Planet Protector -- A Digital Game Design

Planet Protector is a learning game designed and created by Susan Maynor. Here is a link to the prototype: Planet Protector

Overview

Planet Protector is an exciting educational game where players become Earthy, a planet-saving hero on a mission to clean up polluted environments while learning about recycling and sustainability. Explore locations like parks, oceans, forests, and cities filled with recyclables, compostables, landfill pollutants, and non-pollutant environmental hazards. Collect eco-friendly items such as cans, bottles, and compostables to earn points while avoiding hazards like plastic bags, styrofoam, and straws. Use quick reflexes and intelligent decision-making to navigate obstacles and prioritize high-value items as environments become increasingly challenging. At the end of each level, players arrive at an eco-station to sort items into recycling, compost, and trash bins. These sorting challenges reinforce learning, unlock new levels, and reward players with badges and bonus points. Combining fast-paced gameplay with a meaningful environmental message, Planet Protector keeps players engaged as they make decisions that matter for a better tomorrow.

Learner/Player Description

The intended users for Planet Protector are elementary to middle school students ages 8-13. Upper elementary and middle schoolers enjoy challenges that require risk/reward, adaptability, and independence. This game empowers players to take charge of "saving the planet," fostering a sense of agency and responsibility. Based on Kapp’s taxonomy (2012), the ideal player types for Planet Protector include collectors who enjoy acquiring items and completing collections. Collectors would be engaged by gathering recyclables and compostables while tracking their progress. Another is achievers, players who want to win badges, high scores, and progress through levels. Reading any text elements, which are minimal, are designed to be clear and concise for 3rd–6th grade reading levels.

The game is gender-neutral, with Earthy as a non-human protagonist. Gaming knowledge is beginning to intermediate. Simple controls such as moving, collecting, and avoiding make the game accessible to new players. Engaging mechanics like risk/reward decisions and sorting challenges engage players in some gaming experience. A basic understanding of environmental science is needed for subject matter knowledge such as recycling, composting, and the impact of pollution. Sorting challenges reinforce the learning of concepts.

Subject Matter

The subject matter for Planet Protector is environmental science. Specific focus areas include recycling and sustainability practices. Throughout the game, players will experience the importance of recycling and composting, differentiating between recyclable, compostable, and non-recyclable items, and learning how pollution impacts various ecosystems. Additionally, the game focuses on environmental awareness. Players experience the effects of waste and pollutants on multiple environments and choose eco-friendly actions to preserve habitats such as forests, parks, oceans, and cities.

Learning Domain

The learning domain for this game includes two different kinds of knowledge: conceptual and procedural (Kapp, 2012). For conceptual knowledge, players learn about relationships between concepts, such as what items can be recycled, composted, or trashed. Additionally, they learn how pollution and waste impact ecosystems and the importance of sustainability practices. For example, players glean understanding through play that glass bottles go into recycling bins, while not all food scraps belong in compost. Conceptual knowledge supports this game’s educational goal of teaching sustainability and eco-friendly practices. For procedural knowledge, players apply their knowledge by sorting items into recycling, compost, or trash bins during sorting challenges.

Additionally, they must strategically prioritize which items to collect or avoid based on game mechanics. An example would be collecting point-valued eco-friendly items while avoiding harmful pollutants. Procedural knowledge engages players in actively applying concepts and learning through strategic decision-making and actions.

Learning Objectives

Primary Learning Objective (Higher Order): After playing the game, given various environmental scenarios, the learner will be able to analyze and apply eco-friendly practices by collecting recyclable and compostable items while avoiding non-recyclables and pollutants with 80 percent accuracy. This learning objective directly connects to the subject area of environmental science. Conceptual knowledge includes understanding the difference between recyclables, compostables, and hazards. For this game, recyclables are defined as everyday-use items such as cans, glass, and cardboard that are recycled at home or taken to a recycling location. Compostables are defined as items that are used in compost. Hazard pollutants such as styrofoam and straws are defined as items that should not be used because they harm the environment. Environmental hazards are defined as typical challenges within natural environments like weather. Procedural knowledge includes applying eco-friendly practices to everyday life to help keep the earth from harmful pollution.

