Making the tricky subject of pain playable for teenagers visiting London’s Science Museum.
The Antenna gallery is a dynamic, hands-on space for teenagers to explore various themes in science and technology. Science Museum’s team of veteran games-makers wanted to playfully communicate the past, present and future of pain medication.
CLIENT
Science Museum
TECH
Flash
Mac mini
Touchscreen
ROLE
Creative Director
(Thought Den)
Based on the classic Mission Control mechanic, players must fend off varying degrees of pain signals as they travel towards the brain of an accident-prone character. ‘Good mood’ clouds diminish the strength of pain but can’t defeat it alone, ‘Painkiller’ tablets are effective at first but soon lose their potency and ‘Placebos’ only work 50% of the time.
The game was co-designed with Key Stage 3 and 4 students from Langley Academy. In content workshops, the central learning messages were whittled down to memorable, Twitter-length phrases and early prototypes were tested with museum visitors to iron out user experience issues and game-balance.
Co-designed with students from Langley Academy