Case Study
Defy: Operatives
Episode 1
Client:
Brief
Develop the inaugural episode of an interactive web series tailored for DEFY, an AR RPG game app. Construct a narrative-rich web series that amplifies the "role-play" aspect, engrossing players deeply in the DEFY universe and gaming experience. This design aims to immerse players in imaginative gameplay, seamlessly fusing their imaginative faculties with the game's world.
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Within the episode, a pivotal objective is to devise an interactive storyline that forms a symbiotic connection with the in-game narrative. This storyline serves as the conduit for introducing a hidden game mission, ingeniously solvable only by uncovering carefully concealed easter eggs embedded within the web series episode itself.
About DEFY
DEFY is a new awesome location-based RPG AR mobile game based on a near-future dystopian world, where an evil corporation, Future Systems, has amassed power that a dictator could only dream of. Privacy and individuality are relics of a bygone era. We are reliant on Future Systems to provide the necessities of life that governments used to control - health, education and money. Future Systems has a mole (Kha0s), an inside man who wants to bring the whole system down from within. Using a hacked version of the Future Systems mobile client, crafted by Kha0s, operatives can utilise backdoors in the Future Systems network to bring them down.
Find out more about the game through defydisrupt.io
Creative Direction
OUR LOGLINE /
Kha0s had been offline for over 4 months and no-one has heard from him. Aaron is at home, searching for clues about Kha0s’ whereabouts while watching Future Systems on the news. His night was suddenly interrupted with a mysterious envelope and an escape from Future Systems men with the help of Logan’s instructions. As he successfully escapes and meets Ada and Logan later in the night, they open the envelope to find a thumb drive inside... a thumb drive they need to decrypt, leading them to a message from Kha0s.
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OVERALL TONE /
Gritty Dystopian, Tones of Green, Future Elements, Neon, Darkness, Cyberpunk
Challenges
A major challenge in this episode was seamlessly blending the “decoding scene” with the game mission. We had to incorporate a character-led decoding scene within the mission without giving away answers. Crafting puzzles is complex, requiring foresight into varied approaches to solving mysteries. Moreover, our puzzle needed to be challenging yet solvable—though not immediately. DEFY game users are adept at coding and puzzle-solving, so we had to think of ways to embed decoding challenges in Easter egg hints.
Thankfully, our partners at DEFY Labs, a team of creatively brilliant tech wizs, guided us in script development. Their input ensured that the Easter egg hints in the film synced perfectly with the game mission. This collaboration led to a rewarding experience, driven by creative synergy between SCENE 852 and DEFY Labs. The Defy players, in a collective effort, managed to solve the mission within 3 days.
Final Result
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