From Nigeria to Ukraine

The decision is made to change the main character from being Nigerian to being from Ukraine, the believability of a Nigerian girl to have access to the Internet and to a digital camera, not to say camcorder on a daily basis was just not very big. - This change in character opened up doors for a possibility to actually go to Eastern Europe to shoot! So in the beginning of May we will be going to Budapest to get some interior of a real Eastern apartment. Yay!

So, the big question now is how to get people to enter the the game. Since it seems, as of now, it will mostly be available online, how to create that buzz, that will actually make people play?! As ARG's normally only are available in a certain time frame, I decided to make the game half ARG/half flash game. There should definitely be a hype around it on every social media channel available, before it gets out,which will create the time hype. BUT it should also be accessible over time.

Slowly, slowly

Slowly, slowly Happiness is advancing.
Someone is doing the different websites, someone shooting and editing the videos and someone doing a viral strategy for launching of the game. - Now all we need is some actionscript programming !
We are looking for a 'believable' young Nigerian woman. We have contacted the Nigerian Association in Bristol, and we are thinking along the lines of drama schools as well. Since she will be the main focus in the game, it is important that we find the right one, with the right Nigerian accent ! Everybody is excited and engaged, let's move forward..

The Master Students are in

I did a presentation for the Master Students from the University of the West of England (UWE). Some of them seemed quite excited by the project, and it looks like they will be working on it. The positive thing about joining an ARG is that there are so many different media outlets to work on. Video, websites, mobile...Leaves something for everyone to do!

Going ballistic !

This past week Happiness got presented to a group of Master students from the University of the West of England (UWE), to see if some of them wanted to work on the game. I was not present myself at the presentation, but apparently some students went 'ballistic', raising questions about why teenagers had to learn about the subject of trafficking at all. - We could also ask why we have to learn about hunger or war...What is interesting about this is that it seems that trafficking is still a taboo, and that it can still create heated discussions. Someone told me 'I was stepping into a minefield' doing this game. But maybe 'ballistic' and 'minefield' are not such bad things after all... On Friday I was doing a presentation myself to the studio, which also raised interesting conversations. - Some things to take away from that might be:
- Make Happiness a character that would also intrigue the boys to play (leave out the Ben character)
-Document the moral choices during the production
- Somehow mention other forms of trafficking (slave labor, domestic work..)

I'm on to another busy week..

Starting at the Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol

My first few weeks at the Pervasive Media Studio http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/ has been amazing. It's filled with inspiring people and everyone is up for helping each other out with projects. I've gotten some good constructive critique on Happiness and I've made it more concise and tightened up the story.