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NutriQuest

Kids reading labels, building meals, understanding what’s actually in their food — learned side by side with the person packing their lunch.

No download, no login, nothing required but a browser — NutriQuest was built to meet families where they already are.

A Quest for Nutrients. A Shared Fight to Survive.

A child and their caregiver play side by side, each controlling their own character, gathering the nutrients it takes to keep going. Every meal is a choice — what to eat, what it’s actually made of, what it does once it’s in the body — and the wrong choices catch up with a character just like they would with a person. Reading a label stops being an abstract skill and becomes the thing standing between a character and running out of energy. 

When kids explore food with a trusted friend, adventure awaits.

Platform

Web Browser

Audience

Middle School Children and Their Caregivers

Genre

2-Player Side-Scrolling Adventure

Content

Nutrition

A Real Gap, A Real Setback

Nearly one in five Missouri kids ages 10–17 were classified as obese as of 2019–2020, and rural kids carry more of that weight than their peers. Most nutrition education stops at the kid — a worksheet, a lecture, a poster in a cafeteria — and never reaches the person actually buying groceries and packing lunches. 

NutriQuest was built to close that gap by putting a child and their caregiver in the game together, learning the same nutrients side by side instead of one teaching the other secondhand.

Unfortunately the full vision of NutriQuest never came to fruition. The development was funded through the SNAP-Ed program, and when SNAP-Ed funding shifted, development stopped before the full game could be built.

Play the NutriQuest Level 1 Prototype

NutriQuest’s first level is live and free to play in any browser right now — no download, no login required. Step into the game as the child or the caregiver and start gathering the nutrients it takes to keep going.

Play the Prototype

Status: Paused

NutriQuest’s development paused when SNAP-Ed funding changed direction. The Level 1 prototype is playable, but the rest of the game — and the gap it was planned to bridge — is still waiting for the right partner to back it up.

View Developer Roadmap

Supported by

NutriQuest is funded by MU College of Education & Human Development’s Rural Schools Education Initiative.

Help us finish what we started.

We still believe in what NutriQuest could be. If you fund or support rural health and nutrition education and want to see the rest of this game built — and the research it was meant to produce finally happen — partner with us to fill this gap.

Partner With Us

Meet the Devs

Somebody on this team can talk nutrition science and somebody else can talk Metroidvania-style level design — that combination is what got NutriQuest as far as it did. Here’s the crew that brought this prototype to life.

Jo Britt Rankin

Jo Britt Rankin

Class

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Title:

Producer & Professor

Jenni Nevatt

Jenni Nevatt

Class

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Title:

Extension Professor\Collaborator

Kimberly Keller

Kimberly Keller

Class

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Title:

Producer

Anthony Johnson, Jr.

Anthony Johnson, Jr.

Class

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Title:

Level Design (Former)

Miles Fogle

Miles Fogle

Class

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Title:

Level Design (Former)

Chelsea Bartlett

Chelsea Bartlett

Class

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Title:

Artist

Erin Weaver

Erin Weaver

Class

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Projects

  • vSchool

Title

Curricular Specialist

Power-Ups

Popcorn & Chocolate

Sidekick

Scout (Dog)

Hi! I’m a former science teacher pursuing my Ed.S in Learning Technologies and Design and a graduate certificate in Serious Games and Simulation Design from Mizzou. I love animals, science, and being outdoors. I currently live in San Francisco with my husband, Brandon, and my fluffy cat Scout.

Logan Priess

Logan Priess

Class

Class icon for Designer

Projects

  • Mission HydroSci 1.0

Title

Creative Writing Consultant