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The Chicago Tribune Game Center

Alex Bordens, David Eads, Ryan Mark

GEN Editor's Lab Hackathon, April 2013

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What is the game center?

A platform to turn chicagotribune.com into a game for those who want to play.

  • Small, manageable games around the news that can tell a story.
  • Points accumulate across the site allowing users to compete on leaderboards.
  • Play as you read. The more you play and the better you do, the more points you earn.

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What is the game center?

  • Plays nice with Tribune CMS
  • Micro games embedded in story pages
  • Stand alone mini games
  • A homepage for games, leaderboards, achievements and player scores

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Micro-games

  • Short, simple and displayed inline with regular stories
  • How simple? Really simple!
    • Play in 15 seconds or less
    • Quiz games, matching games, guessing games that illustrate parts of the story

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Democracy Denied

http://bit.ly/TribAppsDemocracyGame

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Mini-games

  • Simple standalone games.
  • How simple? Pretty simple!
    • Play in 1-2 minutes or open ended
    • Longer quizzes, matching games, guessing games, simulations
    • Short stories that can stand alone
  • Edited with Google spreadsheet for easy editorial control.

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SCANDAL GAME SCREENS

http://bit.ly/TribAppsScandalGame

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Points and badges

  • Points and badges accumulate when:
    • Playing games (for playing and for reaching success conditions)
    • Reading stories
    • Submitting user generated content
  • Badges/achievements

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How do we do it?

  • Built on existing UGC Platform
  • Gigya (Tribune vendor) API for tracking points, badges, leaderboards
  • Build simple producer tools for creating micro-games
  • News Apps Team develops bespoke mini-games

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Potential Roadblocks

  • Extra work for producers, who are already stretched thin
  • Providing a regular stream of game content to include in the Game Center
  • Integration with Tribune CMS templates
  • Audience participation: Our readers come to us for news, not games

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Micro-game examples

  • Flame retardants: What household products contain flame retardants?
  • Democracy denied: What's your party name? Staple or paperclip?
  • Game changers: Fit the puzzle pieces

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Mini-game examples

  • Old photos
    • Guess the year (open ended)
    • Mobile game: Take a photo of the place now
  • Scandal matching: Match the politician to their crime
  • Bears roster challenge: Drag player names onto position on field