To achieve this learning objective, players perform various tasks. Scoring directly correlates to this learning objective through the collection of points for recyclables, penalties for non-recyclables and landfills, and rewards for accuracy.

Task	Scoring	Visuals
Players must identify eco-friendly items and collect them by colliding with them.	Points are awarded for collecting eco-friendly items and the level of work it takes to recycle. When the player comes in contact with the different items, points are awarded as well as a visual to inform whether it is recycled or composted.	Compost \| Recycle
Players must avoid non-recyclables, harmful pollutants, and environmental hazards to prevent losing points or restarting the level.	Penalties are points deducted by coming into contact with non-recyclables, environmental hazards, and harmful pollutants that end up in landfills. The purpose of avoiding items in this game is to support the non-use of these items in everyday life as well as environmental hazards to increase challenge.	Landfill
Players must prioritize high-value eco-friendly items when they are near hazards in order to maximize their score.	Achieving a certain percentage of collection accuracy earns a level completion badge as well as bonuses (percentage	Level 1 Badge

Secondary Learning Objective (Lower Order): After completing a sorting challenge, the learner will be able to evaluate and sort at least 80 percent accuracy of presented items into the correct categories (recycling, compost, landfill). At the end of the level, the player has a knowledge check in the form of a sorting challenge. This challenge supports the secondary learning objective and connects to the subject area of environmental science. Conceptual knowledge includes understanding the relationships between waste categories. Procedural knowledge includes developing real-world sorting skills to apply eco-friendly practices outside the game.

To achieve this secondary learning objective, players perform various tasks. During the sorting challenge, players must drag and drop items into the correct designations (landfill, recycle, compost), identify distractor items such as dirty pizza boxes, and place them correctly.

Scoring correlates to this learning objective by correctly sorting recycled, landfill, or compost items. Both objectives focus on interactive learning by combining conceptual understanding (what is recyclable, compostable, or trash) with procedural application (sorting, collecting, avoiding). Scoring and feedback help players actively engage with the subject matter.

Game Goal

The overall game goal of Planet Protector is to help the planet by collecting recyclable and compostable items, avoiding harmful pollutants and non-recyclables, and completing sorting challenges to unlock and progress through new levels. Players win the game by progressing through each level with at least 80 percent collection accuracy, including end-of-level eco-station sorting challenges with at least 80 percent accuracy. By completing all levels -- a park, a forest, an ocean, and a city -- and completing the final challenge of the ultimate sorting facility, students earn the winning game badge of "Master Planet Protector." This goal directly ties to the learning objective, reinforcing the analysis and application of eco-friendly practices. There are several other goals in the game to increase excitement and replayability. There are game mechanics goals such as players unlocking badges by completing levels at 80 percent accuracy and gaining bonuses such as collecting plastic bottles for an energy boost bonus, as recycling ten plastic bottles saves enough energy to power a laptop for over 25 hours (U.S.EPA). There is also an engagement goal of competing against oneself or others to achieve higher scores, which supports replayability.

Game Description

Pollution is a growing global issue, yet many learners need help understanding their role in addressing it. While concepts like recycling and sustainability are taught in classrooms, they often feel disconnected from real-world actions. Learners rarely get to practice eco-friendly decision-making meaningfully, leaving critical habits undeveloped and the urgency of environmental responsibility untapped. Planet Protector bridges this gap by transforming these abstract concepts into an engaging, interactive experience.

