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thelockwood
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becky_nwl
Evaluation..
In response to the brief:
For this project we were asked to design and make an interactive board game. We wanted to use Monopoly as a basis for the game as we felt that this was a fun classic board game that is well known by most people.
Our board game works by scanning QR codes in shops which takes you to a website where you can buy/rent properties. Our aim with this was to make it more interactive using technologies and not copying the original board game but still showing that it originates from Monopoly.
We added small businesses into the game to promote them around Plymouth these properties cost the most rent to do this.
I think we achieved what we wanted and stuck to the brief well. Although it was fairly hard at first to come up with an original interactive game based on Monopoly we feel like we finally met this aim and achieved it.In response to our work (if it met requirements):
We feel like we have achieved what we aimed for with this game and we are happy with the outcome, although of course with more time we would of been able to produce a more in depth version of the game.
Our success criteria for this project is down to whether it meets our requirements or not. These were our requirements:
· The interactive board game must show clear tracing back to the original board game.
· The game must be interactive and use technologies to work.
· The game must work.
· Must not offend anyone or anger anyone.
· Must be a fair game, and stay fair throughout the whole game.
· Players must own a phone that is capable of scanning QR codes and have internet access.
· Players must be in Plymouth to play the game so that they can access the shops.
· All shops must be in Plymouth and have QR codes in them.
· Must promote small businesses.
· Must be easy to play but user shouldn’t have to go out of their way to play it.
· Must be played over a 2 week period.
We feel that our interactive game met all of these requirements and works the way we intended it to.Room for improvement:
· Adding Community Chest & Chance Cards.
· Adding a Waterworks & Electric Company/train stations that could take a random amount of money from the player as an added risk.For the future:
· Increase the amount of places in Plymouth we can use
· Actually get offers from companies
Possibly depending on success create similar games for different towns and cities across the U.K.Overall:
Overall we feel that the Plymopoly game was a success, although there are things that we can improve if we had more time and could do the project again the game still does what we had originally planned and works well. -
becky_nwl
Making of our game website..
For our game we needed to use QR codes, PhP and databses for it to work.
To start with, we started to experiment with QR codes to make sure we had full understanding of how they work, and how to make sure we can use them for our game. We used http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ to generate our QR codes, at first we just made one that directed you to Google, then we used a smartphone to scan the code and it worked, this gave us the Google URL and made sure we wanted to allow us to take us to the site.
After we had experimented with QR codes we went on to make our first Plymopoly card that directs you to the websites.
This is a screen shot taken from a smartphone, this is what you see when you are about to scan a QR code.
This screen shot is what you will see once the QR code has been scanned, making sure you allow it to take you to the webpage.
After we knew that this worked we had to make the register/login pages, to do this we used PhP and databases, the register page makes you enter in a username and password and this then gets stored in a database that will remember these details for when you next login.
Once you have registered you will see a page that confirms your registration and will then be able to login.
The login page makes sure that you have entered the correct details, if you have not entered the correct details then you will get sent back to the login page, you will not be able to get around this page without logging in correctly.
This is a screen shot of the login page, also taken from a smartphone.
Once the QR code is scanned, you will be taken to the login page, this will then mean that you have to login to get to the Monopoly card page. Once you are at the Monopoly card page it will tell you how much the property is to buy or rent, will display current offers and a map of where you are.
This is a screen shot of the Plymopoly card page, showing the offer of the day, offer code and map of where you are. It also shows the rent and property cost in Monopoly money.
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becky_nwl
Deplyment..
Materials we are going to need -
* A PHP database for all the games data and events.
* A website with a live stream of players finances.
* 22 QR codes each linking to a related website in the style of the Monopoly property cards.
* At least 6 players with the possibility to increase this number.
* A sign up page and log in page for the games transactions.
* 22 shops who will allow us to include them in our game.Failure Scenarios and back up plans
Gameplay Problems
Property Specific
With only 22 properties and 6 players potentially buying a new property each day, all the properties could have been bought by the 4th day of play.
