Clean Your House!

A visual novel teaching chores

Creator:

Kedijah Bone, Game Art & Animation

Last Updated: 4/4/2024

Technical Field
My project is very asset focused, it is a visual novel and will have multiple locations and assets
that I will need to sketch and polish. Minor programming will also be required since it is a video
game. I won’t need anything too advanced since it’s a visual novel, but if there is extra time,
minigames will be added.

Background Information
This project came to mind when I recalled my time in the military and realized that people don’t
know how to perform basic chores. The ones I will be focusing on for this project are dishes,
laundry, and making your bed. I’m pursuing this project because a lot of people don’t learn these
basic skills from their parents and some have no desire to. So, if it’s a gamified version of
chores, it could help the tasks seem less tedious.

Prior Art (legal term)

There are no real competitive products as of now for learning chores. Games like the sims,
Stardew valley and tax heaven 3000 are games that have chores or are helping complete real
taxes, but other than tax heaven 3000 you don’t actually learn anything. Even then, that specific
game only helps you with taxes, so it is barely applicable.

The prior art that show up at the top of a search are:

- https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/graphic-novels-visual-literacy/ : An article
discussing how graphic novels help children learn critical skills.
- https://mashable.com/article/social-emotional-learning-comic-books: An article recommending
graphic novels to help children develop social-emotional learning.
- https://www.amazon.com/Life-Skills-101-Infographics-Personalities/dp/1737875101 : A
physical book from Amazon with infographics teaching children how to learn life skills for
teenagers.
- https://www.sdlback.com/solutions-for-teens-grades-9-12/life-work-ready/21st-century-
lifeskills/lifeskills-handbooks : A website selling workbooks with life skills.
- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/6-novels-that-can-teach-you-real-life-skills/ : Physical
books with commentary and life lessons for education and entertainment.

Project Description
Clean Your House! is a learning simulator teaching people how to do three of the most basic
chores that you should do in your day-to-day life. While a lot of visual novels on the market right
now are dating simulators, this would seek to teach a player how to properly clean things and
store them. It would have a series of “tests” to make sure the player is learning. In a pop-quiz
fashion it would let them be right or wrong, giving them a pass or fail. It would stand out
because it is NOT a dating simulator and would have some storytelling elements, but the main
goal is to teach something. It’s also not a physical copy of a book and will have some visual
elements for matching up how to do tasks.

Innovation Claim
My SIP is a visual novel that teaches life skills. This innovation teaches people that never
learned how to do basic chores from their parents that is interactive and more playful than all of
the similar products listed in my Prior Art.

Usage Scenario

Visual novels are typically used as dating simulators and people don’t learn anything from them
that can be applicable in real life. They’re used to tell wonderful stories and explore concepts.
It’s a flexible type of game that can be utilized the way I’m hoping to use it, but no one has
published anything like Clean Your House! yet. People will usually teach their kids how to do
chores by using a chore wheel, and a reward system. Which is typically very helpful to
encourage kids to complete tasks. But there are teenagers and young adults who do not get this
type of treatment, and oftentimes just let their parents complete the tasks, or they just don’t do it
properly. There are entire TikTok pages with TikTok “moms” and “dads” teaching adults how to
do their household chores and people in the comments will be astounded they’re just now
learning they need to clean their sink after they do the dishes. So, by making this game, it should
reach people who would normally find a dating game and immediately be set apart from the
current type of games in the VN community.

Evaluation Criteria
The following questions will identify the successful completion of the project

Does the UI work?

Do the sprites look polished?
Are there zero spelling mistakes in the dialogue?
Do the quizzes function properly?
Does the game have a pass and fail function?
Does the storyline make sense?

Objectives and Tasks Associated with the Project

List and describe the High-Level objectives of this project. These should include the targeted
areas of completion that will guarantee the success of your project. (Each objective will
eventually have several tasks associated with it.)

After giving the objectives, list and describe all tasks that will allow you to complete each
objective. Tasks are the specific actions required to achieve the objectives. The Evaluation
Criteria mentioned above will ensure that the quality is ultimately measurable or observable.
Each task shall be described in detail and include transparency on the decision-making process.
Use headings for each task to maintain clarity in the documentation. Use dates (if known) to
specify when the tasks will be completed and implemented.

1. Create the assets for the game.

- Using CSP make high quality PNGs that are imported into the game engine. (Finished)
- Import 3 backgrounds with 2 variations (clean and dirty), and multiple expressions for at least
three different character sprites. (Finished)
- Create assets for a minigame. (Laundry symbols matching minigame.) (Finished)

2. Create script for the game and input it into the engine.

- write dialogue (finished)

- write the tests (finished)

- make pass and fail thresholds for the game to loop back and have you repeat and review the materials
until you pass. (finished)

Description of Design Prototype

The prototype will have rough drawings of each background and character, as well as minimum
dialogue and script just to have a layout of the game itself. It won’t be completely finished until
all assets are fully polished and I am satisfied with them.

Evaluation Plan
Provide a complete, paragraph style description of the plan that is to be used to evaluate your
project. This section should be a description of the full plan for how the team will go about
answering the “Evaluation Criteria” questions. Do not simply repeat the questions!

In order for the project to be complete, it must be functional. The save and load functions must
operate properly. There must be a pass/fail threshold. Passing is getting the answers right up to
80% and above. Failing is getting below 80%. You will not be able to progress and will return to
the reviewing process if you fail. The assets must be polished and ready to be used in a published
game. The tests must function properly for the player to progress. The storyline needs to also
make enough sense so the player doesn’t get lost. Most importantly, the player should be capable
of taking real life information and retaining it from what the game has given them.

Project Completion Assessment

Provide an in-depth description of the completion assessment of your project. Describe how well
the completed components function and highlight the innovative facets of your design. This is
sometimes known as a “Post-Mortem” or “Lessons-Learned Report”. A good approach for this
section is to answer the following 4 questions: “What went right? What went wrong? What was
learned throughout the process? What would be done differently if you had to do it again?

Appendices
Include as appendices any supporting material for this project, including charts, graphs, and other
data; images associated with the project; or other documentation (e.g., a game design document
or read-me file). Include any prior art that was used such as U.S. Patent Documents, Foreign
Patent Documents, or other sources. Remember that this section should only be a list of
additional files, not the actual data of the files!

March 3rd update

https://youtu.be/KQChp0y2OI0

March 17th update

https://youtu.be/MEDk05GhziI

April 4th update

https://youtu.be/xUM_QinWMvM

SIP website with the innovation brief

https://kedijahbone.weebly.com/student-innovation-project.html

The Trello used to track progress

https://trello.com/b/QFkk6J92/clean-your-house