Squawk's Journey - A Virtual Reality Adventure
We partnered with Squawk Squad, Department of Conservation, the Christchurch City Council, Ngai Tahu, Genesis Energy, WhioForever to create a VR experience that details the adventures of a young robin bird who interacts with friends (a Tui and Kiwi) and foes (a stoat and rat) in a NZ native forest.
The experience was developed for Oculus Go and for smartphones using a cardboard VR headset. A 360 video version can also be watched on YouTube. To get kids involved across the country, Squawk Squad distributed 800 cardboard VR headsets to over 25,000 Kiwi kids from more than 400 schools.
This was an incredibly powerful way to create an emotional connection with conservation and change attitudes and behaviours around the importance of saving native birds’ lives.
For kids, seeing our native birds and the predators that threaten them in an immersive, game-like format is exciting and gives them the opportunity to bring the conservation conversation home to their whanau and friends.
The VR experience ties into a wider range of initiatives by the social enterprise to get kids involved with Conservation Week.
Features both English and Te Reo.
See Idealog's feature on Squawk's Journey