Small Business: Games - Michael Gifford

Micahel Gifford's granddaughters Sofia (l) and Julia playing the 7 Wonders of the World game. Photo / Supplied

Michael Gifford is a retired secondary school principal of Scots College, Wellington and Kristin School, Auckland and was involved with the early development of the Massey University Albany campus. He has given presentations to school bodies on motivation, study skills, goal setting, personal organisation, and memory techniques. He talks to Gill South.

The game

I have designed a new innovative, fun-filled, family travel game - The New 7 Wonders of the World, developed by Metia Interactive for all gaming platforms including smartphones, iPads, and PC and Mac computers.

We all know about the original 7 Wonders of the World. The new Seven Wonders were 'elected ' by more than 100 million voters throughout the world and were announced at in Lisbon in 2007. They are: The Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, the Taj Mahal, the Colosseum, Petra, and Chichen Itza.

Features of the game are:

• Players choose to be James Cook, Marco Polo, Francis Drake or Christopher Columbus as they play the game.

• The goal of the game is to travel round the world and be the first player to reach all the new 7 Wonders, and gain the most points through accumulating assets (cash, bonus steps, wallet items and monument sites) during the game.

• Players start each quest from one of six starting cities - Sydney, London, Tokyo, New York, Moscow or Cape Town.

• As they travel round the world, players can learn about the history, culture and geography of cities and countries they pass through. It is both fun and educational.

• As players move around the board they answer questions, make decisions, earn money, and obtain free flights and other rewards.

• The game finishes when the first player has reached all seven monuments, and the winner is the player who has accumulated the most points during the game.

• The game can be played by people of all ages, either singly or with up to 4 players at any one time.

Marketing the game

Our aim is:

1. To promote on the Apple apps store.

2. To promote on Big Fish for PC/Mac computers.

3. To use Facebook to spread the word.

4. To use my contacts with schools/organisations.

5. To have a session with Jim Mora on National Radio - The Best Song Ever Written spot.

6. To see if I can get more newspaper exposure.

I need to sell about 20,000 games to get my money back, and if I can, I will start devising some follow-up games using the 7 Wonders format. There are now, for example, 7 Wonders of Nature, and voting is taking place for the 7 Wonder cities of the world. Using the same format, new games can be produced at a fraction of the cost of the original.

Next week: the Christmas rush - for many SMEs this is the busiest time of the year. How have you prepared yourself for the silly season? What did you learn from last year? Email me, Gill South at the link below with your stories: