photos by alexandros lambrovassilis

girls   Roxy and Evelyn Benson

Oiko! Mission Planet Rescue, is a narrative gaming system, played in a household environment that aims to teach children, ages seven and up, how they can protect the environment, by recycling and reducing consumption of natural resources. In the game, electrical switches, bath taps, and trash bins are transformed into sites for play, helping children to model ways of saving water, energy and recycling. Procrastinated

These ideas are linked to a narrative within the game that invites kids to explore and protect the environmentally damaged planets of a young galactic prince named Oiko. In the story, Oiko loves collecting planets but unfortunately, over the years pollution in the galaxy has wiped out nearly all of his world. Once thriving with life, his planets are now left without sun, water or trees. Desperate for help, Oiko has asked three ‘trainers’ from the techno-galaxy to come to his rescue. The ‘trainers’, that take the form of playful electronic gadgets, will coach with players throughout the course of the game. They will teach children how to harvest enough resources to restore all of Oiko’s planets.

Oiko comes in a house shaped box that one can purchase online or through a retailer. The package contains a storybook that takes children through the narrative as well as a  short version of the rules of the game, a set of thirty planet cards and three electronic trainer gadgets that are installed in the different rooms of the house. Additionally, in the package one can find a guidebook for the parents, including a longer version of the rules, detailed instructions on how to install the gadgets and a quiz with funny questions about the environment that parents can ask the children after play.

This project aims not only to raise awareness in relation to how our actions affect the planet, but also to foster ideas of active learning in order for children to construct meaning around developing habits that lead to an ecological way of thinking. Play requires that children act within a role, given to them within the context of the game. The story of Oiko is designed to engage children in acting within such a role. They are asked to perform certain activities within the game, in order to fulfill their role as Oiko’s rescuers. Those activities are the core mechanic of the game. Through this main interaction that happens while they are playing, children are introduced to a systemic way of thinking that applies to environmental causes. They learn that we are all connected as parts of a chain, as parts of a system. 

In this post i am investigating curriculum standards for first graders in order to frame better the content of the online game.

(long description)

The student will investigate and understand that plants have life needs and functional parts and
can be classified according to certain characteristics. Key concepts include
a) needs (food, air, water, light, and a place to grow);
b) parts (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, blossoms, fruits); and
c) characteristics (edible/nonedible, flowering/nonflowering, evergreen/deciduous).
1.5 The student will investigate and understand that animals, including people, have life needs and
specific physical characteristics and can be classified according to certain characteristics. Key
concepts include
a) life needs (air, food, water, and a suitable place to live);
b) physical characteristics (body coverings, body shape, appendages, and methods of
movement); and
c) other characteristics (wild/tame, water homes/land homes).

The student will investigate and understand the relationship of seasonal change and weather to the
activities and life processes of plants and animals. Key concepts include how temperature, light,
and precipitation bring about changes in
a) plants (growth, budding, falling leaves, and wilting);
b) animals (behaviors, hibernation, migration, body covering, and habitat); and
c) people (dress, recreation, and work).
The student will investigate and understand that natural resources are limited. Key concepts
include
a) identification of natural resources (plants and animals, water, air, land, minerals, forests, and
soil);
b) factors that affect air and water quality; and
c) recycling, reusing, and reducing consumption of natural resources.
Science

* Grouping and classification
* Living and nonliving things
* Animals
* Pets
* Farm animals
* Zoo and circus animals
* Woodland animals
* Common birds
* Plant and animal habitats
* Seeds, bulbs, plants, flowers
* Weather and seasons
* Day and night
* Solids, liquids, gases
* Air and water
* Magnets
* Fire and temperature
* Sun, moon, stars, planets
* Simple machines
* Beginning experimentation
* Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Also in Mathenmatics

* Geometric patterns and figures

As mentioned earlier, Oiko’s story is conveyed to children through illustrations as well as short rhyming sentences in the book. The text that is distributed accordingly next to the illustrations in the storybook is provided below:

‘In a universe not far away, there was a young prince who loved to play. His favorite of all the things in the world to do, was catching planets while he flew His planets were plenty and all in good shape- placed next to each other in a blue sky scrape. Oiko, loved to swim and water his plants, running around with his short red pants. but one day pollution came along and things started to go wrong: the sun wouldn’t shine, oiko’s world was no longer divine. the fish had nowhere to swim, the birds in the forest wouldn’t sing Oiko thought of the three techno galaxy trainers and gave them a call! The trainers were famous for their coaching skills, helping young boys and girls to make water, energy and tree fills… Lets meet the trainers, before we play, and coach with them along the way.’

