Awesome Animals Safari

Project partners: Fettle Animation, Joi Polloi, University of Bradford, University of Sheffield

The Awesome Animals SafARi project is a collaboration between Fettle, a multi-award winning animation company based in Huddersfield, and Joi Polloi, a BAFTA-winning independent digital agency based in Sheffield.

Awesome Animals SafARi is a multi-sensory experience, where users can meet and interact with their favourite animals. Using AR-based interactions, children and families can explore fascinating facts about the habitats and behaviours of different animals.

Academics from the University of Sheffield including digital literacies specialist Dr Becky Parry, and early childhood specialist Dr Liz Chesworth, provided detailed insight on the subject of children and digital play. The market potential of Awesome Animals SafARi was explored with the support from Dr Carlton Reeve, Head of Games, Animation and Visual Effects at the University of Bradford’s School of Media, Design and Technology.

A working prototype of the Awesome Animals SafARi was created which centred around the story of a young elephant, Keeya, who lost her Mum on the way to the water hole. Tom Jordan (scriptwriter for Go Jetters on Cbeebies) wrote the script for this project, and wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan narrated the story.

Online focus groups were given access to the working prototype to allow children to engage with the content and share their ideas and experiences.

The project has provided a positive indication that a multi-sensory, interactive screen-based AR safari game is entertaining and informative to young children. Further work is now required to grow this concept to a full-scale development. 

Kath Shackleton, CEO and industry partner says:

“The Awesome Animals SafARi project has been a great collaborative effort with Joi Polloi and academics from the University of Sheffield and the University of Bradford. During the project we also received mentoring support from Creative England on developing future market and investment opportunities.

There is potential to explore the next stage of development and expand the technology for use in other sectors such as museums and visitor experiences. We have recently  presented the project at the Children’s Media Conference and also plan showcase this at the University of Sheffield to an invited audience of museum and gallery educators and schools.”

Categories: Games, Technology