UFO Ontvoering!
The game 'UFO Ontvoering!' was designed for Jeugdfilmfestival Antwerpen as part of our Devine bachelor's thesis. Created in teams of two, the game was built using Blender and Babylon.js. The game is played while balancing on a balance ball, to control the rocket.
Briefing
Develop a custom multiplayer/multigenerational audiovisual installation for children and/or young people visiting the XL-Medialab during the Jeugdfilmfestival Antwerpen 2026.
Designing for Children, a unique experience
Designing a game or project for children naturally requires a lot of fine-tuning. Because the Devine programme equips us with a strong foundation in Experience Design, we were able to use that knowledge to guide the game through a structured development process. To have some footage while having respect for the privacy of the children/parents, we took pictures from the back.
We kicked off with brainstorming sessions to define the visual style and storytelling. Following this, we conducted two testing sessions at a primary school to observe and improve accessibility and user experience. By leveraging live coding and a dedicated testing observation table, we were able to constantly refine and adapt our game along the way.
Visual Language
To determine the visual style, we brainstormed, created styleboards, and sketched out ideas. We also researched what children watch nowadays and quickly came up with the idea to use 3D.
To keep the style light and soft, ensuring we wouldn't scare the children with the aliens, we made everything highly child-friendly and just a little mischievous. To see how far we could take this approach, we drew inspiration from Super Mario Bros.
Structured Storytelling
To ensure an engaging story that completely immerses children in the game, we crafted a captivating narrative centered around farmer Rudy.
When the game boots up, an intro video introduces the children to farmer Rudy and his cow, showing the cow being abducted by the alien boss.
Once the actual gameplay begins, the children take on the role of farmer Rudy and set off to rescue the cow from the aliens. They must navigate five levels that gradually increase in difficulty. Throughout each level, they have to dodge asteroids and dodge incoming UFO bullets. In the final level, they face off against the boss, where they collect a power-up that allows them to shoot back. Defeating the boss by hitting them three times wins the game, which triggers a final outro video celebrating their victory.
Built for Real Use
To make things as easy as possible for organisations looking to host our game, we have put together a manual and written a startup script that launches the game automatically. The game is fully ready for rental!
Rent our game!
While originally designed for Jeugdfilmfestival Antwerpen, our game will also be hosted by Bib Waregem and the film festival in Mortsel. If you would like to rent our game, feel free to get in touch!