TouchIT

Prior to launching “Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow,” Paramount wanted to draw in gamers and transform them into Sky Captain fans in order to heighten the excitement around the film. To reach this goal, the mega-studio approached BLITZ for its strategic guidance and creative genius, and in the blink of an eye, the project was on its way to gaming excellence.

We designed a three-dimensional online game that put players in the cockpit for three investigative adventures. Using Paramount’s original 3D production assets, each adventure directly mirrored one of the Sky Captain’s—this made the game a more accurate representation of the movie and helped transport players into another world. What set the game apart from the big screen experience was that users were able to design and fully-customize their planes before take-off.

The first level is a flying race through Manhattan, NY where players fight an alien invasion using the same plane as Sky Captain’s team during their rescue missions. Once the aliens are defeated, players can move on to the next level: flying underwater to conquer a range of creatures from beyond. To add more suspense to the film and garner return visitors to the site, the third level remained an inaccessible secret until the movie launched.

Just like the movie, our online game was unique in that it was completely 3D—every location or background was done on green screen, which enabled us to use real-life visuals in imaginary situations. Users had the option of downloading the game to play it in a console-type setting or to compete online against other fans via the site’s leaderboard. Combined, these characteristics define the aggressive creative approach of the Sky Captain game at the time of its release in 2003.