Absolut’s as famous for its vodka as its marketing campaigns. The Swedish company often ties up with some of the biggest names for its iconic bottles and artsy events. This year, in time for their limited edition Andy Warhol bottle, they brought Punchdrunk, a British theatre company, on board for an experimental game app called Silverpoint. While the theatre specialists are known for creating unconventional shows like Sleep No More — an interactive adaptation of Macbeth that opened its doors in New York five years ago — this is their first digital creation. It celebrates Warhol’s legacy with visual elements that take after his rarely seen “silverpoint” sketches, instead of his instantly recognizable pop art images.
It starts with the mystery of a missing girl named Chloe. To unlock clues to her disappearance, a player needs to match celestial symbols like planets and crescent moons in a gridded game that resembles the tile-matching format of Tetris. At various levels, the player is given an option to attend events in the real world that can lead to snippets of Chloe’s life.
In addition to the interactive possibilities of the game, there are strong visual elements that are tied to art and storytelling. “What looks like an addictive but very pretty, mobile casual game, reveals itself to be something much more interesting,” Paul Bennun, chief creative officer of Somethin’ Else told Engadget. “It quite quickly becomes very physical and elements in the real world become options for you to interact with.” He insists the experience is nothing like an alternate reality game.
Together with Somethin’ Else, a UK-based content agency, Punchdrunk designed an immersive experience that links the digital game to theatrical events in the physical world. If players choose to skip the events and continue to play in the digital space, the game will still work. For now, it’s an iPhone-only experiment with live events limited to London. It won’t be available to an audience outside that radius any time soon.
[Image credit: Somethin’ Else]
Comments
Via: It’s Nice That
Source: Absolut Silverpoint