Possibly one of the most unique applications I’ve ever worked on. Over the Rainbow was an “American Idol”-esque TV show contest on CBC.

Our job was to create a mobile game (iOS/Android) that allowed the user to control the fate of contestants singing live on television. Pretty cool stuff.

Anybody using the app could vote for their favourite singer, and the crystal ball on live TV would change colour depending on how their performance was rated. You can see that in action in the video:

Click through to find out more about the game…

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During the week, players can complete challenges, quizzes, and engage in social activities inside the app to earn themselves “votes”, which were then spent during the show towards their chosen contestant.

In other words, the more active you were during the week, the more you felt like you could influence the outcome of the television show.

The only thing I hated about this? The show was broadcast on Sundays, so *wave* goodbye weekend for 10 straight weeks! The show aired in several timezones across Canada, which meant having to stay up till 2 AM EST on a Sunday night tallying up votes.

All in all, it was a great experience and I’m glad to have been a part of this.

 

EDIT: Hah, I just realized that the presenter in the video said our development team were “magical munchkins that live here in the enchanted CBC building”. I resent that comment – I was coding at home in my PJs!