Best Scene in Town@ PICNIC ‘10

Timing• Current situation: Mobile is the new mass medium -

3g/4g networks, critical mass smartphones, strong development platforms, distribution & payments systems (Appstores)

• A critical next step: easy creative software to design and publish interactive mobile content.

Mobile Storytelling platform• Next step: from POI’s to Storytelling• Ease-of-use: no programming skills needed• Complete: fully featured set of tools• Open: everyone can create a ‘scene’• Extensible: adding features should be easy• Innovative services: location-based content

management, rule-based logic & realtime mobile communication.

• Technology company: working togetherwith partners to offer high innovation in mobile city experiences.

Create your scene

• story telling• guided tours• treasure hunts• role-playing• trading

Create a scene• Online visual editor - no programming!• Select a genre & configure - Guides, Tours, Games• Drag & drop photos, videos, sounds, notes, tasks & rewards

onto places• We support:

• point-to-point navigation• multiple choice & open questions• personal photo & note upload• time limits• scores• teams• messaging

Share your scene

Share a scene• Publish to all: anyone can play your scene• Publish to some: set up events for groups• Design your custom scene page• Embed the scene widget on your blog or social network• Share players’ activities in real-time and anytime later

(activity = gps-trace + uploaded media + scores)• Share the reviews

Play your scene

Play a scene• Discover scenes located around you• Navigate to places to activate them• Activate locations: view photos, play videos and sounds,

read notes, perform tasks• Interact with other players• Check your progress live• Upload photos and comments anywhere, they are

automatically linked to your location.

Roadmap• Android release• QR codes: (Indoor) positioning• Social Media integration• Place Dialogue, accumulated results & statistics• Use of alternative (historic) maps• Clients & Partnerships

What is BSiT?• Exploration of the rules & requirements of the design of

mobile interation in the Augmented City• An ongoing series of Design Challenges• For creatives / new professionals from all disciplines• Create new concepts & prototypes in teams using

7scenes hands-on• Guided by creative sessions• Judging criteria:

• immersion audience, use of narrative, social- & gameplay, synergy virtual / physical space, media usage, 7scenes implementation

About PICNIC• Largest Crossmedia / Creative Industries festival in Europe• Combining conference with hands-on labs, workshops and

intimate specials (debates) in a festival atmosphere.• PICNIC 10 theme: Redesign the World!• http://www.picnicnetwork.org

About BSiT @ PICNIC• Create the ultimate mobile experience for the PICNIC crowd.• Expo of all concepts @ PICNIC• Winning concept is produced @ PICNIC!• NYC students are brought to PICNIC• International teams A’dam & NYC

HvA, UvA, Rietveld, W.d.Kooning, Parsons• Supported by Amsterdam Innovation Motor• http://www.bestsceneintown.com

Schedule• 7 Sept - Creative Session I - 15:00 - 18:00 CET• 10 Sept - Creative Session II - 15:00 - 18:00 CET• 16 Sept - Submission Deadline - 23:59 CET• 17 Sept - Announcing Winning Concept• 20, 21 & 22 Sept - Winning team finalizes concept• 23 Sept - Promoting Winning concept @ PICNIC• 24 Sept - Exposition of all concepts

presenting & piloting Winning concept @ PICNIC!

Rules & Things to consider• Area: at least PICNIC festival area• Target group: PICNIC visitor• Make it Social, Entertaining, about Locations and really use

the PICNIC crowd,• Create your own media & narrative• Thinks out-of-the-box & multi-channel: You can use

additional props & objects!• But also make it producable of course• Communicate well: it’s a team effort, use social media/

networks• Document your process!• Output: Blog page & 7scenes scene• Don’t break the law!

Open platform

Some examples

Exploring the cultural area of the Westergasfabriek with your mobile

Culturepark ‘Westergasfabriek’

The Island400 year anniversary

collaboration Waag Society & John Adams Institute

Discover the secret behind Adelaide’s first urban designer

The Mystery of the Colonel’s Ghost

Connecting Bilbao & Magdeburg while mapping city locations

Spy My City

Today’s goal

7scenes 101

Developing your Concept

Scope

Some basic choices

• What is your target group?• Thinking of a specific event?• Whatʼs the experience you intend to offer?• What date & time does it all take place?• How many participants are involved?• Using a specific geographical region?• How long does it all take in total?

