The virtual experience is the main purpose of the site, it must allow the user to experience what other cultures have to offer in the same way a normal visit to that country would in a safe and consistant manner. Once the user has selected a country they would like to visit, they will be confronted by a confirmation page. They can be seen here;
On this page there is a faded flag in the background while the country name is written a typeface traditional to their history. Once they havee selected start and began the adventure, they will be presented with a screen where it tells them some basic information about that country such as a weather forecast for that week, the time difference, popular foods and attractions. This page should also offer the user the ability ot customise their frog with items from that country.
The next section is about a touristic area within that country, and a guide can give the user random facts about that place. This part is to encourage learning about that country and important facts about it’s culture.
The next section is about encouraging socialising between users, in this area all users who are on this trip at the same time are available here. Therefore this means people are able to talk with users around the world in this section. When they are socialising, they are able to speak in a chat or play mini games with that user. There is a ‘bot’ frog who speaks in both the users language and the language of the country they are ‘visiting’ who can speak to the user and also play mini games with them, this is ideal for realibility and also while there are no other users in the chatroom.
Once the user has finished in the chatroom with the other users, they are able to progress onto a new section that gives the user a lesson in the language of that country. This is done using images that relate to words as recommended by my research.
The next section is a modern connection to people now taking selfies. The user will find a picture of their frog dressed in the way they have been customised in the scene of the country. It is a great way to reflect on what they have learn at a later time.
The next section is quite important as it allows the user to start a conversation with a resident of that country, it shows the user the other persons frog, their name and some other basic information then encourages them to send them a message to say hi.
Postcards are related to the tradition of sending a message back home to people you know with a short message about your trip. These can be sent via messages to other users and can fully customised. The screen below lists a grid of postcards available to send.
Then once selected the user has the ability to be able to edit the postcards with stamps, drawings and pictures of their frog whil also being able to add a message to the card. This encourages other users to learn about that specific place too.
It is important to note that the screens are a mixture of textured backgrounds or gradients, this is something that has been noted as requiring further work in ther development stages of these sections.
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