(all rules are illustrated within oiko’s storybook)

The object of the game is to be the first player to get rid off all your
planet cards by completing all of your tasks. A typical round of Oiko
would involve the following steps:
a) Play begins by shuffling and dealing five planet cards to
each player in the beginning of the game.
b) Players also get two galaxy master cards each, in the
beginning of the game.
c) They can use those to coach along with any trainer they
select along the course of the game.
d) The younger player goes first and spins the spinner.
e) Once the spinner lands on a trainer, players have to play a
planet card that matches that trainer in order to restore it.
f ) For them to restore the planet on the card they have to
leave the playing area along with the rest of the players and move
to the room where that trainer gadget is installed.
g) Upon arriving to the destined area where the gadget is,

players place the planet card on top of the matrix screen. 

h) They start playing the challenge by turning the trainer on.
Once that happens a smiling face will appear on the trainer’s matrix
screen
i) Next, they have to turn the time knob to the indicated
position. There are three levels of time, easy (5 min), medium (3min)
and hard (1min). Those levels are indicated each time on the card as
shown below.
j) Time starts counting and children have to act out what is
written at the bottom of the card as fast as possible.
k) If the player successfully performs the challenge within the
time limit that is set up by the time knob, a shape will blink on the
gadget’s matrix screen and it will match the holes that are on the
planet card. i.e. turn the knob to task wash your hands, perform the
activity by washing your hands and turn of the tap before you run
out of time
l) The player can shout ‘ Oiko’s planet is restored’ and return
to the playing area where the restored planet card is placed face
up. As the game progresses, players fill the playing area with Oiko’s
restored planet cards.
m) If players don’t fulfill the challenge on time, a sad face will
appear on the trainer’s screen.
n) In case players don’t have a card to play, they have two
options. They can either play one of their galaxy master card that
will allow them to coach with any trainer they want, or draw a card
from the face down pile.
o) When players is left with only one card they have to shout
‘planet one’, so that other players know that they are almost ready to
close the round.
p) The first player to play all his planet cards wins the round.
figure 

3.1.4.1.8. Score
Once players have finished a round of Oiko, they can trace their
‘environmental’ score by filling in the maps that are found at the
back of the book. Those are divided in three categories colored
analogously to the other game components as yellow, for the
amount of energy the players have saved, blue for the amount
of water that players have saved and green for the trees that
have been saved. As depicted below, the maps constitute of a
background image of a topic related to energy, water or trees. In
the front layer of that image is a map of circles that are the same
as the shapes that appear on the cards while the game is in play.
Children fill in with crayons these shapes. The above activity is
designed to help children summarize their learning experience and
better understand how their actions during the game helped the
environment. Furthermore these maps enforce motivation for kids
to play Oiko again in order to complete them.

here is an idea for a web version of oiko- what if i abandoned the board game and booklet ideas and i just keep the gadgets.

play goes as following

step1_ play gadget, gadget gives you code on matrix

step2_go online and reveal what that code hides-

narrative, you are restoring pieces of a damaged ecology, for every code you unlock(by playing the gadgets) you reveal a new part of this restored puzzle-world. It could be a mountain, a human, a creature, a forest etc. Depending on the code you unlock, you earn more points.

technology to do this: simple flash button functions (for beta version to be presented on finals)

this website provides a platform to further build an eco-mini-game portal after i graduate.

less is more- Mies van der Rohe

5 steps to play Oiko (can i make them three?)

1. get gadgets

2. select gadget – select level :play

3. oiko code appears on the matrix- yay : select a ‘brick’ piece that has that code on it

(bricks can be : restored energy, water, soil, creatures, humans, mountains or waste, see previous post)

4. assemple the oiko puzzle so that it forms a ‘house’ (approximately seven uses of the gadgets will give you a house puzzle)

5. play Oiko- a board game for 2 to four players

blurb for Oiko (for extent version of rules, see previous post)

be the first player to move your humans through the moving maze in the center of your restored oiko-logy and win the game. Use creatures to surpass obstacles and waste, earn extra points for working together and restoring more energy, water and soil.