Amanzivision
A dexterity game about carrying water
Full Name: Amanzivision
Made By: Bitforge Ltd
Made For: World Vision Schweiz
Plattforms: iOS, Android
Roles in Project: Gameplay Design, 2D Art, Gameplay Programming
Idea
Background
Amanzivision was an innovative fundraising project between World Vision Switzerland and Bitforge. The idea was to create a game that could be played collectively by users and a dynamic, exchangeable sponsor would commit themselves to fund a water well project with World Vision if a certain benchmark was achieved.
Gameplay:
The game is an autoscrolling balancing game. As either a kid or a mother you are tasked to carefully balance a bucket of water on your way home to the village. The smartphones accelerometer will tilt in the character to lean in left or right directions to avoid obstacles, but too sudden movements will make the waterline in the bucket spill over.
There are three tracks on the way home, which vary in length and their obstacles. Each also has their unique obstacle animal, from lazy leopards or joyous apes to hungry lions. Once you return to the village, your water will be added to all players total, slowly transforming into bricks for a virtual well.
Design:
The idea of doing a virtual sponsor for a game existed before I entered the project. I was tasked to conceptualise and develop a game ofr it. Since the main topic of the cause was people carrying water for inhumane distances on a daily basis, due to the lack of well, we wanted to center the gameplay around that as well.
The game needed a careful balance and prediction of how many play hours it would need to complete, and thusly how many views the potential sponsor would get. At first it was seen as risky to spend charity money on developing a game instead of funding aid, but the game got a return of investment that was more than fivefold over its lifetime.
Impressions