If this was to happen players can stop playing as they know they will only lose money by attempting to add to their empires.The ownership of properties will be kept secret from the players but it would be fairly realistic to assume that each player will buy a property each day and they will all be bought by the 4th day and the game does not force players to continue visiting properties.
We face another similar problem -
Once a player has tried to buy a property which is owned they will not return to it. This is because we have removed the luck and chance in rolling a dice by allowing the player to choose freely over which properties they want to visit.There is the very small chance of a shop closure so we might need a few replacement shops we can set up quickly to continue with play.
Technical Problems
We will have to maintain a 24 hour game server to keep track of all transactions and rental charges. This shouldn’t be a problem as there are many examples of this throughout the World with back ups running alongside them. We will have to keep an eye on them and have a back up ready if something was to go wrong.
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becky_nwl
Mock ups
This is the first mock up that our group has made. This is what the Monopoly cards will now look like and these will be placed within the 22 different shops around Plymouth. The card will have a QR code on it in replace of rent and property prices that the original cards have.
This is the second mock up that our group has made, this shows a possible webpage that we could use for our offers page. On this page it will show the current offer, this will only show if the property is already owned by someone else. On this page you will automatically pay rent for the property, but instead of rent this will be in the form of a product. This offer will show an existing offer in the shop at that time so you can also buy the product it is displaying as well. This is to promote the business and there offers further and get the smaller businesses more known.
This is what page you will be directed to when you have scanned the QR code, I have done this screen shot in Safari although when looking at the site on a phone the content fills the page. This shows an offer and a map of where you are, some of these offers will have codes as seen in the screen shot so that you can use the code in the shop to get discount. This page is now online for the game.
This print screen shows the basic layout of the login page. Members will use this page when they login to their Plymopoly account. You will be directed to this page when you scan the QR codes in shops.
This is the basic layout of the page you will see once you have registered an account on Plymopoly.
This is a storyboard scene showing a man scanning a QR code in a shop and the box shows what site he has been taken to. This is a representation of how the real game will work, with someone walking into a shop, scanning a QR code and being taken to the website.
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becky_nwl
Textual Narrative
Plymopoly
1: 6 Players sign up to the game through the games website.
2: On the first day of the game each player goes out and buys their first property using a QR code scanner and gains their first voucher code.
3: Player A is alerted that Player B has just tried to buy their property and receives rent from this player. Player B is shown an offer currently in the shop. These changes in finances are then posted to a live feed on the games site for all players to view.
4: Player B buys another property the next day and is alerted to Player C trying to buy is later the same day, Player C is charged for the rent and has to find another property for that day which he can purchase.
5: These property purchases and rental charges continue for the rest of the game until Player B is left. This happened because the others had been declared bankrupt with no assets.
This is one possible scenario for completion of the game.
If a player has not become the only player left then the game will end after 7 days to avoid overlong games as players could potentially become bored and lose interest. -
becky_nwl
How we plan on making the game
We will use a website using databases, PhP and Query strings and we will have QR codes in all the different shops and at the train and bus station.
QR codes work a lot like barcodes. You can scan them and they will bring up a website. This works really simply by generating a QR code (we will be making ours here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/) as you can see on the website, all you have to do is type in a URL and it will generate a QR code.
This can then be scanned on phones by using the Red Laser scanner (this will scan normal barcodes as well as QR codes). Once the QR code has been scanned it will take you to the website. We will then make it so that once you get to the website, you are either told you can buy the property or you will be made to pay rent (this will display a current offer in the shop, you will have to pay for this with Monopoly money, but you also have the option of going and buying the real thing if you would like to).
QR codes have got increasingly more popular lately because many people have now have smartphones that can use the Red Laser technology and they are also free to generate! This is a bonus for advertising, as you can now find QR codes on posters, flyers and business cards etc. These can take you straight to the website of the business/Movie and show whatever they like on the site.
