Expedition: Big Brook
game design | illustration | art book
Who needs a game about fossils?
Big Brook is a Cretaceous fossil site in central New Jersey. Among its many visitors each year are summer programs and day camps. I accompanied a group of elementary school students to Big Brook during my time at the American Museum of Natural History.
We received a greyscale handout of labeled fossil photos before visiting Big Brook. While informative, a piece of paper was a dull and one dimensional introduction to the experience for the students. To increase engagement, I developed an introductory minigame and designed a field guide for Big Brook.
The Game
At first it seems like a piddly dribble through the farmlands of rural New Jersey, but careful observation shows that Big Brook is a glass-bottom boat, sailing through a Cretaceous sea, busy with life."