In a nut shell, the player is Jo the Jogger and she is the owner of a gym in DinerTown. The ultimate goal of the game is to get the people of DinerTown back in shape and go through a series of competitions with local towns like Donutville in order to win the ultimate championship. In order to prepare the people of DinerTown, they will attend your gym on a daily basis and your job is to make sure they get a good workout, while keeping them happy, and taking care of the gym itself. As you go up in levels, your tasks become more tedious and you need to work quicker.
Right now I am on level 2.8 (the game starts on level 1.0 and I believe it goes to 5.0). So far I have been able to move fairly quickly through the levels. A typical day in the gym consists of having regulars visit the gym. You need to place them on the appropriate machine based on if they want a cardio or weight workout. Throughout their workouts, gym members may want a towel, a water bottle, OJ, or to change the channel on the TV. Once their workout is done, you bring them to the shower area, clean up the dirty machines and get new members on the machines. This continues throughout the day. Jo may also encounter some problems in the gym like leaky pipes in the shower area, an ice cream boy who may tempt members, and faulty machines that need maintenance. Jo needs to work quickly to keep the gym running properly and her customers happy. After completing mini levels, you can upgrade machines, the decor of the gym, and Jo herself. Once you make it to the end of a complete level, there is a Tug-of-War competition with one of the local towns. In order to win that, you have to make colored blocks into groups of four. It is similar to the game Tetris. Obviously, the higher the level you go the more difficult it is to move on. I have been stuck on level 2.8 for the past few days!
Since playing this game for the past two weeks, I have realized some pros and cons to the game. I like how the game is easy to play and the directions are not intense. I like the cute graphics and feel that it is a female-friendly game. I like how there is a level map that shows you your progress and how close you are to your next goal. However, I have found this game to be extremely focused on quickness and agility. It is a game about speed. And since I am using my laptop mouse, it is sometimes frustrating to try and move quick enough. I don't like how being quick is the only way to move up in the game. I was hoping for a game that incorporates speed, decision making skills, and gaming skills. Fitness Dash seems to only focus on speed.
So far I have been enjoying my experience playing Fitness Dash, and video games in general. I used to think that video games were meant for males or young boys. But Fitness Dash has shown me that girls can play video games too and have fun.
I enjoyed reading about your game. Before this class, I had never heard of Diner Dash, and today is the first time I have heard of Fitness Dash. I am definitely out of the loop when it comes to video games. I think that I would like the fact that it is a "girl friendly" game, but I would also have problems with mouse speed. I'm sure it must be frustrating to try to move quickly, and then not score as well as you would have liked to because you did not move fast enough.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like there is a lot to learn from the game. Do you think the students are able to apply what they learn from the game to real-life experiences?