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The Playing Mode is where the actual game play takes place. The user will need to both find an appropriate nectar source given the time limit and correctly communicate this information to the colony. When presented with the interface, the user must first choose a nectar source to direct the colony to. This is where the strategic element of the game occurs. Different flowers will have different nectar qualities and will be placed at varying distances from the hive. Since the user will still need to be concerned with the time limit, as well as the current honey level of the hive, he needs to choose the most advantageous flower given the current conditions. If he chooses a flower with a very high nectar quality but is very far away he risks the hive perishing, since the bees would not be able to retrieve the nectar in time. Overall, in choosing a flower, the user needs to be concerned with: 1). the current honey level of the hive; 2). the flower's distance from the hive; 3). the flower's nectar quality; 4). the time limit.
Once the flower has been chosen, the user enters the second strategic phase of the game. Based on the specifics of the flower chosen, the user needs to select the appropriate values for the bee dance attributes, (distance, direction and quality). The values will be selected in a separate window of button options, three for each attribute. The user is essentially performing the dance by choosing the proper values. This requires proper synthesis of the bee dance which was presented in the Help Mode. Since there will be three possible options for distance, direction and quality each, there is a total of 27 possible outcomes of the final dance, of which only one combination accurately describes the nectar source the user choose at the beginning of the Playing Mode. Based on the choices the user entered, the dance will be performed to the colony. Following the instructions in the dance, the bees will fly off in the direction the user indicated. If the user chooses the correct combination of variables, he advances to the next level, made more difficult with the addition of obstacles to the bee's progress: predators, inclement weather, beekeeper who removes honey stores, ambiguous indicators of nectar quality, etc. If the user chose incorrectly, the bees will still fly off in the direction indicated, however, the colony risks running out of honey, and dying. |
BEE DANCE GAME INTERFACE
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