Roll up for the magical mystery tour. Got everything you need; satisfaction guaranteed.

7 Days Magic Bakery feels a bit magical, mixing the ambiance of a Pixar movie with a playground of the immersive kind.

The consensus is the 7 Days Bakery build is a winner – and I must say I agree. The sim, textures and colors are visually beautiful, rendered in Maya and imported into SL (for some very good interoperability reasons).  The overall feel is a touch Willy Wonka with a lot French country village crossed with a place I want to live.  I’ll let others fill you in on the build critique – I’m focused a bit more on the behind-the-scenes.

Involve3D won the 7 Days business, upstaging its competitors, by emphasizing Involve’s ability to enhance the brand, build upon social networking, create entertainment value and interaction while adhering to “low branding,” according to Involve CEO, Drew Stein.   They’ve done a good job fulfilling the promise so far, and there is more in this integrated campaign yet to come.

The one thing I zeroed in on is the playing out of the all-important backstory and narrative that was developed as the foundation for the Magic Bakery implementation and to which Involve adheres in every detail. Chef Vivardi comes to life here whose job it is to supply the world with wholesome foods.  Without taking any mystery out of your tour, the narrative of the brand – wholesome snacks to fit modern lifestyles – is present without dominating.  Most importantly it forms the starting point of the 3D story, framing the entertainment, social aspects and interaction. There are rebellious robots, undeniably adorable machines all around, media textures that add life, and movie-quality voice-overs and music.  In my opinion the music just totally makes it all come together.

Stein tells me the pre-production storyboarding, concept art and voice-over scripting took 8 weeks – a bit more than half of the total production time.  The 7 Days team were up to their elbows in commitment with the VP of marketing, brand managers and a 6-person team each representing core markets involved in every step of the process.  It was time well spent, as the result is a sim that doesn’t tell a story but has the ingredients to support a story. Kudos to both Involve and the 7 Days  brand for assigning importance to the key narrative.

The central character is actually the snack factory (although there are others to engage you along the way)  where avatars create their own unique pastries each with their own little fun [secret] magic.  Avatars are able to share their personal creations with other avatars, and a clever HUD makes it possible to take pastries to other SL lands and to recall and swap them (although they can only be eaten once by any avatar – of course!).    Rumor has it the upcoming (Q-1) Flash factory site will be interoperable with the SL factory, so that every pastry ever created in either factory will be retrievable and sharable thanks to the Amazon web services underpinnings. 

I do have a wish list, though.  The central pastry-making activity is fun, but it is still largely a solitary activity, interacting with the pastry machine (even as the effects are very well-done).  Yes, there are plenty of social spaces, and things to share (movie theater).   In contrast though Involve’s implementation of the Weather Channel sim is better focused on immersive shared activities (skiing, surfing, biking) and I hope to see more of that kind of interactive experience magic develop here – the ingredients are all there.

What partly makes for interactive “fun” in these virtual spaces includes mastery - something the major activity of 7 Days is lacking.  Although avatars can create hundreds of one-of-a-kind yummies, something that takes practice would be even more compelling IMO.

That said, 7 Days is a warm, inviting, satisfying SL experience. Case in point, a Koinup 7Days widget is already available to embed your works into 2D web space (this is user-generated, not part of the campaign).

There is a microsite in the works that will include the Flash factory, a themed orientation island is to come and machinima will be making its way into TV commercials.   

I’ll be keeping tabs on 7 Days to see what SLer’s cook up with the whole concoction – that’s the real secret success sauce.

Visit 7 Day Magic Bakery here - it is an SL must see.

October 7, 2008

加入奇妙的神奇之旅，得您所需，包您满意。

 7日神奇面包店的魔法感觉有种Pixar电影的氛围，并在此种背景中应运而生。

有一点是公认的，7日面包店的诞生是最大的赢家——我不得不承认这个事实。这款模拟游戏，它的质感和颜色从视觉角度而言都十分赏心悦目，采用Maya还导入了SL（能在多种品牌机上进行有意义的沟通）。整体感觉很有Willy Wonka的风格，有大片法式乡村的庄园，是我所向往的居住场所。我将为你提供别人对于建筑的评论——我更关注幕后制作。

Involve3D在7日的运营中大获全胜，超过它的竞争者，它强调Involve加强品牌的能力，建立起社区型网络，创造了娱乐互动价值，同时秉持Involve CEO Drew Stein的理念：“建立低端品牌”。他们做得很好，正在不断实现这个目标，而且这个综合性游戏即将推出更多活动。

 我所关注的是背景故事叙述的结束，这段叙述是神奇面包店运行的基础，Involve公司对于这段内容的处理也十分讲究细节。主厨Vivardi开始在这儿生活，他的工作是为世界提供美味的食物。这段开场白（美味的食物，符合现代化的生活方式）并没有带走旅程的神秘感，它只是在陈述，而没有控制故事的发展。最重要的是，它形成了3D故事的开端，构建了娱乐、社会性能和互动的框架，到处都有反叛的机器人，可爱的机器，增加生活的影像质感，以及电影质量的解说和音乐。我觉得音乐将所有的一起融合在了一起。

Stein告诉我，制作前的剧情梗概系列图片，概念艺术和解说台词花了8周的心血——超过整个制作时间的一半。7日的制作团队全身心投入，包括市场部高级副总、品牌经理和一个6人的团队，他们代表市场的核心，参与到过程的每一步骤之中。这些时间的投入是值得的，这款模拟游戏不单是讲述一个故事，还有内容来支撑整个故事。对于Involve公司和七日游戏而言，Kudos帮助分配主要述说的重要性。

 主要的特点其实是美食工厂（尽管还有其他因素吸引你加入），游戏玩家的虚拟形象创造他们自己独特的糕点，从中得到自己的小小的（神秘的）乐趣和魔法。玩家可以在游戏里互相分享自己做的糕点，智能HUD能使品尝、收回、交换糕点成为可能（虽然他们只能由游戏中的虚拟形象来平常——当然！），接下来出现一些谣言（Q-1）。Flash工厂将和SL工厂沟通，这样在任一工厂制造的糕点都将可以赠送和分享，多亏了Amazon加强了网站服务。

不过我有一个愿望表。主要的糕点制作是很有意思，但是大多数是一些固定的动作，和糕点机器互动（即使效果很不错）。是的，有许多社区空间，也有许多东西要分享（电影、剧院）。相比较而言，虽然Involve公司实行了虚拟气象台，更好地关注共享活动（滑雪、冲浪、骑车），我希望能在这儿看到更多此类互动活动——内容都在这儿。

 在这个虚拟的空间里，组成互动“乐趣”的内容包括控制——这是七日主要欠缺的活动。尽管游戏玩家可以创造百余种独一无二的美味食物，但这种参与将引起跟多的IMO。

据说，七日的气氛很温暖，很吸引人，能满足SL的体验。有个恰当的例子，一个Koinup 七日的小玩意已经可得了，它能将你的作品嵌入2D网页空间里（这是用户制造，不是运营的一部分）。

在这个作品里有一个微型网站，包含Flash工厂，一个即将来临的主题导向型小岛，而且machinima（机械电影）将以自己的方式进军电视广告。   

我将密切关注七日，SL将用所有的调配品煮出什么——这是成功的酱料的真实的秘密。

在此访问七日神奇面包店，这是必须阅读的SL.

2008-10-7