What The Client Wanted
Tentacle Solutions has become well-known in the game industry for its ability to produce high-quality games that engage players and promote relevant products and services, and thus was approached by Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery to develop a series of games to promote the attraction to a younger audience.
Located in Carlisle, Tullie House Museum actually hosts a number of exhibitions and events as well as providing a home to fine art, decorative art, history exhibitions, and science exhibitions and the games were to reflect that.
Our pitch involved a series of five games that were based around the Tullie House Museum mascot, Tullie Mouse, and some of the activities at the attraction itself. Our team won and was commissioned to produce them.
What Tentacle Solutions Did
As the project was commissioned by Tullie House Museum we had a license to be creative during the production of the five games. We had a broad brief to adhere to, the team brainstormed ideas to incorporate into the games so that they were as fun as possible and would indeed capture the attention of the youngsters that chose to play them.
Following brainstorming within the parameters of the ideas that had been pitched to Judith Streatfeild, the Audience Development Officer in charge of the promotion, our team began developing the games. The presence of Tullie Mouse in each of the games was a given so our team effectively built each game around the character to ensure that he remained front and centre.
Tentacle Solutions kept close communication with Tullie House throughout the two-month design and production phase to ensure that they were completely happy with the direction that the project was taken.
What Tentacle Solutions Delivered
After the two month development period had passed, the Tentacle Solutions UK-based design and development team delivered the following five bespoke games, each one created from scratch in line with the client’s specifications:
Museum Maze – This game encouraged children to explore the museum with the sole aim of discovering a series of artifacts within the game in order to discover artifacts hidden in and around the museum grounds. It resembled a traditional treasure hunt with a specific Tullie House aspect.
Relic Sorting – This game was based on the popular viral game Bejewelled. However, instead of sorting and matching jewels, actual artifacts from the museum were used.
Online Painting – This was an online painting application that was to be integrated into the website for children to use. It also gave them the option to download or print their work.
Tullie World – Finally, children play this game as the infamous Tullie Mouse, who has to explore the museum in Super Mario style in order to discover precious artifacts whilst dodging spiders and other creatures that effectively wanted to stop them.
Upon delivery of the games, Judith Streatfeild was incredibly happy with the final results. The games were exactly what they were looking for to promote the attraction to children and inject a little fun. It certainly provided the Tentacle Solutions team with a huge challenge and the chance to stretch the skill set.