CPH: Meet the bears

Inspiration

After hearing the three challenges, we were immediately drawn to the Canadian Polar Bear Habitat Challenge. The challenge wanted an interactive experience that engages the audience so, we immediately thought of a game. After researching the organization more, we decided to target our game to a younger audience as they are the future generation and should be aware of the effect of climate change on polar bears.

What it does

Our game allows the player to choose a polar bear which then proceeds to an activity like swimming or eating. Each activity gives the player information about the bear or a fact about polar bears in general! We hope that through this game it sparks curiosity in the younger generation about polar bears.

How we built it

We used Scratch, which is a programming language specifically geared for animations and games, to build our game. We first had to decide what exactly we wanted to do with the game. After landing on the idea of separate activities for each bear, we split up the work into creating sprites for each bear, drawing environments, animating walk cycles and activities, and stitching everything together. The full source code can be seen on the Scratch page when you click "See Inside".

Challenges we ran into

Some of the challenges that we had, were figuring out what programming language we should use and debugging the project. Since we are relatively new to programming we were not comfortable using Python to create the game which took up some of our time on the first day. So, we decided to build it using Scratch. However, this came with its own problems as there was a learning curve. Additionally, Scratch does not have a debugger so it took a long time to figure out what went wrong with the code.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we were able to complete the project as we were not sure how long the project would take. We are also proud that we participated in our first hackathon allowing us to expose ourselves to programming and develop our problem-solving skills.

What we learned

From this project, we learned many new things that do not pertain only to programming. We also learned about the importance of having a Polar Bear habitat for the long-term survival of their species. On the programming side, we learned that planning is key when it comes to designing a project as it allows us to clearly see how the project should be executed and breaks down the logic.

What's next for CPH: Meet the bears

To further enhance the game, we're going to add more activities involving the bears, such as in-depth training, more dietary options, and medical care. We're also going to add more information about the research that the Canadian Polar Bear Habitat is involved in and facts about polar bears.

Built With

• scratch