BBC Radio 1 were looking to promote the Big Weekend music festival. Mind Candy, producers of Perplex City, were looking to reach a bigger audience. The result was Frozen Indigo Angel.
This was a real departure for Radio 1: a multimedia game that happened in real time, in real life, following sacked producer Paul Denchfield as he sought to find out who was putting subliminal messages in BBC transmissions.
Paul genuinely is a producer and director, with a decade’s experience in the business. Fortunately, he was happy for us to take over his life and make him the hero in our fictional adventure. I ended up writing his blog, producing over an hour of video and audio, posting comments on messageboards in his name and maintaining his Facebook page.
The storyline crossed that of Perplex City, bringing new audiences to both games, and taking hundreds of players to the Big Weekend festival for the thrilling climax.
Once the festival was over, players were given the chance to win musical instruments ‘stolen’ from artists including the Kaiser Chiefs, Mark Ronson, The Gossip and Scissor Sisters.
The game was a spectacular success and was later nominated for a Radio Academy Award for innovation.
David Varela 