One of the only downsides to QR codes is if you change your URL then you will have to change the QR code as well, this could cost lots when coming to changing all the posters, flyers and business cards you have already made.
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becky_nwl
Requirements..
These are the requirements that we came up with for our interactive board game. Our board game has to follow these requirements for it to work properly and be safe.
· The interactive board game must show clear tracing back to the original board game.
· The game must be interactive and use technologies to work.
· The game must work.
· Must not offend anyone or anger anyone.
· Must be a fair game, and stay fair throughout the whole game.
· Players must own a phone that is capable of scanning QR codes and have internet access.
· Players must be in Plymouth to play the game so that they can access the shops.
· All shops must be in Plymouth and have QR codes in them.
· Must promote small businesses.
· Must be easy to play but user shouldn’t have to go out of their way to play it.
· Must be played over a 2 week period.The first three requirements were set in the brief, the others are requirements that our group came up with in order to have a fully working interactive game.
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becky_nwl
Environmental and Contextual Study
In our current group work, the game is based on the Monopoly idea, but adapted to suit commerce in a real-life environment, with a vision to boost commerce in the area, and to increase the use of QR codes for delivering promotions. As our project takes place in the city, ideas pulled from the original game had to be adapted to suit retail so then delivery of promotions can be delivered effectively, and also to add an aspect to the game where both gameplay and specially-created offers are used.
Most of the time, the Plymopoly game takes place in shopping and commercial areas, which is a mixed environment because the main areas in the city are indoors and outdoors, and also have varying degrees of footfall, which depends on many factors such as weather, economic and other events that take place at the same time, such as student nights that take place occasionally in Drake Circus.
Drake Circus has an estimated 74 stores, whilst the main shopping districts of New George Street, Armada Way and side street Cornwall Street have an estimated 150 stores and businesses. Together, they make up about 224 shops and businesses inside the main city centre districts. Drake Circus is inside, whilst New George Street and Armada Way are mostly outside, with the latter having an inside section below Sainsbury’s.
The online environment depends on how the connectivity is affected, and how reliable it is. Because of the mobile nature of the game, connectivity is required, and the game would not work if connectivity is not available, so 3G and available Wi-fi is a major pre-requisite for participation as it needs to access the internet to read QR codes, update the status of properties and register leader board statistics. Also, a working camera built-in to the device is also required because the project relies on QR codes and applications that support QR code capturing. The websites that are going to be used in the project are optimised for smaller screens and will use less bandwidth, so then the project will be accessible to all, especially those that don’t have an extensive mobile internet plan.
The game will take place in an environment where the amount of people movement is expected to be high, particularly in central areas. As nothing but QR codes and handheld devices (i.e. smartphones) are involved, there are no obstacles in regards to equipment placement that will occur in the project. The most tech-savvy are likely to be the biggest users of the project, although it will be expected that casual smartphone users would also take part as well.
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becky_nwl
List of shops for the game..
Here are a list of shops that we came up with for our interactive board game. Monopoly has 22 properties on the board game and we wanted to make sure that our adaption of the classic board game also involved 22 properties.
The first block of properties are larger businesses that are placed around Plymouth, in our game these will be the cheaper properties which will have the cheapest products advertised (rent in the original game). The second block has the train and bus station in similar to the original and a charity shop. This block also has Plymouth Pavilions in which has been a big part of Plymouth city for many years.
The final block of shops are the smaller businesses in Plymouth city, these are the shops that we would like to promote more to make them well known. These properties will have the highest products advertised (rent).
Debenhams
Toys R Us
Disney
House of Fraser
WH Smiths
HMV
Build a bear factory
CEX
Gamestation
Boots
JessopsOxfam to promote charity
Plymouth Pavilions
Plymouth Train Station
Plymouth Bus StationAthena
Whoopee
Past Times
Americano
Plymouth Fancy Dress
Plymouth Argyle Shop
Antics
Plymouth Garden Centre
Allsports (Retail) Ltd
