About Me
Creating magical worlds is my passion and have been lucky enough to be paid for this honor for ten years now. I guess mostly in the industry and academia I have been considered an interactive designer, visual artist and creative director. I do all sorts of media design and concept things. But I don't feel comfortable with any one description. I just design and make different kinds of cross media thingamajigs.
I do design, both interactive and visual, I write scripts and concepts (although it takes me ages, so don't expect to see too many words from me) and I do lots of audio stuff too. I don't tend to separate any of the creative elements, unless a client wants it. And in the last few years I have realized that is is just as important to be as creative with financing, marketing and distribution as it is with the more artier pursuits. Hopefully this will lead to getting some serious financing for the games, TV and tools that I am currently trying to make.
The one thing I don't do is program. I have my trusted partner in crime for that. See http://arseiam.com/ The main thing we are working on at the moment is a powerful set of online multiuser engine and toolkit for creating online environments with interactivity, such as games. It is all flash based but does not look like flash. We are currently looking for financing so I will not be giving away any info about the tools as they are highly steal able, however I will be posting some images and links up that show examples of work created with the tools.
So, just to start with, a visualisation from a collabroation with MIT and the RSC, I was invited by them to develope the visual and interactive tone of this game called Prospero's Island, based on Shakespeare's Tempest.
I was working for Peter Gabriel at Real World in Bath on various projects. I was appointed the creative director and chief designer of Ceremony of Innocence, an interactive CD-ROM based on Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine trilogy. It is a mysterious story of love at the edge of sanity, told through the intense and intimate correspondence of Griffin, a young artist from London, and his enigmatic South Sea Island muse, Sabine.
I worked closely with Nick Bantock and the production team on the project which took about two and a half years. Although it did not sell as well as anticipated, I am told it is a cult classic. It gained fantastic international press attention and won 17 international awards including two BAFTA's and Best of Show at the New Media Invision Awards.
Was I happy with the project? In reflection it was a big mistake to call it something as pretentious sounding as Ceremony of Innocence. It should of been called Griffin and Sabine. And because we were committed to keeping the story intact, the level of interactivity was limited and contained. However, standing back from it all I am proud of the production. Whatever its flaws, I believed it defines a different type of digital entertainment. It is not based on killing or winning. It touches people on an emotional level, a very rare commodity for the medium.
The Hive is a hybrid TV series, ARG and online multiplayer community/game experience. It is being developed with a Canadian company called Xenophile Media but also has partners in including Sweden, Norway and Australia.
The sinister truth of Ranksome Hall School can only be revealed in nightmares. Built on the site of a psychic portal, the demonic Miss.Bugly uses it to lure children into the fantastical Hive world. She will extract their souls to feed her own destructive power. You are their only hope.
Clues are embedded throughout the TV show which explores the story of the ominous teacher Miss.Bugly and the pupils of Ranksome Hall Residential School, luring viewers into a winding labyrinth of websites, emails, text messages, phone calls and most amazingly, The Hive realm itself, an online community/game.
The interwoven narrative explores the story of the orphaned twelve-year old Max, who finds himself banished to Ranksome Hall. There are numerous strange and sinister incidents involving a swarm of wasps that appear from the school’s ancient pipe-work. With each occurrence, children fall into a deep sleep from which they cannot wake, until Max, the last surviving pupil, succumbs to the endless slumber.
The school is built on the site of a psychic portal, the gateway to The Hive, and is only accessible through dreams. Here, waiting for the children at the centre of her lair, is the malevolent demon Bugly.
Dr. Spiller, in his groundbreaking efforts to digitize visions from the unconscious mind, is called to help unravel the phenomenon. His experiments focus on the most restless sleeper, our hero, Max. Extracted data is stored on Spiller’s machine but soon leaks into the Internet, from where the mysterious world of The Hive reveals itself in full interactive glory.
It is a strangely believable yet surreal world, a dark spellbinding shadow-land of lost dreams. It is here we discover the shocking scale of Bugly’s plans and their potential impact on us all. Hope comes in the form of the last surviving butterflies, which players can customize and nurture as their own. They must overcome Bugly’s army of wasps to find Max. For it is he who holds the secret to unravel this destructive force of darkness and save us all.
Above, two of the photograpghs that our hero Max discovers. They indicate an alaming and impossible truth. Bugly, it seems, has been tormenting generations of school children around the world for since records began.
Above, the main interface for the game minus avatar and with the control panel down. The control panel shows the player's soul point meter, their ID detials as well as being a storage mechanism for power tokens which can be discovered scattered around the dreamscape.
Above is an actual environment from the game. The player, who controls their customized insect around the space, only sees a section of it at a time. Each object the player is able to interact with in some way. For example, if they land their insect in the coffee they will get a caffein high and buzz round very quickly, then a coffee comedown. They can enter the car to get to other environments quickly with a protective shell. They can fly through the zip, which is a portable portal into other worlds. Etc etc
The user enter the world of the Hive as a ball of raw energy. Then they must inhabit an egg, which in turn will turn into a caterpillar and eventually evolve into a butterfly which they can customize.
