Celestale
Jeux de Paris 2024
A Minecraft activation for Medef Sport, presented during the Paris Games, by Skytale, the team behind Celestale
3 Olympic events in cubes, archery, a boat race and a horse race, in a Paris rebuilt block by block. A public activation presented at the Club France, from 30 August to 8 September 2024.
A small project, a big leap
Less imposing than our major events, but a colossal communication impact. For the first time, the studio enters an institutional circle and speaks to partners beyond the video game world.
The trailer
The presentation of the activation, from the cubic Paris to the 3 events.
Carte blanche, one condition
Medef Sport, the employers' organisation promoting sport in the workplace, wanted to extend its message to the general public through an unusual activation. It gave Skytale carte blanche, with a single requirement, to promote workplace sport through video games.
A universal language
Minecraft speaks to every generation. An ideal ground to reach audiences far from the usual institutional channels, and to carry the Olympic spirit differently.
Full autonomy
The map and the gameplay created from scratch by Skytale. The volunteers positioned themselves according to their skills, each taking charge of their part without overly strict directives.
A gateway to sport
At the end of each session, a QR code opens the profiles of the French athletes competing. The game becomes an entry point to the French sporting world.
3 Olympic events in cubes
The player strings the 3 events together to set the best overall time. Each was reimagined to work within Minecraft's codes, without betraying the spirit of the original discipline.
Archery
From a native Minecraft mechanic, a real timed precision event. Hit a series of targets in a given order, managing trajectory and rhythm.
The boat race
In Minecraft's aquatic environment, a winding course to negotiate. Find the best lines, read the current, anticipate the turns. Mastery of water travel makes the difference.
The horse race
The grand-spectacle finale. The player sets off on a course that crosses the Paris scenery, between pure speed and steering the mount. The finish line was modelled specially for the project.
A Paris rebuilt block by block
The scenery draws on the capital's iconic landmarks. The Eiffel Tower rises, the city's reference points are recognisable. The player feels immediately at home in a cubic Paris that plays the welcoming, familiar card to the full.
Each event has its own dedicated space, articulated with the iconic elements of Paris. The player moves from one discipline to the next through zones consistent with the visual narrative, to keep the pace of the journey.
Flags were added to convey the international dimension of the Games, work coordinated with Medef Sport to respect the communication conventions specific to the event.
Built never to falter
An on-site project tolerates no incident. Development, broadly simple, focused on the finish and above all on reliability, to hold 10 days of crowds without a single crash.
80% via the editor
The BetonQuest module, the logic engine of the Skytale Map Editor, orchestrates the sequence of actions and events. Cinematics, dialogues and 3D models feed the staging.
A careful finish
The structure was held quickly. The work went into the details, ambient sound effects, polishing transitions, balancing the events and integrating the athlete information.
A reliable deployment
Installation scripts prepared to simplify the setup on the terminal, and a technical team present to support the install and the live monitoring.
A testing ground for the Skytale Map Editor
After Children of Steel, the Paris Games 2024 pushed our in-house game editor forward. The modules for interface management, in-game model integration and image handling gained robustness. Advances that in turn benefit our flagship project, The Last Artifact. The more we use it, the more we improve it.
On the Medef Sport stand
A deliberately simple setup, a dedicated computer, a welcoming stand understandable at a glance. For 10 days, visitors strung together the 3 events, aimed for the best time and discovered the French athletes via the QR code.
“Some came back to set a better time when there were fewer people.”
An institutional opening
Behind the scenes at the Club France
Skytale was invited behind the scenes at the Club France and exchanged with major figures of the French sporting and institutional world. One of the first times the studio enters an institutional circle of this scale. A step that fits a wider trajectory, from Tokyo Game Show to ZEvent and Paris Games Week.
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