Friday, 4 May 2012

XB3002 Posters

A3 Communication Board - Visual Poster



A3 Communication Board - Marketing and Sales Poster


Final Pitch Document - Geoscientists: Save The World!





































Bibliography


Anik, Lalin. (2009). Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior. Available: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-012.pdf. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012.

Bain, Lez. (2011). How Does RSS Work. Available: http://rss-tutorial.com/rss-how-does-it-work.htm. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012.

BBC. (2011). US search for survivors after lethal storms kill dozens. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13109627. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

Braiker, Brian. (2012). Google Project Glass: a new way to see the world. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/apr/05/google. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Breillatt, Alain . (2012). You Can't Innovate Like Apple. Available: http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/6/4/you_cant_innovate_like_apple. Last accessed 17th Jan 2012

Brennescholtz, Matt. (2011). 2011 Boom Year for Digital Cinema. Available: http://displaydaily.com/2011/12/21/2011-boom-year-for-digital-cinema/. Last accessed 8th Feb 2012.

Cohen, David. (2011). Why Parents Scoff At Facebook’s Age Limit Of 13.Available: http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-age-limit-2011-11. Last accessed 20th Jan 2012.

Facebook. (2012). Help Your Teens Stay Safe. Available: https://www.facebook.com/safety/groups/parents/. Last accessed 20th Jan 2012.
Friends of the Earth. (2012). What We Do. Available: http://www.foe.co.uk/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Jamison, Jay. (2012). Beyond Facebook: The Rise Of Interest-Based Social Networks. Available: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/18/beyond-facebook-the-rise-of-interest-based-social-networks/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Jenkins, Colleen. (2011). 2011 tornado death toll tops 500 and season not over. Available: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/26/us-weather-tornadoes-records-idUSTRE74P77Z20110526. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.
Last accessed 8th Feb 2012.

M.S. (2010). Climate change and the media. Available: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/climate_change. Last accessed 16th April 2012.


SCCC. (2012). Stop Climate Change. Available: http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/about. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Sustainable Marketing. (2012). Increase Your Sales With Marketing Sevices. Available: http://www.sustainablemarketing.com/pr. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

US Department of Energy. (2012). Today In Energy. Available: http://www.eia.gov/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Images:

BBC. (2012). A current report on climate change on the BBC News website (BBC 2012).  Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Bevan, Kate. (2007). A screen shot from BBC news, showing the scrolling news feed like I intend to have in the game. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2007/mar/14/nothingmuchasitunfolds. Last accessed 17th Jan 2012.

Deshow.net. (2011). Another landscape oil painting, I think this one is too 'smooth' for the effect that I want though, because I want to illustrate bad weather and stormy skies. Available: http://www.deshow.net/cartoon/landscape-oil-painting-600.html. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

Friends of the Earth. (2012). Friends of the Earth 2012. Available: http://www.foe.co.uk/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Hough, Andrew. (2010). Students in a school using computers – they could be playing the game (Telegraph 2010).  Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/7467200/Rehab-clinic-for-children-internet-and-technology-addicts-founded.html. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Kao, Wayne. (2010). Facebook’s home page screen (Facebook 2012).Available: https://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=369584442130. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Micheljung. (2012). A Female Scientist conducting an experiment, wearing a lab coat. Available: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-scientist-in-lab-image15420183. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

SCCC. (2012). SCCC 2012. Available: http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/about. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Schaefer, Mark. (2012). A small social network for collecting information (Pinterest 2012). Available: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2012/02/14/the-secret-history-of-pinterest-revealed/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

schneidermike. (2010). A social network for food lovers (Foodspotting 2012). Available: http://www.schneidermike.com/socialmedia/foodspotting-in-the-age-of-social-business-intelligence/934/. Last accessed 16th April 2012.

Twining, Peter. (2012). Building the future of computing in schools. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2012/jan/31/computing-schools-future-gove. Last accessed 1st May 2012.

United Nations. (2011). UN Durban. Available: http://www.un.org/News/dh/photos/large/2011/November/25-11-2011durban.jpg. Last accessed 1st May 2012.

United Nations. (2012). World Environment Day. Available: http://myoo.com/myoofeed/world-environment-day-competition/. Last accessed 1st May 2012.

Urban Christian News. (2011). Earthquake in Turkey 2011. Available: http://www.urbanchristiannews.com/ucn/2011/10/earthquake-in-turkey-2011.html. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

Utility Exchange Online. (2012). Windfarms. Available: http://www.utility-exchange.co.uk/tag/wind-farms/. Last accessed 1st May 2012.

Van Beyeren, Abraham. (1620 - 1690). An example of an Oil style landscape painting, illustrating how my game could look in the disaster scenes. Available: http://www.chinaoilpaintinggallery.com/a-abraham-van-beyeren-c-58_375_382/rough-sea-p-14590. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

Webster, Isobel. (2011). Another screen shot, this time from Sky news, to show another example of news text overlaid on a video. Available: http://skynews.skypressoffice.co.uk/biography-categories/uk-and-ireland-correspondents. Last accessed 17th Jan 2012.

ZME Science. (2011). Volcanic eruption in Hawaii. Available: http://www.zmescience.com/science/geology/hawaii-volcano-eruption-07032011/. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

Zynga. (2010). A screenshot from the popular Facebook game, Mafia Wars. This illustrates how people can collect money and have energy to do certain tasks (on the bar at the top). Available: http://i50.tinypic.com/1zlq2yc.jpg. Last accessed 17th Feb 2012.

Zynga. (2012). How ‘Castleville’ bvy Zynga markets via social networking (Facebook 2012). Available: https://apps.facebook.com/playcastleville/index.php. Last accessed 16th April 2012. 




