Key Features of Pokamole (TM)
1) Fun, hilarious and user-friendly
2) New combination of poke-a-prairie dog + tower defence
3) 10% of revenue donated to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
How Pokamole (TM) was Created
What does the beauty of nature and the code in an Android app have in common? Michael and Mayu are 2 nature-loving, environmentally-conscious biochemistry students. Seeing the incredible increase in the use of smartphones, they wanted to bring the beauty of nature onto smartphones for everyone to enjoy.
The duo received their inspiration from nature when they started creating their app in October 2010. They decided to develop a game that showcases the beauty of the outdoors and the friendliness of animals in our environment.
Michael was particularly motivated by something he saw experienced earlier. On a sunny day in Autumn, Michael saw a family of raccoons crossing the street. Suddenly, a fast-moving car turned onto the street and ran over the raccoons, killing the parents and leaving one of the babies injured. “There was blood splattered everywhere. The look of fear and sadness in the eyes of the children raccoons that survived is really something that is hard to forget,” Michael said.
Michael was particularly motivated by something he saw experienced earlier. On a sunny day in Autumn, Michael saw a family of raccoons crossing the street. Suddenly, a fast-moving car turned onto the street and ran over the raccoons, killing the parents and leaving one of the babies injured. “There was blood splattered everywhere. The look of fear and sadness in the eyes of the children raccoons that survived is really something that is hard to forget,” Michael said.
Michael carried the injured baby raccoon home and wrapped its injured leg with bandages. For the next 3 days, Michael let the baby raccoon stay in the house and fed it cookies and water. On the 4th day, Michael saw that the raccoon was fully healed, so he released it back into the wild. “I named the baby raccoon Warrior for its toughness. It is one of the major characters in our app. Warrior has visited me several times since I rescued it. I have seen him standing on the porch a few times when I return home from night class.”
Moved by what happened to Warrior, his family and countless other small animals, Michael became more aware of the conditions of animals living in close proximity to people. Soon, Mayu and Michael decided to create Pokamole, a game that features animals often overlooked and under-appreciated in our society (prairie dogs, squirrels, raccoons, pigs and hedgehogs). In addition to featuring cute animals, Pokamole also brings something completely new to touch-screen games – a new technology called Liquid Touch (TM). It provides faster response when the player uses touch gestures in the game - by tapping the screen or scrolling to the left, right, up or bottom.
“The story of the game is that you are a peanut farmer, and the objective is to protect your peanuts from the animals that come and try to eat them,” Mayu happily explained. “The peanuts symbolize the limited natural resources that we have in the world. The meaning behind the game is that, as people, we have to share these resources with animals in the world,” Michael noted. "By poking these under-appreciated animals, the player gives these cute animals much-deserved attention," Mayu commented.
Pokamole is truly the app that cares for the environment and wildlife. Mayu and Michael are donating 10% of the revenue from Pokamole to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “This shows that you can bring your passion, environmental protection for example, into any area, including the apps industry,” Mayu explained. “By purchasing Pokamole, you are getting a fun and hilarious game, and also helping to protect wildlife at the same time,” Michael acknowledged.
11 months after they started, two biochemistry students have brought their unique perspective to develop a game that attempts to increase the amount of care and love for animals often overlooked and under-appreciated in our society. In addition, Mayu and Michael have focused on creating a fun, hilarious and welcoming experience for the user. They are confident that Pokamole is one of the most fun and hilarious apps of 2011. Pokamole is available on Android Market on September 12, 2011.
