Firstborn & T.A.G

Firstborn, a multiplatform design and technology studio, creates everything from websites and viral campaigns to 3D models and digital applications. For the new Microsoft Zune player, it was approached by T.A.G to be its interactive partner on the promotional site. The brief was to develop an experience that acted as a journey for the user - an experience that would allow the user to spend some time with the Zune. "We came up with the idea of having six unique worlds - one for each core feature of the Zune," explains Firstborn's executive director Dan LaCivita.
Launched in mid-November, work on the site began in September. "We're pretty proud of all the animation," LaCivita continues. "Our team of Flash animators worked countless hours on animating every single element for every world. While our lead Flash engineer created this amazing 3D world with pretty sophisticated ActionScript, our animators used cell animation and timeline animation to really bring the Zune worlds to life.
"One thing that was difficult was how our designers and animators had to use the 3D engine created by our programmers to help inform the way they worked. Since there are many elements and a lot of animation, we had to do a lot of testing throughout the process to make sure the loading and performance of the site was optimal."