We’re over the moon to be able to work on a brand as big as George of the Jungle. About a year ago, our good friends over at Yowza asked us to work with Teletoon and create a great George game to coincide with a new run of the TV show.
After several meetings and a lot of work, we pulled together a pitch and sent it along to the folks at Teletoon. With the broadcaster’s seal of approval, we submitted our application to the Shaw Rocket Fund (one of the agencies that funds TV-related digital media here in Canada) and they loved it too.
We thought it might be helpful to show folks a bit of the thought behind the proposal design. There are two things we did that really helped us out.
1. Be the app you want to see in the store
After brainstorming the core gameplay, we started with a mockup of how it would look in the app store. But it’s more than wishful thinking. Even during the early stages it was extremely helpful to put the game in a context that matters: the store page. If it doesn’t look good in the store, consumers (and funding agencies) probably won’t pick it up. We’ve used this several times, and it’s always been a good exercise.
Doing this for a proposal also lets you identify and refine the core selling point of the game. A short description, app icon, fake user reviews, all of these require you to really understand what you’re going for.
A common pitfall with proposals is to be targeting two demographics: funding agency reviewers and end users. This usually ends up with a final product that doesn’t appeal to either. Targeting consumers in a super obvious way forces you to focus on things that end users—real people with hopes and dreams aside from funding your project—will want.
2. Be real
It’s also a good idea to show the app “working” on a device. The goal is to prove to agencies (and ourselves) that the game looks like something you’d want on your phone. Since we’ve transitioned from desktop web, to mobile web and mobile games, the physical constraints and the fact that you need to control it all with a finger are still things we like to be reminded of frequently.
We’re super proud of Owie Owie and I still can’t help laughing every time George bonks his way to the ground. Make sure to check out the game and give it a download – it’s free! Find it here.
*A ton of thanks to the Rocket Fund/OMDC for helping us finance Owie Owie and to the folks at Switch, DreamWorks & Teletoon for introducing us to George.
– Dan