Jo Roach

Nightmare High: A new web game from Channel 4 for teens in transition

joroach — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:09:09 +0000

Nightmare high is a new kind of game for Channel 4. There’s always plenty of digital chatter about development of new formats for a new media landscape and the progress of 360 commissioning—but few people who engage in that conversation have the opportunity to work on ambitious projects that move beyond the limitations of brand-owners’ vision and some broadcasters’ risk-averse behaviour. The vision of the commissioning team over at Channel 4 coupled with the company-wide support of Somethin’ Else has allowed me to launch some wonderful products over the last three years, but Nightmare High builds on all of those to be the one I’m most proud of. Working across brilliantly cutting-edge projects like Routes, SuperMe and E4′s Misfits I was able to gain invaluable experience which all helped to make Nightmare High a cohesive multimedia game which is fun to play but most importantly one that strikes the balance between education and entertainment in a way that resonates with tweens. An 11-year-old can’t play this game without laughing out loud but they also can’t fail to miss the core learning: big changes are exciting and scary, and there are things you can do to make them easier and to develop into a more resilient young person.

Nightmare High Interface

Nightmare High is a story-based web game. You, the player, just joined a new school and on your first day everything has gone terribly, horribly wrong. You’ve got no mates, you screw up in class, you sit in the wrong seat and by lunchtime even your sister is blanking you. Worse still, your pathetic meltdown in Expressive Arts ends up on YouTube. At the end of your first day you find yourself sucked into a comic-book unreality where everything is upside-down and back-to-front. Reality has imploded and it’s your fault.

Komplimental Minigame

And so you enter a fantasy school full of zombie teachers, skyrockets and a terrifying darkness that creeps ever closer to your classroom. The only safe place is the infamous Secret Toilet: where there is a never-ending supply of bogroll and you don’t have to fear somebody peeping over the top of the cubicle. Your job is to fix up reality with the help of your sidekick, D’Mentor, and get home in time for tea. As you explore the school you stumble across various celebrities: in the basement, in the bike sheds and cooking up jam lasagna in the canteen; as they share memories of their school days your score improves, your friendships improve and you begin to understand more about how people really work underneath the labels (bully, popular, geek and so on) and how to make good friends.

Labrinth talks about his school days

Comic Strip

The story is told with many different devices and media, and those were selected to work for the audience and story, and obviously with one eye on the budget. Dramatic video, minigames, applications which reflect the players real life skills, celebrity videos and comic strips all feature. It was a challenge to make an hour of fictional gameplay on the budget of a couple of TV programmes. After all, if this were a TV drama it would have cost millions, so our approach had to be adaptive. The system design incorporates collectibles which relate directly to the learning, known as your FIXT score — Friendship, Independence, X-Ray and Transformation. Those collectibles relate very directly to resilience learnings more commonly known to academics as support networks, personal agency, reflection and adaptability.

Your Locker

Your Transition Journey

The drama was confined to the real world (a multi-location epilogue and prologue, and studio-based shorts which feature your friend D’Mentor). Without the option of an animated 3D interface to navigate the school we opted for a static clickable illustration for the main interface (quick to load, easy to use) which slowly fills up with content. We also used interactive comic strips to sew together pieces of narrative, which have already proved very popular among the young game testers.

What I’m most proud of is the seamless movement through multiple content types as players navigate through the thirteen episodes. Nothing feels forced, not the ‘type’ of content and certainly not the educational content. The learning is integrated into the scripts and the fabric of the interface. Your transition journey is part of your story as communicated by your in-game friends, and players are given the option to explore that as much or as little as they like.

Book of Faces

Solving & understanding characters

As with SuperMe before it, the critical decisions that formed this project came from our work with schools in the project definition phase. Taking a story-based approach, choosing a fantastical and silly world and exposing the reasons why kids label each other so quickly were all inspired by the work that Tassos Stevens of Coney led with our six partner schools. By spending so much time focussed on our potential players we got the chance to talk to educators and experts working in the area of transition and it became clear that now more than ever teachers need this kind of resource, as transition-focussed support staff become harder to provide in-school. We were able to take initiatives that were being used in schools and write those into our game (for example, D’Mentor was inspired by the buddy system which many secondary schools use for incoming students). In addition we embedded core resilience strategies, like getting the players to write a letter back to themselves in order to accurately reflect on what they’d learned by playing. The great thing about this is that we’re also able to use that real advice for incoming players and make it part of the story.

