Thank you for your response

What about parties with awkward numbers? Would your pricing be easily adjusted for, say, a fifth or sixth person, or would the extra person(s) have to pay £3.50 or £6.50 for their dishes instead of benefiting from the bulk deal? Speaking of pricing, if the dishes are standard serving size, don't you think you should be charging a little more? Especially if you plan to start with a chain of 5 restaurants, it would take a long time to break even if you're only charging £6 for a standard sized dish.

Hmm, I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of having a waiter on-hand to provide advise on which dishes go well together. Would it not be better to make a conscious effort to make as many dishes go together as possible? It kind of defeats the purpose a little of being able to mix & match if someone is going to be on hand to steer you towards almost pre-selected combinations.

Hey, Team Aptitude, and thanks for the great pitch. I'm actually really keen on the idea of the different cuisines in one place and love the idea of something a bit alternative to the norm. I also really love the name. 'Tropicity' is really original and realistic and honestly I would want to go there!

However I do have a few questions.

Firstly, the locations. Whilst Sheffield, Bristol and York may be appropriate locations, I am a bit baffled by the choices of Devon and Cornwall. Firstly, was there a deliberate decision to make it very south-west England heavy? With 3/5 restaurants being located there and everything. Secondly, you want to give people the 'holiday' experience, as mentioned in your pitch, yet you chose, on purpose, two of the biggest holiday resort areas in the country? If people are, per se, already holidaying to Devon or Cornwall, why would they then want to get the tropical holiday experiecne by eating Australian, Indian, Moroccan or Argentinian cuisine?

Do you not think that a city like London would be a much better place as it's less of a 'holiday', more urban and then also if you look at all the different cultures that reside and wonder London. What was the reasoning behind avoiding the 'usual suspects', London, Birmingham, Manchester etc, even though there'd typically be a greater demand from there?

My second question is about the choice of the four different cuisine options. In particular, the addition of Indian. Curry houses and Indian restaurants already make Indian one of the most popular cuisines in the UK. How does this tie in with the more 'tropical' tastes of Argentina and Morocco? For me it looks as if it's a way of making the restaurant failsafe in the sense that if they don't fancy trying something new, they can always just have an Indian meal. Is this intended, or am I looking at it in the wrong way?

Also, the choice for Austrlaian. Whilst different, it isn't on par in my opinion with the very 'different' tastes of Morocco or latin America. What was the reasoning behind the inclusion of Australian, for a more 'western' feel to something designed to be very exotic and asian/latin?

Hello Team Aptitude, first of all, congratulations on a very professional and interesting pitch. I like the idea of offering people the chance to taste many different dishes from different countries.

My question is regarding the one dish per country concept. Do you not think this is perhaps slightly gimmicky as some people may not particularly like the sound of any of the starters from a certain country and may just want a few starters/mains from one or two countries?

Secondly, I just wanted to ask regarding the reference to families, what does the restaurant offer in terms of families with younger children who obviously wouldn't eat as large portions as adults? Would there be a seperate kids' menu or a kids' portion size available?

Thank you in advance

India and Australia both tie in with the tropical tastes of Morocco and Argentina as India has actually a large amount of rainforest where their tigers live etc. and whilst well known we decided to choose less cliche dishes.
The fail safe idea is in fact correct as if people come and find they don't like anything, then tey can always have Indian.
Australia is also very beachy and tropical, but we thought that Australia would bring a different taste less orientated on spice etc. after all I know my grandparents wouldn't go near spicy food! We included the two so there really was something or EVERYONE.

Of course, like in all restaurants dishes are made adaptable (with chicken, no cucumber, wedges instead of chips), but the one dish per cuisine is our main USP and advertisement but on request of course people can have two of one etc
There would be half portions available. With the asado steak and burgers an pizza we feel there are options children would enjoy, and the kids can eat and want.

We felt as a team, that we wanted to ensure that people got to try something new and experience something different so we chose to have a one from each cuisine style. Also enforced by the message of the restaurant, people on holiday like to try something new and associate with new things which is exactly what we wanted to do with Tropicity.

Regarding your second question, we tried to accommodate children as best as possible e.g. Faina Pizza from Argentinian Cuisine. However, we are open to change in possibly providing a kids sized meal and menu if need be.

Is someone from Team Aptitude available to answer my earlier posted question?

My first question wasn't answered so I'm just reposting it.

Since Roxie isn't here I will.

We plan on opening five restaurants as we really think the risk is worth taking. Our restaurant is unique and there really is a market for us! Roxie should be able to say something when she is here.

We feel that the pricing can be adjusted to accommodate larger groups of people, and new bulk deals can be made to ensure sharing and unity between these groups. We think these initial prices are competitive, and this is essential for us. Also, as we target larger groups of people, we feel we can make more more money due to large bulk deals being placed. Also, with Tropicity, we feel that each visit can be different from the last, and hence more visits would be made, hence helping with the finance side of things.

