Dog Days Sim wins Rep. Darren Soto’s 2021 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s Ninth District

When asked what inspired the creation of Dog Days Sim, the student said, “A long time ago, I played a game called “Ayiti: The Cost of Life” created by GlobalKids.org. The whole premise was very interesting: you play as a poor family in Haiti and try to survive four years in their rural village. You were responsible for their wellbeing and their education- which meant keeping their finances up (so they could afford food and medicine) while also trying to give the family as much education as possible (which could be expensive!). On top of that- natural disasters and robberies (if you accumulated too much money) could happen at any time, giving the game even more depth and challenge. If both parents died, the game ended prematurely and the game somberly informs you of the childrens’ sad fate. If the family failed to get a good education, the game informs you that they had little prospect of succeeding in their future. Evidently, “The Cost of Life” is an absolutely wonderful game- using ingenious game design and game mechanics to educate the player about the difficulty of living in Haiti and how NGOs can greatly increase the quality of life in rural communities.”