Demo Day Finalist: Dana and the Great Big World
Dana and the Great Big World by Kaiya J.
Kaiya designed and developed this game at the Girls Make Games 2-week summer camp. She’s a finalist for GMG’s National Demo Day competition where the grand prize winners earn prizes sponsored by Nintendo of America! To learn more, visit www.girlsmakegames.com
Game Summary:
Dana and the Great Big World is a 2D platformer, cooking game that explores food from around the world. The game follows Dana, a new to cooking chef and once picky eater, as she cooks dishes from different countries and cultures. The players will follow the steps from condensed recipes leading them to mini platform games where Dana will cut, fry, and bake food. Finish the platform levels successfully, avoiding hot oil, germs, and expired or rotten ingredients, to make the dish. Dana and the Great Big World will get up close and personal to cooking, as Dana will shrink to be a tiny chef and enter the world of cooking from a whole new perspective.
Game Controls:
To enter full screen, click the expand icon on the bottom right
- Press SPACE to progress through cutscenes and how to plays
- Arrow keys to move
- Click to interact with appliances in the kitchen
- SPACE to jump in mini games
Game Story:
Dana was once a very picky eater, eating mostly the same food and not wanting to try anything new for fear of hating it. She was inspired and amazed by a food blog that made and showcased dishes from around the world. Dana realized her limited palette and how she hadn’t even heard of some of the delicious food from the beautifully diverse cultures of Earth. With a world so big and so diverse, why only eat one type of food when there is so much more out there? Dana decided she wanted to try food from around the globe and what better way to do it then cook it herself!
Motivation:
I came up with my game idea after realizing how lucky I was to be born into a family where my mother’s side is Chinese and my father’s Irish and English. Growing up, I was always able to experience two different cultures with very different food. I loved getting Dim Sum with my Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh and eating leftover turkey soup with my Grammy and Grandad. I always took that for granted, and never realized truly how lucky I was to be able experience multiple cultures. I was so surprised when I heard my friend say how she had never had Dim Sum before, and I realized so many people only eat food from their own culture. I get that going out of your comfort zone in terms of food can be really hard, but it is truly amazing to try a new dish for the first time and be blown away by how good and different it is. I think I am spoiled, living in the Bay Area in California, because there are so many amazing restaurants here serving cuisine from all over the world. Sometimes, when I travel to a different part of CA or the country, I’m surprised at how limited their diversity in terms of food is. I really love food and I think that it’s such an important part of different cultures. When I was making my game, I researched the national dishes of different countries and I was so surprised to learn there were so many dishes I have never even heard of. I am not very good at cooking, but I immediately realized how easy it was to cook some of these dishes and man, was I excited. Through Dana and the Great Big Word, I want to share my love of food and our beautiful diverse planet through cooking.
