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Description
The Time Traveller’s Diary is an educational board game that reduces screen time while fostering learning and creativity. Players embark on a journey through time, exploring future or past scenarios shaped by their decisions. Blending fun, strategy, and educational content, the game enhances critical thinking and focus. Designed for children in urban settings, it offers a captivating, interactive alternative to digital entertainment while encouraging decision-making and personal growth.
By using time travel as a narrative tool, the game immerses players in a dynamic storytelling experience. This imaginative gameplay addresses the lack of screen-free yet engaging activities for children, providing an opportunity for solo or group play. The Time Traveller’s Diary is both entertaining and enriching, making it an ideal tool for learning through play.
Overview
Category
Game Design,
Product Design
Timeline
16 weeks
Tools Used
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Procreate
Bambu Studio
LaserCAD
Team
Solo
Domain of Work
Screen Time of Children
Narrowing the Target Audience
Children of the age group 5-10 years
because children before this age group are given high attention by parents, and after 10 years the child gets intelligent enough to know what is right and wrong for them.
and Parents of these children
because parents are immediate stakeholders to these children.
in Tier 1 & 2 cities of India
because it's common to see nuclear families in these cities.
Primary Research
Phase 0: Becoming the Child
Phase 1: Understanding the Child
Phase 2: Understanding the Parent
Super Saturdays by Limitless Edition in Safdurjung Enclave, New Delhi, is a part of many services offered to children by Leepakshi Arora Sabharwal and Rachna Das Vaishnava, who were also my primary school teachers 14 years ago.
Started attending these Super Saturdays to build empathy with the children in this age group.
Children join for doing playtime activities in a fun manner, every Saturday for two hours with a new theme every session
It was a bit unusual for the kids to have someone much older than them to be around but they were welcoming as they had a new “friend” to play with.
Demographics:
- Age: 5-10 years
- Grade: 1st to 5th standard
- Place: Tier 1 & 2 cities of India
To know the child's behaviour with respect to:
- Games they play
- Screen time
- Playtime activities
- Social interaction
- Imagination
Summary:
- The majority of the interviewees were 7-8 years old.
- 80% of them loved playing video games. Others liked playing video games but did not play as much.
- Children love playing video games that are easy to navigate, giving them a feeling of achievement by having certain elements.
- 9 out of 10 also said that they used a screen for other things like watching YouTube videos, YouTube Shorts and homework help, while also losing track of time.
- The majority liked playing board games with their family but complained their parents didn’t have enough time.
- They showed more interest in playing video games because they can be played alone (single-player games) or long-distance (multiplayer games).
- Children often met with their friends, usually on weekends to play together.
- 3 out of 4 showed openness to interactive games with feedbacks such as aural, visual, haptic, etc.
- More showed interest if it would also be educational as it would be a source of entertainment and learning at the same time.
- Children faced issues such as eye pain, discomfort, boredom and fatigue after long usage of screens.
Demographics:
- Age: 30-40 years, but not limited
- Profession: All working professionals
- Place: Tier 1 & 2 cities of India
To know:
- The screen time allowance for their children
- How they manage and balance screen time with other activities
- How they feel about the role of technology in day-to-day life
- Their involvement with the child’s screen time
- About difficulties they face in encouraging playtime
Summary:
- The interviewees were equally divided in the age groups 30-35 years, 36-40 years, and 40+ years
- 9 out of 10 interviewees were working professionals.
- More than half of these parents allowed 1-3 hours of screen time. Some parents even consciously allowed excessive screen time,
- Many used screen time as a reward for their children, ie, homework completion, eating food, doing chores, etc.
- Many parents promoted outdoor playing for their children, along with activities such as reading books, art & craft, etc.
- Parents are aware that screen time affects their child’s behavior and sleep patterns.
- They feel that technology should be balanced with human interaction. Otherwise it does more harm than good. It is essential and beneficial for children.
- Most parents used app locks to restrict their child’s usage on a phone or tablet. Very few parents used parental locks.
- Some parents also expressed that they have screen-free zones in their homes where they only play board games with the whole family.
- Most parents had medium to low engagement with their child’s screen based activities. This was due to both the parents were working, and they didn’t trust day cares & babysitting as much.
- 1/3rd parents agreed that an interactive toy should be there as it would be like a companion and would keep the child engaged for more time, keeping them away from screens.
- Everyone showed full interest if such a toy helped their child learn new things.
Audience Persona
Takeaways
- Children love playing simple and easy to navigate video games like Subway Surfers, Temple Run, etc. Taking help for homework from the internet is a common practice even for younger classes.
- Children lack companionship as they want to play with their family or friends but are unable to do so due to many constraints. This leads them to turn to video games because they can enjoy within themselves. Hence, video games become their companion.
- Parents are consciously allowing their kids to have more screen time than recommended because they are unable to spend time with their kids. The emotional sentiment kicks in that the parent wants to do all they can for their child.
- Both children and parents showed interest and openness to educational games and toys especially when it can keep them engaged for extended period of time.
