Super Moviemaking App Could Help Kids Put Down the iPad Instead

NEW ORLEANS - March 11, 2015 - PRLog -- Superhero Academy is a game for iPads and iPhones designed to help kids aged 6-8 become the world’s newest superheroes and go on exciting missions. What makes Superhero Academy truly unique, however, is that it simultaneously coaches kids to create movie trailers of those adventures, providing parents, family members & friends a lens into the child’s unique imagination.

The team behind Superhero Academy is currently raising money for its development via a Kickstarter campaign ending on 3/31/15. The link to that campaign is:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613888416/superhero-academy

Superhero Academy plays like a Choose Your Own Adventure story combined with Video Madlibs. That means that kids make key decisions, such as how they get their powers, which villain they’ll endeavor to stop, and how they’ll put an end to that villain’s plans. Along the way they’ll be prompted to take pictures and videos of their adventure. They’ll spy on the villain to learn what they’re up to. They’ll broadcast messages to all computer, television, and smartphone screens in the world to warn the Earth’s population about the current threat. And they’ll inspire hope by transforming into a new costumed hero to save the day!

Kids using the app will be guided in some basic principles of cinematography for each shot to help them develop instincts of shot variety, framing, and lighting. Of course, if they’ve got a sibling, friend, or parent around who wants to play too, they can take turns in their roles of camera operator and action star!

At the end of the play session, the app will automatically edit their media into a movie trailer starring them, which they’ll then be free to show to their parents and choose to share with other friends & relatives. Starboat Interactive is careful to respect the privacy of its users. The kids’ media will be entirely stored on their device, and the resulting movies will never be uploaded without the user’s deliberate choice to do so.

This is Starboat Interactive’s first game, although its team has deep experience in both creating imaginative experiences for kids and in producing high level media. CEO & Head Writer Andrew Larimer spent years as a teaching artist, running theatre, scriptwriting & movie-making workshops for a variety of artistic and educational institutions including The NOLA Project Theatre Company, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the University of New Orleans’ Gifted Education Department, and The Porch 7th Ward Cultural Organization funded by the Ford Foundation. He also owns and operates FatHappy Media, a video production & animation studio in New Orleans. Through FatHappy Media, he met Starboat Interactive’s head artist and animator Ryan Hull, who had also been a professional gamer competing in Halo tournaments under the callsign “foley.”

“We wanted to make something that helps kids look away from the screen for a little while and get back to building hideouts, putting on costumes, and leaping from cushion to cushion over a floor that’s suddenly turned to lava,” said Starboat Interactive CEO Andrew Larimer. “This kind of immersive imaginative play is clearly important for kids (and probably all animals) from an evolutionary perspective. We don’t think being represented by another character on screen does the same thing to help you develop as a person. We wanted to make an iPad app that helps kids put down the iPad.”

WHAT:Superhero Academy is an iOS app designed to facilitate immersive, imaginative play sessions for kids aged 6-8 while teaching them some basic skills of media creation, and give them a platform for sharing their imaginary adventures with the world.

WHO:Starboat Interactive is a new game development studio in New Orleans. Its team brings together skillsets in children’s theatre, interactive workshops, animation, professional gaming, and filmmaking.

WHY NOW?:The Superhero Academy Kickstarter is in full swing. Supporters can act now to get in on the ground floor, help prototype the app, get custom comic panel art, and attend a filmmaking workshop taught by professional filmmakers.

MORE INFO: More info is available by contacting the project team or visiting the Kickstarter at:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613888416/superhero-academy

IMAGES: Images of CEO Andrew Larimer’s prototype sessions with kids are available at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vsrgak4t9xtu32g/AACMt6_X3S2PmAb8OtJlapRra?dl=0