Channel 4 Education and Chunk let teens turn their sleep into a game with new app
Channel 4 Education and Chunk have today launched a new app, which lets teenagers record their sleep patterns, which is then used to build a ‘track’ for a game.
Called Zeds, the tracks created by the apps reflect the pattern of the sleep, changing features as you move from light to deep, and aims to show teenagers the effects of poor quality of sleep.
When sleep has been poor, the game will be harder, while periods of deep sleep are calmer and populated with collectible ‘Z’s, giving temporary immunity and other bonuses.
Donnie Kerrigan, owner and founder of Chunk, said: "Channel 4's brief was to present the facts about sleep to teenagers, in a format they'd engage with, to help them come to their own conclusions about their sleeping habits and how it affects them.
“Tracking their sleep, and then delivering the data as a game, is as direct, entertaining and memorable way of doing that as we can imagine. And, importantly, it's a unique idea that will catch their interest in the first place."
Chunk commissioned BAFTA award winning animation team, The Brothers McLeod, to bring the game characters and environments to life.
Faraz Osman, editor of education at Channel 4, said: “We wanted to encourage teenagers to both switch off from their gadgets, and help them understand the benefits of doing so. New research is revealing that sleep is a vital part of education and development and impacts on so many elements of life for teens, and yet is often overlooked, or felt to be unimportant. We wanted something that could alter that perception in an intelligent way.”
Available on iPhone and iPod Touch, the app is also supported by Professor Russell Foster, FRS; Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at Oxford University.
Chunk previously worked with Channel 4 in order to create a game to help choose contestants for game show The Bank Job.
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