As the new year begins and we all set resolutions that are sure to be broken by February, we thought we’d take a quick look back at some of Fluid’s 2022 highlights across our five departments! This is just a snippet of what we’ve been up to across our branding, digital, motion, influencer kit and licensing divisions - and we can’t wait to show you what we have in store for 2023.

We were delighted when Wargaming approached Fluid to develop a core style guide with a range of key art, graphics, packaging and product designs for their flagship series World of Tanks. 

Now celebrating its 12th year as one of the world’s most popular MMOs, World of Tanks’ clear selling point to its 160 million registered users is of course the awesome man-made behemoths on show, with each tank in the game having its own unique identity and advantages for battle. 

We wanted to highlight this individuality through a variety of different art styles for each tank, not wanting any to feel the same. Utilising a mix of strong, contrasting pops of colour with an urban, gritty finish, we presented Wargaming with a series of graphics that felt both on brand and something they hadn’t seen before. 

We also wanted to highlight the authenticity and industrial nature of the tanks by incorporating schematics and subtle pieces of information unique to each tank within the graphics. At the same time, whenever possible we included easter eggs and iconic in-game references that fans of the series would love. At Fluid we always want both newcomers and core fans to be able to look at a piece of our work and find something that excites them.

Wargaming were thrilled with what we produced, with their licensees equally impressed and excited to see the translation of our style guide into a wide range of consumer products. 

There are few things more exciting for us than working on a brand new IP, so we were naturally thrilled to work with Vela Games on the branding and website for their debut title Evercore Heroes. 

An upcoming competitive PVE fantasy game, Evercore Heroes has four teams of four heroes compete to be the first to beat epic bosses and save the world - incorporating familiar elements from MOBAs, ARPGs and MMOs with a unique twist to create a bold new gameplay experience. 

And a bold new experience requires a bold new brand, so Fluid helped build one from the ground up. Working on the visual and brand strategy - core game pillars, name ideation, logo creation and animation, bespoke font, key art direction, full brand guidelines and website - we covered all aspects of Evercore’s branding from inception all the way through to delivery. 

Evercore's world features four main factions competing against one another in a battle for supremacy, so we wanted the logo to reflect this with the inclusion of a diamond formation housing the number of factions within it. We then worked hand in hand with the development team to incorporate their unique art style into some stunning pieces of key art that fit seamlessly with Evercore’s brand identity, whilst also building a full A-Z bespoke font to make any copy for the game instantly recognisable and relayed back to the brand. 

We loved the freedom we were given to explore different ideas and the trust Vela had in us to develop the look and feel of Evercore Heroes. Their team were delighted with our creative process and we can’t wait to jump into the world of Evercore ourselves when the game launches… stay tuned for the release date! 

VISIT EVERCORE HEROES WEBSITE

Legendary racing driver Ken Block’s partnership with the world’s most popular drag racing game CSR 2 continued in 2022, with the announcement of the limited time Electrikhana event. 

For the first time, over 130 million CSR 2 players were given the opportunity to experience the supercharged power of Ken Block’s own Audi S1 E-Tron Quattro, otherwise known as the ‘Hoonitron’- and Fluid were delighted to help Zynga spread the word with a stunning announcement trailer.

We were requested to help with the CGI, VFX and audio for the debut of Audi’s drifting machine in CSR 2. After retexturing and rerendering the car to best replicate its iconic real world appearance, we added smoke effects, simulation and lighting to add drama and excitement to the scene. 

We love the way the smoke interacts with the light as the Hoonitron drifts around the car park and Zynga agreed, telling us they were blown away by what we produced.

On a much sadder note, the team at Fluid were all devastated to hear the tragic news of Ken Block’s passing at the start of 2023. He was an icon of the racing world and a legend to so many, including us. We’re honoured to have worked in some capacity on a campaign that celebrated the Hoonigan, who will be remembered as one of the champions of extreme sports in our era.

After helping Yager with a full rebrand and strategy for The Cycle: Frontier, which included key art, a new logo, brand guidelines, and a completely new community focused website; Fluid went one step further in helping to draw audiences to the game in the run up to its full release in June last year. 

YAGER planned to run a closed beta for The Cycle: Frontier, but wanted a unique, community driven approach to connect and engage with their audience. We decided to run on a Twitch Drops campaign, where players are rewarded beta keys for watching 2 hours of streamed content on Twitch. 

We’ve done some awesome Twitch Drop work previously but The Cycle: Frontier was a different proposition. The game had not yet been released, so audiences were naturally unable to log into the game to receive their reward. No problem! The Fluid team instead developed a custom fulfilment tool that stored the beta keys and automatically distributed them as they were earned. We used oAuth technology for users to log into our web application with their Epic Games or Steam account, which provided their email address for the beta codes to be sent to. The campaign encouraged audiences to engage with streamers and learn more about the world of The Cycle before exploring the game for themselves.

When the beta finished, Yager used our web application to run numerous Twitch Drops campaigns, rewarding their players with in game items and skins. The audience reaction has been fantastic, with over one million key redemptions being a testament to the success of the campaign. We love being challenged to find different ways of engaging and exciting fans in the digital space, and we feel this is a perfect example of how we can do it.

VISIT THE CYCLE: FRONTIER TWITCH DROPS

Prior to the release of their much anticipated title ‘Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’, Fatshark approached Fluid to create an Influencer Kit that celebrated the game’s release and felt as though it was pulled straight out of the Darktide world.

So we got to work! We conceived an array of initial proposals which were developed and refined to best reflect the game as it neared release. In the end we produced 50 kits, delivered to global influencers and utilised as a competition prizes.

Influencers lucky enough to receive one of the kits were greeted to an imposingly sized, battle worn metal crate, akin to a weapons container found on a Warhammer 40K battlefield and adorned as such, with plenty of detailing to show its Tertium roots. However access to the crate, which contained a wide range of exclusive and bespoke Darktide content as well as a copy of the game itself, was blocked by a padlock. 

To gain entry to the crate, influencers had to delve deep into a gloriously grim specimen bag containing some Tertium based slime, as if collected from the planet Atoma Prime. After getting a feel for the Darktide world as their fingers explore the gloopy mixture, rife with lumps, skulls and other pleasantries, influencers would find a key granting access to their Warhammer goodies!

As Warhammer fans, and having worked on numerous Warhammer projects previously, we were delighted to develop the kit and thrilled to see the fantastic coverage and feedback from both the influencers and Fatshark, aiding the game’s PC release. We’ll see you in the depths of the hive!

So that was just a quick look at some of the stuff we got up to in 2022 but there’s plenty more in store we can’t wait to share in 2023. If there’s any aspect of a brand’s creative strategy that needs our help, the team at Fluid will always be ready to assist - as we have been for 28 years. Roll on the 29th, and Happy New Year!