Devising random murders to sell video games
The Brief: Give fans of the TV show (aka casual or non-gamers) a taste of crime scene investigating to increase purchase consideration for Ubisoft’s latest CSI game release: Deadly Intent.
The Idea: Create a series of CSI-inspired who-dunnit mysteries, and challenge fans to solve each one for incremental chances to win the ultimate fan sweepstakes: a trip to the CSI Museum in Vegas and a VIP tour with a writer from the show.
Knowing the guilty suspect from each case would be revealed almost instantly on social channels, I developed a ‘murder matrix’ – nine different crime scenes with 3 potential killers in each – for a total of 27 possible murder cases. Each randomized case included its own unique cause of death, evidence at the scene, and guilty suspect.
Investigators began by collecting evidence at one of nine variable crime scenes for a chance to instantly win official CSI merchandise.
After finding all 5 items at the scene, players could review the entire body of evidence and try to identify the guilty suspect. Solve the case and you could win a trip to Las Vegas and a private tour of the CSI Experience at the MGM Grand, guided by a writer from the show.
Would-be sleuths could investigate a new crime scene every day for weeks and never solve the same case twice.
MURDER BY THE NUMBERS
Over 300 unique assets were developed for the murder matrix.
Victim positions and evidence locations changed within each of the 27 dynamic scenes, depending on the cause of death.
The more cases returning investigators solved, the more CSI achievement badges they could download and post on social.
MY BIT:
I wrote and creative directed the entire experience, conceiving all 27 dynamic experiences (9 scenes x 3 different killers per scene) and collaborating with development to establish the murder matrix. I invented each suspect character and his or her backstory, along with how their interconnected relationships impacted each murder case. I also devised the evidence items at each scene, the 27 different autopsy reports, dozens of witness statements, and even wrote incriminating dialogue exchanges between suspects on social channels.