Evolution game, NOVA Labs

NOVA labs is a collection of free digital resources for the sciences.  The goal is to engage people with the interactive games which they call ‘labs’ and motivate them to learn.  The game I am reviewing here is the evolution game and the idea behind this one, is that the user can explore  and understand how to create and interpret phylogenetic trees.  It sets aside the importance of having phylogenetic trees in all areas of life science.  This particular lab has the game of creating a phylogenetic tree, and the detailed ‘deep tree’, which is a large interactive infographic of the all species on a tree.  The game can be found at the PBS nova labs website

This game was orignially designed as an exhibit for a museum with the 'life on earth' team and this was then scaled into a web version for different uses, including on the NOVA labs website as part of their lab series.  More information about the background of BAT (build a tree) and the design concept on making the game is available here

In the game, creating the tree, there are several levels.  For each there is a short video introduction, so the user will have a good understanding of the game then onto building the tree!  The types  of organism changes throughout the game giving the user a varied representation of the different types of species which can be linked in this way.  There was a mixture of looking for phenotypic traits and genetic differences throughout the game, again giving the user an understanding that there are different ways in which a species can be linked and it might not be obvious at first glance.  

Below are some pictures of game-play.  The layout of the game was really neat and visually attractive.  It was very user friendly and there was enough information that the user would learn a little about the species themselves as well as about creating the tree.  At the end of each round when the user has successfully completed the tree a question will pop up, and the tree can be used to derive the answer.  This is a  fun way to test the users understanding of the tree they have created. 

The game does have the feel of an educational experience, it doesn't feel more like a game with an educational element like some of these types of games. But this doesn't reduce its ‘fun’ and it still becomes an addictive experience!  The use of different species for comparison was interesting, even using dinosaurs with birds showing this evolution 

The very first video really explains the basics of trees in a really nice visual way. Also explains how the game will be played from then on.   Will be learning about a species then you are to grab the animal and the trait  you have to correctly build each tree to get onto the next level – strangely addictive and there are different types – both traits and DNA there is also different organisms, bacteria, mammals  birds and plants. Even dinosaurs and birds demonstrating the divergent evolution for this relationship.  

For organisms throughout the lab, there is information available on them, as well as the link to the original source which is handy for anyone looking for more information.

The use of virus as a species for creating a map was another interesting choice and good to provide the end user with a varied outlook on connecting species in an evolutionary tree

In the video you can see an idea of the gameplay.  Here there is a collection of skulls which are going to be used to create a phylogenetic tree. You can see they are arbitrarily placed on a map, then a skull selected for more  information, on opening the information screen there is a small blurb about each of the skulls then there is a collection of points for comparison, which will be used when making the phylogenetic tree

When one of the points for comparison is connected to the tree,  you can start to find the points they all have in common (in this case forward facing eyes) and then start to find common connections and moving the skulls changing the shape of the tree and eventually connecting them all correctly.

The same game can also follow a slightly different format, using the differences in the DNA of the organisms rather than the phenotypic traits.  This demonstrates that there can be similarities genetically even if they are not phenotypically present.  The video below demonstrates the gameplay where the organisms small DNA sample is shown and the tree is built around using this.  On completing the tree a question will pop up, asking the user to use the tree to answer the question.  In this way the user is tested on their understanding of how to interpret the tree.

On completion of the game, you have access to the ‘deep tree’ which can be seen in the video below.  This an impressive interactive infographic on the species of the world on an evolutionary tree.  There is a search option at the bottom, when you start typing to look for a specific organisms, related organisms will pop up in a box, perfect for if there are any spelling errors this can really help the user to find what they are looking for.  On clicking on the organism you are looking for and clicking the search icon, the map zooms further in, to get to the branch on the tree containing the organism you are searching for.  It possible to then view a large picture and see a little more information about the organism, with searchable links to the origins of the photo.  The tree can be zoomed in and out of to see more organisms throughout the tree.  On clicking on one of the topics such as ‘Eukaryotes’ you can see additional information about eukaryotic organisms.

The deep tree is a great resource, however it is difficult to get an immediate overall picture of the evolutionary relationship of organisms, which requires a lot of zooming in and searching.  Luckily the search function is great, however, if it designed in such a way that you are searching for a particular organism allowing it to zoom in and find it, then you can manipulate the screen and look at the nearby relationships, this might suggest to me you are looking for a level of detail about a particular organism, and unfortunately I don't think this level of detail is available.  I understand originally this was a museum exhibit so too much additional information on species would be unnecessary but perhaps for the web adapted version additional information, links to important papers or other websites would be a really useful addition to the design.

In the creation of the game a large importance was placed on making the interpretation of the phylogenetic tree clear and easy to eliminate the idea that a tree is read like a book, from left to right and to understand that following the branches and nodes on the trees will help to correctly interpret the tree, rather than branches that line up near one another having any kind of relationship.
The use of different types of organisms was important and the information about them was seen as important, but not as important as understanding the fundamentals of designing and interpreting the phylogenetic trees themselves.

The game is easy to get into, and easy to understand right away.  It was designed this way as it was originally designed as a museum exhibit and there wouldn't be time for the user to have a prolonged interaction with the game and time to understand it.

Using the game as an exhibit helped to shape the web adapted version of the game, with the recorded interaction of players and subsequent interactions with these players on the topic of evolution would provide ideas towards improving the game as a learning experience and in terms of functionality as well.  The current version of the game as reviewed here has additional features in also adding the traits to the tree and the ability to shape the structure of the tree more effectively.

An addition to the game that I would like to see is for a larger amount of data on the organisms themselves, or perhaps links to other resources such as GoogleEarth linking in the location that the organisms are found to make it a more all round resource although this addition might be better suited to the deep tree part of the website.  This could help make the game a larger and more prominent learning experience.  Another minor change I would consider making might be to reset the tree if too many mistakes are made, to prevent guesswork and encourage the user to think intuitively based on the knowledge they are gaining on phylogenetic tree building.  I do think really highly of the game as a whole, it makes the concept of building phylogenetic trees an interesting, exciting and understandable area of life science.  The think the game is enjoyable and really informative.