7. Look and Feel

This is a quick painting of the look and feel of the game, because it is about climate change the colours reflect bad weather, such as dark red, orange, yellow, black, grey and purple.

This is a possible background image, people associate lots of clouds with bad weather and the colours of these can be changed depending on what sort of weather it is.

The first of my initial posters for my game, this shows the first image and the 'chalky' text that looks quite effective.

Second image - with chalky effect text.

These images show the initial look and feel of my game, it will also have to look ‘professional’. I want to tie it into News channels and feeds, so I think it will have to look slightly similar to the news channels so that people will associate with it. I also want the game to represent new technology, so the look will also be smooth and sleek (almost inspired by some products designed by Jonathan Ive, because many people associate this style with innovation and new technology (Pragmatic Marketing, 2012)).

A screen shot from BBC news, showing the scrolling news feed like I intend to have in the game (BBC, 2007)

Another screen shot, this time from Sky news, to show another example of news text overlaid on a video (Sky News, 2011)

The two images above show the scrolling news feed that I want to have in the game. It will be overlaid at the bottom of the screen, like in the examples, but it will most likely resemble the BBC News 24 version, rather than the Sky 24 version because I like the more 'robust' look it has. However, the one from Sky is rather unobtrusive at the bottom of the screen and it might be less distracting to the player if I use one like this.

An example of an Oil style landscape painting, illustrating how my game could look in the disaster scenes (China Oil Painting Gallery, 2010) 

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 (deshow.net, 2012)

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) (Zynga, 2010)

A Female Scientist conducting an experiment, wearing a lab coat. (Micheljung, 2012)

An image taken from the Japanese news whilst the tsunami disaster was ongoing (ABC, 2011)

A whirlpool forming during the Japanese tsunami and earthquake (National Geographic, 2012)

Kilauea in Hawaii, an active volcano which has been in constant eruption since 1983 (ZME Science, 2011)

Emergency Services dealing with the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake in Turkey (UCN, 2011)

These images illustrate the devastating impact the natural disasters have, and I want this game to make people realise that it can happen to anybody, and it is everybody's concern - not just governments. It is also great how people get together and help each other out in these awful circumstances, and it just illustrates how good the human spirit is. The aim of this game is to give a message to people who play it, but also be fun to play at the same time.

6. Broad Game Description

The new Broad Game Description is vastly improved from the initial draft that I produced (see below for the old version). The new one describes what my game is about more effectively.

The game begins with a scientific laboratory, where the player will be based. There are many high-tech machines and computers which will be useful throughout the game.

This laboratory will act as the main hub, and join all the different sections of the game together. The player will be able to access different options and help menus from this hub, and use it to solve the problems posed as the game progresses.

The game screen will be overlaid with information which will look like a live news feed (see Look and Feel for examples) and it will display current climate news in the media using an RSS feed (RSS Tutorial, 2012). If there is no current media relevant, the game will use information from previous climate events, such as the Japanese Earthquake and the Tsunami in Thailand, until new news becomes available. The game is a live game, so everyone will play the same thing as it is happening, and the game will be kept updated to be relevant to the current media.

Natural disasters which will be covered include; floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, heat waves, landslides and tsunamis.

Illustrations to show natural disasters: Left to right - tsunami, tornado, typhoon, volcanic eruption and earthquake.

The player will receive these reports and choose to act upon them. When they want to help out and do something about it, the game will take them to the area where the disaster is going to happen so that they can take a look. Because the game is a point and click game, they can click on certain things around the area to find out more information, and collect objects that they think might be useful. When they are finished here, they can travel back to the laboratory and use this information and the objects to decide what to do.

The player will have several different options to select from; clicking the correct one first will reward more points towards the game. If they get it right and avert the disaster they will earn an award which they can share with their friends on social networking sites.

Image shows how the player can click on objects to find out more information

News feed overlay, telling the player live and relevant information

The laboratory will also be customisable. The player will earn money for every successfully completed challenge, which they can spend to buy upgraded machinery and decorations for their laboratory. More of this in game money can be bought by the player with real money too, with a suggestion that some of it be donated to charity.

The main aim of this game is to provide a fun way to raise awareness about climate change, and it will do this by telling a story about the consequences of climate change. At the end of each level, the events will be summarised and the player will be told how many lives have been saved or lost, and how much damage was caused or averted. 

Another screenshot of a disaster in progress

This is how the game would look on a social networking site

(old version)

The climate is changing and people are worrying about the future. There are typhoons everywhere and floods are devastating coastal areas. The player is in control of a scientist who is trying to develop new technology in order to stop this climate change and to stabilise the world’s weather patterns before more chaos happens.

This is an interactive story, where the player’s choices will directly influence the outcome. Their decisions could save, or destroy the world. It will operate like a point and click game, and will include interesting and engaging information.

Replay-ability: There are lots of outcomes to consider, and so people can restart the game and have a completely different experience than their last play through.

Live updates: As subjects trend in the media, the game can have updates and expansions to keep people interested, for example; another topic the game could cover are the increase in earthquakes around the world (This year there was Japan, New Zealand and Turkey)

5. Specification for Target Audience

The target market for my proposed game is anyone who uses social networking and has an interest in the world around them. The aim of the game is to get more people interested in important issues whilst playing a game.


Because this is a social networking game, the target audience will be age 13 and upwards, because this is the minimum age you have to be to have a Facebook account (David Cohen, 2011) (Facebook Safety Centre, 2012)

It will have a similar target audience to a game on Facebook, Farmville (Zynga, 2012)

Teenagers using a computer for gaming (Guardian, 2012)

4. Game Genre

'Point and Click Interactive Story'

3. IP Justification

I have found that the idea of climate change is a huge topic of popular interest in the media, and will make an interesting subject for my IP – and my research has proven this. An IP involving climate change may be of interest to the media and to the public, and this will make it a successful idea. (The Economist, 2011) With the introduction of ethics it could become very appealing and popular because it will be educational and will make people feel that they are doing ‘something good for other people’.  (Harvard Business School, 2009)

My research on the digital age and how it has produced so much innovation will tie these ideas together. There is a huge interest in digital technology (especially for cinema and jewellery) and there looks to be a huge popularity in the media in the future too. (Display Daily, 2011)

In the research over the project, technology has appeared many times and has influenced many of the subjects that I have looked at, so to include it in my IP opportunity is a good idea. Technology is set to advance, too, so it is always changing and keeping up to date. (Technology Tricks, 2011)

With the advancements in technology and media, people are becoming more and more aware of issues that they previously would have not been aware of, so I can justify the popularity of this (and the fact that it ties in with ethics) justifiable. (Delegation of the European Union to Cambodia, 2011)

All of these points about my IP opportunity statement are justifiable because of their recurrence in cultural and popular media, and are supported by the evidence that I have gathered while studying my chosen topics.

New Technology - Wind Farms (Utility Exchange Online, 2012)

2. IP Opportunity Statement

My IP is the influence of the digital age on climate change.

1. Working Game Title

Geoscientists: Save The World!