Activist Dossier

8/9/2019 Activist Dossier

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Game DescriptionActivist is an adventure game based around the concept of informativegaming. It aims to send a political message that has real world meaningthrough the medium of video games. In Activist members of the publicare able to become an activist from the comfort of their own homes.

NarrativeThe Activist narrative tells of a young activist who has become determined to do somethingabout our earths debilitating health. The narrative starts with a video sequence of a sinkingRainbow warrior.

Water begins to pour in and the captain orders everyoneashore. He then turns to the player and asks them to

collect as many of the valuable documents left on theboat and get out alive before it sinks.

Missions such as these continue throughout the game,mirroring past and present Greenpeace activism.

CharacterWhen a player begins the game they are able to nametheir character and choose its sex. As the screen shotis in first person; players never really see themselves.This a personalized element to the game as playerscan then feel it istruly them involvedin the activismrather than ananimated character.

Side characters will arrive in sidemissions; they will be developed throughcut scenes and will almost always bedressed in the staple Greenpeace uniformsapart from scenes wherethey may dress in undercover uniforms.


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Platform

The Apple iPad and iPhone represent an opportunity for

Greenpeace to step into the social phenomenon of portablegaming. The partnership between Greenpeace and Applehas been made possible by Apples commitment to makingtheir products as friendly as possible, whilst still offering

Greenpeace the largest availablemarket presence and possibilityfor future technologicaldevelopment. The control surface of both devices means that Activistis at the forefront of utilizing touch screen technology, and provides aunique, appealing feature for users.


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The close development of the devices with the Apple Appstore provides a system of content dispersal that isunrivalled amongst device developers.

Genre

Activist represents a merging of two video game genres, adventure and educational, andembodies the ability of modern gaming to be both informative and educational. We call thisgenreInformal gaming.Informal gaming also relates to the method in which this game can beplayed, as the iPad and iPhone allow Activist to be played casually or more traditionally for

longer periods of time.

Educational+Informative =Informal

Proposed design features: Art, Mechanics and Gameplay

ART

Art doubles not only a main selling point, but is also the games visualisation of motifs. We want

the game to lookpretty, and gratify the customers purchase, and also we want it to reflect thegame mood. 3d models and rendering will be as high as our budget can afford at the time.

However a balance of focus on smooth graphics, rather than overly complicated textures is

advised in order to make sure the game doesnt look cheap, or a second rate job. The smooth

quality not only represents the game, but the care taken in creating the first game supporting a

Not for Profit.

Environmental protection has its roots in science and data. Therefore game modelers and artists

will be referencing intellectual characters and maps based on real world activists environments.

The game should look intelligent, but be straightforward to manipulate.

Art links into game mechanics because these environments, 2d and 3d models, the game art,

interact functionally to create the game challenge and the game play narrative.


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MECHANICS

Mechanics is not just physics of game play, its also narrative and game flow which impact

strongly on the emotional responses of the user. This is the emotional feedback the game is

giving us and something that Activist is focusing on with the aim of creating emotional and

logical responses. We want our game to not only be fun and challenging, but also instilling theattitude that real world problems can have gratifying solutions. Empathy for Greenpeace and

activist efforts is a project objective.

The game will communicate that you will need to utilise green technology and human resources

(scientists, volunteers, politics etc) in order to solve the global problems. The player will

visualise the game mechanic in 3 main ways.

1. Maps and opening screen- 3d swivel map which would be fun on the touch screen.Simplistic version of Google Earth

Colour coordinated to help simplify situational analysis i.e. green colours are healthy and

red is dying or dead. These are long standing codes in gamer taxonomy, with the added

bonus of Green meaning good.


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2. Numerical readout to inform the extent of the problems and how the player isprogressing.

3. The in game experience, in which takes you all over the globe, into the countries andocean areas, where you will deploy

The player connects to the game by being given a problem, and then being rewarded with waysto solve the problem. To illustrate, in a zombie game, getting bigger guns so you can kill morezombies is the objective of the player. In Activist, earning researchers, boats, satellites, greentechnology, even lawyers are tools to combat resource depletion, ensnaring bad companies andreversing ecological damage. We want to give the user the ability in which to fight the problemswe present. The enjoyment is the challenge offinding out what works and what doesnt.

Reward system: Rewards arent always points or scores. In Activist they come in multiple forms

of extra features, easier game play through gaining abilities and customization opportunities. The

more you play, the more you make the game your own, your own experience. You start with

nothing, and you struggle to earn and deploy measures to save the environment. Money will be

seen as a helpful tool alongside the interlacing of human and mechanical resources.

The reward system is specifically designed to allow the opportunity of additional money streams

such as buying new equipment and linking to places you can donate to support activists in the

real world, fighting the real battle.

