Review: Chromaroma (urban game, London, 2010)

Jemima Kiss reviews Chromaroma, a playful experience for the London Underground public transportation system – a game that was criticized by Steven Poole in the article I linked yesterday. It was designed by Toby Barnes and Matt Watkins of Mudlark, and it was launched on 30 November 2010. The game tracks the players’ tickets to map their movement and assign them points on a leaderboard – the experience itself is not terribly complex, but the logistics and data visualization are smooth and compelling.

My favorite quote from the article: «[Toby Barnes] does believe that gamification is important, but that it has to be done by games designers, and it’s not just about points and badges. “It needs to be playful, about exploring things, a sense of achievement and building things. There are strong emotions you can only have with an interactive game”.»

Read the full article here: http://www.theguardian.com/media/pda/2010/nov/30/chromaroma-oyster-transport-gaming