Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal

A Game Proposal by Collin Heap and Jessica Kalmar For Montralits.ca

Figure 1: Source: Word Clip Art

Collin Heap (9339620) Jessica Kalmar (9383840) Jeannette Novakovich ENGL 395 15 November 2011

2 Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Log Line ................................................................................................................................... 3 High Concept Description........................................................................................................ 3 Unique Selling Points .............................................................................................................. 3 Player Motivation..................................................................................................................... 3 Genre and Category ................................................................................................................. 4 License ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Target Customer....................................................................................................................... 4 Competition.............................................................................................................................. 4 Target Hardware ...................................................................................................................... 5 Design Goals .......................................................................................................................... 5 Narrative Treatment ............................................................................................................... 6 Character Profile .................................................................................................................... 7 Game Play .............................................................................................................................. 8 Flow Chart ............................................................................................................................. 9

3 1. Log Line Get to know Montreal in this crazy cross-town caper!

2. High Concept Description Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is a multi-level geography quiz aimed at pinning down the locations of Montreals natural geography, districts, and sites. A bonus round will allow the player to reassemble a shattered map of Montreal for a printable coupon, which is one of the most key and attractive selling points of the game.

3. Unique Selling Points 3.1 The unique selling point of Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is the printable coupon available upon successful completion of the game, but advertised at the start. 3.2 The game has potential competition for local business that could pay to be featured as one of the locations in the game.

4. Player Motivation 4.1 Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is a fun and stimulating game that challenges players in their knowledge of Montreal geography. 4.2 The player vies against the clock, which leads to a strong level of intellectual satisfaction that will derive from victory. The game features a hall of fame to tabulate the top ten fastest players to complete the game. 4.3 Upon successful completion, the player is entitled to a printable coupon, for a local establishment. Furthermore, when players achieve the top spot in the hall of fame, they will receive a supplemental coupon via email.

4 5. Genre and Category Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is a puzzle-trivia game. As it focuses primarily on neighbourhoods and destinations in Montreal, the game is more specifically a geography quiz game.

6. License Collin Heap and Jessica Kalmar will retain the creative and intellectual rights of the game. Montralits creator Jeannette Novakovich has permission to use the game and pursue potential developers in order to generate Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal for the Montralits website; However, Heap and Kalmar will receive all profits made off this game.

7. Target Customer Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is broadly targeted at all visitors of the Montralits website and more specifically at potential tourists who would want to learn more about the cityscape featured in the game. Locals may also be interested in playing the game, because the coupon at the end of the game will constantly be updated. The game may interest people who are rather new to computer games, due to the fact that there is no direct competition with other players; this may lead to a more inviting and inclusive environment.

8. Competition In Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal, there is no player vs. player competition. Players compete against the computer program. The game features a hall of fame to tabulate the top ten fastest players to complete the game.

5 9. Target Hardware The game is played on an Internet-enabled computer and will only require the use of the left clicker on the mouse. The computer will also need the same system requirements that enable the Montralits site to run properly (Flash Player, JavaScript, etc.).

10. Design Goals Through a virtual journey across the Island of Montreal, players will gain an intimate perspective of the citys layout. Using a 3-D map, players will also get a more accurate sense of the topography. 10.1 The Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal game mascot, Montreal Adams, does have dialogue to impart to the player. Adams message could be handled by speech balloons with text, but the game would be more dynamic if a performer was cast as Adams and recorded dialogue to play simultaneously with the on-screen text. Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal could reach an even larger audience if another performer recorded Adams lines in French, giving players a choice between the two languages for the duration of the game play. 10.2 Additionally, Adams will be pacing along bottom horizontal axis of the playing field while the player tries to place the locations. This would likely be the most elaborate type of animation required for the game. 10.3 According to Google Analytics, the pages most visited on Montralits are related to school institutions. The subject of Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal conforms to these searches, because it will include some scholastic institutions as locations of interest within the game. The game will also promote the Neighbourhoods page on Montralits, as several of the areas on the site will be featured as locations in the

6 game. The game will give players a much realer sense of where the locations they have been reading about are situated geographically. 10.4 Depending on the technical limitations of the game, players will potentially have the option to select a current photograph of the place they are trying to locate which would link them to a Google search with that location as the search term. For instance, the player may be trying to place the Olympic Stadium. If they clicked on the picture in the question box, another window with Olympic Stadium as the search heading would open. In this way if a particular place caught the players interest, they could bookmark it, instead of having to write it down or remember it for later.

