Christmastown for Apple TV
A Tool Digital Experiment
With this project for the re-launched Apple TV, Tool set out to become pioneers of the new platform by creating one of the first stories + game apps developed specifically for the latest model and its interactive functions.
A “tongue and cheek”, dark and gritty interactive murder mystery a la True Detective, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard, the plot takes place in “Christmastown,” the village surrounding the North Pole, and places the user in the detective’s seat, interviewing suspects and uncovering clues to find out what really happened and whether Santa Claus has been framed. Taking inspiration from the 1960s Rudolph TV special, the visuals have been updated and reimagined in a stop-motion style to present a new twist on classic holiday characters using today’s latest technology. By infusing an R-rated sensibility into well-known characters that are otherwise considered childish, Tool has created Apple TV’s first mature audience game.
Tool used Unity software to design the game and create the trailer, and custom coded the game flow.
Process
STORY/GAME DEVELOPMENT
Working off a loose concept, the team created a whiteboard outlining the plot, and the various decisions and actions a player might be able to make throughout the story. They used this decision tree to define scenes and key plot elements such as clues to write and refine the script of the game.
TESTING APPLE TV AND WHAT IT CAN DO
We received access to the Apple tvOS dev kit, and were able to preview all of the new features via the code. This allowed us to focus the gameplay on actions that would be accomplishable and unique to this platform. After the product shipped, we then tested and adjusted gameplay accordingly.
3D DESIGN (CHARACTERS AND BUILDINGS)
Working in Maxon Cinema4D, we modeled nearly 40 characters, buildings and props inspired by the 1960s Rudolph TV special and it’s follow up specials. Knowing that we were going for a quick execution, the characters were partially rigged in Cinema4D and animations were added both via keyframed cycles and coded twitches and blinks, giving us the stop motion look we were going for.
DEVELOPMENT
First, we familiarized ourselves with the new AppleTV remote input events. It has a built in touch surface so it acts like a touchscreen on a smartphone. Since it’s no classic game controller, we found ways to project the remote touch inputs for a 3rd person game controller. We then tested the graphical performance limits to know what we could actually show on this new device. After all this was sorted out, we could focus on building in the storyline and all the interactive elements in the game.
Tech
We used very low-level tech components with Unity as we wanted to keep focused on building out the entire village of Christmastown. While we have a large dev team, the group who worked on this is made up of primarily designers and motion, so we had to work closely with our dev lead to make sure the features we were using were also performing well on the tvOS. Some of these features included: 3D physics, complex animations, atmospheric lightning, custom shaders, UI menus, audio effects.
TECHNOLOGIES USED:
Unity is a cross-platform game engine with a built-in IDE developed by UnityTechnologies.
Apple TV (4th generation) is an updated digital media platform and microconsole with enhanced gameplay features including improved user interaction via a touchscreen remote.
Tool team
Dustin Callif, Managing Partner, Digital
Executive Producers: Chris Neff, Erich Joiner, Oliver Fuselier
Matt Gase, Creative Director
Clay Weishaar, Creative Director
Seth Benson, Lead Motion Designer
Thiebault Delacourt, Motion Designer
Felix Winkelmann, Lead Developer
Simi Dhillon, Digital Producer
Rainy Kumar, Senior Digital Producer
Download from the App Store on your Apple TV.