3 money streams in support of game design:

1. Purchase of game

2. Subverting game reward system by buying equipment- As discussed in class, World of

Warcraft is an example of a system where players can buy new equipment with real money. Thissometimes comes in the form of exchanges between players outside of game space. However,controlled purchase of game features has become a common practise for games, especiallyinternet games.

What differentiates our purchase system is that it is not profit motivated and that it isnt requiredto finish the game. Our aim is to allow gamers to purchase equipment so that it benefits theirgame experience, but also gives the impression they are gifting the resources to Greenpeace,enhancing the connection within the narrative.

3. Linking to places you can donate- this was a logical choice, but it would need to be cleared

with Greenpeace, as it is a solid, monetary link between game and reality.


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Budget

Fundraising is the predominant method of getting acquiring more money for Greenpeace. In2008, the total gross income from fundraising for Greenpeace worldwide was $288 million(Greenpeace International, 2008). The 2.9 million supporters of Greenpeace highlight the

corporations popularity and thus we are hoping this will in turn create more sales for our gameas it has a pre-existing niche.

In 2008, Greenpeace granted $4,709,385.26 to spend on Media and Communications, as well as$13 million spent on Awareness programs (Greenpeace International, 2008). Considering thislarge amount of money, Greenpeace will be able to afford the development of Activist, theiPhone application, which in turn generate an exceptional amount of awareness for Greenpeaceand hopefully beget more donations and sponsorship.

iPhone Budgets

The upper level, more complex iPhone apps with a greater set of features cost significantly morethan simple and basic iPhone applications. The more sophisticated iPhone application, such asours, include many levels and contains more graphic features. On average, an extensive gamesuch as Activists costs between $75,000 to $100,000 to develop. (The Toy Lounge, 2010).

To thoroughly assess how well a game with a political and environmental message will succeed,we have researched another game with similar

motives. Chillingos Mission: Deep Sea is a 3Dunderwater multi touch game for iPhone andiPod Touch. Apple, as well as Chillingo, haverefused to reveal how much revenue an iPhoneapplication generally makes. However, theiTunes website reveals that the game hasacquired an average of four star rating,demonstrating that environmental games such asours have the capability to become popularamongst gamers.


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As published by FADE, at least half of iPhone apps that cost $3.99 make over $50,000 inrevenue, with the total possible profit exceeding $1 million (Walton, 2009). Considering this, wehave decided to price our game at $3.99 in an attempt to create the most surplus for Activists.

The important thing to remember is that even if we only break even with developing our gameand selling the application, we are creating further awareness for Greenpeace and in turn weexpect the total amount donated to Greenpeace to inflate considerably, which ultimately is theaim of producing Activists.

Target Market

Our target audience is gamers who have an interest in theenvironment, especially those who are under the age of 25.

We believe that this target market will buy our game, as it isfundamentally targeted at a new generation of activists whowant to preserve and make our world better.


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Marketing

A look at other main competitors such as Farmville sheds light onwhy our game will share similar success. Like Farmville we arelooking to generate a game that people get addicted to. Farmville

is largely marketedthrough social networkadvertising, likeFarmville we to will use

this marketing technique to create awareness of ourproduct, through tweets, fan pages and blog reviews, inorder to create a viral type of attraction. In addition tothis we will also be allowing people to download a freetrial of the game on our website and contacting a range ofindependent reviewers to review our game on sites such as YouTube, Gamasutra, and .

Advertising

We want to utilize the action/environmentalist factor we have inpromoting our game by emphasizing how similar playing our game is toactually being involved in Greenpeace missions. In addition to this weplan on staying innovative by using the new revolutionary iAd by apple. IAd is a new way to broadcast mobile adds however unlike most mobileads, which kick users outside of the application theyre currently using,

iAd keeps users in the same app.

In game advertising

We are also going to be working very closely with the environmentally focused companies suchas The Body Shop to help generate more profits. These companies or sponsors will help increasebuzz and awareness for the game through support on their websites and

marketing and also create revenue as we also intend to take

advantage of the financial opportunities for charging for ingame advertising. In addition to this we plan on having theGreenpeace logo placed within our game so that gamers areable to click on it and donate money.


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Social Media AdvertisingSocial media advertising opens doors for us to increase our brand

awareness and facilitate conversations with the customer.Additionally, social media advertising is quite inexpensive. Wewill be able to receive direct feedback from our customers and targeted markets. It is our idea to

use social media advertising, through sites such as facebook,twitter and gaming blog sites to generate buzz through fan pages,status updates, reviews and twitts.