The waiter on hand would only help with conflicting tastes by possibly suggesting a different version with different, more complementary spices and sauces, in order to maintain the customer's power and role in picking and choosing what they want.

Sorry for the delay.

Although i can't go into specifics since i didn't do this part of the pitch, we felt that we should try to use the unique advantage we have by locating in areas where you wouldn't normally find this type of cuisine. In Birmingham for example, there are several Indian and Moroccan restaraunts, so we wanted to target areas where they are less common for new experiences for customers.

Roxie will hopefully be on soon to answer the rest of your remaining questions in further detail.

We feel that our restaurant is unique enough to be successful, hence by opening five restaurants we feel we are making a stand in the gap in the market before other restaurants open with the same USP. Hence, we feel we need to make as much headway as possible as the opening restaurant of this type of style.

Hi all sorry for being late - just came back from work. I'm glad you all liked the concept.

To answer your questions regarding locations. The locations are not random at all. Devon and Cornwall are great locations because they attract lots of native British tourists especially families which are our prime consumer base. Also the whole idea of tropical cuisine is to bring the holiday to you - they don't have to go abroad to visit these exotic locations e.g. go all the way to India, go through the effort of getting vaccinations/visas/flights, when it is located right next to them. As well as that a beach location basically enhances the whole tropical idea and really sets the scene.

London would be a good idea except 1) the costs of opening up business there, 2) the fact that it is the most multicultural part of Britain - there would be too much competition from already well-established Indian restaurants/Moroccan restaurants etc. We want to start in big enough locations to attract enough customers to gain profit but we're doing that in the least possible multicultural areas where we would potentially have too much competition.

I hope that clarifies that aspect of the plan behind the locations for you David.

Hi yes - Oxygen78.

We are opening 5 restaurants to start out with rather than 1 or 2 because firstly the concept is a fairly unique idea, there is a big market for this kind of restaurant - the traditional British family, and we want our idea to reach out to as many people as possible. Secondly the costs of setting up these restaurants would be minimal in the locations I have pinpointed, in well-established metropolitan areas but that are not too big as to incur massive costs as setting up a restaurant in London/Birmingham/Manchester would be far too great - costing roughly ten times more than other smaller but equally as significant areas such as Cornwall where purchasing building space is around £20,000 compared to somewhere like London which is around the regions of £140,000 to £200,000. So setting up 5 restaurants is very much feasible. We can set up five restaurants in these less expensive metropolitan for half the cost of setting up one in London.

I hope that clarifies that for you Oxygen78.

Thanks for your answers. Good luck in the boardroom.

Stay tuned for Team Aptitude's pitch for Task 3.

Hello and good evening, we are Team Aptitude and we would like to present our innovative new gaming mobile app – The Safe. The Safe is an exciting twist to a well-established genre of PC game designed specifically for the smart phone. Leading you through a series of increasingly difficult time based puzzle mini-games, the question is can you break through to the loot at the end? With 4 playing modes currently available – Single player, Team CO-OP mode, Battle mode and Team Battle and room for others - making for plenty of fun for all the family.
Single Player mode will feature a series of puzzles all of which will have to be solved with the added intensity of a ticking time limit as if to immerse the user, as though they were breaking into a safe in real life. The user will have 5 lives or “Tries” to attempt the series of puzzles. Once the Tries are all used up, the user will have to wait fifteen minutes to regain that Try, with Tries replenishing one at a time. After a series of ten puzzles have been completed, the user will be able to open up one safe from a set of 30, and will receive the contents whether it is coins, diamonds, or EXP to level up.
Coins and diamonds can be used to buy extra Tries or Gadgets to help them with a seemingly impossible puzzle though you will also be able buy these Gadgets for real money to help further boost your chances of moving on. We also intend to have users interact via Social Media with friends being able to send Tries and Gadgets, an example being the Timer Gadget which can increase the time limit that a user has for a puzzle by 15 seconds, via Twitter and Facebook. These extensions will undoubtedly be controlled to ensure the game does not deviate from its challenging nature for example only one Timer Gadget can be activated in a day.
Team CO-OP mode does not make full use of the social media aspects as there won’t be Individual Tries, just a collective team Tries which will again be set to 5. However you will still be able to use your gadgets with the usual restrictions so for example if someone from the team plays their “Breakage” gadget (allows you to skip a random mini-game) no one else would be able to play theirs that game. This mode finds you working together in more team based puzzles to try and gain the loot.
The Battle modes are exactly what you would expect them to be, with them both being virtually the same except that the Team Battle mode will feature the Team CO-OP mode games and you would be battling against a team or set of teams rather than a group of individuals.
The actual game itself will be free to download with revenue being made from in-game advertising and the game’s various aid options known as “Gadgets” to help you solve the puzzles quicker, some of these “Gadgets” will be purchasable with the loot you have gained though you can opt to pay the lower end of the premium gadgets fee. There will be “premium gadgets” which will cost between 69 and 99 pence for use of those particular aides. I will now pass on to Arran who will present our logo.

