I just read an article on DigitalBuzzBlog.com about this advergame, and even if initially I was a bit skeptical about it, I’ll have to agree with the authors of that article: This is a real interesting game, for a number of reasons.

First of all, here what we are talking about..

56 Sage Street is an advergame developed for Barclays Bank.

It’s main goal is to improve teenagers’ understanding of banking and educate them about direct debits, loans, statements, fraud avoidance and general money management.

The game itself is a mixture between the money management aspects of Sim City, and a rich storytelling layer that reminds of a Grand Theft Auto kinda thing.

My skepticism was mainly based on the fear that this two would not have mixed properly, resulting in an overshot serious game, making use of fancy jargon as a way to appeal to younger audiences. I think it is pretty difficult to convince a teenager to care about loans and bank statements, even via a game.

..And then I tried the game, and played a bit with it.

Well, dunno if I’m or not a member of their target group, but I found this game extremely playable and entertaining, even if I definitely felt the educative purpose of it (probably due to the fact that I knew what to expect in advance).

Still, these money management elements were not overdone as I expected, and fit very well in the gameplay, resulting in a very playable and entertaining experience.

The game follows the development of a young fellow that just moved into a big city, “rags to riches”.

The player has to juggle between job opportunities, economy struggles and food/house problematics in order to achieve more and more wealth, increasing its reputation in the city and being granted more and more benefits from a benefactor, until the creation of a little economic empire over the city.

As for the educative part, I discovered that I have no idea about what a “savings account” is, I lost my apartment after the first day of rent for not having understood the concept of direct credit, and I ended up asking money to a certain “Turbo Johnny”, just to find out that he would have later asked me for a 50% interest rate over the sum he lent me.. Littl’ basterd!

Technicalities.. The game has a system of achievements that are easily shareable on Social Networks, improving the possibility of viral spread of the application, and that give a nice reward to the player for completing milestones in the game.

Negative point, it needs Facebook in order to save the game. No Facebook, no party. I played until I felt like givin’ it, and then lost all my progresses, knowing that I would not probably play it again not to have to rebegin it from zero. I understand the intent of guaranteeing a Facebook connection in order to increase the chance of link share, but a simple cookie would have done the job.. meh..

In conclusion, pro and cons, I was really surprised of how well the “banking education” was implemented in the game. Present, but subtle. And I definitely played the game motivated by the fun of advancing in it, and completing challenges.

I encourage you to try it following this link, and to read more about it on this blogpost about the development of the game.

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Today’s improvements to the game consisted in the implementation of a pathfinder functionality.

This will allow AI objects to “travel” across the levels, calculating a path that intentionally avoids predefined areas.

As you can see in the picture above, the program determines particular paths, that represent “walkable areas” (green lines), and unwalkable zones (the areas that surround the red cubes).

These maps are generated automatically, providing an extremely powerful tool to manage AI movements.

The script comes from the A* Pathfinding project from Aron Granberg.

In my particular project I intend to use this path finding functionality to drive AI vessels, such as an ally Zodiac during inflatable boats confrontations.

Another possible usage could be the reenactment of the pursuit between the spy vessel Shonan Maru 2 and the Steve Irwin, challenging each others’ seamanship skills in dangerous mazes of iceberg fields.

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Well, now we begin to roll.

You can finally try the first version of the latest prototype of the Sea Shepherd advergame.

As my original concept dictated, the game will be a side scroller, with focus on the navigation aspects across iceberg mazes, and highlights in fast paced zodiac pursuits.

At this initial stage, you can try the feel of navigating the Steve Irwin vessel across what should resemble a very ruff iceberg field..

I tried to balance realism in the dynamics with certain more unrealistic elements, such as exagerated buoyancy, excessive speed and manouevre capabilities etc.

The game should have a high level of realism, yeah, but I also want it to be fun and entertaining for a casual gamer.

My favourite quote.. ‘Inaccurate, but it will blow your fucking mind..!’

So, in the hope of blowing some fucking mind up, here the link to the prototype.

The more feedback you give me, the more chances to see the issues solved in the next version..!

