RM ‘Virtual World’

Winner, November 2006 Ri5er

The brief behind this project was simple: RM wanted to get across just how innovative they are as a company and attract the best talent, with a particular emphasis on software developers. In response, me Ken (AD) and Craig created the RM Virtual World, ditching the regular copy heavy approach for an almost text-free video based experience. We worked closely with a group of existing RM developers to test and hone our ideas to acheive something that would definately strike a chord with our target audience.

RM is an innovative organisation, leading ICT in Education, hence in the Virtual World, each company division is represented by a different fantastical room where extraordinary things happen. While exploring each room, visitors can watch and listen to people who already work there, and find out more about the company by clicking on various objects.

At the core of the site is the game, which is started when curious visitors click on a discarded newspaper lying on the ground. They then have to complete a series of puzzles, following the clues via a variety of different media to find Professor von Straaten – a fictional professor who has apparently gone missing. The game features various games, puzzles and clues, some fiendishly difficult, including one hidden in the html source code on Professor von Straaten’s personal homepage. Those who do solve the mystery are invited to leave their name and contact number so that someone from RM can call them back.

We shot the participants against a green screen and put the website and game together using Illustrator, Flash and After Effects. We had to turn round the project very quickly, which was tough considering the technical challenges, but in the end we exceeded the client’s expectations and got great feedback from visitors.