Monday, August 25, 2008

Project Process

We decided to do this project because we thought it was a specialized web site idea that had never been done before.  Given the success of other similar sites that only let users submit artwork, we thought this would appeal to artists because they can not only create their own work, but contribute to the creation of the world that their work is set in.

Once we decided that we wanted to go with this fantasy art/story site, we explored ways that we wanted to run it (using community points, submitting artwork, feedback, etc.) and then came up with a design and layout for everything.  Finishing the layout finally lead us into the direction of complete the logistics of the project.

Jakadia Presentation on SlideShare

Here is the link to our clickable prototype in Flash:
http://www.dga-art.com/jakadia/

Jakadia Presentation Final
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

more on sub-regions

Users can create sub-regions inside of other regions that already exist, such as a dungeon or town inside an already existing mountain range. Or a building inside an already existing town. These should all have corresponding point costs, the most expensive thing to add would be an actual piece of land to the already existing map. They can also create new characters/creatures/etc.



Some examples of this are:
  • Adding a new piece of land to the map - 40 points
  • Creating a main region on the map - 20 points (Claiming/naming a country-sized region on an already existing piece of land. This is a large area that will show up when only zoomed in once into the map)
  • Creating a sub-region on the map - 10 points (a town, lake, etc. This will show up when you zoom in on a specific region on the map)
  • Creating a sub-sub-region - 2 points (a building/land feature)

Group A "Jakadia" Project Statement

Our group chose to explore a user created world where artists and storytellers collaborate to create content about a single, fictional world and bring the world to life through their own imagination. It will essentially be a database of art and stories all interrelated and taking place in the same fictional world. They will be cross-linked with one another to form a sort or spider web of art and fiction.

Our desire was to create an environment where people could share their artwork, but also take part in creating and being part of a bigger community. Some of our inspirations include Wikipedia.com, Elfwood.com, DeviantArt.com, Google Maps, as well as the rise of user-submitted artwork and stories online and the popularity of social networking sites. Websites such as Elfwood.com and DeviantArt.com are sites where users can share their artwork and fantasy stories, but there is no cohesion between the works. We were inspired by Google Maps and how you could navigate, as well as share information such as comments or post pictures. The way Wikipedia.com is a type of collaborative Web site (wiki) and is all interrelated with hyper-links was another big inspiration.

With the rise of Facebook, Friendster, ThePool, and other social networking sites, people have many more ways feel connected to the world. For people to join new networking sites, the sites have to offer something new and more specific to a niche of people. Our idea was to create not just a place where people could communicate and share their work, but a place where they could create and interact with the whole, in a sort of collaborative phenomenon that is always getting bigger and more interesting.


Users can submit artwork for any character, landmark, creature, item or other thing that already exists in the world. This can be a drawing, painting, photo manipulation, 3-d rendering or other original artwork in an image format. Nothing Copyrighted will be accepted. For story submissions, users can write short stories and upload them and then create links within their stories to already existing regions, creatures, items, and characters using hyperlinks.

After artwork and stories have been submitted, they are open to all for viewing. Now the rest of the community can rate the submitted pieces (using a 1-5 star rating system) and leave feedback for the artist. The rating system has 2 functions. One is to give the community the chance to decide which art they like better and what contributes more interesting details to the world as a whole. These will be highlighted in the "Top Stories" and "Top Artwork" sections. The more votes and higher ratings will result in their piece being ranked higher up in the world.

A second way that the ratings are used is to give users a chance to accrue "community points." If enough people vote on artwork (100+ votes) with a rating of 4 stars or more, they earn a community point. A maximum of 3 points can be earned per piece of artwork. If 30 points are earned, (meaning that they would have to submit at least 10 successful pieces), the user would be able to help in crafting a new, unexplored part of the world and be the first to write a story about its history. They could name the region, select what color it will appear on the map and give a description of the vegetation, climate, inhabitants and more. This would give some artists incentive to submit more quality artwork/stories, which leads to creating a much more detailed world. more on this...

By adding a forum, people will be able communicate easier with each other and feel connected to actual community with similar interests. Another way to earn community points is being active on the forums (earning 1 point for every 50 forum posts). Community points are earned for leaving feedback on the site in the same way. It would allow non-artists to create something and have other people do art/stories related to it.

Possible marketing possibilities for the future would be expanding this concept to include different genres. Some possible ideas include having a world geared towards children, one that was Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic, Fan Art (such as Batman, etc.), and maybe one that would be like a real word with fiction. Other possible directions the site could go into would be a tool for groups to collaborate in writing and creating stories.
Also, maybe further explain the submitting stories and how the system will automatically link people/places/things? I think that is a biggy.

Our target market would be focused on:
• Teens and young adults and adults with overactive imaginations
• Creative types
• Fantasy novel consumers
• Fantasy gamers
• Artists, writers
• Harry Potter / Lord of the Rings fans