For hundreds of students around the world, the school year kicks off in serious competition mode! 2021 was no different with the introduction of the 6th Devogame – this time an interactive video game.
Devoteam produces Devogame every September. The games challenge students in new ways, from testing their technical knowledge to validating the skills they need on their course.
With an audience of tech-savy students, the 6th Devogames (2021) impressed students with :
- An interactive video game created in Stornaway.io
- Testing the students’ soft skills; concentration, decision-making, adaptability and leadership
- 1.6 billion students affected by school shutdowns over the last 2 years. So not only have remote learning tools had to become more engaging but also more accessible.
Stornaway.io is an end-to-end platform enabled the creative team to :
- Build and develop a complex decision tree
- Link several videos together smoothly and in an order decided by the user
- Make a large volume of video sequences accessible via streaming without server-side headaches
- Personalise the user experience
- Seamlessly collaborate
Devoteam, a consulting firm for digital strategy, platform technologies, cybersecurity and business transformation, create Devogames with C’est Comme Une Agence (CCUA) – a Paris-based creative agency.
In their 6th year of Devogames, and with an audience of evermore technology-savvy students, the team wanted to offer something different; a new, exciting concept and experience.
CCUA turned to Ikimasho – a game studio that “creates games that put the power and agency in the hands of the players”. Together they set out to level up on previous editions. They combined immersion and entertainment within a professional context for the 2021 Devogame.
By creating an interactive video game in Stornaway.io, the team were able to put their students at the heart of the experience.
The rules of the game: An interactive learning video for students focusing on soft skills, not just correct answers
6 years ago, when the yearly Devogames started, the learning focus was on technical knowledge. Players were tested on their skills and technological capabilities within a competitive challenge.
As the games have evolved, the expectations of those involved expanded. Nowadays, the focus has turned towards interpersonal skills rather than a strict know-how driver. With soft skills in the spotlight and engaging technology as the host rather than the main event.
6 years can make a huge difference in terms of the technology that students are used to using. And each year, the creative teams have a mission of their own – to create something different, refreshing and engaging for their players!
In 2021, they turned to interactive video. Placing the player at the very heart of the experience.
Interactive videos and FMV Games (check out our History of FMV Games) are becoming more and more mainstream. The audience of students for this challenge were already engaged and invested in this genre through the likes of Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch – the same show that inspired the creative team.
Interactive video is something that is being embraced – and expected – by students around the world. As viewers, young audiences are drawn in by the opportunity for more choice and more control. Students, young people and even children of today are living in a world where technology is at their fingertips. They’re as used to making content as they are to viewing it!
Welcome Player 2: creating an interactive learning video with Stornaway.io
“We were looking for software that would allow us to map our story in a graphic way, then attach video clips to our nodes. We started with heuristic maps managers but they proved limited on the video side.
Stornaway felt different. It looked simpler, straight to the point, with quirky (and dense) demo videos and an intriguing island paradigm. We set up a test account, got going… and never looked back.”
Oliver Piasentin, Producer, Ikimasho
The creative team needed a tool that ticked many boxes. Making an interactive video game is complex! From the initial process of mapping out the decisions to adding the script, previewing with the team, editing and delivering via an interactive player. You can read more about how Stornaway revolutionised Paul Raschid’s interactive filmmaking process here.
Stornaway.io enabled them to discard all technical questions and focus on the story.
“From a project point of view, getting started was made easier by an intuitive environment.
If I had to sum it up in one sentence, Stornaway has saved us a lot of time in many aspects without compromising on quality!” – Oliver Piasentin, Producer, Ikimasho
An end-to-end platform:
- For building and developing a complex decision tree
- For linking several videos together smoothly and in an order decided by the user
- To make a large volume of video sequences accessible via streaming without server-side headaches
- To personalise the user experience.
Creating the Co-op: Seamless Collaboration in Stornaway.io
The team were also able to use Stornaway to communicate with all stakeholders and provide visibility on the progress of the project.
“Stornaway allowed us to put all our team together on the same interface.” – Adrien Alluin, Project Owner, CCUA
You don’t have to be technical or a video editor to use Stornaway.io. So Stornaway.io can be operated by anyone in the production team!
We have people from all areas of business, marketing, education and entertainment using the platform and loving it! Everyone is happy because the tools being used are simple and intuitive. Which is increasing collaboration and productivity across the board.
Mission Successful: a global, engaged audience
The Devogame challenge is built for University, Business School and Engineering School students. The competition is pitched as a two-person team format. The teams compete against one another for a place in the final, hosted at Devoteam’s headquarters.
The stakes are high with the ultimate prize being a trip to Dubai to the 2021 World Fair and access to the Formula 1 GP.
It’s a knockout : Feedback and Engagement
The student audience was so engaged by this new interactive learning video spin on the Devogames that many gave feedback that it wasn’t long enough! For the creative teams, this is a definite sign of a successful project.
“We credit Ru’s directorial vision on the tool – it’s to-the-point, never bothering you with technicalities. And the support we were provided during production was excellent.
“Kudos to the Stornaway team for this; inspiring software!” – Oliver Piasentin, Founding President, Ikimasho
Why choose to make an interactive learning video?
Accessibility to remote learning is the best it has ever been. 1.6 billion students have been affected by school shutdowns since April 2020. Therefore, teachers, trainers and lecturers are working hard globally to ensure that students can continue to learn.
Videos in training and learning environments are not new. Figures confirm that 75% of people prefer online videos as a way to learn a new skill.
Recent research shows that interactive content is 81% more effective at keeping an audience’s attention. Until Stornaway.io came about, creating playable stories like this has been very hard to do without big budgets, consultancy and large teams.
With Stornaway.io’s Analytics feature, stakeholders are also able to track the paths that most viewers take, the most popular choices, giving them crucial insight into their student’s preferences and learning* and enabling them to improve the story with live updates at any time.
Find out more about using your Stornaway.io project with an LMS.
Find out more about why people use Stornaway for their Scenario-based learning and training with interactive videos.
Get in touch if you would like to talk to us about using Stornaway.io as part of your training video creation.
*Stornaway.io’s analytics protect viewers data and privacy by only tracking overall information about total number of viewers for different Story Islands and choices as well as average watch time without specifics on viewers. Our API enables businesses to integrate Stornaway.io within their own data tracking systems if required.