Taxiing through Tibet provides inspiration for Joining the Dots gaming project
Challenge Off is one of the four winning projects chosen for Joining the Dots funding and support. Founder Paul Archer lifts the lid on his project and how you can become directly involved.
I run Daredevil project game and we make mobile social challenge game that you play in the real world. We’re based in Bristol and have a small rotating team developing our games and testing them at events.
How we arrived at the idea for Challenge Off
Believe it or not, the idea came about on the Tibetan plateau during an expedition I was running to drive a London taxi around the world in 2011. The idea was for a way for people to have amazing adventures without having to quit their jobs.
From there it evolved into a challenge road trip, then into an nightlife events format that used twitter to allow people to upload photos for each challenge, then we developing app to support our events and now that’s all we do!The unique aspect of the game is that they are built around one word challenges and players must do the most interesting thing around that one word and upload a picture to be judged.
What stage it is Challenge Off at now and what’s the next step?
Although we have been running our events using our apps for a year or so, we are now focusing on a game that people can play anywhere, at any time and against anyone. Influenced by social games such as QuizUp and DrawSomething, players must complete a series of one word challenges to either beat their friends or be top on the leader board. What’s really exciting is that challenges are judged by a random player – you must do a challenge then judge someone’s challenge – which is loads of fun and adds a great dynamic to the game.
We know the game can be played in a whole host of situations, but where we think it’s going to be best is within the music industry. We think that it can gamify the gig going experience, allowing fans to interact with each other and the artists in a really different way. We want to build challenges you can do in the queue at gigs, in the build up for tours and at the various stages at festivals, with great VIP prizes for the best players.
There’s also the potential to use the games as a way for bands to spread the word about new albums. With each track representing a challenge for fans to interpret in unique ways, it allows them to visually show what the artists works means to them, whilst simultaneously spreading the word to their friends about the album.
What help do we want from the hub and its followers?
We’d love it for people to get involved and test when the game is released. Go to challengeoff.com and sign up to be an early user and keep track of all the news. We’re also looking for artists, managers and promoters who could be interested in building a game for their own fans. Plus we’re growing our team and looking for passionate mobile developers, advisers/investors and business people to get involved in the project, so please get in touch!
Keep up to date with Challenge Off via their Facebook page, follow the project on twitter or sign up to the hub newsletter.
Find out more about the other Joining the Dots winners here.