Monday, 6 February 2012

15. Overview of Future Technology

Facebook is currently the largest and most popular social networking site currently, according to techcrunchin the solar system of social media, Facebook is the Sun — the gravitational centre around which everything social revolves (TechCrunch 2012). However, this could change in the future. 


Consumers are now adopting smaller, more specialised start up social networks. Smartphone and computer apps such as Pinterest, Instagram, Thumb and Foodspotting are creating social networks for smaller, niche topics. This could mean that a small social network could be developed for people who are conscious about world issues and the environment, or people who like reading the news. This would mean that the game could be features on a site like this and appeal to more people.
Another future innovation would be Google’s ‘Project Glass’.  Their glasses present a way to produce ‘augmented reality’ and are very easily tied into social networking, such as by displaying chats between your friends and you, and enabling you to share photos as you go about your day. (The Guardian, 2012)
This could be a very good opportunity for the game because it could run on these glasses through a connected social network. This would mean that the player could look at objects through the game, and play through some real life scenarios. It could also suggest ways of reducing their carbon emissions as they go about day to day activities.

14. Marketing

This game will be very easy to market to an audience who are conscious about the environment and climate change. With the topic being so popular currently, it is getting a large amount of media attention and so hopefully this will help to market the game itself.

A perfect way to market this game would be to use ‘sustainable marketing’, because this ties in with the theme of the game. This means using recycled materials wherever possible, and using alternative energy resources during production of the final product. (Sustainable Marketing, 2012)

This game would also be a good game to play in schools, to teach children about climate change. A separate stand-alone game could be made so that it can be used in schools without them having to use a social network.
The game could also be marketed using grants or features from different companies and charities which focus on climate change. Charities such as ‘Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’ and ‘Friends of the Earth’ might be very interested in the idea of a game promoting climate change education, and so they may feature it on their websites, or recommend it to their members. They may even sponsor the game to have their logos put onto it, and to claim some of the profits of the game as donations to their causes. (SCCC 2012) (Friends of the Earth 2012)

One of the biggest ways of marketing this game would be on the social networking site that it is hosted on. The game will have access to its player’s list of friends, and it can send out invitations to play through this. It can also be promoted by asking if the player wants to ‘share’ their achievements with their social networking friends, with a link to the game so that more people will play. A final way of marketing this game would be the option to earn in game rewards by recruiting friends. The player will have the option to invite their friends to the game. The more of their friends who join the game, the more rewards the player will get.


(Stop Climate Change Coalition, 2012)

(Friends of the Earth, 2012)


How ‘Castleville’ by Zynga markets via social networking (Facebook 2012)


The game’s release could be timed to coincide with a major climate change event. The United Nations hold a Climate Change conference every year, with a different country hosting it every year. The game could be released alongside the conference, so that the game will complement the media stories about the event. Last year the conference discussed ways of limiting carbon emissions, and agreed that the strategy was going to be finalised and released in 2015 - for it to be taken into effect by 2020 (The Guardian, 2011). If the game is released alongside the carbon emissions plan, it can help people to understand why we need this plan, and it will teach them how to reduce their own carbon emissions.

There are other significant days in the year where the game can be released, such as; Climate Week (12th to 18th March), Earth Day (22nd April), World Environment Day (5th June), World Oceans Day (8th June) and Global Wind Day (15th June). All of these days can be used to draw attention to the game, because the game contains enough relevant content to link to all these days. 

Climate Change Conference Logo (United Nations, 2012)

World Environment Day Logo (United Nations, 2012)


13. Unique Selling Points and Exciting Game Play Features

I had to change the Unique Selling Points and Game Play Features Section to a more concise, bullet pointed version. It was pointed out in a feedback session that this section should not be wordy, and it should be more straight to the point - so I changed it accordingly.

·         Advertising climate change

·         It is a trending topic in the media currently

·         Raises money for charities

·         Will appeal to people’s good ethics

·         Unique art style

·         Fully customisable main area will let people tailor their game

·         The first game to integrate News and RSS feeds, letting the player respond to current events as they happen

·         The game will have regular updates to keep it relevant


Artwork from the game

(old version)


 This game will advertise climate change and natural disasters. It is a really popular topic in the media currently, and climate change has the potential to affect everyone in the world at some point.



The idea of raising money for charities that help out with the aftermath of natural disasters, such as the Red Cross, will appeal to people and the ethical concept may persuade more people to play a game that they might not have considered playing before.

Combining this idea with a unique art style and a fully customisable main area will greatly appeal to the public who use games on social networks. the customisable aspect of the game lets them create themselves within the game, in their own special area - which will be different from anybody else's in the game.

This game is the first game to integrate news feeds and RSS feeds into a game, which then lets the players directly respond to current events and it lets them feel like they are taking part in the cause, rather than just watching from a distance.

12. Game Mechanics

In the laboratory:

1. The player must use the laboratory machines to conduct experiments. This will unlock new machinery and options for solving natural disaster problems.

2. The player will use the digital world map (purchasable from the supplier store) to move between the different levels of the game.

3. The player can use the supplier store to purchase upgrades for the in game items in order to improve the game experience and progress through the game.

Using the Laboratory to experiment

Using the Digital World Map to navigate


The Natural Disaster Levels:

4. During the natural disaster levels, the player will be able to interact with the surrounding objects to produce a positive outcome.

5. The player will be able to interact with people in these levels and use a multiple choice option to persuade them to help stop climate change.

6. There will be certain collectibles that will help the player to complete challenges once the entire collection is complete. They can use social networks for this and ask their friends to gift certain items to them to help complete these collections.

Multiple Choice Menu