Blog Stuff we're discovering, learning, reading, watching, enjoying...

We’re running another installation of Five Trees Forest - our RFID/SMS  interactive mobile story this week at the Showcomotion Conference in Sheffield. Created with Blink, we’ve had to redevelop the mobile interaction this time round so that the game is played purely by SMS rather than RFID due to there being up to 400 players potentially taking part! It’ll be interesting to see how the story develops amidst the context of a conference and whether the players are as engaged using SMS as they have been with the physical interaction of using RFID.

Nice to see Thumbprint, one of our newer projects, getting a reference on Tech Guardian and that it’s rightly referred to as “embryonic”. In his article on hyperlocal information, Victor Keegan looks at how smartphones have created micro-level location awareness, ranging from discovering photos taken nearby to retracing Shakespeares footsteps!

We’re very happy to announce that Common Agency won the Best Application of Mobile Technology award in last week’s Yorkshire Digital Awards 2009 for our work [with Blink] on the Five Trees Forest story/game. In a strong and diverse category which included a Bluetooth city guide and a mobile internet service, Five Trees Forest was lauded for it’s innovative and effective use of future mobile technology to create a compelling and immersive experience. This follows a successful installation in April of Five Trees Forest at the BBC’s innovation labs, where the service generated much enthusiasm in it’s demonstration of future mobile technology.

Having established ourselves as specialists in mobile design and development by delivering numerous projects for key mobile players such as Orange, HTC and other mobile companies - we’re particularly happy to also be gaining recognition from our peers for our mobile work. Furthermore this is at a time when mobile, perhaps ‘finally’ some might say, is becoming a more significant part of the digital landscape. With our current activity spanning applications for iPhone and Android, mobile internet service development and mobile user experience design, it’s a great time to be involved in creating and delivering mobile services.

We’re looking forward to attending the Yorkshire Digital Awards 2009 event this evening, not least because Five Trees Forest - our RFID story/game developed in association with Blink - is nominated in the Best Application of Mobile Technology category.

At tonights Sandpit #10 event, a game is being run using a system that we’ve developed with our partners and friends at Blink. You can play from afar or even better turn up at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. When London was built there were many monsters trapped underneath the buildings and foundations. It’s your task to  free them by solving the riddles, texting the answers and then drawing the monsters themselves.

Find out more and follow the progress and results from here.

In our latest Flash game you can overcome the current financial doom and gloom by helping Gordon save the banks. And if that doesn’t work you might just be able to raise yourself a few quid by selling your old phones back to Fonebank.com. This topical  Flash game builds on a simple “grab the object” game concept and adds topical sound bites and jokes. Developed completely in Actionscript 3 and including a physics engine for realistic effects, after playing the game you can share the game easily using social networks and bookmarking tools, challenge a friend by email to beat your score or value your old phones at Fonebank.com.