Technology has brought the entire world closer to each other. But spending time in one place might be difficult for some. And when you look at the age profile of the people who are violating the lockdown, they are generally from 18-30 years of age. And if you dig the reason for that it is as simple as they are not used to remain in one place. Shyam K C, a student from SPJIMR has found a way to keep people inside their home. He created a game to spread awareness about the COVID-19 and keep the users engaged at home. The game is called “Corona Wars”.
Talking further he said that how to keep the users engaged was a question that was lingering in his mind. He had to meet two objectives: Keep them engaged and give them an awareness of the present situation.
Gaming was found to be the best option in front of the creator of the game. The major challenge that the creator faced was to design a game that had to be addictive enough to dissuade people from going out. And most importantly spread awareness about the goliath pandemic that was in front of us.
The gameplay is kept easy for all age groups to play. The game starts with a countdown timer. The protagonist of the game has to pass through the virus and other gatherings in the screen. The protagonist is designed wearing a mask. The protagonist has to keep a safe distance from the virus and other elements on the game screen. This emphasises keeping a safe distance from others and the importance of social distancing. As and when the game progresses, the speed of the gameplay also increases, thus increasing the difficulty of the game.
The game gets over when the protagonist touches or goes too close to the elements designed in the game. The game stresses on the need to keep social distancing in many forms across the game format. At the end of the game, the game displays a message and guidelines to stay safe during this pandemic.
The game can be played by downloading here for free. Currently, it supports the Windows platform. The developer is working towards extending the support to Mac users and eventually create an android as well as an iOS app.