Power Up Bristol are another of the brilliant six shortlisted teams from the Bristol Green Capital Digital Challenge’s 48-hour hackathon, who are in with a chance of winning £50,000 to take their idea to market.
Power Up Bristol is a puzzle game that challenges game players ideas about energy use and efficiency by putting them in charge of powering the city with a host of cute Power Pack characters leading the way!
We caught up with team-members James Parker, Nat Al-Tahhan, Owen Davies, Ben Curtis and Tilly Shaw as they continue to work hard on the game ahead of the final, which is in just a few weeks’ time, to find out more.
Characters with a cause
With a varied team taking part in the digital challenge, whose experience ranges from game development, to graphic design and environmental consultancy, the team was bound to build something highly creative.
Given the theme of energy to power their creativity, James explains that this is becoming an increasingly urgent cause with a big part of the solution surrounding raising awareness of issues surrounding energy usage, and that there is a real need to emphasise how much people’s use of and relationship with energy is going to have to change in order to create a sustainable future.
“Power Up Bristol: an intersection of games, science, and education”
However, it’s not just the environmental aspect that drew the team towards this challenge. James tells us: “Nat is very interested in the intersection of games, science, and education – so the Green Digital Challenge seemed a good initiative to get involved with, and we have all worked together at and enjoyed various games jams in the past, so the team came together quite naturally.”
Introducing the Power Pack: the cast of lovable characters,
each representing a valuable energy source
So with games in the hearts of the team, James explains: “We created a light-hearted puzzle game which challenged players to power their town (in this case, Bristol) in the most efficient way possible.”
“The game makes use of approachable core game mechanics, and a cast of lovable characters – The Power Pack – to gently make players aware of the choices that need to be made in balancing power supply and usage, against the environmental impacts of those choices, and the well-being of the population.”
Power Up Preview: Check out this demo video to get
an idea of how the game works
Chatting about the challenge itself, the team emphasises how beneficial it was to have the opportunity to see the other team’s creations over the weekend, providing a motivating way to collaborate and come up with creative solutions to environmental issues affecting the local community and beyond.
“We hope the game will make a lasting impression and help people to make steps to become more energy efficient”
Nonetheless, creating a game aimed at raising awareness of the impact of waste doesn’t come without its challenges. James explains that: “Like any game, the most important thing will be to make it engaging and compelling in its own right as well as making it appeal to a wide audience”.
“We hope that we’ll be able to launch the game across all mobile devices, so that people can play and enjoy the game, and also that it makes a lasting impression on them and makes them think about the issues that it raises and the steps they can take to be more energy efficient.”
Thanks to James and the team for answering our questions. You can get the latest updates from the team by following them on Twitter: @PowerUpBristol. Keep an eye out for upcoming profiles on the other shortlisted teams in the coming weeks as well as more information about the final at the Bristol 2015 International Youth Summit, which will be held at the Colston Hall on the 20 April.
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Bristol 2015 are also helping bring Venturefest to the South West to show off the amazing products and services being created in the Bristol and Bath region to potential investors. See Venturefest Bristol & Bath for more or keep up with the latest Venturefest news by following them on Twitter here: @venturefestbb
