogue bubbles also pulsated, preventing the player from interacting with anything else until they acknowledged the message.

For research purposes, we recorded every user action into a data file, allowing us to visualize each play session without the need for video recording. This data helped us identify key usability issues, such as taps on non-interactive objects. Additionally, researchers used the data to assess whether users were learning effectively, providing insight into the application's overall success.