1. The pain that we identified that sparked the development of our app is a pain that is becoming progressively larger, but many don't recognize as a pain. Our society revolves around technology nowadays, even when we are in a group of people, we still engage with our device more than the person sitting beside us. This pain is causing individuals to lack communication skills, and even worse the desire to possess communication skills and actually talk with one another is flying, quite speedily, right out the window. Simply stated, we want to bring the value of face-to-face interaction with other human beings back into society.
2. The market that we chose to get into to revive human interaction was that of games. Entering the gaming market means that we have to compete against games that can be downloaded on a single device and then played with a group of people (games that use a device, but still require face-to-face interaction). Some specific games that we found that fall into this category are, Heads Up!, You Don't Know Jack, Charades App, Would You Rather and Truth or Dare Spin The Bottle. Along with these particular apps we also compete against Pinterest, a site/app that you can look up countless games on. We also compete against lifestyle blogs where writers have shared their favorite group games.
3. Realistically, this app will probably be just a small drop in the ocean. It'll simply give people an app that they can consult and trust to give them exciting games to play with friends so everyone doesn't spend the whole get together on their phone. Ultimately this game could have a huge impact on society, maybe not through the content of games, but at least through the push of remembering the importance of interacting with the people that are around you, rather than scrolling through Facebook, pinning tomorrows dinner on Pinterest, loving your friends photo on Instagram, re-tweeting TSwift's latest tweet or texting someone that you could really text a different time. If this app caused people to put their phones down and truly engage, it would be monumental.
User Interface Design
Colors:
The colors we decided to use are orange, purple and white. I actually really dislike both the colors orange and purple so, this decision was hard for me, but when looking at the what colors mean it is the best option for the app that we are creating and what message we are trying to send with out app.
Orange mixes the energy that is associated with red with the happiness that is associated with yellow. Orange represents enthusiasm, creativity and stimulation. I especially like that it represents stimulation because our app is working to stimulate interaction between a group of individuals.
Purple isn't the direct complimentary color of orange, but it is close, and there was no way we could go with blue and orange together. While I root for the Broncos on occasion I definitely don't like their color combination. Anyway, purple blends the calmness of blue and the fierceness of red together. Purple is a representation of ambition, which I also thought played into the idea of our app and motivating people to do more than just play on their phones all of the time.
Fonts:
We want to do a straightforward font for the majority of our app so that users are able to easily read what is going on. We'll use black text on a white background, most likely bolding the names of games, and using a bit smaller font for the descriptions. The actual name of the game is where we will have a little bit of fun with the font. We'll use a more playful font to show users from the beginning that we are interested in provoking adventure and excitement.
Prototype:
Architecture Design
We want our app to be extremely easy to use from the moment you download it from the app store. To increase the ease of the app we drew a mock up example of our app so that we could figure out the flow of the app.
The app would open first to a simple welcome screen,
a simple tap on the arrow will take you to the next screen where you will be prompted to set up a user profile.
If you don't log in with Facebook then you'll have one extra step, entering your birthday. We ask for your birthday so that we you have more opportunities to meet up with people in your area and play games.
Then you'll be asked a few simple either-or questions that will gauge what type of games you are most interest in.
The questions will include:
1. Indoor or Outdoor
2. Active or Brain
3. Large Group (11+) or Medium Group (5-10) or Small Group (2-4)
Once those few simple questions have been answered your profile will be ready, and you'll be taken to the home page.
Each of the buttons on the home screen will take you to a different aspect of the game. For example, by clicking the "settings" icon at the bottom, right you'll be taken to your profile,
where you will be able to update your information whenever you see fit. For example, I would go to my profile and change every aspect of my "Interest In" section.
Why? Because I like small groups so I could define that more. Unless it is nice and warm outside, I'd much rather be inside. Meeting new people terrifies me most of the time, and I really don't care for competition at all.
The flow continues as each icon on the home screen is tapped and a new screen appears. As we worked through the creation of our icon pages the app developed more and more, which resulted in us changing a couple of the home screen icons. This experience is proof that with each collaboration meeting more information will be revealed and the development of the app will continue to progress.
The start a game option will no longer be on the front page, but rather when you search for a game you will have the option of creating a game if there isn't already one you would like to join. You will be able to search a couple of different ways, either by the name of the game or by particular demographics. With the demographics you'll be able to enter vital information; including, what age range, indoor or outdoor, brain game or active game, etc. Entering those demographics would limit your options of games to create, like giving you a more focused search.
We also added the idea of sponsored games, which you can see on the "join a game" page. The idea behind sponsored games is that a company can put on big events and get the word out through our app. I haven't chatted about this withy my group yet, but as I typed that I wondered if that could be where we make some of our revenue? Companies could pay a set price to create a game and advertise it through our app. Just a thought.
Other companies have had success in similar areas so, we looked to them for a little bit of inspiration.
Proof of Concept and Distribution
Proof of the app would come through daily use of the app by the creators. We would use the "start a game" function to see if the "play" function works, allowing people to join the game. We also want to prove the functionality of the app by playing a quick game with you. This is what we hope our app will be like:
Our app would be available exclusively through the Apple App Store (at least for now). The App would be financially free for users, but they would have to pay in information. In order for the location based services to work (the meeting up for games) users would have to give up their location if they are trying to meet for a game. Users would also have to give up their names, age and gender.
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