Ocean Heroes

Ocean Heroes was designed to play on any Windows computers.

Story

Ocean Heroes are silent heroes below water that protect our ocean and planet:

• Morrova is a mussel that can filter toxin water.
• Chestnut is a sea otter that can protect the kelp forest by eating urchins, so kelp can soak up carbon and slow down climate change. 
  
• Cookies is a green turtle that can graze seagrass, so seagrass can provide healthy habitats for other fishes.

When they open the Futura door to see the future, they see a heart-wrenching scene: polluted water, dead kelp, and dead fishes. Seeing the sad future created by human actions, they want to use their power to prevent marine pollution and climate change. After completing the three mini-games, they will win three keys. However, to unlock a good future, they have to work together in the "To The Future" final game to combine their keys into one. In the end, they can see their long-term economic impacts from protecting the ocean and planet. Humans can dive to see the majestic kelp forest and harvest fishes, which improves the economy of the local communities. Not only do Ocean Heroes save themselves from going extinct, but they also help humans gain sustainable and stable means of income. 

Let's tag along their journey and work together to save the world!

Instructions

• Main Environment
  • The player is a fish named CiCi, and they can swim around the environment. They can play minigames in any order, and they can join the minigames by interacting with the corresponding characters. 
  • Press W to move forward
  • Press SPACE to interact with characters in the environment
    
  • Use Q and E to rotate the character around (Q – left, E – right)

• Toxin Breaker - Morrova
  • When the player interacts with Morrova (a mussel), they will play the Toxin Breaker. The goal of the game is to clear all the blocks by hitting them with a ball. The player has to move the paddle to the left and right to make the ball bounce. If the ball hits the bottom of the screen, the player loses a life. The player has 3 lives to try to clear all the blocks on the screen. Some of the blocks drop power-ups (increasing paddle length, decreasing paddle length, and adding extra balls). The blocks are toxins that need to be removed by the mussel to clean the ocean.
  • Use A and D to move the mussel left and right (A – left, D – right)
  • Press SPACE to fire the ball
  • Power Ups
    • Increase paddle lengths
      • 
    • Decrease paddle lengths
      • 
    • Add extra balls
      • 

• Seagrass Race - Cookies
  • When the player interacts with Cookies (a green turtle), they will play the Seagrass Race. The goal of the game is to finish the race first, so Cookies can swim through the race and eat seagrass first.
  • Mash A and D alternatively to make the turtle swim

• Flappy Otter - Chestnut
  • When the player interacts with Chestnut (a sea otter), they will play the Flappy Otter. The goal of the game is to get through as many obstacles as possible without hitting any of them. The otter collects sea urchins while avoiding obstacles.
  • Press SPACE to make the otter swim-up

• To The Future
  • After gaining three keys, the player can play the To The Future final game. The goal of the game is to get through the level by clearing obstacles as three characters (a turtle, an otter, and a mussel). Each character needs to clear a specific type of obstacle. The turtle eats seagrass, the otter collects sea urchins and the mussel clears toxins.
  • Use the WASD keys to move around the level
  • Use the 1, 2 & 3 keys to switch between the three characters (1 – turtle, 2 – otter, 3 – mussel)
  • Press the E key to clear an obstacle when the correct character is selected (the seagrass is cleared after pressing E three times, the sea urchin and toxins are cleared after one time)

Objectives

We want to demonstrate the importance of marine animals (specifically mussels, sea otters, and green turtles) in our ecosystem. We are not alone in this world, and we need help from other animals to protect the planet from marine pollution and climate change. We also demonstrate the importance of combating pollution and climate change in having a sustainable economy. 

What are we waiting for? Download the game and enjoy Ocean Heroes!

• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 14: Life Below Water
• Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Developers

• Arda Adam Irmak (George Mason University)
  
• Aleksandra Zatorska (Coventry University)
• Gillian Sanders (George Mason University)
  
• Hongyue Jin (University of California, San Diego)
• Kendra Shae Ziegler (University of California, San Diego)
• Martin Brockett (Coventry University)
• Thanh Truong (University of California, San Diego)

References:

Videos (Video pitch): https://www.pexels.com/search/videos

Tom Fisk - Pollution Videos & various ocean vids

Artem Podrez - Construction Paper videos

Kelly Lacy - Smoke Stack Video

Music (Video pitch): https://freemusicarchive.org/

Siddhartha Corsus - "Ocean Waves"

Soularflair - "Cue-Sad-Loss...."