From a game to a film and back again... In Dundee!
#helloDCA
10 June 2016
If you haven’t heard of Angry Birds we don’t know where you’ve been! What you might not have heard though, is that as well as the film that’s been released about the unhappy feathered creatures, Dundee’s Tag Games is behind a new game based on the film… which is based on the original game! Got it?
We can’t wait to bring you our Discovery Family Film Club screening on Sat 18 June, but before then, we spoke to Tag’s games artist Joanna Jakubowska, who tells us all about their new Angry Birds game and what it was like to work on it…

Can you tell us a bit about Tag Games and what you do there?
Tag Games was formed back in 2006 when three Dundee game developers decided to create a studio and explore the new possibilities of mobile gaming. Tag has since produced over 30 titles and the super creative, diverse and fun company is home to over 40 people from all over the world.
“You never really know what the next day will bring…”
I came across Tag while studying animation at Dundee University when Stewart Graham, the creative director, accepted my invitation to provide feedback for fellow students and sponsored prizes for the best film during our degree show.
I joined the team in January 2015 as a 3D environment artist but during the development of Angry Birds Action! I shifted my focus to User Interface Art and Design. The nature of mobile art development can be crazy at times as you never really know what the next day will bring. One day I could be working on user interfaces, the next it’s concepts and animation.
How has the company been involved with Angry Birds?
Both Tag and Rovio (who created Angry Birds) specialise in free to play gaming and were born around the same time. This project was won via a tendering process and lots of hard work went into the pitch. The first challenge that the designers and artists needed to overcome was to incorporate the new 3D viewpoint and the new look of the character designs. In terms of game design, the initial inspiration came from mini-golf games, Peggle and later on SmashLand.
How did the game come together and what was the development process like?
After the pitch, Tag received the green light to prototype the game in a relatively small team of ten developers, over three months. During that time nothing was really set in stone and the design evolved rapidly into a fast-paced pinball action game mixed with the familiar Angry Birds game-play elements. When I joined the company the prototyping phase had come to an end and the team started to grow to around 25 people.
“As an artist with a background in animation I felt like a kid in a candy store…”
The next challenge in the development phase was to establish a visual style as close to the cinematic vision as possible, all within the technical limitations of mobile devices. I remember very vividly the day when the first movie concepts arrived from Sony Pictures. As an artist with a background in animation I felt like a kid in a candy store, so overwhelmed and inspired by the original concepts.
In February the game went into the soft launch phase, bringing the development phase to just over a year. That was the moment when lots of our ideas were tested and some tough decisions were made about cutting story out, introducing new gameplay mechanics and new tutorials. Angry Birds Action! launched in April, but we still have plenty of new content on the way.

How does the game relate to the film?
It’s interesting that you ask this question. The Angry Birds franchise is a worldwide phenomenon that in some way completed its full circle of success. From being a game that inspired the movie, to being a movie that inspired a game - it really shows you how mobile gaming has grown in power to somewhere no one could have imagined ten years ago.
But going back to your question: the most obvious point of reference are the visuals. We worked closely with Sony Pictures to ensure the game’s style and content fitted with the overall vision for the movie. The game features movie locations, characters and humour.
The synergy of the game and the movie is taken to the next level by an interesting technology called Zapper. The game uses Zappar AR codes, which are round markers that look like Angry Birds characters and can be found in cinemas, on posters and on product from a variety of companies. The codes can give players a range of short mini-games that add power-ups for use in the game or new content.

Do you have a favourite film or film-related game?
This is a hard question! There is so many of them so I will mention just a few.
The first one would be The Witcher. Not many game fans actually know that it was adapted for the big screen and television. It was so bad though that the author of The Witcher saga, Andrzej Sapkowski, described the movie as “obscene”! The game itself though is one of the most stunning pieces of game art I’ve seen. It’s also very close to my heart as it has a very eastern European vibe about the art.
In my opinion another good game inspired by a film would be Alien: Isolation. The game is set 15 years after the events of Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien film and follows Amanda Ripley, daughter of Alien protagonist Ellen Ripley, and her efforts to investigate the disappearance of her mother. What I love about this game is the way it captures the feel of the movie, retro-futuristic art direction and amazing sound design.
If we are talking videogame movies, I need to mention Wreck-It Ralph. The movie is a videogame, with videogame jokes, videogame sounds, videogame cameos and a blocky, 8-bit videogame villain. It is a pure nostalgia trip.
Finally, if you want to have a bit of insight into the game development world - my world - I highly recommend the documentary Indie Game: The Movie from 2012 by Canadian filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot.
Well we can’t wait to have a go at playing the new Angry Birds game, but first, we’re looking forward to bringing you a one-off screening of the new film! See The Angry Birds Movie on Sat 18 June, and don’t forget to download the game and look out for the Zapper QR codes so you can unlock some of those special features Joanna mentioned.


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