John Gordon hopes the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds vegetables as entertaining as he does.
The Chattanooga man is the only Tennessean to enter a USDA-sponsored contest that is part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to end childhood obesity.
The contest is to create software tools and games that encourage children ages 9-12 to make nutritious food choices and to be active. The winner is to be announced this month.
THE GAMETo download the game, visit www.revoltingvegetables.com.
Gordon, 35, said he saw a notice for the contest on a website frequented by game developers and thought he’d give it a try.
“I’d like to make a game that gives back to the community, that contributes to the public well-being,” he said.
The result was “Revolting Vegetables,” a game in which players move forward by eating a balanced diet but encounter vegetable monsters and other characters along the way in a quest to defeat the evil cabbage, Al Capoche.
Only players who buy and eat the right balance of food have the strength to overcome enemies.
The episode entered in the contest, “The Uneatables,” is modeled after the 1950s television series “The Untouchables,” and has the same 1920s feel to it.
Gordon invented the game and served as its project manager. He and his wife, Patricia, wrote the script and invented the characters. His wife also conceived the music.
He, his wife and a friend, Michael Torres, did the programming. An artist friend, Donny Palmgren, contributed the backgrounds, characters and all the art.
“There are quite a few parts to it,” said Gordon, a former actuary who lost his job about the time he began to work on the game. Development took about three months, he said.
Gordon, the father of a 2-year-old daughter, said he is not a nutritionist but has lost around 15 pounds in the past year by exercising and watching his diet.
“It’s kind of difficult to maintain your health,” he said. “If you don’t put a conscious effort into [it], you’ll just gain weight. I wanted something to make it easier for people.”
The Chattanooga Department of Education Arts and Culture has been an unofficial booster of the game. Administrator Missy Crutchfield said her office encouraged votes for the game during national balloting that ended earlier this month. She said the aims of the game fit well with the department’s efforts to combat childhood obesity.
“I think [it’s] great,” Crutchfield said.
If the obesity crisis isn’t turned around, Crutchfield said, today’s children will become the first generation in memory to have a shorter life span than their parents.
Even if “Revolting Vegetables” doesn’t win the top prize in the contest, Gordon said he may continue with game development.
“If nothing else, I’ll make more sequels,” he said.
Contact Clint Cooper at ccooper@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6497.