Interactive Media - Alyssa

[interactivemediaalyssa]

Where’s the Story?

In starting to put together my pitch presentation for this week, I realized that while I have a solid idea in combining Pokémon GO mechanics with historical locations and figures focused in Edinburgh, I don’t have much beyond that in terms of what the actual gameplay will entail. 

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has a storyline in which the idea is that something has gone wrong in the wizarding world resulting in a series of chaotic magic incidents. It is up to the player to move through the world, interacting with these incidents of magic wreaking havoc and save the wizarding world. 

To make History GO more compelling and give it an actual storyline, I could do something similar. Perhaps the ghosts of famous historical figures have been somehow unleashed on the city of Edinburgh and the player must defeat them to save the city. 

[interactivemediaalyssa]

History GO - Business Plan

Upon trying to do some research and start thinking about a business plan, I’ve realized that I know absolutely nothing about developing an app and need to do a significant amount more work deciding exactly what History GO will look like and then do a ton more research just to come up with estimates on things like development timelines and costs. As it stands I have a few ideas for some of the things outlined for the lecture discussion. 

Project Team

I would definitely need a full development team, writer, graphic designer, and possibly a historical consultant for this as it is a fairly complex mobile game which uses augmented reality and is history based. 

Funding Options

With the potential to be used for both tourism and education, I’ve found a number of funding options that may work to get the app going.

Creative Scotland would be one place to apply for grant money to put towards something like this, especially as I intend to limit it to Edinburgh initially before expanding to other cities. 

I could also consider getting in touch with Historic Environment Scotland for funding or partnership opportunities. 

Marketing

One of the better places to market an app like this might be various social media sites, as well as possibly reaching out to tourist locations which feature in the game to advertise the app with posters at the actual locations as well as on the locations individual websites. 

Route to Market

As this is a mobile game, the route to market would be through the Apple and Google Play stores.

Development Cost

I tried to find the development costs of similar games, particularly Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Pokemon GO as they’re the most similar games currently on the market. I was unable to find anything giving me the development cost for HP:WU but found several different blog posts breaking down the likely development cost of Pokemon GO, which sounds helpful, but one website estimated the production cost at $400,000 to $600,000, another at $25 million, and another at $29 million.  At this stage, I do not know enough about the cost of individual aspects of development to be able to give an estimate for development cost for History GO.

Cost of Product 

Ideally this would be a free app that generates revenue via ads and microtransactions, but there could be an option for a paid version without ads. The price of that would depend on the cost of developing the app. 

[interactivemediaalyssa]

History GO

After revisiting Pokémon GO and finally taking a look at Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, I started thinking more about the actual mechanics of my history based AR game. 

In terms of what the users will actually do, I initially thought it would be as simple as walking around cities, ‘battling’ and collection historical figures the way you would creatures in Pokémon Go. After having a quick look at the way the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite game works, I’m rethinking the gameplay. While the game is still dependent on the user physically moving around, I signed up and completed several tasks without moving from my couch. As I completed tasks, I was rewarded with XP and various in game items, and more tasks popped up around me, not requiring me to actually go anywhere to participate. 

I’m thinking this would be good to implement in History GO - perhaps using a similar mechanic where activities pop up around the user who can participate in helping historical events go the correct way by fighting and interacting with NPC’s. 

I’m also thinking of limiting the locations to major cities, specifically one (Edinburgh) at the very start, and then expanding from there.

[interactivemediaalyssa]

National Geographic - Trajan’s Column

Described as an ‘ancient comic strip,’ National Geographic’s interactive version of Trajan’s Column is a fun virtual experience for anyone interested in history at any level. The experience includes a supplementary article on the history and historiography around the column and an infographic and guide on how the column was meant to be viewed at the time of its construction. You can choose whether to use the click through guide which jumps to the most important scenes on the column and provides quick descriptions of them, or rotate the virtual column at your leisure.

The actual interactivity of the experience is fairly low, simply clocking or scrolling through to look at the ancient, stone-carved scenes, but the experience is still a fun one. During a pandemic where travel is all but impossible, virtual experiences like this of historically important art pieces and locations can be a great way to bring experiences to people from the comfort of their homes. While it certainly is not the same as viewing the towering column in person, it provides a different experience in being able to see any section of the piece up close and study it as if you had a perfect view.

[interactivemediaalyssa]

Project Pitch

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I’m a massive history nerd. The light in my eyes and excitement I get when someone asks me a question about history and I have a detailed answer is one of my favourite feelings. 

So. Hear me out. Pokémon GO but for history. 

Customize a little character.

Visit historical sites.

Interact with and collect historical figures.

Battle other players collections of historical figures. 

Learn history. 

Boom. 

[interactivemediaalyssa]

Splash & Ripple

Splash & Ripple works with arts and heritage organizations to present stories to audiences an an interactive way. 

Their heritage works are particularly interesting for me as, in their own words, " Clever use of tech, audio and game mechanics – with a dash of theatre and performance – enable us to change the rules of reality.” 

Splash & Ripple’s video showcasing their Maiden Castle echoscape project features participants talking about taking part in the audio based activity while walking through the iron age hill fort. Listening to audio while exploring a historical site seems like such a small form of interaction but each user talked about how truly immersed they felt in the stories and the history of the place in a way they did not without it. 

It reminds me of an experience I had on a trip to Scotland in 2017. A friend and I visited Doune Castle, a location used in many high profile film and television projects including Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail, Outlander, and Game of Thrones. We were delighted to find that admission came with an audio tour with sections narrated by Terry Jones (of Monty Python) and Sam Heughan (of Outlander) talking about both the history of the castle and surrounding area, and their experiences using it as a film set. 

Splash & Ripple have many heritage projects including an interactive murder mystery at Bodiam Castle, and an audio adventure in which participants connect with characters from Regency era Bath, but the immersiveness of the Maiden Castle echoscape has truly intrigued me. While I can’t experience it now, it has definitely made it to the ever-growing list of places I want to visit if/when current COVID-19 restrictions lift. 

[interactivemediaalyssa]

My Grandmother’s Lingo

When I think of interactive media, I generally think of either traditional video games or the minimally interactive museum exhibits – the kind where you are presented with a screen and can click around and discover different facts about a certain thing – that I often saw growing up.

My Grandmother’s Lingo lies somewhere in between, harnessing the power of interactivity as a tool for cultural preservation. The project is an interactive animation telling the story of Australian Indigenous woman, Angelina Joshua, and her quest to preserve Marra, a critically endangered language, through the combined use of animation, voice over, and segments activated by the voice of the participant.

While the actual level of interactivity seems fairly low – limited to responding to prompts which will move the participant through a predetermined story – the voice over and vocal prompts from the participant work together to make it feel as though you really are part of a two-sided conversation. The story moves through teaching the user a few different words in Marra with accompanying animations which only continue when the user has spoken the word aloud (or alternatively, interacted with the animation via clicking on specific parts). It feels much more like a small game or a conversation than a learning activity.  

Form and content in this project truly work together to create meaning. The choice to focus on vocal interaction - forcing users to actually speak the endangered language - really hits on the point of the project: to get as many people as possible learning and speaking Marra.