Forum Discussion
Storyline: Award-Winning Scenario Game
Games can be an amusing way to pass the time, but they can also encourage people to engage thoughtfully with complex and difficult topics. The Re-Entry Journey, winner of DemoFest’s Best Game-based Project award at DevLearn 2023, shows how much of an impact learning experiences like this can have on players.
In this Storyline 360 game, learners take on the role of someone reentering society on probation. They start the game with what at the surface might appear to be a simple goal—make it to the end of their probation period without incurring additional playtime or added penalties. But that seemingly basic task is incredibly challenging in real life, with the deck stacked against people right from the beginning. To simulate that experience, this game is intentionally difficult and weaves in many of the complex real-world choices that people face in this situation.
While the gameplay in The Re-Entry Journey may be challenging, the process used to create it was not! This game was developed almost entirely using Storyline 360’s built-in features, with JavaScript only stepping in to help with the timer. Built on a single slide with multiple layers, most of the magic happens thanks to one of Storyline 360’s core features—triggers. It just goes to show how far you can push Storyline 360 to create unexpected learning experiences.
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36 Replies
- Bill, this is awesome. I would love to see how you built it. We have a poverty simulation that we facilitate that is live with the same kind of feel. I would love to create a smaller version like this that can be a single player simulation.
- Thanks for the good words!
I'd be very interested in seeing your poverty simulation too.
I'm starting work on a build video to share, and will definitely chime in here when it's complete (might take a little...).
Here's a fun little trick - if you play a second time and click the logo in the bottom right corner of the game board, you'll be enrolled in a GI program (like the client's) and the monetary penalty is largely removed. Makes the game much easier to get through...which is intentionally hard to do.
- I was able to access the game earlier, but I am now not able to click to start the game. I'm getting a message that says "You are offline, trying to reconnect" in the lower left of the screen. Same result in different browsers. Can you please advise?
- Looks like we've had some traffic!
I believe this may be occurring because we're significantly over quota on statements.
This is a good problem for the client!
Thanks for pointing it out. I'll see about a resolution here asap.- Should be fixed!
- This is great! I hope to see the video when it comes out
- This is fantastic, Bill. The inherent frustration in the scenarios was a real eye-opener.
If you're comfortable sharing, I'd be interested to know the time and resource that went into this! I'm imagining an incredibly complex Storyline project. - I can't get it to go past the "enter email address" screen. The three dots keep flashing on the screen, and it has been a VERY long time.
- I'd suggest giving it another shot - may have been a connection issue or low bandwidth. The game board is on a single slide, so if you have a slow connection it could be lagging. In general, we've had very few access issues.
- Sorry, Bill. I went to click Like and accidentally clicked reported. I can't seem to unreport it!
I was going to say that it did work, but only if I didn't enter anything in the email/name field.
It is an awesome module. Well done!
- I am not a Storyline pro, so a video of how to create this would be fantastic!
- Definitely would like to see a how-to video on this one.
- Bill this is AMAZING! I'd love to know more about what tools you used outside of Articulate to create this. What was your team size, production hours, etc. I'd love to create something like this in the future.
- Thanks for the good words!
Team - little ol' me and a single SME.
Tools - Storyline 360 (dev), Illustrator (design), Audition (custom background audio), Premiere (minimal, for the interviews).
I won't touch on production hours or budget, but I will say it was economical.
- jh,,j
Superb project, well done.
