Great Scots is a fun game that gives players a chance to test their knowledge of famous Scottish inventors.
Collaborating with Edinburgh agency Whitespace, my role was to carry out the build phase of the game, which included a variety of interactive programming and animation tasks.
The game was implemented using Adobe Flash.
As with the Supermeals application, this was created in collaboration with Essex-based agency Antbits, and I was responsible for development of the application’s rich user interface, and integration with server-side functionality.
The app provides an easy way to enter alcohol consumption, returning information about units consumed, the calorie content of the drinks, and the money the user could be saving.
Based on this information, the app offers health tips that are tailored to the consumption habits of the user, and lets them email this advice to their own address or that of a friend.
In collaboration with Essex-based agency Antbits, I was responsible for development of the application’s rich user interface, and integration with server-side functionality.
The primary aim of the web app is to simplify meal planning, by automatically suggesting seven days of meals.
For each meal, images, recipes and nutritional values are provided. Meals can be swapped if required.
When the user is happy with their suggestions, they can download all the recipes as a PDF (which also includes a full shopping list).
A secondary function is a recipe finder – the user can search the recipe database, based on meal type, or their own search terms. Again, they can download each recipe as a PDF.
The application was extremely successful, picking up massive user numbers (no doubt helped by the high profile advertising campaign), and providing Antbits with their most successful ever NHS tool.
All this despite scrutiny from certain areas of the national press, criticising the campaign for its “nanny state” connotations.
The Daily Mail were, naturally enough, outraged by the whole thing. They probably helped drive a large percentage of the traffic, though, since they prominently featured a large screenshot of the web app in their coverage. Thanks, The Daily Mail!
A work of user-generated animation, the app gave users a chance to upload their own face and see themselves reciting the famous Robert Burns poem, “Address to a Haggis”.
Working with the Whitespace design team, I was faced* with the task of bringing the storyboard for the poetry sequence to life, as well as the development of the facial upload interface itself.
To add to that, the project had be turned around in little over a week to get the finished piece out in time for the Burns Night celebrations.
The interactive animation was created using Adobe Flash, (currently the only feasible technology with which this kind of functionality can be achieved) making heavy use of the inverse kinematics tools to animated the puppets in the poetry sequence.
A deliberately lo-fi art style was used, which thankfully didn’t require complex lip synching. I decided the best approach for this was to move the mouth dynamically, using code to analyse the sound wave and move the jaw accordingly.
*Pun not intended
The client was keen to promote a new sustainability suite on the site, aimed at assisting businesses with their sustainability policy. This showreel demonstrates how easy the tool is use and the benefits it can offer.
Since this is a passive piece, using no interactive elements, it was developed fully using Photoshop and After Effects.
Screenshots were taken from the tool itself and cut up into layers. These layers were imported into After Effects and composited together to simulate the tool’s interaction sequences. It was important to keep the showreel fast moving and interesting to keep the viewer’s interest.
The showreel was well received when it was integrated onto the sustainability website, and was also taken on the road and used as part of the display on several trade show appearances.
The game would feature fast-paced, addictive gameplay, tempting players back to try to beat their score and get featured on the high score table.
I worked with a specialised illustrator to design the game interface, and then set about building the project using Flash.
The game required me to build an Actionscript physics engine that would model the tossing and rebounding of the paper balls around the basket. The Flash application also collected player data through a form, using Local Storage to remember players details.
The game was a great success, leaving the client pleased, and seeing great rates of interaction.
The company wanted to increase their customer engagement, and promote the savings offered by switching to their service. “Donkeymail” was conceived as a fun way to encourage customers to pass on the message to their friends through a customised message, “spoken” by a customisable talking donkey.
My Flash skills were tested on this one, with the project requiring the integration of synthesised speech. Working with a dot net specialist, we sourced and prototyped a voice solution which allowed us to generate audio on-the-fly that was then loaded into Flash when requested.
Flash was also used for the custom avatar interface, and the lip-synching on the talking Donkey.
Donkeymail was a victim of it’s own success – the traffic on the site was so great that at one point the voice server crashed under the weight of requests.
The site was a hit with the client, the customers, as well as our own family and friends.
The cult status was confirmed when it picked up the DADI award, for Best Interactive, Entertainment Website or Campaign.
New footage of the famous Widow was specially shot to be used in the book, a company first for an online campaign.
My expertise was used to build the overall Flash framework of the site; to source and integrate engaging animated transitions between content; and to integrate the rich video footage at our disposal.
The site’s content was maintained with the use of an innovative XML solution, which allowed for rapid updates without having to re-publish any Flash assets.
The digital ‘Little Book…’ was produced at almost half the cost of the print version, delivered in half the time, and achieved increased audience engagement.
The site was also nominated for a DADI award (Financial Services Website or Campaign).
The objectives for the website were to showcase the game’s explosive gameplay, while also promoting the extensive customisation options offered.
My role on the project was to implement the overall Flash framework on which the site content was overlaid.
Much of the motion design and interaction design was carried out as part of this framework, as well as optimising the heavy graphical content of the site.
A large focus of the site was the video content, which required a custom-built video player, using advanced controls and interactive elements.
Although the game itself had mixed levels of success, the site met with positive reviews and some great usage figures: 1,239,532 unique visits in the first three months from 192 countries; 5,060,285 Pageviews; 15,000 visits a day on first week of launch; 326,000 video repost views on youtube.
The site was also nominated for a DADI award (Best Interactive Entertainment Website, Game or Campaign).
This is a piece I created for an Edinburgh art event in September 2011.
I used the opportunity to experiment with animation (in particular stop-motion and time-lapse), video editing, and projection mapping.
Buildings are commonly used in projection mapping, but the technique can be applied to any objects or spaces.
My set-up was quite simple, projecting onto a wall of frames, with a row of books underneath.
All the imagery you see in the pieces was created from my own photography – about 300 photographs per piece.
The photos were taken and then stitched together to create the animated objects. These objects were then manipulated digitally, to be synced with the audio track.
There was no programming needed for the main part of the piece, but the light projected onto the books below the frames is live sound spectrum data from the audio track.
This data was processed and turned into a visualisation using Flash.
This is a piece I created for an Edinburgh art event in September 2011.
I used the opportunity to experiment with animation (in particular stop-motion and time-lapse), video editing, and projection mapping.
Buildings are commonly used in projection mapping, but the technique can be applied to any objects or spaces.
My set-up was quite simple, projecting onto a wall of frames, with a row of books underneath.
All the imagery you see in the pieces was created from my own photography – about 300 photographs per piece.
The photos were taken and then stitched together to create the animated objects. These objects were then manipulated digitally, to be synced with the audio track.
There was no programming needed for the main part of the piece, but the light projected onto the books below the frames is live sound spectrum data from the audio track.
This data was processed and turned into a visualisation using Flash.
This is a piece I created for an Edinburgh art event in September 2011.
I used the opportunity to experiment with animation (in particular stop-motion and time-lapse), video editing, and projection mapping.
Buildings are commonly used in projection mapping, but the technique can be applied to any objects or spaces.
My set-up was quite simple, projecting onto a wall of frames, with a row of books underneath.
All the imagery you see in the pieces was created from my own photography – about 300 photographs per piece.
The photos were taken and then stitched together to create the animated objects. These objects were then manipulated digitally, to be synced with the audio track.
There was no programming needed for the main part of the piece, but the light projected onto the books below the frames is live sound spectrum data from the audio track.
This data was processed and turned into a visualisation using Flash.