Controls:

• Up/Down – Forward, Reverse
• Left/Right – Steering wheel

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Also today I’ve adding some new goodies to the game..!

A radar function has been implemented, that will allow the player to interpret relevant info, such as obstacles or waypoints.

I’ve built this radar modifying an existing Javascript script that can be found here: http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Radar

Soon i’ll have to begin testing the prototypes. I’m very itnerested to find out, for example, if the test players will be able to interpret the radar correctly, given the fact that the sidescrolling gameplay contradicts the usual vertical interpretation of a radar screen. It is going to be interesting to find out if people gets disoriented if the radar is rotated to follow the direction of the scrolling of the game.

I also changed the POV to make the game more similar to my original concept (Whale Defense Response).

Soon I will upload a decent prototype, so you will have the possibility to try it by yourselves.

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..and yet another day working on 3D Studio Max.

Today I faced for the first time the problem of texturing a model. I ended up following this really good tutorial:

Using UVW Mapping Texture Technique In 3D Studio Max – http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/3ds/unwrap_uvw_mapping/

Talking about the model itself, it is not perfectly accurate, ok yea, not accurate at all , but for the level of detail needed in the game it is more than enough.

It must be reminded in fact that the average potential player will probably have only heard of Sea Shepherd via the tv show Whale Wars, or even just its cartoonish version signed by South Park.. My goal was to make the vessel recognizable.

The next step from here will consist in texturing the helideck, and probably add a couple of Zodiacs on the deck of the vessel.

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http://ow.ly/1JXRC Need a break? Prøv #Greenpeaces nye #KitKat spil. #Nestle

..Well, I didn’t exactly need a break, at those early hours i wasn’t even working..

But ye, why not! ..and here what i found:

As you might have heard, a social media warfare has recently occurred between Greenpeace and Nestlé.

Luckily, I’ve been following the case since it’s very start, and it has been very interesting — on a multimedia designer perspective — to see how this clash of Titans took place.
I believe we can learn a lot from this example, about how mishandling of Social Media can backfire, even for a corporation of the caliber of Nestlé.
Moreover, I’m in particular fascinated by the idea of how this technologies are changing the system, if driven by an organized and resolute force, capable of channeling the collective energy into a meaningful unidirectional effort.

I will be posting more in future about the whole “Caught Red-Handed” / “Give the Orang-utan a break!” campaigns, to better document their motivations and why I consider them as being an aggressive but proper approach to fight the issues they are designed to fight.
As for now, i will simply introduce you this last advergame that brought me to refocus on the issue.

Kitkatch – Pacman meets Deforestation

This advergame is a reinterpretation of the classic game Pacman.

After a brief — but pretty cool — opening scene, the player gets the role of Pacm..hmOrang-utan. Jumping along series of what seem to be trees (knowing the context), the hero must avoid the evil Kit Kat diabolic machines, collect bananas and take revenge for his fallen friends.. usual stuff.

The fact that the antagonist in this game is represented as Nestlé’s product Kit Kat is due to the fact that this corporation is a major buyer of palm-oil (one of the ingredients of Kit Kat) from Sinar Mas. This company, in order to produce palm-oil, adopts techniques that provoke deforestation and destroy the habitat of critically endangered Orang-utans in Indonesia.
Hence the relation between Orang-utan, KitKat and Deforestation.
It’s a much more complex issue, but i will dedicate a post on the particular “Caught Red-Handed” Greenpeace report very soon.

Here a screenshot of the gameplay:

At the end of the game, players are reminded of the message embedded in the campaign: It is present a link to the original video gone Viral, and a link to a “take action” section.

At the bottom of the pages users are provided with tools for sharing the campaign on multiple Social Networks, allowing for the spread of reach, and a mail form that invites players to challenge friends.

Try the game following this link..!

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You know those mornings.. missed the bus.. freshy spring breeze.. Nothing better to do than reading a good book while waiting to go to work!
Here an excerpt from a book called “Changing the Game, How video games are transforming the future of business“.

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs)

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are another way that marketers are blurring the line between the real and the virtual. AGs, like virtual worlds, are not quite games in the traditional sense of the word.

