Welcome to Bora Boring, Shilly's island in Spatial
Discover how Bora Boring came to life on the Spatial platform
Shilly, the most rebellious and wild ape of the Bored Ape Yacht Club's, was enthusiastic about creating a virtual hub for his community.
This ape has risen to fame as a true rock star, releasing hit singles such as "Im Boring" and "Naked & Sideways". With his growing success, he felt the need to do something cool in the metaverse, a space where he could groove with his peers and community.
And thus, Bora Boring came to life on the Spatial platform—an urban paradise crafted in Shilly's very own image.
Curious about the development specifics? Let's mosh!
The main challenges that Shilly had in the store
Challenge accepted!. We love transforming ideas into 3D worlds full of creativity. And when it comes to a client as open-minded as Shilly, brimming with unique and unconventional concepts, our excitement only multiplies.
In developing this ambitious project, we encountered several challenges along the way:
- Infusing Shilly's personality into the project: this involved assimilating Shilly's references or even inventing new ones to align with the client's vision.
- Work with Spatial's transport systems and adapting them to our needs: it's about skateboards and gondolas. Simple transport systems that we had to adapt to be 100 % functional.
- Creating a scalable land with activation possibilities for partners: a dynamic project with numerous possibilities for events, exhibitors and connections to Shilly's ecosystem.
Despite these challenges, we not only met but exceeded expectations, forging a virtual space that resonates with Shilly's essence and offers an engaging experience for his community.
Music, rebellion and eggplants
Similar to many of our client projects, the initial step involves a thorough understanding of their essence. This encompasses their personality, preferences and those unique qualities that define them.
In the case of Shilly, if we were to distill their essence into three words, they would be: rebelliousness, rock and roll, and randomness. With this in mind, our objective was to design a project as transgressive as its protagonist.
Our client literally imagined it as "If Warped Tour made sweet love to Coachella on a tropical island, so pretty much Fyre Fest if they actually pulled it off". That's how Bora Boring was born!
Our concept revolved around crafting an archipelago of islands, each boasting distinct aesthetics and engaging activities. Here's the exciting twist: not all islands are accessible right from the start. As users accomplish missions, various islands gradually unlock, revealing a thrilling progression; the initial unlocked island retains some hint of civilization, while the ultimate one is an untamed urban jungle.
Absolutely, music assumed a pivotal role in this game. Shilly is a musical star who is passionate about rock and the idea of transgression that this genre represents. For this reason, in one of the islands we recreated a real true Music Studio that housed both electronic devices for music production and electric guitars with the possibility of trying them out.
Yet, we were determined not to overlook the holiday paradise ambiance we envisioned for our islands. The landscape was adorned with serene turquoise waters, abundant lush vegetation, and a long coast of beaches.
With the intention of infusing the terrain with cool elements, our exploration led us to discovery within the renowned video clip for "I'm Bored" and… eggplants played a peculiar role in this video, so we simply introduce them.
Indeed, there's a giant eggplant that serves as a watchtower from where the entire space can be overseen.
That's why we came up with the crazy idea of making eggplant gondolas. As you can hear. We will come back to this later.
To infuse an air of mystique into our realm, we opted to incorporate a symbol closely intertwined with Web3, the sector in which Shilly and his community are deeply engaged. Can you imagine what it is? Indeed, a mysterious UFO.
And how to forget The Ska Armadillo? Sorry if this has confused you, we'll sort it out for you straight away. As usual, a land at the height needs an NPC to guide users through the experience and the treasure hunt mini-game we created for the occasion.
Our client came up with the crazy idea of designing an Armadillo avatar, whose sketches were made with AI. Based on these references, we designed the most iconic Armadillo in the metaverse!
Functional skates and gondolas
With our client's vision centered around incorporating a skate park in the land, we undertook the responsibility of rendering it as realistic and functional as possible.
During this process, we confronted a programming challenge: the lack of references in Spatial to build fluid skateboards systems. In real life, the handling of a skateboard is much simpler than that of a car. But the truth is that, in programming terms, they have much more in common: both are a transport system with corresponding functionalities and animations.
The default Spatial code to develop this transport system was not well adjusted to our needs, so we had to include improvements. After a tedious process and based on the programming physics of Spatial cars and skis, we added jumps, stabilization and even adjusted the animations to work for any avatar, among many other things.
As a result, we got a cool and functional skate park, which could be considered a great novelty in Spatial.
It’s time to return to the eggplant gondolas. Crafting this aquatic transportation system demanded us to construct the programming code from the ground up. The outcome surpassed our initial expectations!
A project for the community
The Shilly community stood at the heart of this undertaking, and honoring them in various manners was a crucial consideration.
To do so, as a welcome to the land we organised a Treasure Hunt with different activities that guided users on their first visit to the island.
Simultaneously, these engaging tasks progressively unlocked previously uncharted territories for further exploration.
The prizes for this game consisted of digital wearables to customize Spatial’s avatars. Furthermore, participants had the opportunity to amass $MOSH, Shilly's exclusive virtual token, granting access to a selection of premium items.
The event space consisted in a Main Stage adorned with an big screen. This configuration paved the way for an array of possibilities, including live streams, musical showcases, and any other creative endeavor that Shilly could envision.
In the maritime dock, we designed a series of highly modifiable booths to include the presence of collaborators and sponsors of the brand. A place for users to get to know the Shilly ecosystem, with the possibility of modification according to their needs!
Let's not forget the gallery that was located at the entrance of the Music Studio. You guessed it, it is also modifiable. This opens up the possibility to include different artworks, promotional posters, or any graphic piece to show to the users.
The results
The collaboration between Polygonal Mind and Shilly has resulted in the creation of a bold and unconventional immersive experience. Our client's unique personality, characterized by his rebelliousness and love of music, has been woven into every corner of this virtual world. And coupled with our creative vision, we’ve made a great team.
Many challenges along the way, especially when it comes to creating transport systems such as skateboards and gondolas, never before so functional in Spatial, demonstrate our commitment to overcoming programming challenges and delivering a seamless user experience, suitable for PC, mobile and VR.
Last stop: Bora Boring! Let's MOSH!
