For: BBC Wales
Skills: UI and UX Design, Asset Creation
Featuring the 12th Doctor Who, voiced by Peter Capaldi, The Doctor and The Dalek puts the player in control of a rogue Dalek ‘Kane’. They must battle Cybermen, Sontarans and a Dalek army to save the universe, all the while learning KS2 and KS3 coding principles. The game called for a range of unique UX and UI designs that I had to ensure followed BBC’s Games framework requirements (GEL), conveyed the correct educational content and were fully faithful to the Doctor Who brand.
We created a vocabulary of coding commands that could be combined in the 3D ‘Puzzle Junction’ levels to demonstrate KS2 and KS3 coding principles. These included movement commands, functions, player defined actions, logic loops and conditions. It was quite a complex piece of design that had to be super clear to the player as to what they were building and the order and direction that their commands would execute in.
It was very important to BBC Wales that the look and feel of the game were an extension of the much loved TV show. I worked closely with the team during the design process to ensure that the UI style and game assets got it right. In addition to the Puzzle Junction UI, I created numerous game screens, in-game UI and assets including; level select screens, help screens and tutorials, game results and achievements. Character and environment designs were created by the very talented artists; Nana Li and Leanne Slight respectively. I worked with their assets to integrate them into the UI.
Before any design work began, we created a full set of wireframes for the experience. This helped us to carefully test our ideas for the Puzzle Junction and some of the more visually complex game screens before committing to design. We also used the wireframe assets to develop a prototype of the puzzle junction sections to ensure they worked as expected and were meeting the educational objectives.
Towards the end of the project I assisted with production, helping with the day to day running of the project and the delivery of the app. I’m really proud of my work and of the final game. It was a great experience to work on such a well known and well loved brand, with such a talented team. The Doctor and The Dalek received nominations for the Welsh BAFTAs and the Broadcast Awards.
