Flash-based travel game packs a punch

A literal take on the battle to pack for a break away, Packing Battle is an accessible and entertaining site from digital creative agency Symbio.

Prior to this incarnation the site was promoting travel insurance in the Czech Republic, where you could chance your hand by entering competitions to win anything from a gift voucher to a stuffed beaver. Fortunately, Symbio has stepped in with a site overhaul and a bit of a rebrand. The result is colourful, fun and well realised.

How it was built

"Most of the work was done by three people," explains Symbio designer Václav Krbšek, "an art director, Flash developer and character animator. The actual production (after the concept was approved) took three weeks."

Symbio used Flash to realise the site, Flare engine to power it, and the animations were done in Maya.

"These were imported into Flare studio, which was an alpha version and was an appalling tool to work with," explains Krbšek. "To make shadows, we used transparent bitmaps, which we later animated; for shading we used mainly environment maps."

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