Trafalgar Origins – Channel 4 from Preloaded on Vimeo.

Following on from their success with 1066 The Game, Preloaded have launched Trafalgar Origins which was also commissioned by Channel 4 Education. Sliced Bread Animation also had a part in this production, creating some of the in-game assets; namely the ships rolling states (including the damaged states plus furled/ unfurled), the sail simulations, explosions and barrel rolls. Jon at Poked Studios partnered on the project to assist with the character design.

The most complex part to our assignment was creating a workflow for the rolling states of ships (sail open, closed, damaged etc.) which had to cover every direction permutation. As a best practice approach, we built all 3 ships as 3D assets and created a toon-like shader to not only keep within the look of the overall design, but also to have better control over the required simulations. We then set-up a Maya’s inherent dynamic system to control the sail shapes.

“Trafalgar Origins is a game commissioned by Channel 4 Education for the Bloody Foreigners season to be broadcast in June 2010, supporting the Hardy Pictures production of Battle of Trafalgar. The game has been created by Preloaded, the same studio responsible for Channel 4’s award-winning game 1066.

“We’ve created an educationally robust, casual game that combines the energy and drama of 19th Century naval warfare with the social context and human history that underpins the Channel 4 season. The history has provided a backdrop for a rich and dramatic gaming experience which will resonate strongly with the target audience.”

Phil Stuart, Creative Director, Preloaded

It is the first game to use Channel 4 Educations new Facebook Connect component.

We have just completed a 2nd Flash game installment for the Fire & Rescue Service (client: Meteorite) called ‘Hotel Havoc‘, the game comprises of 3 games in 1 and includes a PaperVision (3D) element.

Usually a haven, this hotel is now reeking havoc upon its guests. A fire is raging. The building unstable. And five people’s lives hang by a cable, in a broken lift. It’s up to you to save the day. But you’ll have to be quick, think on your feet, and smart to get the job done. The call is in…

Game 1 – The fire is spreading fast. You’ve got 60 seconds to get it under control and extinguish the flames. But be careful not to run out of water, and watch out for the wind!

Game 2 – You’re about to see how to support a building by using wooden poles. Memorize the picture. You’re going to have to replicate the structure in 2-minutes. Good luck!

Game 3 – There are five people trapped in the lift. You need to navigate the corridors and get to them ASAP. The only problem is, the lights are broken and the hallways are clog with smoke. So mind your step.

Update: On Sunday 14th March 1066 The Game won best Education Resource at the SXSW Web Awards – nice one guys! See link here

Here’s an animation we have just completed for Twestival Global (2010)... see twestival.com for more details. There’s a blog post coming up shortly, which details more about the collaboration process (which was a fantastic experience), but for now we wanted to get it out there and promote the cause.

Creative: Crystal English, Leynete Cariapa, Animation: Sliced Bread, Music: EliasArts, Audio: Green-Shoot, Recorded at Dammit Ltd., Voice: Lawrence Sheldon, Twestival Bird: 383 Project, Video Footage: charity: water, Thanks to What Talent Ltd., Produced by Connect the Dots Foundation, Photography Courtesy of National Geographic (c) James P. Blair/ National Geographic, Gabriele Gaspardis, Justin Sangani, Brooks Walker/ National Geographic, Johannes Ehrhardt, James P. Blair/ National Geographic images

What is Twestival™?

On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness.  Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good.  All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.  If you would like to get involved, please Register your City, Register your School, or Volunteer and we will get in touch.  Organizers will be given a handbook and invitation to our collaboration workspace.  Follow @twestival for updates.

Last year we started work on our first (web based) Microsoft Silverlight project, with our client Imagine Education, design partner Resolution Creative and .NET developer Sami Sinervä. Called the Innovative Schools Toolkit, development started in May last year and the site took on a number of iterations before going live just before the Christmas break. It very  different to working in (our usual) Flash, we are happy with end result and see great potential for using Silverlight going forward, the way it draws animation seems to be quite slick.

The Innovative Schools Toolkit is an accessible and practical guide for you and your school community to begin the journey of innovation.  It’s intended to be a starting point rather than a complete solution and it offers a process that can be customized based on your unique needs.

The online toolkit is part of Microsoft’s Partners In Learning initiative and the application allows schools to asses their positioning using the multiple choice tool which displays online graphs. The toolkit also plays out video and allows schools access to download documents.

The online game 1066 won a BIMA last Thursday (19th Nov 2009) for Best Online Game, The BIMA awards  ‘celebrate the work of the UK digital creative industry’. As previously blogged we were responsible for creating over 270 animated assets in just over 2-weeks. Preloaded did all the creative and site development, and we created the Norman, Viking, Saxon and Villager character animation elements. We are very proud to be part of its success, the quality of the game speaks for itself in terms of the gaming results:

Since launching in May 2009, the game has received an overwhelmingly positive response from both the gaming community and online press.

The project has received no marketing budget, simply relying on the audience and community to seed and share between themselves. The traffic to date is testament to the quality of the game and the compelling nature of the content.

The Multi-player mode plays a large part in the distribution mechanic of the game and this is reflected in the continued and sustained and growth in traffic and game-play duration.

Effectiveness

> Number 1 search result in google for ’1066′
> Current total game-plays standing at over 5 million
> Average game duration over 25 minutes

And the reviews:

“If half the Proper Wargames released each year showed as much imagination, style and spirit as 1066 the genre would be in a far healthier state”

Tim Stone – rockpapershotgun.com

“Pleasing to play and pleasing to the eye. Check it out.”

Brian Ashcroft – kotaku.com

We recently compiled a DVD for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission using supplied assets and some good ‘ole Boyce Dungood animation (by us). Sponsored by The Mirror and Mirror Football it has been sent out to over 28,000 schools over the past week to coincide with Remembrance Day.

Glory Days – Football in Times of War is a short film aimed at engaging teachers, students and football fans of all ages with the website of the same name at cwgc.org/glorydays

Introduced by David Beckham and enthusiastic football manager Boyce Dungood, Glory Days tells the stories of some of the footballers who gave their lives for their countries and how they are remembered. It explores how the two world wars affected football teams and how football played a part in times of war as entertainment, for boosting morale and for propaganda.

Argos have recently launched this Sliced Bread created game (client: Meteorite) to coincide with their ‘Toy Tester for Year‘ competition and ‘Big Play’ Roadshows. The game has 3 competency zones, each with 4 playable levels. Players can also invite their friends to join them in mini high scoreboards. You can play the game here.

I’m Angus and this is my awesome Toy Testing factory. It’s my job to make sure all the toys are off the Fun-o-meter scale! But there are so many great toys here, I need another Toy Tester to help me. So let’s see if you’re up to the job. Collect as many toys as possible from the Big Play Area zones – the clock is ticking!

We recently created an expanding banner campaign for use as a takeover on msn.co.uk, view here or click the image. The original MPU (300×250) was created by Glue and wide expanded banner (980×450) by using Maya (client: BPL Marketing).