A stay in the hospital can be scary for most people, and even more so for children. But time spent with UnMonsters, a new game app developed by Haneke Design and set within St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, brings nothing but fun for those in hot pursuit of some goofy and decidedly un-scary monsters.
UnMonsters is free and publicly available so that children and parents everywhere can enjoy it. The game app can be found in both Google Play and the App Store. Players can learn more about the game and its characters by visiting www.UnMonsters.org.
“Haneke Design brought great creativity and technical expertise to this project,” said Kimberly Guy, president of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. “They took feedback from our caregivers, young gamers and marketing team and created a unique, engaging game that we all enjoy.”
UnMonsters features spaces like the hospital’s lobby, exam room and x-ray area. Players earn points by rounding up the creatures: Jitters, the shaky, distracted and fastest non-flying UnMonster; Tizzy, the shy, awkward one who prefers hanging out in dark corners; Fretta, the overly concerned one who just won’t leave; and Ooz, a slimy, slow slug who multiplies when you leave him alone too long. Finally, there’s the Mystery UnMonster, whose defining characteristics include flying and being extremely annoying.
Players can catch the UnMonsters by rounding them up with a lasso, holding and dragging them one by one, or activating a “power-up” to quickly dispatch bigger UnMonster waves.
Haneke Design created the five characters and set them within environments that mimic the actual rooms found in St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. The game uses a lasso mechanism as the primary action for catching the UnMonsters and thus earning points. Players also can drag UnMonsters to different positions on the board to set up larger groups to lasso. Trivia questions are woven through the game at the end of each level to give players the opportunity to earn more points and test their general health knowledge.
“Our goal was to develop a game that would accomplish our client’s goals for a universally appealing game,” said Jody Haneke, president of Haneke Design. “Collaborating with the St. Joseph’s team, the pediatric patients, and their families as we developed UnMonsters was a fantastic and memorable experience. We admire their imagination, empathy and vision and have done our best to bring those things to life in this game.”
About St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital
As Tampa’s only dedicated children’s hospital, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital is committed to providing everything needed for the health and well-being of children. Part of the BayCare Health System, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital provides more acute medical and surgical pediatric care than all other hospitals in Hillsborough County. From the tiniest baby to the high school quarterback, patients are cared for by doctors who specialize in treating children, in surroundings designed exclusively for kids.