In Planet Protector, players step into the role of Earthy, a planetary guardian tasked with cleaning polluted environments. Players actively engage with sustainability practices by collecting recyclables and compostables, avoiding harmful pollutants, and solving eco-challenges. Gameplay emphasizes identifying recyclable materials, strategizing to maximize impact, and preventing landfill waste—skills they can apply in real life. Sorting items into recycling, composting, and trash bins reinforces learning objectives and unlocks rewards. Immediate feedback gives players clear consequences for their actions, fostering critical thinking and strategic decision-making. By combining action-packed gameplay with meaningful educational goals, Planet Protector teaches sustainability practices and equips learners with the skills and habits needed to create a cleaner, greener future.

Environment Description

Planet Protector blends realistic and fantastical elements. The environments are inspired by real-world ecosystems—parks, forests, oceans, and cities—but they are exaggerated and more vibrant, designed to be more engaging. The game takes place in a future where pollution has overrun the planet, and players are tasked with recycling and restoring it.

Each level contains the following:

Score display is positioned at the top left in a bold, readable font.
Backgrounds depict the current environment with subtle animations like moving clouds, floating trash, and smog.
Interactive items such as landfill, recyclables, and compostables float or are stationary on screen. When the player collects a recyclable, a recycle icon appears to reinforce understanding. When a player collects a compostable, a newly planted tree appears. When a player collides with a landfill item, a landfill pile appears. Landfill hazards like plastic bags float unpredictably, adding tension.
Each environment has a unique soundscape with ambient sounds. The forest has rustling leaves and distant wildlife sounds. The park has birds chirping. The ocean has gentle waves. The city has muffled urban noise.

Learners should feel a sense of accomplishment as they see environments visibly improve with their efforts. Badges and bonus point rewards encourage further play. Game controls include the arrow keys for movement, the mouse for dragging and dropping items during sorting challenges, and swipe/tap mechanics for mobile versions such as iPad. The game features multiple environments, each with specific challenges and a unique visual style.

Level Description	Visual Environment Example
Level 1 is a nature park with trees, bushes, and flowers. The landscape is covered in trash, recyclables, and compostable items. Items may be hidden behind benches or under trash for adding visual complexity. Environmental hazards include wind that is blowing floating plastic bags and paper. Landfill pollutants bubble wrap, plastic bags, and piles of styrofoam.
Level 2 is a forest. The landscape is covered in trash, recyclables, and compostable items. Items may be hidden behind trees or bushes for added complexity. Environmental hazards include falling branches and fog. Landfill pollutants include aerosol cans and fast food containers (Canva).
Level 3 is a marine environment with wildlife. Blue turned gray water is polluted with floating trash and oil slicks. Items sink or drift so players have to time collections. Pollutant hazards include floating plastic straws and oil patches. Environmental hazards include jellyfish and ocean currents (Canva).
Level 4 is a city, a dense, industrialized landscape with smog-covered skies and litter-strewn streets. Items move faster due to wind. Pollutant hazards include fumes from cars, balloons, and cigarette butts. Non-pollutant hazards include wind and weather (Canva).
Eco-stations reflect knowledge learned and experienced during the level and are designed for drag and drop. Level 1 and 2 eco-stations are positioned at the end of the level directly within the environment (Canva).
Level 3 eco-station is on the beach at the end of the level. A final eco-station in the urban wasteland is a sorting facility with a moving conveyor belt that has all the items from the different environments. This last sorting challenge requires players to sort by paper, plastic, e-waste, organic (compost), and landfill (Canva).

Story/Narrative

Planet Protector addresses the challenge of engaging learners in environmental education by making recycling and sustainability interactive and urgent. Inspired by stories like Wall-E and platformers like Mario, the game features a relatable, non-gendered protagonist tackling pollution across diverse ecosystems. Each level reflects the impact of pollution on environments like forests, oceans, and cities, with hazards—both pollutant and natural—adding tension and realism. Sorting challenges and a progression system with increasing difficulty keep players engaged while reinforcing eco-friendly habits through hands-on learning. Throughout the game, the player experiences Earthy’s mission to save polluted environments through a light, immersive story that provides context and motivation.