So we really hope you enjoy the game, and that you play it to the end (where we’ve hidden one final surprise). I really love feedback and comments and questions, so do leave them below. Finally, I’d like to thank a few people without whom the team wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make such a great piece of work: Alice Taylor, Matt Locke, Jo Twist & Gemma Brady at (or previously at) Channel Four, Poppy Nash at the University of York, Sam Hawkins at Bancrofts School, Paul Bennun at Somethin’ Else and all of our brilliant game testers. And of course hats off to a team who went the extra mile at every step. Thank you!

Nightmare High lives at www.nightmarehigh.com.

Android Galaxy v IPhone 4

joroach — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:22:08 +0000

Trying to make the choice between Android and IPhone is simple when you look at the bottom line. Over a 24 month contract an IPhone 4 would cost £959, before calls. Over the same period an Android Galaxy S would cost £480. Even after threatening to leave T-Mobile I’m told that Apple have them over a barrel with tariffs, and they are unable to offer anything other than the fixed line rates and handset charges. That makes me want an IPhone even less.

In addition, the dropped calls and bumper issue push me into the Android camp. There’s only one thing that makes me sad about not having an IPhone and that’s the games and apps. But I’ll see how that goes…

I’m being stalked by mats

joroach — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 22:44:51 +0000

Last week I tried to buy a mat for the inside of my front door.

I used Google to search for a vendor, and from Google I went to the Wilkinson website (cheapskate, me?) and put two items into my basket. Then I changed my mind and closed the browser. Two days later I was watching a video on YouTube, when a Wilkinson advert appeared featuring the very mats I had put into my basket a day or so before. I was being STALKED by mats.

It turns out I’d been ‘retargetted‘ by Google*. They really wanted me to buy those mats.

I found it uncomfortable to be retargetted because it’s so personal. I tend to think of my movement and choices on the web as being tracked with the crowd. I imagine companies looking for trends to tweak their services within vast amounts of data, in the same way that I do, but this is so much more granular. This is about mapping my movements and choices to my personal profile and then giving a tailored experience based on that data. The stalking mats taught me not to underestimate the sophistication of software, and the fragility of my privacy and security.

At least in a shop if I’m being stalked by a salesperson I can walk out. That’s much more difficult online. TellApart, one of the companies that enable retargetted ads are now putting explanations on adverts, and allowing users to turn it off. This should be standard practise. Likewise, if I’m logged into Facebook and I open a new tab which uses Facebook Connect I want to be asked before it auto-logs me in. I want to decide when I log in and out of services, and when advertisers can and can’t follow me down the aisles.

NB. For those of you more concerned about the mats, I ordered some very beautiful samples from here instead.

(*thanks to @genmon for enlightening me)

A tiny row boat in a big ocean

joroach — Sun, 09 May 2010 14:50:21 +0000

I discovered Roz Savage and her epic journey, thanks to @kaimac. Roz is an ocean rower who is currently rowing across the Pacific to raise awareness of climate change. The amazing thing is that she is able to blog from her tiny row boat in the middle of the Pacific. As I read her story from my little London flat, on a Sunday afternoon, I’m suddenly a bit more motivated to be better, be less wasteful and to think outside of the four walls of my life. It seems that Roz has this effect on a lot of people.

When Roz was in London, ahead of the Copenhagen talks, we met up and I produced a short video with her for the Open University Creative Climate project. What’s most incredible is that Roz is so humble about such extraordinary achievements.

I can see on the Roz tracker that she’s getting close to Papa New Guinea, but she’s in need of some support because her comments are really slow. If you find her as inspiring as I do, drop her a message on her blog and her mum will pass it on next time she calls in.

I lost at Blog Brother

joroach — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:40:50 +0000

I blogged from 2003 until about 2007. Mostly about myself and things that amused me.

The platform I was on was called 20Six and was mostly 20-somethings in the UK, although some were littler/bigger. There was a lovely older man up in Yorkshire, a journalist out in Iraq and generally in dangerous places, and my favourite geek: Pete up in Newcastle. We were a pretty tight community, and it was a lovely place to hang out. We could give each other virtual sweeties for great posts.

