Story Building...from Playgrounds to Gardens

Story Building....from Playgrounds to Gardens 

For this project, I am leaning into Christopher Vogler's structure for writing screenplays detailed in his book A Writer's Journey: A Mythic Structure for Writing. I find his breakdown of the hero's journey within the three act structure of film lends itself well to game design. 

Revised Learning Objective: Given the real—world design challenge of redesigning a failed pollinator garden, students apply garden ecosystem knowledge and solve garden challenges to create a thriving pollinator garden, demonstrating choices and decisions that result in a thriving garden.

Beginning (Exposition) 

  • Ordinary world
  • Call to adventure
  • Refusal of the call
  • Meeting with the mentor
  • Crossing the first threshold

Ordinary World

The story begins with the main character (garden design hero) observing an overgrown school garden (raised garden bed, which is what most schools use.) I started writing the narrative so I could visualize the scene. 

It is the near future. Something terrible has happened to your school garden. The once lush and vibrant space has become overgrown with weeds, and the soil is dry and cracked. Flowers and vegetables, once prolific in growth, are now wilted and browned and look as though they have not been watered in weeks. The weeds have choked out native plants. Nothing is growing; nothing is thriving. Looking around, you try to spot a butterfly, a bird, even a bee, as you know when pollinators are present in the garden, the community thrives. Sadly, you see nothing except the abandoned garden. 


Call to Adventure (with choice to refuse) 

The main character is approached by two gentlemen dressed in dark suits and purple ties (a nod to the book The World Needs More Purple Schools by Kristen Bell) They ask the main character to be a garden design hero and rebuild the garden. A draft: 

As you stand before the weeded mess, filled with sorrow at the loss of beauty and pollination, you hear footsteps approach from behind. Turning, you notice two gentlemen dressed in dark suits with purple ties. One of the men is slightly taller than the other. The shorter one speaks. 


"Hello. May we have a moment of your time?" 


Pausing, you look at their faces and notice their kind eyes. "Yes, what do you want?"


The taller one speaks, "We are special agents with Builders of Tomorrow, a secret society committed to saving this community from environmental meltdown. We have been quietly searching for those with perseverance to face the destruction of the Barren Beast. He has destroyed the garden before you and will continue to cause problems if we don't deal with his nefarious ways. We believe you have the potential to be a Garden Design Hero and we have a mission for you: Redesign this abandoned raised bed into a healthy garden that attracts pollinators, as pollinators help our community thrive. Defeat the Barren Beast by using your creative problem solving skills and perseverance. We believe you are someone who can restore not just the garden but the spirit of the community itself." 


You take a minute to absorb their words. The Builders of Tomorrow are entrusting you with a mission of great importance. It's a daunting task, but you know it's worth taking on. Helping the community thrive rests in your hands. 


Will you say yes and accept the mission? 

Will you say no and decline the mission? 


Crossing the Threshold and Meeting the Mentor 

As the garden design hero crosses the first threshold of the journey, starting with Ask phase, they remember how much their teacher had taught them about pollinators and gardening. The voice of the teacher and background knowledge (also playing with the idea of a grandmother voice - many of my students mention their grandmother gardening with them) may serve as mentors and help to navigate the Barren Beast. Another thought I had was to have a pollinator be the mentor. In any case, there will be advice and ideas given along the way, including reteach/remediation to drive the learning. The Barren Beast is a manifestation of gardening challenges (pests, neglect, weeds, etc.)  and his handiwork happens throughout the journey.

In this first phase, the design hero must ask questions to better understand what needs to be fixed in the garden and how it should be designed in order to thrive. 

Choices: 

1 What do pollinators need to survive? 
2. Ignore the pollinator issue and investigate something else. 

These initial choices branch into two different storylines. Still working on all the details, but I envision one of the storylines to have multiple branches and circle back to different levels of a flourishing garden (based on the decisions made throughout the game.)  This teaches students the various choices they have when designing a garden. 

The other is focused more on good gardening but taking short cuts that ultimately impact the garden (covering weeds, using pesticide, etc) therefore ending with a garden that is not flourishing (not dead, however, - just in need of iteration). 

As I continue to write, I may include more storylines. If you give a mouse a cookie....

Middle (Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action) 

  • Tests, allies, and enemies
  • Approach to the inmost cave
  • The ordeal
  • Reward
Here are is where the player begins to face the challenges of the Barren Beast. This could be everything from weeds grow out of control, the plants don't grow, the pollinators don't show up, and more. I envision a couple turning points in the storylines....and not sure how I will end up creating this but....would love to include options where the player who took shortcuts early on realizes he needs to go back and make adjustments and then ends up with a decently flourishing garden. I also think it might be worth adding if the player, even though they are making great choices for the garden, might struggle with the challenges of the Barren Beast and give up. 

The Climax is the when the Barren Beast sends a drought. No water, hot sun, all the things. At this point, the player must choose to stay committed to keep the garden alive by watering daily or abandon the garden and let the Beast have his way. 

End (Resolution) 

  • Road Back
  • Resurrection 
  • Return with the Elixir

Based on the choices throughout the game and how the player deals with the Climax -- from choosing the pollinator plants to caring for the garden (commitment to upkeep) to problem-solving Barren Beast challenges -- the end is either a flourishing garden (leveled - somewhat flourishing to all flourishing) to the garden didn't make it or is struggling so much - there is an offer to go back and try again. 

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