Day of the Figurines
May 30, 2007
Posted by Clare in: Innovation | Technology | Gaming | Mobile | 1 comment so far
05:49pm, 4 soldiers walk in, calmly ushering a handful of police through to the cells at gunpoint. There is a GUITAR here.
I visited Blast Theory's Day of The Figurines in Wolverhampton last week, and this is a sample of one of the messages I have received on my phone since. So far Heidi Burton, (my bikini clad in-game avatar/character) has rescued a sick dog, tried to solve a murder (unsuccessfully) eaten a saveloy and met some of the locals. And there is still a couple of weeks of game play to go.
Day Of The Figurines is part board game, part secret society. The game is set in a fictional town that is littered, dark and underpinned with steady decay. It lasts for 24 days and each day represents an hour in the life of a small English town that shifts from the mundane to the cataclysmic.
Each of the 1,000 players is represented by a small plastic figurine which is moved by hand every hour for the duration of the game. To play, players are invited to create a figurine to enter the town: to name it and answer questions about its past. Thereafter participation in the game is via SMS on your mobile phone.
The town created by Blast Theory is beautifully produced and the SMS messages are intriguing if not unrelenting. However, the interactivity afforded via a text-based game is limited, so I will wait and see how players may or may not collaborate when the darker days I hear rumoured arrive.
mscapers website launched
May 13, 2007
Posted by Clare in: Innovation | Technology | Gaming | Mobile | Add a commentOn 9 May HP’s mscapers website had its international launch in China, taking location-based experiences to the next level of sophistication. The mscape platform was built by a team from HP labs in Bristol and trialled in early 2007 by Watershed commissioned artists in and around Queen’s Square. From zombie games to soundscapes, specially created content was used to demonstrate the service, which allows authors to trigger digital media to mobile devices by moving around.
Mediascapes are mobile, location–based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds, and textures of the world around you. A mediascape blends digital images, video, audio and interactions with the physical landscape. Games, guided walks and tours, and destinations are among the mediascapes created to date. This communal website allows you to download, create and share mobile, location–based media, and there is a web-based wizard online to help beginners.
Keeping mobile
May 26, 2006
Posted by Clare in: Events | Technology | Mobile | Add a commentJake Redfod, commercial projects manager at Orange, see himself as a shop keeper. Phone operators retail, distribute, or act as billing agents for content and operator portals are just like Tesco: don't care about exclusivity, want to sell at volume and interested in brand. As a content producer he sees your best bet as striking a deal with an aggregator.
Richard Hennah of KPMG has himself recently dabbled in the content market, securing finance for Brick-it. A soap opera produced for mobile phone. Whilst not exactly my cup of tea, the scale of the production was impressive. Contradicting Jake, he advised people to go straight to the operators, but to be persistent, and to get a spread of investment. His came under the friends, family and fools category.
Top tips:
Selling mobile content is a volume business – many small transactions are needed to make money.
The mobile market is not mature and content producers need to be in for the long game.
Develop unique IP that no-one can copy (crazy frog)
Develop content with interactivity
Sell cross platform.