Over the years we had a marriage, lots of romance, a learned a lot about New Malden. It was like another life online, and one where I could make people laugh by saying things I couldn’t say in real life. We met in real life too, but I prefered being online.

The best bit was an online event staged over two weeks called Blog Brother, where 15 people were invited to blog competitively against the others. I got chosen as a blogger. Everything was a little too polite until I initiated some mean tactics. I convinced everyone that a showy American girl who was studying in Manchester was actually a 50yr old man in Milton Keynes who lived alone in a flat with his Yorkshire terrier. My evidence was the fact that all her images of Manchester looked like they were taken on different cameras during alternate seasons. She got the boot before me.

Again, I was delighted!

I got Popbitched

joroach — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:54:52 +0000

In 2004 I created an interactive vote for BBC Eurovision. I wanted to allow the audience to vote on something that they’d be able to see the results of. Something that would make a difference to the show. The producer suggested we let them chose the video backdrop, which would show as Lorraine Kelly delivered the votes from the UK.

The options had to be iconic landmarks from the capital city of the entrant country, so I came up with a shortlist which included Neasden Temple, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and the Houses of Parliament. I also threw in a wild card: Old Compton Street. The centre of gay london, where Eurovision was a big event. I thought it would be a funny in-joke between me and a few people who came and voted.

The vote took off more than we expected. And then Popbitch put the URL in their newsletter.

Old Compton Street won.

By miles.

And I had to tell the TV producer…

I felt very strongly that we had to honour the decision of the audience. The team asked how many people knew the results of the vote. Only me. The results had been kept private.

I came in the next week to find that Simon, the producer, had taken a little step-ladder down to Soho, propped it up outside Ed’s Diner and shot the footage. Including a sorry-looking transvestite wandering towards the lens, and a fat drunk bloke tripping up the kerb.

Lorraine Kelly delivered the results of the UK jury, in front of the twinkling lights of Soho. The best of British according to the UK audience.

I was delighted.

Previous work

joroach — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:46:43 +0000

2011
Director and Executive Producer, Nightmare High for Channel Four: www.nightmarehigh.com
Executive Producer, Skins Series 5 interactive campaign
Development Creative, The Sims Resilience Project for Channel 4 & EA games
Consultant to 4Creative, Cancer Research UK & RSE
Mentor for Crossover Labs

2010
Executive Producer, SuperMe for Channel Four: www.playsuperme.com
Digital consultant, Battlefront 2 for Raw Television and Channel Four: www.battlefront.co.uk
Consultant & Creative Project Manager at Hide & Seek, for Cadbury

2009
Executive Producer, Routesgame for Channel Four and Wellcome Trust: www.routesgame.com
Digital consultant, Misfits Online for Six2Start and Channel Four: www.e4.com/misfits
Director of Good Yarn, a 12 minute short film about knitting
Freelance producer for Open University Creative Climate project
Digital consultant, www.EISF.eu
Digital consultant, Little REDD Desk for Global Canopy Program: www.theredddesk.org
Digital producer, RSE symposium to the Mississippi River

2008
Executive Producer for Channel Four: www.routesgame.com
+ many other wonderful C4 developments and live projects

2007
Executive Producer: The Kooks and The Bees live on The Dermot O’Leary Show, for BBC Radio 2
Executive Producer: Arcade Fire live in session for BBC Radio 2 & Hub session for 6Music
Executive Producer: David Gilmour live in session for BBC Radio 2at the Mermaid Theatre
Re-launch of 42 local radio website for Global Radio and Mediaspan Online
Digital production of Falcon Beach website, for BBC Switch
Digital production of Sound website V1, for BBC Switch
Digital producer, RSE symposium in the Arctic

2006
Producer: Radio 1 Live Christmas Party from Maida Vale (web video highlights)
Producer: Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge Tour, 5 day event for BBC Radio 1 featuring Noel Gallagher & Lily Allen

2005
Executive producer, Coldplay live for BBC Radio 1
Executive Producer, The Strokes live at ULU for BBC Radio 1
Re-launch of Kerrang Radio website, for EMAP
Digital producer, RSE symposium in the Amazon
BBC Eurovision website (and the three previous years)
Various video production projects for BBc 1Xtra, including Dizzee Rascal in session

I don’t remember much further back than that

A few things I enjoyed making, years ago.