11. Narrative Treatment 11.1 In Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal players are employed to help Montreal Adams, a plucky young geography student at Concordia University, locate destinations around the Island of Montreal. 11.2 The game board of Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is an interactive 3-D map of Montreal. A picture of a singular aspect of the citys natural geography, districts, or landmark sites in Montreal will pop up on the screen. The player will try to identify its location on the map. Montreal Adams is pacing at the bottom of the webpage carrying a lasso, which he will use to ensnare the location if it is guessed correctly. 11.3 The player has to restart the round when a location is not identified within a certain kilometre radius or if a location has not been selected within the five-second time limit. There are three levels, with ten questions in each. The easy first level tests the players knowledge of broad geography (e.g. Mount Royal); the second level tests knowledge of

7 districts (e.g. NDG); and the difficult third level tests knowledge of monuments and tourist sites (e.g. the Olympic Stadium). 11.4 Upon completion of the last level, the map shatters. If the player can reassemble it properly, a printable coupon (from a regularly updated bank of coupons) for a restaurant or tourist site will become available for download.

12. Character Profile 12.1 The main character in Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is Montreal Adams, a 20-yearold geography student at Concordia University. In the game he will only appear as a 2tall icon, but Adams in reality is 6 tall and 180lbs. Although he is of normal size, proportionately he has a stoic physique and a rigid, erect posture. He has wavy black hair which augments his soft brown eyes. Adams often sports a tweed jacket (a gift from his grandfather), wool trousers and worn-out sneakers. Other than his lasso, one of his most prized possessions is his Sterling silver pocket watch, which he once lost in a brash bout of gambling, but quickly retrieved. He moves with a strong sense of purpose, with a quick stride and a long gate. 12.2 Adams is a direct but positive young man with an even temperament. He has a deep voice with an even timbre. His vocabulary is immense, which reflects his perhaps privileged upbringing in a well-educated family. Due to his British heritage, Adams often employs archaic terms in everyday dialogue, much to the chagrin of his friends. In the game, for example, upon a successful answer, the player may hear him say catch phrases such as: That was spot on! Owing to his endeavours in Boy Scouts as a youth, Adams enjoys the outdoors, geography, walking and lassoing.

8 12.3 The games actual page on the website could also have room for a character profile on Montreal Adams. This template WordArt style represents not only Adams bold personality, but also pays homage to the obvious inspiration of his parodic namesake.

13. Game Play 13.1 At the outset of Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal, the player is greeted by the games mascot, Montreal Adams. Adams introduces the rules and game play to the player via either speech balloons or recorded audio. After his explanation, a map of Montreal emerges to form the playing field. Adams hops down to the bottom of the map and begins pacing left and right along the bottom horizontal axis of the playing field. 13.2 A box with the name of a location (e.g. NDG), accompanied by a photograph, appears. The player has a five-second time limit to then identify where the neighbourhood is. For neighbourhoods, a correct qualifying answer may be quite broad as they can cover large areas. 13.3 The game has varying degrees of difficulty as outlined above; for instance, it will not be as lenient on the third level, when a player may be asked to identify McGill University. 13.4 At the end of the third level, the map will shatter, and the player will have to correctly reassemble the map like a puzzle. If the player accomplishes this task, a

9 printable coupon for a local establishment becomes available for download. A text-box invites players to revisit soon, as the coupon will regularly be updated.

14. Flow Chart Mad Mad Mad Mad Montreal is a linear-with-scene-or-section, branching-type game. The following flow chart is the basic structure of the location questions in the game.

Figure 1: Question Correct Incorrect

Goes to next question

Returns to start of level

14.1 This is the basic structure for all ten questions of any given level of difficulty. The formula changes briefly at the end of the tenth question of each level; in this case, a correct answer will lead to the next level instead of simply the next question. Upon completion of the three levels, the structure of the game changes dramatically: the map of the city at this point shatters, and the player must reassemble the map.

10 Figure 2:

NDG Outline of Montreal Map Pieces to be reassembled St. Leonard

It is important to note that the maps outline will remain on the page, to give players a clue as they attempt to reassemble the map.