Audience: Young Adults, ages 18 – 35.
Ironically, the healthy and the young are most at risk for a flu pandemic. As the 1918 Spanish influence demonstrated, young adults were most severely impacted. We targeted the young adult market because:

1. More vulnerable
2. Transitioning life stages
3. Least prepared - psychologically, mentally and emotionally
1. Believe they are invincible
2. Believe government will take care of them
3. No basic mental understanding of pandemics
4. Never experienced this type of major personal loss.
4. Socially active
5. Gamer generation, high consumers of media

For more discussion of the audience see the learning design section.

ESRB Rating: E10+
The game will have some mature themes that may be unsuitable for younger audiences.

Genre: Simulation; Toy-based Simulation
We created a new genre called, toy-based simulation. The player affects the simulation by playing mini-games in which they access focused, goal-directed play. The result of these mini-games is fed back into the larger simulation. Mini-game genres include: action, puzzle and simulation. For more discussion on Toy-based simulation see the Learning Design section.

Platform: PC-based.
The game will be played on a personal computer capable of running Flash and Java. We aim to create a game that could be downloaded to avoid costly distribution of cd-roms We are exploring the best model of distributing the game whether it be server based or client-based.

Competitive Analysis
We played over fifty games on the PC, Nintendo DS and flash-based browser games to search for games similar to ours.


SimCity4
Genre: Simulation
Among the top simulation games in it’s genre, SimCity 4 is still attracting players who want to build a city from ground up. The game provides tools and advisors that guide your decisions. The game also includes some humor, making what could be a dry subject quite entertaining. In SimCity4, they have made interface improvements like a hideaway toolbar that we’d like explore in our game. As well, they introduce a family you can follow in the game and get feedback on your progress from their perspective. This is a great device we hope to innovate on.

The major disadvantage of SimCity4 as a learning tool is it is not very goal directed. And as a result, it is difficult to pick out opportunities to reinforce learning or to encourage reflection. As a purely entertainment game, the gameplay does not offer enough diverse modes or direct control. In their new Rush Hour Expansion pack, they introduce mini-games and new modes, but both they are pretty limited and basic. Outbreak will offer mini-game modes in a variety of genres. While god-mode is Outbreak’s main perspective, the player gets to enjoy first and third person views frequently to give them direct control of vehicles, for example.

Black and White 2 (PC)
Genre: Simulation, Real Time Strategy
Here you play as a god building nations on your planet. You can evolve to be either good or evil based on your decisions. We love the goal directed approach of Black and White 2. You are given objectives each step of the way which are clearly displayed on your screen and tracked in your toolbar. It also has a couple mini-games that you complete. The creature characters are not hard coded into the game. It is an example of how the game can be extensible.

Food Force (PC)
Genre: Adventure, Education
Put out by the UN, Food Force allows players to experience challenges in distributing food. Players play as series of challenges such as air dropping food, navigating helicopters, and assembling nutrition ratios. The game has a variety of modes that are unique and a story that ties them together. Outbreak also has a variety of modes and a story, but it combines into a simulation that the player evolves over nine chapters.

Oregon Trail (PC)
Genre: Adventure, Education
Perhaps one of the most famous educational games is Oregon Trail in which you prepare your family for a trip westward. The decisions you make during the game spells life or death for the caravan. We like the elements here that included deciding which resources to buy which is an important element in our game.

Agent USA (Atari)
Genre: Adventure, Education
The game is designed to teach US geography in which you travel from train station to train station defeating a virus called the Fuzzbomb. You learn cities in the US by traveling to locations and dropping crystals on fuzzbodies to cure them from the disease.
Despite being and educational game, it does a great job of capturing it’s audience. It was fun to play because of it’s mix of randomness and strategy.


Outbreak’s Unique Selling Proposition
No other game on the market has the combination of diverse gameplay, simulation and subject matter. Our topic is very timely. The game would gain attention across a variety of media sources. In the event of a pandemic, the Outbreak game could provide information that will help people and even generate a community of players who cope with the disease by talking to one another and using the editor to model what they see happening around them.