Morph Tales - Exploring Artificial Intelligence
Morph Tales is a mobile game that revolves around a young artificial intelligence (AI) named Morph. Explore the world of AI with Morph and learn in a playful way how AIs can assist us humans in a wide variety of activities.
The aim of Morph Tales is to create a fun and educational experience, communicating the various possibilities of AI and its research at ETH Zurich to the public. Morph Tales comprises four minigames that lead the player through a parkour on the ETH Zurich campus. Each minigame relates to an AI research topic at ETH Zurich. The minigames are tied into an overarching story that revolves around the adorable main character, Morph, a young and inexperienced AI that wants to learn and grow. The player helps her master the minigames until she achieves her dream of being accepted to the prestigious Morphtopia University.
The game is designed for a target audience of players between 12 and 20 years old, and offers a cheerful and uplifting experience to learn about AI.
Minigames
Smart Farming
The Smart Farming minigame is about agriculture and is based on a real-life issue that ETH researchers are investigating. In the game you join Morph in protecting a pumpkin field from weeds and learn how AI can help use less fertilizer.
Learn more about the the use of AI for agriculture at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Prof. Dr. Achim Walter.
Virtual Drug Design
The Virtual Drug Design minigame is inspired by ETH research that investigates the use of AI for the discovery and development of new, innovative drugs. Your task is to help Morph sort molecules and learn which ones are useful for novel medical drugs.
For more information visit the research area site for Computer Assisted Drug Design by the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. For this minigame, we are thankful for the valuable scientific input of Dr. Jan Hiss.
Autonomous Sailing
The idea for the minigame Autonomous Sailing came from an ETH project that focuses on creating a framework for modeling, control, and simulation of autonomous sailing boats. In this multiplayer minigame you help Morph steer a sailing boat and compete with 3 other players to collect the maximum number of buoys in a short time interval.
Visit the Autonomous Sailing project site by the Automatic Control Laboratory to find out more about the technical details of the project.
Origins of Life
The fourth minigame, Origins of Life, is about discovering life on a different planet. The game is based on ETH researchers' work on what makes life possible and which other planets may host life. In the game, you help Morph steer a rover over the martian surface and collect soil samples that may indicate the discovery of life.
Visit the ETH website for search of the origins of life for more information on the scientific work in the field. We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Cara Magnabosco for her scientific input and inspiring advice.
Story and Characters
The story and main character are central elements of a video game. Morph and the story surrounding Morph Tales were created to build a world that bridges the various AI topics presented in the game and offer a joyful and relatable experience.
Game Development
The game development process starts in brainstorming sessions to create a pool of initial game ideas. Paper prototypes are used to test the vision and game mechanics. After repeated iteration and refinement, the game is then realized as an actual video game application.
Morph Tales Prototype at Olma 2022
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