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Idea Proposal
Zika Defender
The app we want to develop is based on the current health crisis in Brazil. The Zika Virus is a disease that is spread to people primarily through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Our app will approach this health concern in a lighter manner. We will create a game, in which the different levels consist of the player preventing the spread of this virus by tapping on their screen whenever a mosquito is in sight before they reach a structure with Brazilians inside. While playing each level, the user will find that each screen will have a background image of Brazilian settings. The player will win points by preventing the mosquitoes from approaching the people before the disease is spread. We will also include an information screen that explains the origin of the Zika Virus, so players understand the significance of mosquitoes in Brazil. Additional screens, such as a "Game Over" screen will also provide information of the disease, so our app can promote awareness of the Zika Virus and offer an enjoyable game experience.
The problem that we want our app to solve is the lack of awareness of the health crisis in Brazil. While the majority of our app's services involve a game, we will still offer important information about the Zika Virus in our introduction screen. As more people use our app, the more attention will be given to the dire situation in Brazil, where many people are suffering from this illness.
Most games made for Android usually have as a targeted user audience between 10 to 20 years old, and our game as well, will be following this trend. As a result, it can’t be too childish, nor will it be too complex. The goal is to make a game that can appeal to players of this age, so they can receive both a game they enjoy and a learning experience of a current situation at the same time. Although our app has an audience target between 10 to 20, it can also be used for younger children by adults such as parents and teachers, or interested older individuals as well, so our app can also be used by users beyond our target audience.
Our app aims to raise awareness of the current Zika Virus outbreak in an entertaining way, by offering it in the form of a game. As the overall objective of the game is to prevent the mosquitoes from reaching humans, the underlying message is to remain aware and cautious of the mosquitoes spreading the disease further. Our overall vision is to have players downloading our app to enjoy our game, offer some basic information of the disease when they play it, and spread awareness from what they do inside the game. As a game is a social experience as well, as it catches on in popularity, it will be able to raise awareness on a large social scale while offering a fun experience.
Overall, a simple interactive game with scaling difficulty on a "new" Brazilian context. The major features of our app first consist of an information screen which introduces the Zika Virus to the user. The language for our game will be available in English and Portuguese, and will be set to Portuguese if the user’s device language is set as so, otherwise it will default to English. The game will provide three levels of varying difficulty, all of which have the underlying theme of keeping the mosquitos from coming in contact with Brazilians. A game over screen will also be implemented, notifying the user that the disease has spread, and allows them to try again to help stop the spread.
This app will be a game focusing on the Aedes species mosquito which can transmit several diseases such as yellow fever, Dengue and, the focus for our app, Zika virus. Our app will have the player prevent these mosquitoes from spreading the disease further in a fun way. The goal is to make it entertaining for the user, by offering a fun game they can immerse themselves in, and at the same time spread awareness on preventing the disease.
8. What are the risks associated with the development of this app? Why wouldn’t it be delivered completely (scope), on time and on budget? Identify 3 to 5 risks that are relevant in your case.
Our app is a game, usually to make a game is quite hard and requires a large amount of development time. None of our team members has programmed for Android before, which can lead us to some serious problems in time since we will still have to learn and get used to the platform (both the IDE and Android). As our app is a game specifically, further research into tools for game development will also need to be explored. Additionally, since it is a thematic app we have to take extra care with misgiving information, everything has to be correct with the theme.
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Ant Smasher is a game in which ants crawl across the screen and the objective is to tap the ants to kill them. Other insects that appear on the screen are bees, but if a player taps the bees accidentally, they lose a life. This game app is similar to our app because it focuses on exterminating the ants by tapping the screen whenever they appear, just as our app involves tapping the screen whenever the mosquitoes appear. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bestcoolfungames.antsmasher&hl=en
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Fly Bugit is a game in which butterflies are flying through different environments and the user must guide the butterfly through the different levels. When thinking of ideas that could be added to our app, we noticed the unique background images of this app as the butterfly flew around. Based on this, we decided to use prominent backgrounds with well-known places in Brazil while the mosquitoes are flying on the screen. http://appshopper.com/mac/games/fly-bugit
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Deu Zika is a gaming app in which Aedes species mosquitos are flying around on the screen. The player attempts tap on these mosquitoes to kill them and gain points. Once they reach the bottom of the screen, the game ends, recording the amount of points earned and the current record for the most points. The overall concept and direction of this game is similar to what we attend to produce with our app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.EAOENT.HANDCIDA
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Insect Smasher is a game where you attempt to tap and kill as many insects on the screen as possible before your health bar reaches zero. Each insect smashed awards coins and points, where coins can be used to purchase temporary power ups as the player finds necessary. The game continuously gets harder, introducing new and more insects until the player eventually loses. This game offers more features than what our attempts to do, but the gameplay and the goal for players to enjoy smashing as many insects as possible is the same as our own idea. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.magmamobile.game.InsectSmasher
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Zap-a-‘quito is a game where the player needs to zap the mosquitoes to progress from level to level. There are multiple levels in different places, and in each level, the player needs to choose a different colored weapon to zap the color corresponding mosquitoes on the screen. Each level has a score to encourage you to try for the best, challenges to attempt aside from the overall objective of zapping all of the mosquitoes, and a character gallery to meet the different mosquitoes in the game. When compared to our app, Zap-a-‘quito has a number of features similar to our own. It has loading screens to inform the user about the diseases these mosquitoes carry, which can be compared to our introduction screen for our app. There is a set of levels with different backgrounds as well, which is the same as what we plan to implement for our app’s levels. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.caribbeancoders.culicidae.android