UEC Preview
messages their children will discover once they delve deeper into the stories. With their focus on nature, conservation and the quest to better oneself, the Marsupilamis are truly an IP for our time. With experiences fueled by virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies, and the highly repeatable Sing Along karaoke attraction and Let’s Dance, the UEC promises a more fulfilling experience than a typical FEC. A very important element is also Houba Academy, where educational and creative workshops can be organized on comics strip drawing, wildlife and jungle vegetation, street art, cupcake baking and language labs, just to name a few. These will be organized in cooperation with local parties and are important for the repeat visits. Workshops can be offered in series and on regular basis. As you’ll remember if you read part one of this article, the Urban Experience Centre is envisaged as a flexible attraction format suitable for shopping malls, city centres or other urban retail/leisure destinations that can spare between 800 to 2,000m2 of space. And that space can be split across the mall or another area, including vacant units, all linked together by AR Hybrid Quest for navigation and virtual gaming. Furthermore, Cornet suggests, mall operators may wish to stage mall or seasona l promotions with activities and events across different stores to engage potential guests.
New content coming
All this will be backed up by a significant investment in the IP from Mediatoon. “We have a massive 360-degree programme for our yellow friends over the next five years,” confirms Leclercq. This includes a 52-strong series of CGI animations, video games, live events and more, all in multiple languages to be offered internationally.
With around 400 licensed products, and half of these on sale at Parc Spirou, the brand’s merchandising potential is indisputable. Since a lot of media outlets, including a 4D movie, have been produced for the French theme park, BoldMove has access to all these assets for media content and gameplay to be developed for the attractions. Nevertheless, Cornet wants the storytelling at
SUMMER PART 4 2021
Houba City to be simple, and easy to understand even for those unfamiliar with the IP. “We have to be humble and smart,” he says. “Mindful of the UEC’s compact characteristics, there will be few pre-show experiences. But that doesn’t mean the stories inside the attractions won’t be compelling.
Putting guests at the heart of the experience
“The visitor experience will be very user orientated,” says Sommer Paulsen. “The story comes alive
and grows through multiple points of interaction. Furthermore, we are looking at how the audience can actually influence the story and ‘own’ it throughout their visit, and even take it home. Experience design is about creating shareable memories that visitors want to relive again and again. The Marsupilami universe is a great place to do that.”
But how do you migrate a comic strip originating in the 1950s to the digital world? Mediatoon has successively, but subtly, reimagined the Marsupilami tales – and their tails – for a 21st Century audience, In doing so, it has retained all the charm of the original characters and storytelling. They might now be computer animated, but they’re still shamelessly two- dimensional in appearance (something, it should be noted, that has never stopped The Simpsons achieving global success). The BoldMove media experts have experience in creating a compelling gameplay with the highest respect for the IP’s DNA and characteristics. In doing so, the team works closely together with the license owner’s creative studio.
What’s more, with attractions such as Marsupilami’s Incredible Supply Chase dark ride, Piranha VR Racing, Houba Climb and Jump, Marsupila-Me running track, visitors to Houba City will be able to engage with the cutest inhabitants of the Palombian Forest like and accompany them in their discovery of the city.
Experience
design is about creating shareable memories that visitors want to relive again and again. The Marsupilami
universe is a great place to do that.
Next issue...
In the third and final part of this series, we’ll look closer at some of the attractions available at Houba City and uncover the technology engaging guests into the Marsupilami world.
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