Music Rights

For our game we are trying to reduce ourbudget as much as possible. So, we believe the best way to add musicinto our game is to contact musicians that are actively involved ingreen music and see if they would donate their music, so to speak, tothe game. Artists such as Missy Higgins, Moby, and Jack Johnson areactive green activists and frequently involve themselves inenvironmental campaigns such as live earth andplay4climate.More popular than having well-known artists compose original music for games, licensingexisting pre-composed music or exclusive remixes has become a mainstay of the gamingindustry today (Collins, 2008 p10). Similar to that of Grand Theft Auto, Activists grants thegamer the ability to choose from a pre-conceived list of music to play along with.

Intellectual property

Our game Activists is developed by ourorganization, Greenpeace.The trade mark and logo of Greenpeace is already in place anddistinguishable, hence saving us time and money in the process ofcopyrighting. Collins (2008) notes that the most expensive elementof marketing (that of building awareness) has already been achievedwhen using pre-existing IP (p 2).

A patent will also not be necessary for us when producing,Activists as patents only give effective protection if one hascreated a new technology or invention (IP Australia, 2010).Considering we are using Apple to sell our game, we are also giving them the right to sell andprofit from it.

The organization of Greenpeace already has copyrighting laws in place, restricting others fromusing its name. In saying this, they have noted on their website that Greenpeace encourages the


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reproduction and distribution of our materials, electronic products and/or services, including ourname and logo. There are, of course, limits on the use of the logo.


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References

Apple, 2010 Mission: Deep Sea accessed online on 20/05/10 athttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8

Brabec, J, Brabec, T, 2004 Licensing Songs for Video Games accessed online on 24/05/10 athttp://www.ascap.com/playback/2004/summer/licensing.html

Collins, K 2008Grand Theft Audio?: Video Games and Licensed IP, Music and the Moving Image, University ofIllinois Press, accessed online on 24/05/10 at http://www.gamessound.com/texts/collinsGTA.pdf

Commonwealth of Australia, 2010 What is Intellectual Property, IP Australia, accessed online on 24/05/10 athttp://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/patents.shtml

Greenpeace International, 2008 Annual Report accessed online on 20/05/10 athttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/11/international-annualreport-2008.pdf

Greenpeace International, 2009, Copyright accessed online on 24/05/10 athttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/Help/copyright2/

Toy Lounge, 2010 How much does it cost to make an iPhone app? accessed online on 23/05/10 at

http://www.toylounge.com/howmudoitcot.html

Walton, B 2009 The Top 10 Games on iPhone Sales and Statistics accessed online on 20/05/10 athttp://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=5113

Zibreg, C 2009 Preview: Mission: Deep Sea for iPhone, a turtle swimming game with a noble cause accessedonline on 19/05/10 athttp://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/preview-mission-deep-sea-for-iphone-a-turtle-swimming-game-with-a-noble-cause-20091127/#ixzz0oop1MNQr

Wikipedia, 2010 IPhone SDK, accessed online on 25/05/10 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_SDK

Pictures

Greenpeace Logo -http://www.celsias.co.nz/article/kiwi-stars-sign-greenpeace/

Rainbow Warrior, Hole in Hull -http://www.facsimilemagazine.com/2007/03/index.html

Mirrors Edge, First Person -http://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/

Greenpeace activists -http://www.green-blog.org/2008/09/

iPhone, Apps -http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/apples-app-store-1-billion-served/

iPad -http://www.cnet.com.au/apple-ipad-339300632.htm

Apples Environment -http://www.apple.com/environment/

App Store -http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2010/03/

Deep Sea -http://nodpad.com/2009/11/25/preview-of-upcoming-mission-deep-sea/

iPhone Games sales and statistics -http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/

