Hello everyone, Welcome to The Power of Small Actions Game!

This game is about the importance of community service and the impact it has on both volunteers and the people they help. Players experience the challenges and rewards of completing Community-Based Learning (CBL) hours, choosing between volunteering at an orphanage or a retirement home. Through their choices, players will see how their actions can change lives and reflect on the value of giving back to the community. We hope that this reflection provides a deeper understanding and meaningful insight into the process behind the creation of this game, and we hope that you enjoy our game.

As part of our Digital Literacy course (inspired by our SEMR 1099 experience with Dr. Sherif Abdelazeem), we decided to create a game that emphasizes the value of community service. SEMR 1099 required us to complete 15 hours of Community-Based Learning (CBL), which showed us how activism and volunteering can have a meaningful impact. Drawing from our personal experiences, we thought a game would be a great way to highlight how community service benefits both those giving and receiving help.

Initially, we used Google Forms to put together a basic game with a few scenarios. In the first draft, the player experienced the journey of our main character, who needed to complete his CBL hours at an orphanage. The game had about four scenarios, each offering a set of choices that affected the character’s experience.

After sharing our draft with peers, we received valuable feedback. They pointed out that the game lacked visual elements and felt a bit too lengthy. Another piece of feedback was the suggestion to add a final takeaway message at the end of the game, which would provide players with a moment of reflection after completing the experience.

Taking the feedback into account, we decided to switch to Poe to make the game more engaging and visually appealing. While initially using the free version, we soon realized we needed the flexibility of the pro version to achieve the polished look and interactivity we wanted. The pro version gave us access to more features, and we were able to incorporate images and restructure the game for a better user experience.

We also decided to expand the game to include two pathways: one focused on volunteering at an orphanage and the other at a retirement home. Each pathway has 10 scenarios, and we made sure each choice had meaningful consequences. At the end of the game, we included the takeaway message to tie everything together and leave players with something to reflect on.

If we had more time, there are several things we would have liked to enhance. First, we could have created multiple main characters, allowing players to choose whether to play as a male or female character. This would have added variety and made the game more inclusive.

Additionally, we would have liked to enhance the storytelling aspect of the game by making the characters’ experiences more complex and layered. More detailed narratives could have helped players connect better with the characters and their motivations, making their choices feel more impactful.

We also would have liked to incorporate other types of community service, such as helping at food banks, environmental clean-ups, or raising awareness campaigns. By diversifying the volunteering options, we could have shown how different types of service contribute to society in unique ways.

Finally, we would have provided more opportunities for reflection after each choice. Rather than just focusing on the consequences of actions, we could have prompted players to think about the broader impact of their decisions and how they affect both the immediate community and the world at large.

Creating this game taught us a lot about how to approach a project like this. We learned the value of feedback and how to use it constructively to improve our work. This process also highlighted how community service can be a transformative experience, not only for those being helped but for the volunteers themselves. Through our game, we wanted to remind players that even small actions can create a big impact in a community.

Ultimately, this project showed us that the power of community service isn’t just about doing good deeds—it’s about making meaningful connections and seeing the change you can create in others’ lives.

You can check out the final version of our game here and experience the impact of community service for yourself.

First Draft (Before Feedback): Link

Final Draft : Link

Thread with POE : Link

Thank you all! We hope you enjoy and learn from our game.