This here is the AppStore image. http://postimg.org/image/55ch0cmvh Its got a swivelly grey background, for the colour of the safe. And then a black key to represent mystery - what's in there? With a gold glow to show the keyhole trying to draw the player in.

Thank you, now to my good colleague.

To launch our app, we have developed a 40-second television advertisement, which we believe will be eye-catching and memorable.

Here is the script for our advert:

0.00 A darkened screen.
0.04 A brief glimpse of mini-game number one - the same background, but the mini-game appears as if on a smaller futuristic-looking screen within.
0.08 The mini-game disappears and the screen lights up slightly, revealing the silhouette of a treasure box within.
0.10 In turn, mini-games 2-5 are viewed for about three to five seconds each. After each one is shown, the light gets brighter and brighter until the treasure box can be seen clearly.
0.30 The final mini-game is shown, over which: VOICEOVER: Think it's safely locked up?
0.35 The screen is suddenly dazzlingly bright, and a hand reaches in to grab the treasure box. VOICEOVER: Think again. The Safe, coming soon to the app store. Can you unlock the prize?
Fade to black, with futuristic blue writing explaining technical details - cost, how to download, etc.

Sample of Games for Single Player Mode

These are a sample of games for the Single Player Mode for The Safe. Note that these are a sample for the app, the developed version will include a selection of fifty plus.

Colour Care : The player will have to successfully match the coloured wire to the corresponding coloured tile. For example, green wire to the green tile and so on. However, to complete the puzzle, no wires may overlap with each other. As the player advances through the puzzles, more colours of wires will be added and a stricter time limit.

Memory Maze : The player will have to successfully memorise a series of pictures in a specific order. As the player completes more puzzles, the difficulty increases with the number of pictures in the series increasing.

Crazy Cogs : The player must successfully place a series of cogs from the start position to the end lock in the correct order. The difficulty increases as the player completes more puzzles.

Electrical Error : The player must successfully guide a hoop through a metal wire trying to avoid making contact. For every contact made, 5 seconds will be deducted from the time limit. The difficulty will increase with the shape of the wire changing, for example a star or a flower as you progress.

Logic Lock : The player must attempt to escape the room he is trapped in, by searching around for clues and items. Only when they have opened the door within the time limit, will they succeed.

Shape Showdown : The player must fit a variety of shapes of different sizes into a larger shaped tile. For example, small squares, triangles, diamonds, kites into a larger rectangle. The difficulty increases as more puzzles are completed with the larger shape becoming more complex for example a hexagon or a pentagon.

Sample of Games for Team CO-OP Mode

A sample of puzzle games which are to be included in the Team CO-OP Mode. This will entail six puzzle games needing to be completed by the team in six minutes to win the contents of The Safe.

Colour Care : To advance to the next level, all team members must work together to connect four coloured wires to their corresponding colour box on the grid, so for example the blue wire should be connected to the blue coloured box, the red wire connected to the red coloured box and so on. However, no two wires may overlap providing a challenging twist to the team as they work together to figure out how the wires must align.

Electrical Error : This puzzle will involve a steady hand as one large shape composed of metal wire will be randomly assigned to the team (a flower, a cloud or a star or other complex objects) and split into parts equal to the number of total team members and each member assigned one part. The first player must then guide a metal hook around the first part of the object, trying to hoop the hook through the metal and trying to avoid contact between the hook and wire. They will then pass onto the next person to continue and so on. For every contact made, five seconds will be deducted from the six minute time limit. Once the final player had finished, players will be able to move on. Do you have steady hands?

Crazy Cogs : The team of players will have to successfully place a series of cogs from the start position to the end lock. However, each player will have a different set of cogs to use - different shapes and sizes. Therefore teamwork and communication are essential to the Team to finish as quickly as possible.

Memory Maze : Each team member will be given a series of seven pictures to memorise in a specific order. In order to advance to the next puzzle, all team members will have to successfully identify the order in which the pictures appeared, to each obtain a part of the combination. Hence, only when all four have memorised the sequence can they advance.

Logic Lock : The team will be trapped in a room. They must successfully search the room, using a point and click method, for clues and items to escape the room. Only once the door is open will they be able to move to the next stage.

Shape Showdown : The team must successfully fit a variety of shapes of different sizes into a larger shape, for example small squares, kites, triangles and rhombuses into a larger rectangle/triangle. However, each team member has a different selection of shapes, so communication and interaction are key.

