Above The Influence
PositivATI
Rising Above Online Negativity
Multi-platform game
THE CHALLENGE
Birds can be jerks
We’re big proponents of positivity around here. So when Hill Holliday came to us with an idea to create a game that could help spread positivity, we couldn’t resist. Negativity and haters are pretty pervasive these days and we loved the idea of making a fun-loving game to remind everyone they don’t need to be a hater to love life; in fact, we think it’s just the opposite.
THE APPROACH
We Became Bird Nerds
The Birds of Above the Influence are a hearty bunch. To establish the world and tone we dove head-first into what can only be described as ornithology for character design nerds. With so many possible variations of the fluttery critters, we narrowed down our selection to the Jenoralia and Brodilla. Two of the most beautiful specimens in the ATI bird kingdom.
To make the birds move, we turned to our classic game-making repertoire of tools and techniques. Flying, carrying tweets, getting hit and fluttering away all need some fun detail animations. Birds need to react to a face full of positivity.
THE PAYOFF
Rising Above It
Above the Influence’s “PositivATI” game is a slingshot gallery where your only goal is to knock down as many negative tweets as you can. Every positive disc you slam into the birds, you’ll take down one more hateful message from the proverbial “net.” It’s the epitome of an arcade classic, like Duck Hunt, but with a slingshot and social media.
Every great, negative bird-smacking game has equally great, negative bird-smacking levels. With ATI, we really wanted to bring an entertaining level mechanism into the experience, something that symbolized the negativity we’re trying to overcome. So when you reach the “Highest Level” of the game, you literally reach the highest level – rising above the influence, if you will.
