The Jejune Institute’s game uses San Francisco as its
backdrop and requires play- ers to explore the city
The Time Shutter app allows
users to recreate historic postcards of the streets of San Franciso
Hollywood Star Walk helps users
locate the star they want to fi nd and learn more about the honorees
Wishing Stars enables users to
take on 14 quests in a treasure hunt- style game throughout Disneyland
related stars, accessing a list of Monroe’s famous co-stars and collaborators who are also featured in The Walk of Fame. While the app is perfectly functional, one
thing was missing. As The Walk of Fame is all about motion pictures, tv, music and radio, the app would have benefi ted from some media. Video or sound clips would have made the experience more dynamic, especially for younger users.
FINDING STARS AT DISNEYLAND While there’s no lack of Disney-based content in the app store, primarily for games and shows, there are, surprisingly, no offi cial apps by Disney for any of its theme parks. In the last few years, a variety of unoffi cial apps have emerged. These range from park guides and maps to wait- time managers. A notable exception is an app called Wishing Stars. This is a type of scavenger hunt you play
with your iPhone while at Disneyland. The app itself is free and comes with two free quests. These come in easy, medium or hard categories and must be purchased separately. The storyline for the app is that wishing stars have been shattered and the fragments are hidden all over Disneyland. Your job is to fi nd the fragments and reas-
AM 3 2011 ©cybertrek 2011
semble the stars. There are 14 quests, each ending in a wishing star. I chose to do the New Orleans Shop
Search Quest. I was given a list of images of fi ve distinctive shop signs hanging in the park’s themed New Orleans streets. My task was to fi nd the signs and enter street addresses from the corresponding shops. I found four of the fi ve addresses from
the signs, but the fi fth was trickier. The ‘how about an easier clue?’ button, merely read: “Sorry, I don’t have any other clues. Maybe try asking a Disney cast member?” So I broke down and asked a human being for help. It turned out that the shop sign I was looking for was covered by construc- tion scaffolding. I guess that’s one of the hazards of playing an unoffi cial app. The production value of Wishing Stars is
very high. The graphics and sound effects felt right at home within the Disney brand. The user interface was intuitive and respon- sive, but I was surprised that there was no map of the park. I found myself having to go back and forth between Wishing Stars and another map app for the park. Overall, Disney should be taking a close look at what the San Francisco-based makers, The Future of Pinball, LLC have created in their own backyard.
THE EXPANDING APPSCAPE In just two years, the number of apps being sold has grown from 30,000 to 300,000. In the fi rst half of 2010, the total mobile app market reached $2.2bn (£1.3bn, 1.5bn)
and it’s forecast to reach $15bn (£9.2bn, 10.5bn) by 2013. Businesses and indi- viduals are starting to populate this digital environment in ways that are hard to pre- dict. The barrier to entering the app market is getting lower, meaning that more diverse voices can be heard, but this doesn’t nec- essarily mean a higher level of quality. In the app market, there’s a tendency
toward technology for technology’s sake, especially here in California. This emerging landscape holds incredible possibilities for how users interact with stories of all kinds. Marketers and advertisers will be among
the fi rst to carve out space in this new territory. Businesses and institutions that have a strong stake in storytelling, such as theme parks and museums, should con- sider how their stories would translate into a mobile experience. These projects are just a tiny sample of some of the incredible mobile overlays being created today. ●
Mark Hayward, principal and founder Monkey
, Inc, @ideamonkeyinc Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital 75 , Idea
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