Exposition/Driving Story: The Earth is overwhelmed by pollution, with ecosystems deteriorating due to human impact and neglect. Earthy, the planet’s protector, is tasked with restoring balance by collecting recyclables and compostables across polluted environments. The game begins in a lightly polluted but manageable park, setting the stage for Earthy’s mission.
Conflict/Problem Story Progression: Earthy must act strategically in different environments, avoiding hazards like plastic bags, oil spills, and weather challenges while collecting recyclables and compostables to help restore the ecosystem. Earthy’s mission progresses through increasingly challenging levels, from parks and forests to polluted oceans and urban wastelands. Players earn points for strategic collection of recyclables and compostables within the different environments, along with solving sorting challenges at eco-stations at the culmination of each level. Each level introduces a more complex environment, new hazards, and faster-moving items. As levels become more complex, eco-stations become more challenging, with more objects, more distracting objects that may be confusing, and more specific types of recycling, like e-waste.
Climax: The final level, a massive urban wasteland, pollution is at its worst. Players face fast-paced hazards and the ultimate sorting challenge (a facility) to save the city and restore the planet.
Falling Action and Conclusion: After completing the final challenge, the player experiences the planet being visibly restored, tying the conclusion to the gameplay. The once-polluted areas are now thriving ecosystems as Earthy rests, ready to protect the Earth should it ever need help again.

Characters

Players assume the role of the main character, Earthy, a planet-saving hero tasked with cleaning up polluted environments and restoring balance to ecosystems. Earthy is gender-neutral, making Earthy relatable to all players. Earthy is designed as an elemental creature who is positive and determined to help the Earth. Earthy is resilient in tackling environmental challenges, inspiring players to capture that resilience in real life (Canva, 2024).

Earthy’s design reflects its role as a guardian of the planet. It is an earth, symbolizing nature and water. Earthy embodies the idea of responsibility and agency, representing the player’s role in protecting the environment. During gameplay, players as Earthy interact with non-player characters through actions such as avoiding hazards, collecting recyclables, and engaging with eco-bins for challenges. Pollutants like plastic bags and oil spills are non-player characters, but they act as antagonistic forces in the game, creating higher challenges for players.

Non-Player Characters	Description	Visual Example
Recyclables and Compostables	Interactive objects that are to be collected for points. The player must come in contact with them in order to receive points. They appear as cans, glass bottles, cardboard, tires, apples, paper, and paint.
Hazardous Pollutants	Obstacles that the player must avoid to progress in the game. These appear as plastic bags, oil spills, styrofoam, smog, straws, aerosol cans, and fast food containers. They are non-sentient but visually threatening emphasizing their danger to the planet. These hazards symbolize the impact on ecosystems and the obstacles to achieving environmental sustainability.
Environmental Hazards	Obstacles that the player must avoid to progress in the game. These appear as weather, ocean currents, wind, jellyfish, and falling branches.
Eco-bins	Sorting recyclables, compost, and landfill during mini-challenges. Each bin has a specific purpose with a title and icon. These bins represent tools of environmental action and the importance of proper waste management.
Ultimate Sorting Facility	Conveyor belts that carry all the items to be sorted from the earlier environments.
Polluted Environments	Have dynamic parts that quietly react as the player nears the end of the level. All environments are covered in trash in the beginning and then brighten as they are cleaned up (e.g. dark sky in city goes blue, ocean color goes from grey to teal) along with animals returning to a clean environment. This change symbolizes the positive impact of individual actions in the environment.

Core Dynamic

The core dynamic of Planet Protector is collection combined with avoidance. Players collect eco-friendly items like recyclables and compostables to earn points and progress through levels. The collection mechanic drives the core learning objective, as players strategically identify and prioritize eco-friendly materials, reinforcing concepts of recycling and sustainability. To succeed, players must avoid various hazards such as pollutants (plastic bags, oil spills) and environmental obstacles (falling branches, strong currents) that negatively impact progress. This collection/avoidance dynamic emphasizes critical decision-making, challenging players to balance risk and reward. Players must collect 80 percent of eco-friendly items to win the game while avoiding too many hazard penalties. Completing levels and sorting challenges lead to the restoration of polluted environments.

