DeathSprint 66

DeathSprint 66 is a high-horror, body-shock tournament televised by the Bachman Media Group, a violent dystopia ruled by blood sports. Eight players race on-foot across extreme obstacle courses, dodging traps and outmanoeuvring rivals in the deadliest game on Earth.

Initially, Sumo Digital came to us for banner designs, which we created over a hundred of. The engagement was expanded to a series of billboard designs which became central to the worldbuilding. The story unfolded through advertising, reflecting real-life sports.

The project then evolved to include a gameplay trailer and launch trailer spotlighting DeathSprint 66’s head-turning gameplay in all its glory. The brief? “I want the audience to think – WTF did I just watch, that was AWESOME.”

Sumo wanted DeathSprint’s trailers to hit hard and fast, creating a craving. Our Animation Team produced two trailers from scratch, including 8-player gameplay capture, 3D animation and motion graphics.

The idea was to create the feel of a high-stakes movie scene that included 1980s inspired pop rock synth and dynamic title cards. We used both in-game assets with our team’s 3D animation and bespoke footage captured from the game. Combined with our existing expertise in 2.5D techniques, 3D processes gave us a bigger, more exciting range of creative solutions.

For the second trailer, we went bigger and better and created 16 custom shots using in-game assets. The stand-out sequence is where a clone steps over the guts of its fallen self as it launches back into play. We took a classic 3D character animation approach for this, filming reference shots and hand-keying everything in Autodesk Maya.

Once the animation got the green light, we exported the character to Unreal and staged the sequence right on the track in-game. We handled all the blood, gore, and lighting in-engine, then rendered the sequence and polished it up in After Effects. Glitchy motion graphics simulate the clone coming back to life before jumping back into the race, and inevitably, to its next death.

2D art can be found in every game in some way. It enriches the game world and enables a higher suspension of disbelief for deeper player immersion. Sumo granted us a ton of creative freedom with DeathSprint’s in-world track advertisements, as well as a host of iconography work, player expression and graphic design.

With racing as the last thing left in this apocalyptic hellscape, there was a big opportunity for dark comedy, from convoys to mars to synthetic peaches. As a team we pushed one another for ever more playful and fun ideas and the client loved these comical designs.

“I wanted to add a weird twist, an eerie note into the artwork,” said Graphic Designer, Matt Slade. “All is not what it seems in DeathSprint 66 and the more we worked on the project, the more we got the humour of the game. Over time, we started to really have fun with it.

“For example, the kids show ‘Glocctopus and Friends’: what do those friends look like, what’s the show’s art style, does the Glocctopus universe extend beyond the TV show? I ended up making a billboard for a Glocctopus movie, using full 3D rather than cartoonish 2D. I would have loved to continue with merch and fast-food tie-ins.”

The mix of an innovative concept and the freedom to push worldbuilding within our deliverables made DeathSprint 66 an incredibly fun project for us. An open partnership and direct collaboration with Sumo Digital’s game design team allowed us to explore new skills and programs, which led to results that helped to creatively shape the game, and ones we are immensely proud of.

Run for Fame. Die for Glory!