Marketing.

The Safe has a large target market, with it as a gaming app being accessible to a large proportion of tablet and smartphone users, with the challenging puzzles, addictive multiplayer experience and social media interaction ensuring it stands out from the crowd.

Our target market for this app can be divided into two key groups which we would market to. The first group we would target are gamers. We believe both casual gamers and the more advanced, hardcore gamers would be interested in this app. Casual gamers who are looking for a little bit of fun, to probably have a break from work or to play on the bus, will definitely be interested in the Single Player mode. The game itself is fun, quick to understand and fast-paced. It is also suited to these gamers, as it is a pick-up and play game. There are no storylines to be understood, no cutscenes - just play and try to complete as much puzzles as you can.

This game also appeals to the more hardcore gamers with it having two fiercely competitive Multiplayer modes to allow extended gameplay and increased competition for those who need it. Team CO-OP Mode would appeal to those gamers who like to play with other people at the same time in a cooperative fashion. Team Battle mode would attract those gamers who are outright competitive and want to rise to the leaderboards to be the best.

Within the gamer category, are our two main target audiences : families and groups of friends. This is because one of our main unique selling points, is the Team CO-OP/Battle Mode. With their clearly being a demand for online competition and cooperation games, we feel that The Safe can be one of the first to combine this multiplayer experience with challenging, fun puzzles. Families can bring back that essence of 'Family Game Night' as they all work together to try and crack The Safe in Team CO-OP Mode, whereas groups of friends can battle each other to see who really is the best.
This app would also market to these audiences well due to the fact that it has no cost. This would translate well across the market, as we can appeal to a larger audience - families that may not want to spend money on it, university students etc. Gadgets will cost in the range of 69p to 99p, with 5 Tries costing 89p, to help those who have used up all of their lives;

We also intend to use Social Media for the transfer of Tries and Gadgets from friends to help players with a seemingly impossible puzzle in Single Player mode. This would allow for a sense of connectivity between the players and their friends and would also result in more people downloading the app as word of mouth increases.

There is also large room for expansion with new types of puzzles being released regularly to ensure a fresh and new experience of the app throughout the course of it being used.

We already know this market exists due to the well received nature of online multiplayer games be it competition or cooperation, for example Mario Kart 8, League of Legends, DOTA for consoles and the PC or N.O.V.A, and Real Racing 2 already existing for smartphones and tablets. However, there is nothing out in the market that allows this sort of experience in this sort of genre. We believe The Safe can be one of the first apps to emphasize multiplayer experiences in a new and exciting way for smartphones and tablets in a fresh take.

Our product is unique, in that the mini-games unlock different aspects of ones' intelligence. You can play so many different games, in different modes that it really is a unique experience for the user. You can use these mini-games to unlock a layer, and get to the centre of the safe. And obviously, the harder games will be closer to the centre. Like the viral apps out there, we decided to try and make it highly addictive, so you can't help but want to use your friends to progress. We also incorporated a social media aspect, which is very common nowadays, but interactive, allowing 'upload to Facebook' when you've completed a level/challenge.

We feel realistically, that our USP is the ability to play with your friends, and family. You can use your contacts to look for people who are on it also (to play online you'd have to enter an email address). This means you can help each other, to enhance both of yours' experiences! You can try and beat their times, challenge them, and even design your own safe for them to play.

We believe the best way to make this a great game, is a universally applied experience. You can play with your friends, family or randomly selected people from around the world. You can help each other, and be helped, so you don't get too frustrated and just delete the app altogether.

Hi Team Aptitude.

I have a question regarding the cooperative aspect of your game. This type of format works for Mario Kart most of the time given it's a globally recognised brand, but one of the most frustrating aspects is waiting for other players. As such an unknown brand, how do you expect to bypass these issues, seeing as you won't have millions of players like Nintendo do?

We would have both a Local and Online version of the multiplayer experience. Hence, groups of friends and families can cooperatively play in the same room, with no hassle or close by. People would also be able to create rooms with passwords, to play with the people they know if they are playing online. Hence, the main focus is playing with people you know, at this stage of development. Once it has gained the necessary player limit for a Online Random Battle or CO-OP, only then will we introduce the Online Random Mode, so as to minimise any waiting times.

Hi Team Aptitude. Well done on the presentation. I like the idea and I like that you've included the social media aspect of sending lifes / tries. I also like the amount of different versions and levels which you've created. I have two questions

1. Whilst I understand your logo is there to design mystery by not including the name of your game on the logo how will it encourage people to download your game With all due respect it could be any keyhole.

2. Do you think that you should've offered something like a free trial period or a free attempt at the first level in your idea to raise and promote awareness of your game to help it in the long term?

That said, I really like this team's game and the game is the main thing.