In 2014, while working at Quango, I had the pleasure of directing a training campaign for Intel. Starting from square one, I set my team on the task of developing a story-line and experience that would engage a re-seller audience in a way few ‘training’ experiences ever have. We developed a side scrolling video game, which embedded the content in a fun and dynamic way. I directed the video game mechanics, level development, illustration, and story development. When all was said and done, and for all parties involved the project was a huge success and high mark for the agency.

The experience was a training for a type of computer system called an All-in-One, and so our main characters name was Aio. We took inspiration from Asian historical elements, Anime styles and a strong graphic novel approach, making sure the narrative fit appropriately to the subject matter but also stood on its own as a healthy story arch with logical plot mechanics. The game comprised of 3 levels. In the first, the main character, Aio, is the accidental hero of the tail, compelled to set out on adventure to save her village.

As the story progresses, our hero encounters wide-ranging environments and deadly obstacles. Players engaged in a simple side-scrolling mechanic of ‘dodging and collecting’ through levels and facing off against a boss character at the end of each.

It was an exceptionally rewarding experience driving a team together around this goal and one that cemented a method to developing these types of training experiences. Over the years, Quango executed numerous gamified training experiences, all fully integrated campaigns across web, social, and media, engaging greater reseller audiences within their category than any trainings Intel had ever produced.