The above image is one of the many game screens.
Above, the insects are able to enter and drive cars for speedy and 'protected' traveling.
The player needs to navigate their butterfly through the maze avoiding the deadly wasps.
Above, these are coins from the currency in the Hive world known as Remce.
Above, more Hive game screenshots.
Bugly's usual method of transport is a jet propelled toilet, dirty but fast. However today she has chosen an alternative method of transport...
Based on Russell Martin's bestselling book, Beethoven's Hair follows a lock of hair on a 200-year journey that begins when it is cut from the composer's head at the time of his death.
Auctioned at Sotheby's, transported to America and subjected to forensic tests, the hair reveals many secrets of Beethoven's life and death.
In conjunction with Canadian companies Xenophile Media and the Academy award winning Rhombus Media, I was invited to create an interactive fiction/game to accompany and complement a documentary film based around the story. I was given the responsibility to develop, design and direct the entire game concept and production.
I feel two ways about this project, I feel it was a great sucess yet a failure.
The good points (in my opinion) :
It is visually rich and tactile with high quality production values. It is a brave exploration of fact meeting fiction and art meeting gaming. And it is artistically and technically innovative.
The bad points (in my opinion):
Too darn arty. Next projects I do I want to bring to a much wider audience. Also there are some serious usability issues, as a result people often do not reach the 'good bits'. This has been a major problem and something I am determined to learn from.
Below are some development visualizations that I did that were used to get the production funding.
If you want to play it yourself then go to www.beethovenshair.ca/haunting
PLEASE NOTE: Best played on a PC or on a powerful desktop MAC. Avoid playing on laptop macs.
Above, one of a many visualisations of a pervasive game that combines mobile phones or PDA's with performance.
Below, this is a screen grab from a tiny interactive piece called The Angel. I did as a Christmas card for Peter Gabriel when I worked at Real World. It was done ages ago and was actually sent out on floppies as hardly any one had the internet. It is simple but sweet.
To play it copy and paste the following link into your browser:
http://messagequests.com/angel.php
Imagine lots of magical spirits scattered around the world. They are not visible to the naked eye, nor can they speak to us or touch us. As a result many of them are lost souls, their invisibility has left them isolated.
However in recent years they have got closer to making contact with us humans. As they are essentially made up of electrical energy, they have managed to penetrate electronic devices. The more complex the circuitry the further they have reached in their pursuit, hence their liking for equipment with computer chips. However most attempts to make contact have been more or less futile. Most efforts have ended up with the machine malfunctioning crashing or blowing up. However these ‘ghosts in the machines’ are getting closer to making direct contact with us.
The way we look at the world and ourselves is about to fundamentally change. Emerging mobile technology is about to facilitate these creatures coming into our existence. Soon our phone will not just be a fancy bit of technology to speak to our friends on. It will be a potential home these most special of creatures. They will soon become mobile souls and we will be their keepers. We may choose to indulge or neglect their needs and desires. We will provide a home and transport for them. In return they will hold a mirror up to our lives. They will make us realise the value of our own soul, what feeds it and what drains it, they will be our friends, our guardians and our guides.
The Mobile Soul Project is an experience that takes place mainly on future mobile phones with GPS . The project concerns it’s self with issues of play, discovery and morality.
It addresses location and mobility, whilst blending a rich fictional world with the players every day reality. It combines game, service and drama with companionship, character and responsibility.
Players that subscribe to the project will be able to let a series of magical creatures reside on their phone. These creatures are invisible and untouchable although they live in the same world and reality as the players. However, the phone acts as a portal, facilitating the visible manifestations of these creatures and facilitating a platform for the players to interact with them.
The player’s phone will essentially become the creature’s home and means of transport for as long as it stays there. This creature will be responsive, caring, magical, informative and character full. We hope the player will form a deep emotional attachment to their creature, for them to perceive the creature as almost an extension of themselves.
This creature may guide the player, play games, entertain them and tell them stories. The player may involve themselves in almost infinite game and entertainment possibilities. We aim for the player to form a deep emotional attachment to their guardian, for them to perceive the creature as almost an extension of them selves.
The player’s action in this space will directly affect the creature’s happiness and state of mind. Many of these actions involve virtual objects that can be picked up and presented to the creature with the phone. This provides a simple communication and interaction mechanism.
The creatures may come and go as they please but much of this will depend on how the player behaves towards them and how the player behaves in your everyday life. Some creatures may stay only two minutes; others may stay a whole lifetime.
Above images, weird and a bit scary I know. But he is actually a very nice guy/baby honest. Alas, he never got used for the project he was intended for, I am thinking about doing a picture story book with him, the Adventures of Baby Dad or something.
