PowerUp

Origin

A graduate team (includes a Syster) at Harvard Graduate School of Education came up with the idea to create a Female Empowerment App called PowerUp. It would be an educational choose-your-own-adventure game that allows young girls (12 to 14) to learn about reproductive health and self-esteem by navigating the life of their avatar.

Project Summary

Preadolescent girls need better options for reproductive health and self-esteem education. Preadolescents are at risk for possible pregnancy and spread of sexually transmitted infection (STI), yet very little information reaches preadolescents about risk and responsibility associated with sex. Additionally, preadolescents struggle with self-esteem, which makes them vulnerable to peer and media influence. Current trends in sexual activity among preadolescents impact the economy, hurt family cohesion, affect female education, and burden healthcare systems. These are examples of the topics included within the choose-your-own-adventure mobile game.

Status

Build the application or download the latest release apk file.

Repo Links

• PowerUp - iOS
• PowerUp - Android

Project ideas

Android (full features)

Idea	Description
Age Transition	Switches the avatar to age up - secondary or high school.
New Level	User's avatar ages into high school, which includes 4 New Scenarios + 4 New Mini-games (to follow the scenario)
Current Emotion	Requires values on each user's response for each scenarios. Tracks whether the avatar is sad, angry, or happy.
Powers	Add functionality to 4 Powers (Telepathy, Strength, Invisibility & Healing)
Pre-Game Setup Screen	Add family members and ability to choose family members.

iOS (full features)

Idea	Description
Complete the first level	Middle school scenario and middle school scenario mini games.
Include avatar customization	Avatars with Accessible Customization (Wheelchairs, Hearing Aids, Walking Stick, Crutches, etc.), new accessories, clothing, and hairstyles.
Age Transition	Switches the avatar to age up - secondary or high school.
New Level	User's avatar ages into high school, which includes 4 New Scenarios + 4 New Mini-games (to follow the scenario)
Current Emotion	Requires values on each user's response for each scenarios. Tracks whether the avatar is sad, angry, or happy.
Powers	Add functionality to 4 Powers (Telepathy, Strength, Invisibility & Healing)
Pre-Game Setup Screen	Add family members and ability to choose family members.

iOS (Frontend Only)

Idea	Description
Word Wrap	dialogue does not fully show
Karma Notifications	scene completion screen does not have a continue button but shows which scenario has been completed and how many karma points have been earned.
Map Overlap	There's a small error in which the school overlaps the smoke coming out of the house's chimney.
Vocab Match	End screen for the vocab match game does not show how many were wrong and does not have the same UI as the other minigame end screens.

• Utilize the differences documentation to include any additional enhancements.

Development Environment

Android Development Environment

• Technologies Used: Java, Android SDK
• Difficulty: Novice to Intermediate

iOS Development Environment

• Technologies Used: XCode, Swift, iOS SDK
• Difficulty: Novice to Intermediate

Communicate with Us on Zulip!

If you have an idea of how to improve PowerUp, drop us a message on the #powerup stream to discuss it :)