After each level, there is an eco-station with a challenge where players sort items into correct eco-bins (Recycling, Compost, Trash). These eco-stations correspond to the level’s environment. Sorting challenges reinforces collection mechanics while adding the dimension of problem-solving and solution. For example, players must categorize items correctly (e.g., recycling, compost, or trash) by identifying their attributes and dragging and dropping them into the appropriate bins or designated areas. This dynamic reinforces the educational goal of teaching eco-practices. Success in the sorting challenge results in moving to the next level, collecting bonus points, and a badge.

Players face the ultimate sorting facility for the last eco-station in the urban environment. Earthy enters a futuristic recycling facility overwhelmed with waste from all the previous environments. The player must sort the massive amount of items correctly into designated areas under pressure to complete the final challenge of restoring all the ecosystems. Items from all four environments appear randomly on conveyor belts. Players drag and drop items into designated areas at the bottom of the screen. The speed of the belts increases as the challenge progresses. Distractors such as plastic-coated paper appear, increasing the challenge. Players must sort 80 percent of items correctly to restore the facility’s efficiency.

Gameplay

The main core loop is as follows:

Players explore the polluted environments by moving through a fixed map.
Players collect eco-friendly items like recyclables and compostables to earn points while avoiding hazards like pollutants and environmental obstacles.
Correct actions such as collecting recyclables earn points and display positive feedback with an addition to the score. Mistakes such as hitting a pollutant result in loss of points or restarting the level, depending on the pollutant.
Once players reach the eco-station at the end of the level, they must sort items to test their knowledge and reinforce learning before moving to the next level.
Successfully completing a level unlocks a new, and more challenging environment, along with awarding any badges or bonuses.

Scoring, Reward, Assessment

The assessment system in Planet Protector is designed to motivate players through points, badges, and progression to new levels. This system rewards accuracy and critical thinking while discouraging careless play. Points reinforce learning outcomes by connecting eco-friendly actions to game progress.

The reward, scoring, and assessment system aligns with the game’s learning objectives. For example, learning objective #1 states: After playing the game, given various environmental scenarios, the learner will be able to analyze and apply eco-friendly practices by collecting recyclable and compostable items while avoiding non-recyclables and pollutants with 80 percent accuracy. Players practice eco-friendly decision-making by identifying recyclables and compostables while avoiding hazards. Assessment includes accuracy of action with a percentage of correct vs. incorrect actions. Therefore, every action reinforces critical thinking and analysis of eco-friendly practices. The secondary objective states: After completing a sorting challenge, the learner will be able to evaluate and sort at least 80 percent accuracy of presented items into the correct categories (recycling, compost, landfill). Sorting challenges test knowledge and is assessed by measuring the number of correctly sorted items versus incorrect ones. Sorting directly ties to identifying materials in real-life scenarios.

Feature

Scoring | Reward | Assessment

Short Term Rewards While Playing the Level

Points earned by collecting eco-friendly items.
Immediate feedback with visuals, sound effects, and animations.
Collection:

Recyclable items: +2 points These items can be recycled at home and most cities and countries provide pick-up service.
Compost: +4 points Higher stakes as it requires the work of creating compost and/or finding a place that accepts compost.
Special recycling such as paint and tires: +6 points These items require finding a designated organization that will take the items.

Penalties:

Contact with non-recyclables such as plastic bags, coffee cups: -4 points. Pop up landfill.
Contact with non-pollutant environmental obstacles such as jellyfish: -2 points.
Contact harmful pollutants that end up in the landfill or the great garbage patch in the ocean that negatively impacts the environment such as styrofoam: restart level.

