Just Play - The Old Time App (In my opinion)
Dreaming and Conceptualizing

1. Too much of ANYTHING is a bad thing, in my opinion. As a parent, I get really irritated with how much time my children tend to spend on their electronics. When they lived with me full time we spent much more time outside playing or hiking. But their habits changed when they moved in with their dad. I remember when I was younger, the neighborhood kids regularly gathered together to play night games (Kick the Can, Capture the Flag, etc) There were a few people that stayed home and played video games, but for the most part, we were all outside and actively engaged in physical activity and socializing with friends. Two main problems that I see with not just younger people, but the older ones as well, is that a frighteningly large majority of people will spend their time on their devices, not interacting with actual people and certainly not moving their body, just their fingertips. There is an increase in weight gain, depression, and isolation. The app JUST PLAY that we came up with is intended to help people reconnect with each other, to help them remember or maybe really learn for the first time, that REAL people are actually pretty cool. We want people to be more active and healthy as well. With the incorporation of old and the new, it just might make a difference, even if it's a little bit, it's worth it. The old being the old time games people used to play together without the use of electronic devices. The new being using the devices that so many have come to see as their best friend, their phones, to find other people and come together in real time. It's time to RECONNECT with the other members of the human race.

2. It seems as if the majority of cell phone users are playing some sort of game on their phone, especially if they are on the younger side of cell phone users. We want to keep the games going but we wanted to change it up a bit by offering another place to play, different games to play and the opportunity to play with actual people! Yes, getting people to change their way of every day life, in getting off their backsides and reconnecting with people might be a little challenging, but it's worth it to try it. There are so many game apps out there, countless really... But this app is different  because it mainly just gives a list of games and how to play them (along with other info) but you don't play games with the phone necessarily. So that is what makes it stand apart from other game apps.

3. People everywhere in this country, and probably in many other countries in which the people are heavily immersed in the technological world, (though I haven't been anywhere else really so I'm not exactly familiar with the day to day habit of internationals) people are almost constantly connected to their cell phones as they're used for so many tasks. This app, will probably not make a big splash in the ocean of apps out there, but I do think that if it's tried out a few times, it could become more popular but only in regional pockets.

For our Interface design we had to decide which colors and fonts we wanted to use. The first thought that I had for the interface because the app was about playing games, was to show an image of kids/teens/adults (whatever)  playing outside and having fun - for a background. I wanted to see  a blue sky indicating something happy and appealing. Clint found a good image to use for the interface.  The main colors we used for the app interface was orange for a good portion of the text. White was also used for the text. Orange is a bright and happy color so I thought it was a good choice since that's what games are all about - having fun!

As far as fonts go, we didn't want to get too crazy with the fonts we would choose since there would be some screens on which there would a fair amount of words to read. We wanted it to be easily read. If the font used requires too much effort to decipher what is there, people won't want to use it. SO, we kept it simple.

Architecture Design - We wanted the app to be easy to use from the first screen, because if it's not easy, it won't get used. Here are some photos of the drawings we did when designing what the different app screens would likely look like (in a very simple design without the fun colors and fonts).

1. Indoor or Outdoor
2. Active or Brain
3. Large Group (11+) or Medium Group (5-10) or Small Group (2-4)

Once those few simple questions have been answered your profile will be ready, and you'll be taken to the home page.
Each of the buttons on the home screen will take you to a different aspect of the game. For example, by clicking the "settings" icon at the bottom, right you'll be taken to your profile, where you will be able to update your information whenever you see fit. For example, I would go to my profile and change every aspect of my "Interest In" section.
The flow continues as each icon on the home screen is tapped and a new screen appears. As we worked through the creation of our icon pages the app developed more and more, which resulted in us changing a couple of the home screen icons. This experience is proof that with each collaboration meeting more information will be revealed and the development of the app will continue to progress.
The start a game option will no longer be on the front page, but rather when you search for a game you will have the option of creating a game if there isn't already one you would like to join. You will be able to search a couple of different ways, either by the name of the game or by particular demographics. With the demographics you'll be able to enter vital information; including, what age range, indoor or outdoor, brain game or active game, etc. Entering those demographics would limit your options of games to create, like giving you a more focused search. We also added the idea of sponsored games, which you can see on the "join a game" page. The idea behind sponsored games is that a company can put on big events and get the word out through our app.

Proof of Concept and Distribution

For proof of concept, I know there is an option of having a test group try an app out before it gets distributed for public download and use. Before that would happen, the creators would want to try it out for sure to make sure we didn't make a fool of ourselves. It's good to get the bugs worked out as much as possible before letting other people use it and end up hating it because of problems. Once the app proves to work well, it would be time to upload it to an app store. The standard fee to have an app put in an app store is 30%, however there are some "app stores" that keep far less, but they have much smaller traffic numbers on them so it likely wouldn't be worth it.
Our app would be available exclusively through the Apple App Store (at least for now). The App would be financially free for users, but they would have to pay in information. In order for the location based services to work (the meeting up for games) users would have to give up their location if they are trying to meet for a game. Users would also have to give up their names, age and gender.

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