Farmville -http://www.facebook24x7.com/tag/farmville-in-facebook/

YouTube -http://www.motivatedbylove.org/index.php?p=media
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8http://www.ascap.com/playback/2004/summer/licensing.htmlhttp://www.ascap.com/playback/2004/summer/licensing.htmlhttp://www.gamessound.com/texts/collinsGTA.pdfhttp://www.gamessound.com/texts/collinsGTA.pdfhttp://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/patents.shtmlhttp://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/patents.shtmlhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/11/international-annualreport-2008.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/11/international-annualreport-2008.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/11/international-annualreport-2008.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/Help/copyright2/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/Help/copyright2/http://www.toylounge.com/howmudoitcot.htmlhttp://www.toylounge.com/howmudoitcot.htmlhttp://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=5113http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=5113http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/preview-mission-deep-sea-for-iphone-a-turtle-swimming-game-with-a-noble-cause-20091127/#ixzz0oop1MNQrhttp://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/preview-mission-deep-sea-for-iphone-a-turtle-swimming-game-with-a-noble-cause-20091127/#ixzz0oop1MNQrhttp://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/preview-mission-deep-sea-for-iphone-a-turtle-swimming-game-with-a-noble-cause-20091127/#ixzz0oop1MNQrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_SDKhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_SDKhttp://www.celsias.co.nz/article/kiwi-stars-sign-greenpeace/http://www.celsias.co.nz/article/kiwi-stars-sign-greenpeace/http://www.celsias.co.nz/article/kiwi-stars-sign-greenpeace/http://www.facsimilemagazine.com/2007/03/index.htmlhttp://www.facsimilemagazine.com/2007/03/index.htmlhttp://www.facsimilemagazine.com/2007/03/index.htmlhttp://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/http://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/http://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/http://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/http://www.green-blog.org/2008/09/http://www.green-blog.org/2008/09/http://www.green-blog.org/2008/09/http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/apples-app-store-1-billion-served/http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/apples-app-store-1-billion-served/http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/apples-app-store-1-billion-served/http://www.cnet.com.au/apple-ipad-339300632.htmhttp://www.cnet.com.au/apple-ipad-339300632.htmhttp://www.cnet.com.au/apple-ipad-339300632.htmhttp://www.apple.com/environment/http://www.apple.com/environment/http://www.apple.com/environment/http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2010/03/http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2010/03/http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2010/03/http://nodpad.com/2009/11/25/preview-of-upcoming-mission-deep-sea/http://nodpad.com/2009/11/25/preview-of-upcoming-mission-deep-sea/http://nodpad.com/2009/11/25/preview-of-upcoming-mission-deep-sea/http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/http://www.facebook24x7.com/tag/farmville-in-facebook/http://www.facebook24x7.com/tag/farmville-in-facebook/http://www.facebook24x7.com/tag/farmville-in-facebook/http://www.motivatedbylove.org/index.php?p=mediahttp://www.motivatedbylove.org/index.php?p=mediahttp://www.motivatedbylove.org/index.php?p=mediahttp://www.motivatedbylove.org/index.php?p=mediahttp://www.facebook24x7.com/tag/farmville-in-facebook/http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/5113/the-top-10-games-on-iphone-sales-amp-statistics/http://nodpad.com/2009/11/25/preview-of-upcoming-mission-deep-sea/http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2010/03/http://www.apple.com/environment/http://www.cnet.com.au/apple-ipad-339300632.htmhttp://techcrunch.com/2009/04/23/apples-app-store-1-billion-served/http://www.green-blog.org/2008/09/http://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/http://www.platformnation.com/2009/07/01/games-that-nobody-plays-anymore-mirrors-edge/http://www.facsimilemagazine.com/2007/03/index.htmlhttp://www.celsias.co.nz/article/kiwi-stars-sign-greenpeace/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_SDKhttp://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/preview-mission-deep-sea-for-iphone-a-turtle-swimming-game-with-a-noble-cause-20091127/#ixzz0oop1MNQrhttp://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/preview-mission-deep-sea-for-iphone-a-turtle-swimming-game-with-a-noble-cause-20091127/#ixzz0oop1MNQrhttp://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=5113http://www.toylounge.com/howmudoitcot.htmlhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/Help/copyright2/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/11/international-annualreport-2008.pdfhttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/11/international-annualreport-2008.pdfhttp://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/patents.shtmlhttp://www.gamessound.com/texts/collinsGTA.pdfhttp://www.ascap.com/playback/2004/summer/licensing.htmlhttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-deep-sea/id342552891?mt=8


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iAd -http://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/04/15/111454-iad_icon.jpg

The Body shop -http://beautyindustryblog.com/2010/02/07/the-body-shop-hot-tips-for-valentines-day/

Facebook -http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~timgatewood/sf/darrell/Twitter -http://captivatedesigns.com/blog/

Live Earth -http://www.iamcherrygirl.com/?m=200906
http://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/04/15/111454-iad_icon.jpghttp://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/04/15/111454-iad_icon.jpghttp://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/04/15/111454-iad_icon.jpghttp://beautyindustryblog.com/2010/02/07/the-body-shop-hot-tips-for-valentines-day/http://beautyindustryblog.com/2010/02/07/the-body-shop-hot-tips-for-valentines-day/http://beautyindustryblog.com/2010/02/07/the-body-shop-hot-tips-for-valentines-day/http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~timgatewood/sf/darrell/http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~timgatewood/sf/darrell/http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~timgatewood/sf/darrell/http://captivatedesigns.com/blog/http://captivatedesigns.com/blog/http://captivatedesigns.com/blog/http://www.iamcherrygirl.com/?m=200906http://www.iamcherrygirl.com/?m=200906http://www.iamcherrygirl.com/?m=200906http://www.iamcherrygirl.com/?m=200906http://captivatedesigns.com/blog/http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~timgatewood/sf/darrell/http://beautyindustryblog.com/2010/02/07/the-body-shop-hot-tips-for-valentines-day/http://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/04/15/111454-iad_icon.jpg

Activist Dossier

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