Long Term Rewards For Completing a Level

Badges earned for completing a level with 80% accuracy:

Level 1: Park Protector
Level 2: Forest Friend
Level 3: Ocean Optimizer
Level 4: City Cleaner
Game: Master Planet Protector

Unlock new environments and challenges upon successful completion of objectives within a level.
Completing all collections without penalties unlocks bonus +10 points
Collecting specific items (such as plastic bottles for energy) unlocks bonus +2

Eco-Station Rewards

Sorting of recyclables, compost, special recycling:

Correctly sorted items: +2 points each.
Incorrect sorting: -4 points per error.
Bonus for 100 percent sorting accuracy: +10 points.

Motivational Features

Incremental Progress: Clear goals with levels and badges.
Risk/Reward: Strategic collection for bonuses.

Assessment Metrics

Accuracy: Percentage of correct items collected or sorted.
Bonus points for completing levels/challenges without error.

Rubric for Performance

80–100%: Full points + badge.
70–79%: Partial points, no badge.
Below 70%: Retry challenge/level.

Planet Protector motivates players through engaging gameplay mechanics as a platformer game, rewards and badges, and increasing challenges. Immediate feedback, such as animations for correct actions, keeps players invested in their progress. Replayability is built into the game with scoring thresholds, accuracy goals, and bonuses, motivating players to replay levels to improve their scores or unlock bonuses.

Gee’s Principles

Planet Protector uses Gee’s principle of situated meaning by learning concepts in context. The game immerses players in diverse polluted environments, each contextualizing the importance of recycling and sustainability. Players don’t just learn about recycling -- they see its effects as they clean and restore ecosystems. For example, in the ocean level, players encounter hazards like plastic bottles and oil spills, reinforcing the real-world consequences of plastic pollution on marine wildlife and the value of eco-friendly actions to help the wildlife (Plastics for Change). Using this principle for this game design makes learning tangible and actionable, helping players connect game tasks to real-life environmental challenges, strengthening their understanding of the material, and potentially sparking personal action.

The second principle used in this game is risk-taking. Players have the freedom to experiment with different levels of challenge within each environment. Mistakes, such as collecting non-recyclables, result in point deductions or level restarting but do not discourage continued attempts. Sorting challenges introduce low-stakes opportunities to practice and refine eco-friendly habits before progressing to more challenging levels. Using this principle in the game fosters a growth mindset by encouraging players to learn through trial and error, promoting confidence in making decisions in the game and real life.

Resources

When we started this digital game design process, I quickly abandoned a template approach. My creative process is in constant iteration, and I like to use a design/build approach with prototypes. Therefore, after various iterations, I built the Planet Protector prototype from scratch, leaning into tutorials for learning and ideas. For graphics, I explored Kenney’s extensive library of game assets and found several that I thought would work for the game. Additionally, I created several graphics on my Canva Pro account. I also took a deep dive into the different tutorials available on Construct 3 to play with design ideas. In the design process, as I learned more about the program and what it could do, the game took shape.

After my initial concept development for the game, along with the game’s core loop, sorting challenges, different levels, and game mechanics, I leaned into ChatGPT’s assistance to refine ideas and explore whether said ideas could be built in Construct 3. As I learned skills from the tutorials, ChatGPT’s knowledge of Construct 3 was somewhat dated or may have shared paid version features.

References

Canva. (n.d.). [Recycling, Compost, and Hazard Graphics]. Canva. Retrieved November 16, 2024,

from https://www.canva.com.

Kapp, K. M. (2012). The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and

Strategies for Training and Education. Pfeiffer.

Kenney. (n.d.). Kenney game assets. Retrieved November 16, 2024, from https://www.kenney.nl

Plastics For Change. (n.d.). Items that cannot be recycled. Retrieved November 16, 2024, from

https://www.plasticsforchange.org/blog/items-that-cannot-be-recycled

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Recycling basics and benefits. EPA. Retrieved

November 16, 2024, from https://www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics-and-benefits

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