How to Play
Quick start guide
Introduction
How to play
You are a kid in the city on a hot summer weekend. Your goal is to complete a series of quests without getting too hot. While completing your quests, talk to people and explore the city to learn more about heat safety and find items to help you stay cool.
After the main quests are finished, you can begin Dr. Biology's bonus quest to learn about how living things in the wild stay cool in the heat. Try to get the highest score possible by collecting all the heat safety tips, words to know, and photos of plants and animals.
How to move your character
To move your character, click anywhere in the game world screen. A dot will appear, and your character will automatically walk there in a straight line. If they bump into something along the way, they'll stop moving and stand still until you click again to move them to a different spot.
If you're playing the game on a computer with a keyboard, you can also use the WASD keys and arrow keys to move your character.
Quests
Each quest will give you a task to complete, place to go, or person to speak to. If you're not sure where to go, click on the phone icon and select city map to see where you need to go.
If you forget what quest you're on, you can see the current quest at the bottom of the game world screen. You can also see your current quest when you click on the character icon at the top of your screen to open your character profile. You can see the current quest at the top of this screen.
Game over
Your game is over if your health meter reaches zero. If you get a game over, you can restart your game from your most recent save point. But, you will have lost any of the progress you made after that.
Saving your game
Your game will be saved automatically every time you enter or exit a building. Saved games will appear on the game menu page.
Interface
Health meter
Your health meter shows you how close you are to overheating. It slowly gets lower when you’re outside in the heat. The game will be over if it reaches zero. If your health meter is low, take action quickly! To refill your health meter, have a drink of water or go to a cooler place such as an outdoor splash pad or inside an air conditioned building.
Towel meter
The towel meter shows you how much water you have left in your towel. The towel only gives you a cooling bonus when it's wet. The water in your towel slowly goes down when you're walking around outside in the heat. You can refill your towel at a sink or water fountain. Make sure to refill it often! At the beginning of the game when you don't have a towel yet, the towel icon and meter are not displayed.
Water bottle meter
The water bottle meter shows you how much water you have left in your water bottle. Click on the water bottle icon to take a sip from your water bottle, if it's not empty. Taking a sip will refill part of your health meter. You can refill your water bottle at a sink or water fountain. Make sure to refill it often! At the beginning of the game when you don't have a water bottle yet, the water bottle icon and meter are not displayed.
Phone icon
Click on the phone icon to see more information about the game world and your game progress. Your phone lets you see the weather report, a city map, your heat safety tips found and the words to know that you’ve found. After you've completed all the main quests, you can also see plants and animals found and your game summary here.
Character icon
Click on the character icon to see more information about your character. Here, you can see your current quest, equipment, items, cooling bonus, and how much health you have left.
Zone icon
The zone icon will let you know what kind of zone you're in, which impacts your health meter and towel meter.
Your health meter will slowly refill as you cool off in an indoor air conditioned space.
Your health meter and towel meter will go down very quickly when you're in direct sunlight.
Your health meter and towel meter will go down when you're outside in the shade, but not as quickly as when you're in direct sunlight.
Your health meter and towel meter will slowly refill as you get wet and cool down in an outdoor splash pad.
Your health meter will slowly refill as you stand under the cooler air of a misting system.
Current location
The name of your current location is shown here. If you want to see a map of the city, click on the phone icon and select the city map.
Action button
When you get close enough to something that you can interact with in the game world, a pulsing circle will appear around that item and the action button will appear toward the top of the screen. The button will say different things to let you talk to other characters, enter or exit buildings, or inspect items.
You can also click within the pulsing circle to inspect the item or talk to other characters.
Compass
The compass shows you which direction is north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). Look at this compass if you need help remembering which way to go for each direction.
Tips
The tips button shows you game world tips.
Map
The map button lets you see a map overview of the entire neighborhood.
Game over counter
The game over counter shows you the number of times you have gotten a 'game over' message.
Current quest
The current quest tells you what you need to do next in the game.
Your score
Your score appears at the bottom of the game world screen, and in your game summary. You will get points by collecting heat safety tips, words to know, and (after you've completed the main quests) photos of plants and animals. You will also get points for completing the game without a single game over. The maximum score possible is 690. Explore the city and talk to other characters in the game to get the highest score possible!
Point Breakdown
- Heat safety tips: 180 points possible. 10 points for every heat safety tip found.
- Words to know: 200 points possible. 10 points for every word to know found.
- Plants and animals: 160 points possible. 10 points for every plant or animal found.
- Heat awareness pro badge: 50 points. Earn this by completing the game without a single game over.
- Neighborhood explorer badge: 50 points. Earn this by finding all words to know and heat safety tips.
- Plant and animal researcher badge: 50 points. Earn this by finding all of the plants and animals.
Your items
Your items appear as icons near the top of the screen. If you want to see more information about your items, click the character icon near the top of the screen. Below is a list of items in the game. Some of these can help you stay cool.
A pair of camera batteries. The camera will not work without these.
This pass lets you ride the bus. Go to a bus stop to take the bus from one part of the city to another.
A camera you can use to take photos of plants and animals for Dr. Biology's bonus quest. To take a photo, first inspect a plant or animal. Then click on the 'take a photo' button that appears in the message. The camera needs batteries to work.
Your friend's notebook. It's filled with hand-written notes about science.
A hat will protect your face and eyes from the sun. Some hats also protect your neck. A hat will give you a cooling bonus of 3-5 (depending on the hat).
Your library book.
A light colored shirt won't get as warm in the sun as a dark colored shirt. A light colored shirt will give you a cooling bonus of 5.
Moving air from a mini fan will help keep you cool. A mini fan will give you a cooling bonus of 7.
Spraying water on your skin will help keep you cool as the water dries. The mister spray bottle will give you a cooling bonus of 10.
Sunglasses are important to protect your eyes from the sun. But, they won't help you stay cool.
Sunscreen is important to protect your skin from the sun. But, it won't help you stay cool.
A damp towel over your shoulders will help keep you cool as the water dries. A wet towel will give you a cooling bonus of 10. A dry towel will not give you any cooling bonus.
An umbrella will block the sun and create shade. Being in the shade will make your health meter go down more slowly than being in the sun. Large areas of shade from buildings and trees are still cooler than shade from an umbrella though.
Each sip of water will partly refill your health meter.
Cooling bonus
Throughout the game, you will receive items and equipment from talking to other characters, completing quests, and exploring the game world. Some items will give you a cooling bonus. Having a higher cooling bonus will slow down how quickly your health meter decreases when you're outside in the heat. So, try to find as many items as you can. You can see a detailed summary of your items and equipment by clicking on the character icon near the top of the screen.
The game world
Signs
Inspect arrow signs to get directions to different places in the city. Star signs let you know there is a building you can enter nearby. You cannot inspect star signs.
Bus stops
Bus stops let you move quickly from one part of the city to the others. But, you can only use the bus system if you have a bus card. You will get a bus card when you finish all the main quests.
Weather
To view the daily weather, click on your phone icon , then select weather. The hotter the temperature outside, the more quickly your health meter will go down. Be extra careful not to overheat during the hottest times of the day.
City map
To view a map of the entire city, click on the phone icon to look at your phone, then select city map. If you're confused about where to go, check what quest is in progress (through the character icon), then check where to go on the city map.
Buttons
Return to the main menu.
Read basic simulation instructions.
Change the language between English and Spanish.
Turn the music off or back on.
Turn the sound effects off or back on.
Game sounds and music will be muted if you enter the game with your device in silent mode.
Enter or exit fullscreen mode.