Pora Ora

Pora Ora is a massively multiplayer online role play game involving an educational 3D virtual universe. With different themed worlds children learn through game play via activities, puzzles, and quests. Part of Caped Koala Studios, a social-networking, education-focused entertainment company, Pora Ora was launched in beta in January 2011. Whilst offering free membership to both players and schools, in August 2012, Pora Ora released premium membership. Targeted towards children aged 5–12 years, Pora Ora has numerous safety features embedded within the game including eSafety quest. Pora Ora has secured the top spot in Netmums top 10 educational websites for children

Caped Koala Studios

Beginning life within Sentaca Communications, Pora Ora is the first offering of Caped Koala, which went into open beta in January 2011.Caped Koala studios has featured as Wired's start-up of the week and was also named in the Telegraphs Start-up 100 list in 2011. Caped Koala Studios has offices in London, Boston, Cork (Ireland) and Poznan (Poland) and, in total, employs 16 hard-working and creative individuals who want to put the fun back into learning.

Features

Pora Ora is a social world where children explore and connect with friends. Within this social world children are encouraged to engage with educational content through a variety of games and quests, all of which are aligned to the National Curriculum. Each user account in Pora Ora is adjusted to meeting the learning needs of every child that uses the game. Pora Ora creates an educational profile for each user by making appropriate recommendations and suggestions about the types of games and quests they should play. These recommendations are provided by the child’s ‘Pora Pal’, the player’s pet, sidekick and guide whose mood and well-being is dependent on the child’s regular gaining of knowledge. Schools are able to use Pora Ora as a free resource to compliment classroom activities. The game can also be played at home, functioning as an alternative learning tool outside of school. Progress reports detailing the child’s activities are available to parents and teachers, outlining their key strengths and weaknesses. Pora Ora also operates as a secure social networking site, allowing children to learn how to interact safely online. Players can make friends, send mails and gifts, visit each other’s homes and compete in multi-player games. All social features are subject to real-time moderation. Parents can access their child’s account through Pora Ora’s ‘Parent Portal’, allowing them to monitor and control who their child can interact with. As the child matures parents are able to 'relax' the security settings accordingly.

School Mode

Pora Ora offer a 'bulk' upload for schools who wish to use the game in the classroom. School mode allows teachers control the interactive features. They can disable live chat, or set it so that only children from within their school can chat. Teachers can use Pora Ora to set assignments or communicate with students.

Pora Pals

Pora Pals are virtual pets whose wellbeing depends on the player acquiring wisdom, exploration and creativity points. As players progress in the game, they are rewarded with the opportunity to unlock new Pora Pals. The game frequently holds Pora Pal votes allowing users to vote for the Pora Pal they would most like to see in the game. Pora Ora also hold 'Design a Pora Pal' competitions, where the winning design is developed to feature in the game

• Sliders
• Crawlers
• Hoppers
• Runners
• Climbers
• Flyers
• Swimmers
• Mounters
• Stompers
• Spinners
• Spookers

Roobles

Roobles are the in-game currency of Pora Ora. Players need to earn roobles in order to be able to 'purchase' new clothes, furnishings, hair styles, and gaming features. Roobles are earned playing games, quests and doing the daily puzzle.

Pora Pads

Each player has their own Pora Pad(virtual home) to decorate and furnish. Many players use this space to meet friends and throw parties. Players can buy new wallpapers, flooring, music players, disco lights and more. Each Pora Pad has its own garden allowing users to grow and harvest plants from seeds and sell them on at the market.

Pora Ora TV

Pora Ora TV went live in June 2012. Current users were 'gifted' the TV from the Pora Ora Team to gage the reaction. The TV allows players to stream cartoons and videos. The game creators hope to use the TV to boost inter school interaction and competition.

Games

• Leap frog
• Globetrotters
• Bubble Trouble
• Farmyard Frenzy
• Straight shooters
• Puzzle Rocks
• Number Bugs
• Basket Shuffle
• Rooble Maps
• Bangoo Tower
• Dojo 360
• Dragon's Well
• Spellfire
• Fishermania
• River Racer
• Fowl Play
• Daily Puzzle
• Chariot Racer

Kickstarter

Pora Ora launched on Kickstarter on June 25, 2012 with a goal of reaching $100,000. Project aims included creating Pora Pal and Parent Portal apps, developing an Egyptian themed world and creating new Pora Pals. Despite having 239 backers, the project failed to reach complete full funding. However, Neil Gallagher, creator of Pora Ora believed the experience had a dual effect. During the 34 day long campaign the site was receiving considerable amounts of traffic and new user sign ups, “We’re adding about 3,000 new users a week whether people on Kickstarter financially back us or not.” Neil Gallagher,. During the Kickstarter campaign, Pora Ora organised a Twitter event in an effort to get Pora Ora trending in Ireland on Twitter. Between 4.30-5.30pm on the 13th of July, Pora Ora managed to trend at 9th place throughout Ireland.