Using Design Thinking to create the best experiences
Life Saving Rules Game
Project: In 2013, Chevron Phillips was looking for new ways of reinforcing safety protocols for employees working in industrial sites. Specifically teaching the nine Life Saving Rules, which are big part of all safety protocols in industrial and construction sites.
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Solution: Our team created a training application to be hosted online where players of any level could learn the Life Saving Rules by exploring and fixing problems around a warehouse and construction area.
Simulation vs. Video Game
For this project, the team spent a long time debating whether we should go for realism or for a more game-like application. The answer, somewhere in the middle. While simulations are great at conveying real-life-likeness, there was so much creativity of game-mechanics and challenges that could be done with the nine Life Saving Rules. So without hindering the main goal of the application, we were able to implement game mechanics that enhanced the learning and fun aspect of the game. Using mechanics such as the "Safety Vision" to spot potential hazards that needed to be fixed by the player, and using the Life Saving Rules as quest-tracking mechanics; we were able to create an environment where the audience felt like they were a "Safety Super Hero".
Interacting with NPCs (Non-Playable Characters)
One of the main ideas at the core of the Life Saving Rules, and any safety protocol, is communication. As such, we worked hard to create a "Manager" that helps you along your quest for safety in the warehouse site. Many of the rules you are learning require you to communicate important information to your manager, and for some of the quest you must request his help as a certain job may need two people to be considered safe to proceed. After the successful completion of each Life Saving Rule, your manager rewards you with a sticker, Yay!
Using Work Culture
During our research phase, we talked to different stakeholders, which gave us a good understanding of the work culture on this type of sites. One of the golden nuggets of information was that people at industrial sites were proud of the stickers they had in their hard hats, as you could tell the rank of the person just by the stickers. When we heard that, our lightbulb went off! We implemented this in the game as a reward system. After successfully finishing a Life Saving Rule, your manager rewards you with a sticker, you can then navigate to the Hard Hat screen to customize your hat and place your sticker for display. The audience loved this, and for those that played the game all the way through, they were rewarded with the coveted "Golden Hard Hat"