The brief
Komodos task was to come up with an idea for, design and build a game appealing to a wide audience encouraging people to take a look at how they travel around Tyne & Wear that shows how much healthier, wealthier and happier they can become by making smarter choices about how they get about.
Our process began with working through and conceptualizing possible ideas based around the concept of smarter travel and after presenting our ideas we began planning and developing the game in fine detail.
Supporting the underpinning values of the Campaign for Smarter Travel in NE England the object of the Smarter Travel game is for the player to progress their character through stages of walking, cycling and car sharing so that they can board the Metro waiting at the platform. The challenge is to complete in the shortest time possible.
The game uses old school ‘Daley Thompson decathalon’ and more modern ‘Guitar Hero’ style controls that are simple and intuitive to use as well as adding a fun and different element compared with more standard mouse or cursor controlled games. The more the player gets into the rhythm of the game elements - the quicker the character progresses.
In the first phase the character has to walk to collect a bicycle which is achieved by the player tapping the left and right cursor keys in time with on screen prompts. On arrival at the bike stand the character sets off with the player having to ‘push’ down on the pedals in rhythm to meet with their car sharing buddy who sets off with the player having to carefully press the prompted cursor keys as they pass through a bar on the screen in the style of Guitar Hero before quickly boarding the waiting Metro train.
The game graphics are rich with detail and colour so expect to see some familiar landmarks like the Tyne Bridge, the Angel of the North and the Millennium Bridge - making it a truly localised north-east game (if you look carefully you’ll see a Geordie sun-worshipper).
The issues of pollution and the stress of sitting in traffic are depicted with cars stuck in a traffic jam down the left hand side of the game environment whilst the character quickly covers the distance showing that greener travel is a more pleasant and economical way of getting about.
Other key elements include a newsletter sign-up allowing users to sign up to the Smarter Choices newsletter and an associated Facebook account that is seeing a growing following where scores are displayed along with banter and discussion. Overall the game is a well constructed and powerful promotional tool that compliments their brand and helps Smarter Travel develop, communicate and engage with its audience.
Our top time is 59.3 seconds - beat that ;-)
Looks..
Fun, engaging and playful
Says..
There are smarter ways to travel
Does..
Engages the audience, challenging them to find our more about greener ways of traveling and serves as an effective viral marketing tool driving traffic to the Smarter Choices website.
Our Role...
Interactive Media
Website Design