Primary Research
Secondary Research
Problem Statements & Goals
By finding connections among the primary and secondary research, unique problem statements and goals are derived for further developing the solution.
Problem Statement 1
There is a lack of companionship for children because both their parents are working and can’t give enough time to play with their children.
1A - Meaningful engagement between children and parents in short bursts of time.
1B - Encourage children to play with others, promoting teamwork and social interaction.
1C - Let children explore tasks on their own, gaining confidence in their abilities and learning at their own pace.
Problem Statement 2
Parents have limited access to child day care services either because of unavailability, financial constraint, or trust.
2A - Connect parents with affordable, trusted child care options nearby.
2B - Assist parents in guiding their child’s education when formal day care is not available.
Problem Statement 3
Children have problems paying attention in their studies and learning new concepts. The speech development among kids is also being delayed due to very little socializing.
3A - Engage children in learning new words and sentence structures.
3B - Help children stay focused while completing small tasks.
3C - Break complex topics into simple steps to make learning easier and more intuitive.
Problem Statement 4
Parents want their children to learn values in life, apart from academic concepts which comes with interactions.
4A - Make children reflect on values like honesty, kindness, and teamwork, letting them see the outcomes of good decisions.
4B - Assist parents in guiding their child’s education when formal day care is not available.
4C - Put children in different hypothetical situations to understand others’ feelings and needs.
4D - Let kids face moral choices, allowing them to explore consequences in a safe, guided way.
Impact-Effort Analysis
Elements of the Game:
Tabletop Board
Tiles with letters
Android Tablet / iPad
Elements of the Game:
Tabletop Board
Tiles with letters
RFID Reader
Speaker
Cards with RFID chips embedded
Ideation 2 & Iterations
Objective:
To have a companion in a game where the child learns more about the companion as they move forward. The player will make decisions based on various values with an element of basic math concepts.
Description:
The player embarks on an adventure with a companion that evolves with them throughout the game. The player makes decisions based on core values, guiding their companion through challenges. The game offers a balance of fun, learning, and companionship.
Problem Solved:
There is a lack of companionship for children because both their parents are working and can’t give enough time to play with their children.
Parents want their children to learn values in life, apart from academic concepts.
Age Group:
7 to 10 years
Elements of the Game:
Game Board
Companion Toy
Accessories of the Companion
In-game currency
Character Sheet
Meeple/Token
Polyhedral Dice (8 faces)
Cards
Elements of the Game:
Game Board
Companion Toy
Accessories of the Companion
In-game currency
Character Sheet
Meeple/Token
Polyhedral Dice (8 faces)
Cards
LEDs & RFID for lighting based on actions
Elements of the Game:
Modular Game Board
Companion Toy
Accessories of the Companion
In-game currency
Character Sheet
Meeple/Token
Polyhedral Dice
Cards
LEDs & RFID for lighting based on actions
Final Ideation
The Time Traveller's Diary
Objective:
To provide children with an engaging and screen-free form of self-entertainment that nurtures their creativity, enhances their knowledge of inventions and historical events, and encourages imaginative thinking.
Description:
This innovative educational game is designed as a single-player experience where children can entertain themselves while learning. The game challenges players to earn points by creatively forming connections between diverse events and random objects, promoting critical thinking and expanding their understanding of the world.
Problem Solved:
There is a lack of companionship for children because both their parents are working and can’t give enough time to play with their children.
Age Group:
7-10 years
Elements of the Game:
Modular Game Board
Two Kinds of Cards
Tokens
Event Diary
Meeples
Dice
Gameplay
Studied what a child in the given age is learning and what they are capable to learn. Hence found connections between these things.
Narrative:
The player is a time traveller and is lost in time. They need to find their way back to the present to win the round. On the way, they learn about various events and inventions that they can connect to, while forming connections between them and random objects.
Game Loop
Paper Prototype
Initial User Testing
Intial user testing was done with children of the game's age group and peers aged between 18-21 years to find flaws in the gameplay.
Takeaways
- Having interchangeable game tiles is fine, but the “lose a life” tile didn't make much sense.
- There should be a restricted balance between time travel and random object tiles to have smoother gameplay.
- There was no element of surprise to trigger the player’s dopamine. Hence, a new power-up needs to be added.
- By twisting some rules, the same game was also played by two players, which gave the idea to make both a single-player format and a two-player format.
Finalised Elements
Modular Game Board & Tiles
Game Handbook
Time Travel Cards
Object Cards
Tokens & Meeples
The Time Traveller's Diary
Ideations
Ideation 1 & Iterations
Objective:
To teach children vocabulary of the English language phonetically in an engaging environment with audio and visual cues.
To let children explore tasks independently, and gain confidence in their abilities by learning at their own pace.
Description:
At this age, children are able to learn and form complex words and sentence structures. By teaching a language phonetically, the user will be able to learn faster with a higher retention rate for better academic performance.
Problem Solved:
Children have problems paying attention in their studies and learning new concepts.
Age Group:
6 to 8 years
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