ARGs are best described as collaborative, interactive narratives that blur the lines between reality and game. They employ a wide range of electronic and physical media to engage with players, such as Web sites, text messages, e-mail, real-world billboards, comic books, and staged publicity events. The end result is a storytelling experience that draw hundreds of thousands of people into an incredibly engaging puzzle-solving exercise that persists for days,weeks, or months on end.

Unfortunately, our description hardly captures the magic of a good alternate reality game. So please indulge us for a moment, and imagine that you are playing Changing the Game — The ARG. At 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, your cellphone might unexpectedly ring. A cryptic voice message explains that you r help is desperately needed, and subsequently directs you to a “secret” Web site that will be available for only the next 15 minutes. You frantically run to your computer and load the Web site, only to be confronted with total gibberish. Finding yourself incapable of translating the text, you visit an online message board frequented by other fans of ARGs. An active discussion has already began, and one fellow player has realized that the gibberish is actually just Spanish, written in reverse in the page.

The translated text is revealed to be a note from a “government official,” who has learned of a secret plot to topple the U.S. government and trigger a global war. Naturally, your help is needed to stop this from happening. The official’s plea for assistance is accompanied by another riddle, designed to keep “others” from uncovering his subversive activities. [...]  And so the adventure begins!

Although we invented the previous example, many ARGs of similar and greater complexity have recently been launched with the primary intention of promoting a product or brand. This includes I Love Bees, a famous ARG designed to promote the video game Halo 2, and Vanishing Point, an AG promoting the launch of Windows Vista. These ARGs have generally revealed to the public in a subtle but highly viral fashion; for example, I Love Bees was first unveiled via a barely noticeable Web address, www.ilovebees.com, that appeared at the bottom of the first Halo 2 promotional trailer. Halo fans quickly picked up on the address, and began researching the mysterious Web site associated with it, which appeared to have been infected with a computer virus. Thus began a multiweek campaign that involved a number of remarkable challenges, such as one event that required players to locate certain pay phones all across the country and answer them at precise moments. (One person reportedly braved a Florida hurricane to take a call in a Burger King parking lot.) Lucky players who answered the calls — effectively on behalf of the entire player community — were trated to conversations with live actors who carried the narrative into the next phase.

[...]

To call an ARG a complex undertaking would be an understatement. Even the simplest AG will, in general, be more time-consuming and expensive to deploy than many product placements and advergames. As such, when developing an ARG, it pays to understand what makes them compelling.

Jordan Weisman, considered by many to be the founder of [this] game (he is also the creator of I Love Bees), explains: “ARGs are the gaming equivalent of Woodstock — the big concert that everyone goes to for days or weeks or months, an then it’s over. They’re a social storytelling experience. There is no score. There are no winners and there are no losers. This form of entertainment is truly collaborative, and social standing is gained via contributions made to the community, not via competition for points.”

Weisman is equally insistent about the importance of being strategically and financially committed to an ARG; in other words, doing it right or not doing it at all. “There’s a misconception that this form of marketing entertainment has to be cheaper. Well, it’s not cheaper. A heck of a lot more effort goes into an ARG than a 30-second TV spot. You have to create a lot more content, and there’s a much larger editorial process involved. But the benefits, as opposed to the 30-second spot, are the level of immersion you create, and the level of affection that a person has for the brand and the experience, not to mention the community that grows around the brand and the experience. Those things provide real lasting benefit to brands. And one of the great things about an ARG is that, unlike with a TV spot, you know how engaged people are. You knowhow many people visited your Web sites, you know how many people are participating on the message boards  – you can quantify things.”

Three keys to success with ARGs

Among the keys to success with ARGs are the following:

Great ARGs are more than a series of complicated puzzles: A great ARG tells a compelling story, which makes a big difference to every participant, but especially to those who are more interested in simply following along than in solving complicated puzzles, or who have never played an ARG and might initially feel intimidated by the experience. The best ARGs will also include simple participatory experiences that players of all backgrounds and interest level can engage in.

