About My Jorley

Serious games with impact. We develop and build games for the social domain. And we implement them. They are dreamt up by someone else. YOU. Our target group. The insights and information you provide, give our games life and context. So our game looks and feels real to you.

History
My Jorley VOF is a serious gaming company. Before the company, there was the game. Developed in 2016-2017 in Ghana in close collaboration with game in Ghanaian game developer LETI Arts. Aimed at Ghanaian young we baptized the game: “My Jorley”, Ghanaian slang for “my baby”. We figured it would make a fitting and memorable name for a company. The first game was developed under leadership of Geertje Postma M.Sc. It is successful and got praise. Amongst others by the Dutch Ministery of Foreign Affairs, calling it a “best practice in sexuality communication”.

Our approach
My Jorley collaborates with people and companies that know their stuff. In practice this means that we always operate as a network. A network that has strong roots in the region and ties with the target group the game is developed for. Moreover, the target group itself is seated at the table and plays an integral role in the creation of the game. With over twenty years of collective experience in multicultural, complex projects, we can safely say that collaboration is one of our strong points. We know our stuff.

Before we build a game we always follow a five step program or have a five step approach if you will. We conduct (field-) research, network, build a team with a strong representation of our target group and work collectively on a start document. The start document can be viewed as a concept and can be in digital or physical form (or both). Only then do we build a first, playable version of the game, which we test, adapt and improve in close conjunction with our target group. Step by step we develop a final version. After the launch we monitor if our envisioned effects occur. We evaluate and adapt if necessary.

Who is My Jorley

My Jorley is a Dutch company (or VOF) and has two owners:

Geertje Postma M.Sc. (founder)
Dennis Ringersma MA

Our partners are Eyram Tawia (CEO LETI Arts) and the LETI Arts team.

For every game we enlist a local network, that knows our target group and the area well. The network encompasses the commercial, social, health and public domain (next to the target group itself).

Five steps

We believe serious games are seriously good if all five elements are harmoniously connected.

1 Research

The first step is to conduct (field-) research in order to map the community for which we are going to create the game. All stakeholders, interests and problems are documented. We extensively interview the target group and locate key players of which some will play an integral part in developing, testing, launching and distributing the game. Setting a clear goal for the game is essential. We need to determine desirable answers for important questions such as: “When do we consider the game to be successful?”, “What do we want to measure?”, and “How will we conduct measurements?”.

2 Co-creation

Key players will become part of our co-creation teams and called for advice, testing and so on during pre-determined and ad hoc points in the development process. Think of design advice such as: “Is this character a correct representation of you?”, but also advice on and the creation of content, like: “Is this a realistic scenario?”. We also involve key players to co-write or co-design the game(-elements). In Ghana our target group created tied in films for the Ghanaian My Jorley project.

3 Embedded

Our games need to be embedded. In our opinion this means, that the game needs to be (partially) made by our target group. If definitely means that our game needs to be embraced by them. A local network invested in the game is of utmost importance. The local language in the game, the authenticity needs to be just right. It needs to strike the right keys. Our target group smells fake from miles away.

4 Impact

During development and after launch we measure the impact of our game. Are the targets we formulated being met? In Ghana we are measuring the numbers of visits to health centers and the topics being discussed there, to see if our in game referrals have the desired effect.

5 Continued development and upscaling/continuity

Our games need to be future proof. Our games are at their base modulair and ready for more features, levels, chapters and (numbers) of players. We design our games so they can be easily adapted to changing demands and wishes from our target group. Or a different target group if needed. Whilst our games are developed as projects, we do keep in mind the continuity of games (after our finishing our project). We don’t want popular games to stop just because our project has. Maintenance and updates are rule.