By: Roselyn Fauth

How CPlay Utilized AI to Craft an Interactive Adventure Tailored to some of the Playground's Features and Themes, and how you can too!

The excitement to make the new playground come alive is building up. Ever wondered how you could unleash the magic when it opens to make your play even more meaningful and fun? Here's a an example of how you, too, can utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create imaginative and interactive fun games. In this article we show how the CPlay team has used AI's potential to craft a game that uses the playground's distinct features. Collaborating with AI technology can inspire us to reimagine play and immersive adventures. This is an easy way to tailor creativity with free online tools. Imagine creating your own games for school visits, parties, corporate events, etc... The playground is nearly ready... read on to see how you can make it even more fun!

CPlay had a go at creating a game for the playground using AI. Our goal was to create an engaging game scenario that revolves around the playground's distinctive features. The game we created "Shipwreck Explorer Adventure," demonstrates the possibilities that arise when technology and imagination come together. 

We used the free AI tool through our browser. chat.openai.com and typed in the themes of the playground, the duration, the number of players for a game and their age range, and hit enter. Quite quickly, our computer wrote us a game. We gave it a few tweaks and regenerated it a few times to tailor it to be fun and practical.

AI produced a game for us that centers on a shipwreck-themed area of the new playground, complete with a crows nest, poop deck with a captain's wheel, distress bell, broken-off bow, lifeboat, floating cargo, and even a three-story lighthouse with slides and a slide off the mound for a daring escape.

The excitement kicks off with the sound of a bell, signaling the start of a race to collect "cargo" items that are playfully scattered around the shipwreck area. Teams of young adventurers take on roles as resourceful crew members, exploring and utilizing the playground's various structures to their advantage. What sets this game apart is its AI-driven customization – every aspect of the adventure is designed to provide a thrilling and safe experience, from start to finish, and it took us about 5 minutes to create for free.

AI is offering a new era of playtime creativity. Try the Adventure Yourself

Caroline Bay Playground invites families, educators, and play enthusiasts to embark on their own adventure. Have a go at using playground themes and items. With AI and your instruction you too can create your playground  one-of-a-kind experience that blends the playground's layout and thematic elements.

Some ideas to get you inspired:

• A Mahika Kai themed game with the Whare, mokihi sea saw, tuna eel balance beams and mound full of slides, tunnels, trampolines, bridge, carousel, basket carousel, frangipani/hibiscus flower rocker, drums, xylophones, lunar phase and southern cross spinning bucket. Maybe pretend you are a tuna eel swimming to the Kermadec Trench to spawn and trying to not get caught by nets or other sea creatures using the play equipment.
• Run to the rescue game using the Rocket Brigades Flying Fox, Run to the rescue Mouse Wheel, Alexandra Life Boat cyclops swings and a Taniwha that could be your guardian friend or sting you with its tail, bite with its beak or reach out with its claws. Use AI to create the adventure scenario.
• Floor is lava using the obstacle course equipment and surfacing for some challenging and competitive fun. Maybe go down with your work group in the evening, set up some smoke machines and lasers and run a mini tournament. Use AI to create the games and rules.
• Demonstrate star navigation using AI and the playgrounds southern cross and pointers in the playground.
• Help show students the different ways to communicate using Morse code, maritime flags, body gestures, sign language, brail... 
• Create a climate change game with AI and the details of the lava, glacial boulders, loess cliffs and incorporate in the discoveries made by a special local geologist whose work showed the world a new way to interpret  climate change by looking at our local coastal cliffs.
• Learn about our local geology by hunting for boulders of Timaru's geological layers.
• Create a game hunting for sea food using our hidden creatures, footprints and AI.

A Glimpse into Play's Exciting Future with a Shipwreck game as an example.

The Shipwreck Explorer Adventure shows the potential of combining technology with creativity. This example demonstrates that with AI, we can craft safe, engaging, and thematically rich adventures that captivate young minds and redefine how we play. 

We went to this website on our browser:  chat.openai.com 

The command: " Hey AI, I need a cool game for my 8-year-old class split into two teams of 10.
We've got this awesome public playground and want to play at the shipwreck area – think a ship crashed into a cliff, complete with a distress bell, crows nest, poop deck with a captains wheel, and a broken-off bow you can up onto. There's a lifeboat in the playground surface by the shipwreck to pretend to climb into and floating cargo around the ship to pretend to rescue. Oh, and there's a 10m tall lighthouse with 2 slides by the wreckage and blow on a mound is a slide down coming off a small mound. Make sure they need teamwork to climb in there with their props, and there's a xylophone near the slides exit to sound when they're safe. Also, remind the kids to use the lighthouse slides one at a time. Can you make it happen? Thanks!

Try it out for free: chat.openai.com

Need some help?

You can give ChatGPT simple prompts, but if you need a hand to get inspired, here are some attributes to help you create an instruction for ChatGPT:

Game Creation Template for Teachers: Playground Adventure Game

Ages: [Insert Grade Level] Number of Students: [Insert Number of Students] Playground Location: [Insert Playground Name and Address]

Theme: [Insert Theme or Concept of the Game] Game Duration: [Estimated Duration]

Objectives:

• [Objective 1]
• [Objective 2]
• ...

Playground Attributes and Prompts:

1. Main Playground Feature:

   • [Describe the main feature of the playground, such as a shipwreck or castle structure.]

2. Additional Playground Features:

   • [List any additional playground features or structures that students can interact with.]

3. Interactive Elements:

   • [Describe any interactive elements on the playground, like climbing walls, slides, swings, etc.]

4. Thematic Elements:

   • [List any thematic elements that can be incorporated into the game, such as props, sculptures, or play structures.]

5. Sound Effects:

   • [Specify if there are any unique sounds present, such as bells or xylophones.]

6. Safety Considerations:

   • [Mention any safety guidelines or considerations that need to be taken into account.]

AI Game Creation Instructions: "Hey AI, I'm a teacher planning an outdoor game for my [Grade Level] class visiting [Playground Name]. Here are some attributes of the playground that I'd like to incorporate into the game:

• [Main Playground Feature]
• [Additional Playground Features]
• [Interactive Elements]
• [Thematic Elements]
• [Sound Effects]
• [Safety Considerations]

Could you help me create an engaging game that aligns with these attributes? The game should be suitable for [Number of Students] students and last around [Estimated Duration]. Feel free to add creative twists, challenges, or objectives that fit the playground theme. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! Thanks!"

Outcome: Use the completed game provided by the AI to engage your students in an exciting and imaginative playground adventure that takes full advantage of the attributes of the playground. Make sure to review the AI-generated game to ensure it aligns with your educational goals and safety considerations before implementing it with your class.