Social Behavior

• Familiar StrangerIndividual who is recognized from regular activities, but with whom one does not interact

• Small world phenomenonSix Degrees of separation

• Obedience to authorityObey an authority figure who instructs to perform acts that conflict with personal conscience

• Breaching experimentPeoples' reactions to violations of commonly accepted social rules or norms

Triggering a specific behavior?

Demographics

• Age• Gender• Education• Ethnicity• Religion• Language• Ownership of ...• Income• Sexual orientation• Consumption of ...• Occupation• Migration

Which characteristics are important?

Cultural phenomena

• Marriage• Travelling• Communication / Meeting people• Religion• Art• Music• Traditions• Rituals• Clothing / Fashion• Etiquette / Manners• Working life• Leisure activities• Possessions• Sports

There are more sides to each story.

Storyline

• ChronologicalStory needs to be experienced in a specific strict order

• LayeredStory can have different levels of interaction for different users

• InteractiveStoryline takes form based on user interaction

• Character perspectiveExperience a story through someone elseʼs eyes

• Micro narrativesStoryline is cut up into small stories that can be understood individually

How does your story unfold?

Themes

• Kindness / Affection / Love• Hospitality• Laziness• Uniqueness & Similarities• Speed / Motion / Travel• Loneliness• Confusion & Surprises• Connections• Privacy• Transformation• (De)Construction • Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride

You can look for ...

in the city.

Interaction

• Sharing• Messaging• Leaving & Marking• Tracking• Annotating (with media)• Collaborating• Searching & Finding• Trading• Confronting / Meeting• Mapping• Logging• Misleading• Buying / Selling• Adding opinions

What are the participants doing?

Interaction

• What happens at the different locations? How do they relate to each other?• What happens in the virtual and physical world?• Do participants interact in realtime?• Do they play in teams or individually?• Is everyone mobile or are participants supported by online players?• How do participants use media?

What are the participants doing?

Game mechanics

• Turn based interaction• Scoring action points• Auction or bidding / Trade• Territory control• Capture (the flag) or eliminate (pieces)• Catch-up• Role playing• Puzzle solving• Different levels• Team competition• Race against time• Remote operator driving human avatar• Collect objects from environment• Dark Players, actors & props

What game rules could you apply?

Game mechanics

• Monopoly• Twister• Poker• Stratego• Cluedo• Risk• Trivial pusuit• Chess • Checkers• Go• Donkey Kong• Mario Bros.• Pong• Space Invaders

What happens when these classic games become location-based?

Victory conditions

• GoalsThis is the most general sort of victory condition, which can be broad enough to encompass any method of winning, but here refers to game-specific goals that are usually not duplicated in other games. An example is the checkmate of a king in chess.

• Loss AvoidanceSome games feature a losing condition, such as being checkmated (chess), running out of cards first (War), running out of hitpoints (Quake), or being tagged (tag). In such a game, the winner is the only remaining player to have successfully avoided loss.

• Piece eliminationSome games with capture mechanics are won by the player who removes all, or a given number of, the opponents' playing pieces.

• Puzzle guessingSome games end when a player guesses (or solves by logic) the answer to a puzzle or riddle posed by the game. The player who guesses successfully wins.

How do you win?

Victory conditions

• RacesMany simple games (and some complex ones) are effectively races. The first player to advance one or more tokens to or beyond a certain point on the board wins.

• Structure buildingThe goal of a structure building game is to acquire and assemble a set of game resources into either a defined winning structure, or into a structure that is somehow better than those of other players. In some games, the acquisition is of primary importance (e.g. concentration), while in others the resources are readily available and the interactions between them form more or less useful structures (e.g. poker).

• Territory controlA winner may be decided by which player controls the most "territory" on the playing surface, or a specific piece of territory. This is common in wargames, but is also used in more abstract games such as go.

• Victory pointsA player's progress is often measured by an abstract quantity of victory points, which accumulate as the game develops.

How do you win?

The process

May the best team win!