A travel companion to help unlock the hidden gems throughout the city of Melbourne and the rest of the world. Can you complete the quest, solve the puzzles and uncover the hidden gems?
Goal
$50 000 to pay for stage one of the development of our app and paid advertising to launch the app.
The pitch
About this project
The aim of this project is to encourage tourists and locals alike to visit the locations that a local would consider a well-known secret of a city, “hidden gems”.
It will be an escape-room like quest that will encourage people to explore. The first step of this project is to develop an app and a quest that will work in Melbourne, but our long-term goal is to expand to other places in Australia and the rest of the world.
When using the app, the explorer participates in quests and need to solve puzzles. Once one or more puzzles are solved the user will unlock the GPS coordinates of a hidden gem and can go explore the location. As we want to encourage responsible tourism there will be a few sustainability challenges in different locations that allows the explorer to earn points and climb up the leaderboard.
Once we have reached $10,000 in funding, we will invite all funding backers to submit a logo-design for our logo-competition. Providing all a stakeholders the opportunity to design our logo and have their work displayed to travellers from all over the world.
Once we reach $25,000 we will add a travel personality test to the app. What is the point in solving a quest to find a hidden gem if that hidden gem is not something you want to explore?
The travel personality test will take your preferences into account and your hidden gems will become tailored to you, whether you prefer drinks at a rooftop bar or to spend all day at the beach.
Mystery rewards
Once we have reached $10000 funded we will invite every backer so far to submit a logo design for our logo-competition. Thus, all early backers will have the opportunity of designing our logo and have their work displayed to travellers from all over the world!
Once we reach $25000 funded we will add a travel personality test to the app! What is the point in solving a quest to find a hidden gem if that hidden gem is not something you want to explore? The travel personality test will take your preferences into account and your hidden gems will become tailored to you, whether you prefer drinks at a rooftop bar or to spend all day at the beach.
Mystery rewards will be revealed once the previous reward has been unlocked.
Where did this project come from?
We are a team of travellers studying digital communication with an idea to expand the tourism industry with unknown locations ‘hidden gems’ of cities throughout the world.
We came up with this idea as we want to go where the locals go rather than visiting the common tourist destinations. And we want to make it easier and more fun to do so!
Pledges:
Pledge without a reward
All pledges, whether small or big, are highly appreciated
Pledge $5 or more
Early access to the app and free use for a limited period of time.
Pledge $10 or more
Early access to the app and free use. Forever!
Pledge $75 or more
An invite to a 1½ hour evening seminar, where the team behind City Gems will talk about the development of the app and the puzzles. The seminar will be held as a video conference and can be attended either online or in Melbourne. Includes the $10 pledge reward.
Pledge $500 or more
An invite to a four-hour quest and puzzle workshop hosted by one of our City Gem experts.
Do you want to know more about City Gems?
Do you want tips and tricks on how to come up with your own quests?
Do you wonder how mini-quests can be incorporated as a learning tool in schools?
Or do you have a crazy idea and want feedback?
What we talk about is up to you and the other attendees. The workshop will be held as a video conference and can be attended either online or in Melbourne. Includes the $75 pledge reward.
Why we need your help
We want travellers and locals alike to nominate and vote for the hidden gems of Melbourne, rather than allow companies to buy their business a spot as a hidden gem. That is right, a company cannot pay for their business to become a hidden gem!
However, this also means that we need your help to fund the app, as we will not gain revenue from collaborating with companies throughout Melbourne. This is of utmost importance, as there is no point in visiting a “hidden gem” if the hidden gem is the bar that paid us the most money to put it in the app. This means that we need your help with funding the app.
Risks and challenges
The biggest challenge of this project is that we want to develop an open-source framework, in which travellers and locals help determine the hidden gems. Once the app has been tested in Melbourne we will rely on other people to nominate hidden gems and to create more puzzles and quests for the app to thrive in their city. At the same time we rely on travellers to take some time out of their hectic schedule and really explore the city rather than just jump of the bus for long enough to participate in a free walking tour.
We are only providing the framework, but we are hopeful that City Gems can and will become a community-driven project.
Source Video and Image Credits
Google Earth Pro Footage (as per individual licences on video) As accessed via a Google Earth Pro Licence Key (See guidelines)
Diamond by OpenClipart-Vectors (CC0)
Falling Diamonds by 470906 (CC0)
Hidden Gem Chest by PIRO4D (CC0)
Sci-Fi HUD – Green Screen Animation by footageisland (CC by Youtube)
Music:
Inspirational Life by Royalty Free Music (CCby3.0)
