Everwake
Cardiff’s first multiplatform pervasive street game. everwake was designed to be a new type of entertainment and narrative. Mixing street gaming with online storytelling and play to create a magical and frightening world of ghosts and spirits.
We began creating the world of the game four weeks before the live event took place through ‘real life’ blogs and twitter accounts, audio diaries, emails and telephone calls. We used elements from the history of Cardiff and intertwined it within the narrative, the history of the locations informed character stories and the narrative arc. This created unique connections for the players to the city and enriched the world of the game.
We created a digital campaign that included a twitter account and blog written by the main character in the production along with audio stories, all of which were seeded on social media platforms. These acted as our ‘trailer’ for the production and gave people key narrative information that would enrich their experience of the event if they attended. People who engaged with the online content didn’t necessarily have to play the physical game or vice versa.
“In all our nightmares we become trapped. Lost. Forgotten. Ghosts in the cracks of time. Get ready for an experience that will scare you to your limits. Listen, play, explore and RUN… Run like your soul depended on it. ”
Through multiple entry points the audience could create their own narrative of the experience and choose how and when they engaged with it. We delivered our campaign over a two month period before the event which allowed us to drip feed content to build an audience and buzz in the lead up.
Tickets sold out in two weeks of them going on sale a month into the campaign.
The live event took place in Cardiff and spanned 12 indoor and outdoor locations. The audience was split into small groups and each group could visit the locations in any order. Each groups experience of the game was different depending on their journey through it. Through this level of interactivity and agency, audiences were able to feel a part of the story.
Everwake was shortlisted for ‘Best of Welsh Design Awards 2012’ by Cardiff Design Festival.
