This past fall, a handful of employees at Colle+McVoy were tasked with creating the company’s 2008 holiday greeting. Inspired by some of the agency’s work over the past year, they came up with “Snowdin,” a virtual snow-capped mountain retreat where visitors can escape from the hectic holiday hustle and bustle by using 3D glasses (which the agency mailed to its contacts along with a card) to play Flash games and download icons from the online mountain hamlet.
It all began with the creation of an 8’ by 12’ physical model of Snowdin. The model was then photographed using a special technique so the colors could be separated in Flash to make the 3-D effect. Many of the effects used to create the 3-D experience were a first, not only for Colle+McVoy, but for the interactive world as well.
Visitors to Snowdin.com, armed with their 3-D glasses, can explore five areas of Snowdin - Mount Frostbite, Wild Blue Yonder, Avalanche Alley, Lake Wannawarmup and Wreathco Industries. Each area hosts its own games and downloadable content, including classic-style arcade games, desktop widgets, character icons, papercrafts, typefaces and even coloring book pages from their favorite fictional village.
The site was a great success, providing much holiday cheer and earning recognition on Creativity Online and Ads of the World, as well as site of the day on FWA.
