Game
Summary
The Wasteless Game is a 2D side-scroller based on the Wasteless Urban Composter unit. T he game uses a 13-bit pixel art style for an accessible and kid-friendly app. Throughout the game, you will play as Baxter. Baxter is a dinosaur on a mission to collect waste for quick, eco-friendly composting. Baxter collects compostable items to put into our in-vessel composter. The player can put multiple types of items into the in-vessel composter, like meat, bones, and carrots. Objects that cannot be composted, such as boxes and bottles, will be disposed of via a trash-destroying plasma beam. These pieces of trash emit greenhouse gases, which are harmful to both the protagonist and the environment. The game incorporates multiple platforming elements, such as tricky jumps, destructible walls, and swimming.
Purpose
The purpose of the game is to educate children and adults about the effects of excessive waste in landfills and the potential of composting is an eco-friendly solution. The shredder used in the game is an in-vessel composter, meaning that it utilizes a waste shredder for more efficient decomposition. When the compostable items are collected, they are put into the in-vessel composter where they first go through a shredder that can shred a whole steak into a bundle of 1 square centimeter pieces. After the shredding process is complete, the pieces will then be moved into the composting drum, where the pieces will be heated, agitated, and tumbled around for 24-48 hours. After that process, the compost is taken out of the drum and transported to a local farm, where it will be used for planting crops. This will eliminate the use of fertilizers on farms which emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2).
13-bit Design Process
The 13-bit design process requires the user to consider how they want a character or item to look. Then they must try their idea on the board and refine the design until it meets their expectation. Next, they must consider how they want the character to move, trying different movements to find the most fluid and sleek one. This is when problems may develop with the 13 bit layout, and if too much detail is added, the character cannot move as easily. There are workarounds to reduce detail and size, but ultimately the player must decide between losing quality on the image vs. losing quality on the animation.
Bloxels Design Platform
The Bloxels design platform is very user-friendly and kid-friendly, presenting many options to a starting designer on how they want to design their game. Almost every aspect is customizable, which is desirable when designing a specific game for a specific purpose. The only downfall is its limitation in game rules and singular platforming mode. The Bloxels platform could expand to many more modes and developing options, but for quick easy platform designing and creating, it's a great app that makes the process simple and understandable.