Put it out there and let them find it: Part of what people enjoy about ARGs is the way they seamlessly blend fiction with real life. Given that, it doesn’t make much sense to formally announce the beginning of an ARG or to openly promote the marketing purpose of an ARG. Take, as an example, how the rock band Nine Inch Nails launched an ARG called Year Zero by selling T-shirts printed with European tour schedule. Sharp observers noticed that random letters on the shirt seemed slightly boldfaced. The letters “i am trying to believe,” and naturally, as soon as people figured that out, they began flocking to “iamtryingtobelieve.com,” which initiated the ARG experience. Nine Inch Nails mantained the mystery throughout Year Zero’s life cycle, never revealing to fans where the ARG was going or how it would end. Fans reported that this was perhaps the most exciting aspect of the entire experience.

Make it a true multimedia experience: In general, an ARG will prove more engaging if it takes advantage of multiple mediums, such as postcards, e-mail, realistic-looking news articles leaked through blogs and media outlets, billboards, phone calls, radio broadcasts, YouTube videos, print advertisements, and the backsides of T-shirts. This helps blur the lines between reality and the game and keeps players on their toes.

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Click to play the game!

Second version of the game concept “The Overfisher”.

..Still in a prototype stage, this version of the game differs from the previous one on the following characteristics:

• AI vessels now sail following smooth courses, resulting in less robocrappy trajectories.

• The player can collect Boosters pickup, or jump on ramps to gain a bonus speed, for a certain amount of time.

• Sound baby! Not the final ones, but still you can begin to have an idea of what kind of experience the final game will offer, both in “pace” and in “seriousness”.
• Highscores. Yes, because Fred beat me and now war has been declared. Fishing war, in particular.

The graphics and sounds are still a dummy version, and in particular the theme, backbone of the idea of “the overfisher concept”, has not been implemented yet. The next version of the game will be released in three weeks time, and it will be the final one.

But for now, let the battle begin!

I would be very interested to hear your impressions so far, and every comment the will help me calibrating the game will be very appreciated!

You can keep track of the highest scores in the leaderboard on the right..!

Click to play the game!

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Here is a very simple idea, that could use humor to help spread awareness about a very serious issue: Shark Finning.

Now there are two possibilities.. or you know exactly what am I talking about, or you have no idea.

Until few months ago I fell into the second category, so here a brief overview about the problem. (If you do not care/are already aware/have to catch a bus, jump directly to the line marked by * )

Shark finning refers to the removal and retention of shark fins and the discard at sea of the carcass. Shark finning takes place at sea so the fishers only have to transport the fins. Shark meat is considered low value and therefore not worth the cost of transporting the bulky shark bodies to market.

..says Wikipedia.

However, this is not always true, because the Sharks finned are not always discarded as “carcasses” after the catch, often left to die a slow and agonizing death, privated of their fins to swim

Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark’s fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks either starve to death, are eaten alive by other fish, or drown (if they are not in constant movement their gills cannot extract oxygen from the water). Shark fins are being “harvested” in ever greater numbers to feed the growing demand for shark fin soup, an Asian “delicacy”..

..and this SUCKS. I’m new to this issues and problems, but the idea of imposing such a suffering to an animal just to make a tasteless soup out of an incredibly small part of it just makes me sick.

And here is the problem. In my opinion there are different categories of people out there. Those aware of the situation, unwilling to rise up and stop this fucking barbarism, and those unaware of this problem.

*

A simple game, developed in the right manner, could help spread awareness over Shark Finning, potentially pushing people towards having to choose whether to keep ignoring the problem, or fight it.

An other advergame, in other words..

This game idea is simply playing over the concept of the Hangman. Instead of (time after time) having a stickman loosing it’s arms, this game could present the shape of a shark, gradually being deprived of its fins.

At the end of the game, information would be presented, backed up with links to external sites such as http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/ .

This is an easy concept, do you think it could help making a difference?

Wanna read more about Shark Finning?

• http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/
• http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1326737641000&ref=mf (viewer discretion advised)

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..and finally, here the first game completely homemade, with pure genuine brainz effort and no step-by-step guidance..!

The purpose of this minigame is simply to get to know Unity’s scripting, in a crash course style.

Click to test your skills as ferocious fisherman!

..my highest score, 135! ..anybody willing to challenge me?!

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