Laptop Travel Games for Kids

1
Laptop Travel Games for Kids
Team Members Jonathan Gill- CprE Mike Mundy-
CprE Nick Ransom- CprE Jonathan Soike- CprE
Project May04-14 Client Senior Design Advisor
Dr. Doug Jacobson
With many families on the road in todays world,
children are often left to entertain themselves.
Parents would like to entertain them with
something more stimulating than a movie. A
specific solution to this would be to design
educational travel games for a laptop. The team
expects to develop 3 games (both travel and
unrelated) that kids ages 4-12 can play while
riding in a vehicle that will both entertain and
educate them. This will allow a family to arrive
at its destination with fewer whines, less
aggravation, and more peace and quiet.
Proposed Approach -Choose a programming platform
that most easily implements simple graphical
games -Design and implement games appropriate for
the target age group -Test all games for bugs and
entertainment value Technology
Considerations -Platforms Laptops,
PDAs. -Programming Languages C, C, C,
Java. -Development Software Visual Studio,
Borland, NetBeans -2D Art Software PaintShopPro,
Fractal Design Painter, Corel PhotoPaint Testing
Considerations -Personal testing of all
components -Parental testing of
installation -Child testing of games
Abstract
Proposed Approach and Considerations
Problem Statement -Children need to be
entertained while in riding in a car -Current
solutions are seldom educational and are often
messy General solution approach -Develop a
number of games to be played on a laptop in the
car -Program should be easy to use -Games should
be educational Operating Environment -Games
will be run on a laptop with no extra
hardware -Laptop myst be running Windows 95 or
later Intended users -Children ages 4-12 -Both
male and female Intended use -Games will be
played on a laptop in a moving vehicle Assumption
s -Children playing these games shall have
previous computer experience -There shall be at
least 3 games developed Limitations -The
maximum number of players shall be 4 -The minimum
number of players shall be 1 Expected End
Product -A CD-ROM containing an installation
program and the games -A users manual that
contains installation information and game
instructions
Introduction
Other Required Resources -Development software
free or University licensed -CD-Rs 20 Project
Schedule
Estimated Resources and Schedule
Design Objectives -Games must be simple -Program
must be educational -Parents must be able to
control childrens access to the
computer Functional Requirements -All games are
accessible from the main title screen -Program
must contain a mix between travel and non-travel
based games. -Both single and multiplayer games
must be created -Program must not make loud
sounds Design Constraints -Must run on Windows
95 and greater -Simple interface -Simple game
rules Measurable Milestones -Technology
selection -Game and interface design -Design
implementation -Product testing -Product
documentation
Project Requirements
The problem of entertaining children while
traveling is not new. There are numerous products
on the market intended to solve this problem
magnetic board games, sing along cassette tapes,
portable video game players, and DVD player among
other products. These products are helpful but
have many downsides magnetic board games are
messy, sing along song can get annoying, and
video games and DVD players are expensive. The
interactive childrens software for laptops is an
affordable solution to this problem. The design
approach will analyze existing travel and
education-based games to identify their benefits
and drawbacks prior to concept development. The
result will be a single multiple-game program
which children can play on a parents laptop
without the worry of accidental harm to the
computers settings and data.
Summary