The team at Stormcloud Games have been pushing the boat out for their initial title, Mr Shingu’s Paper Zoo. They were at Dare ProtoPlay’s indie showcase, with branded t-shirts, iPads and boundless enthusiasm.
The game was a big hit with kids and families and proved that the combination of paper folding, animal husbandry and tamagotchi is something that strikes a chord with younger gamers.
Now the Stormcloud team have cleverly used Scotland’s most famous pregnancy to promote the game even further. Edinburgh Zoo’s female panda, Tian Tian is expected to go into labour at any minute.
Obviously you don’t want to upset a heavily pregnant bear unduly. While docile and cuddly by nature, they are technically carnivores. Therefore Stormcloud and Abertay Prototype team decided to implement project Mock Panda, dressing up one of their own as a rather svelte and voluptuous lady panda and unleashing her onto visitors, with iPads, origami and delicious bamboo.
Frank Arnot from Stormcloud Games said:
With Paper Zoo we want to inspire children to learn how to make origami, and to create their own collections of paper animals at home. It’s wonderful to see young people learning to make their own animals through the game, and what better place to try panda origami than Edinburgh Zoo’s wonderful panda enclosure? Everyone’s very excited to see if the Edinburgh Zoo pandas have their first baby, and it’s been great to help families visiting the zoo to create their own digital panda families with our Paper Zoo app.
Mike Enoch, Portfolio manager for the Prototype Fund and official panda impersonator, agreed:
Mmmmmf, pprmmf, mmmfff, zooommmfff, mmf, mmfff, mmfffff, mfff, raaaaar!
Congratulations to the Stormcloud team for a brave marketing plan. Congratulations too to the Prototype Fund team for stepping into the breach – and the panda outfit – to help.
Mr Shingu’s Paper Zoo is OUT NOW for iPhone and iPad, priced at a wildlife-savingly reasonable £1.99. There’s also a LITE version, available for FREE for the criminally parsimonious, or those confined to enclosures with bamboo aplenty, but no credit cards.
