Famous People

Hey ho!
I'm finally getting round to posting some piccy wics of the big project I've had the privilege to work on for the 6 (or so months)! Last year, Splinter Design got commissioned to design and create a set of interactive games for the BBC, that would teach young people about famous people that have shaped the world we live in. As part of the Splinter team, I had the good fortune to create one of the design styles that would be used through half of these online games. The other half being done in the style of another illustrator, a man we like to call Ste Woods! Then, the fantastically scary job of putting it all together (with snazzy ActionScript and such) was carried out by my colleagues Jon Raffe and Adam Irwin! (I also stupidly forget to mention that there was lots of brainstorming, scripting and voice recording, which was managed by the Splinter boss, Chris Beer and the educational expert we had with us, Jacqui!)

Needless to say I was well chuffed to be involved on such a large project! I had much needed assistance with the large amount of illustration work by a certain lovely lady called Marie; whom without I would have been weeping in a corner throughout the duration of this project!
(Marie is a really cool graphic design lady, and people should check out her website full of awesome work by clicking the following linky link: Kochi Kochi.co.uk)
As well as illustration, I also got to make some rough storyboards and search for music/sound effects to fit all the games set in all their different time periods.

Before shoving all the pictures in your faces, I should explain that my style had a game show theme, and involved having each famous people playing the role as a contestant (set in their particular eras) and they have to play through 3 mini games; in which you will find out lots of information about this specific person! So now, on with the piccy wics!

This was called the main game container, as its in this section that the player would proceed through each of the 3 mini games. This is the main game container for Edward Jenner (the groovy guy that figured out a cure for smallpox!) It features the man himself, the quiz show host (a milk maid) and a game board that acts as a pathway to each mini game.

This was called a 'Fill in the Gap' game, in this game, the player is faced with a sentence with a missing word - the player must choose the right word to make the sentence correct. In this particular version of a Fill in the Gap game, the player also received help by images being presented to them as clues!

Next up is a 'Match the Shape' game - in which the player is presented with a silhouette (or in this case a technical drawing) and the player must find the corresponding shape within all the other objects. This picture features the workshop of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

This is a 'Spinning Plates' game, in this particular example, you are acting as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, handing his workers pick axes and lanterns to help him build the Thames Tunnel. The aim of a Spinning Plates game is to do a routine task, but in a specific order (such as in the game, when a worker turns up at your table you need to hand him a pick axe, then a lantern and sign him into a book, THEN once the worker has finished his shift, you need to click him to make room for another worker.), and as you progress you need to perform the tasks faster. If you fail to complete the task in time - a person will leave disgruntled and you will lose points. It sounds complicated, but its pretty simple once you start playing it!

This is another Match the Shape game, but this time for Charles Dickens!

The main game container for William Shakespeare. This one was set on the stage of the Globe Theatre, explaining why you have the quiz host dressed as a lady (the Globe Theatre didn't allow female actresses back then), and three children holding caskets (harking back to Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice' - the play I did at school! I carried the lead casket!)containing the links to each mini game.

This was called a 'Speed Observation' game, this was were the player is presented with three objects, and they must pick the correct one for the situation (for example in this game, you need to pick the correct items of clothing for different Shakespearian actor).

So there you go! These are just a snippet of some of the games we made! Here are the full list of people that me and Marie illustrated:

John Logie Baird
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Charles Dickens
Mary Queen of Scots
Tanni-Grey Thompson
William Shakespeare
Edward Jenner
Elizabeth Fry
Nelson Mandela
Dylan Thomas

You can check out all the games that Splinter made by visiting here: Famous People Website
I'm proud of all the games we made, so if you have time you should try to check them all out! You would be surprised about how much you can learn about people you thought you knew about! And then you can impress your friends and family with your new found knowledge! Thats what I've been doing, I tell ya!

You can also check out other work that Splinter has been involved in by going to our website:Splinter Design (we are currently going through the process of a rebrand, so the look of our website should be changing in the near future!)

AND, Splinter has also got a big old blog post about the whole process that we went through in the Famous People design, which is written much more eloquently than I could ever put it, so you can check that how here: Behind the Scenes of BBC Famous People

Finally, just to sign off, here is our showreel showcasing the Famous People games (which I edited! Look Ma! I'm an editor now!):