Camel Trophy Videogame twenty years later:

First signs

Being staff at Run meant more than producing a magazine. The first detour from the tried and tested road came in spring 1984 with a simple videogame written in Basic language to manage trade show booth giveaways for an industrial battery manufacturer. Called FIAMM Video Battery Game and written by Eugenio Ciceri, it was originally released for the MOVINT 84, the international exhibition for industrial logistics equipment. More than pleased of its outcome, the client requested two further versions for the NAUTEX 85 and MARINE 85 shows. The game itself was as simple as it could be: the user had to present a uniquely numbered card, key-in its code, and then try to unlock four warehouse doors with a forklift (in the MOVINT release) or dock a speedboat to four piers (in the other two nautical-themed releases). The software checked the code provided by the user against a predefined list of winning card numbers, thus twisting the actual chances of finishing the game and getting the prize. A successful concept which was later widely adopted in trade shows and exhibitions worldwide, but still new and unexpected at that time. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this was another industry-first for the Run people breaking new ground for advertising and promotional custom applications.

Above all, the FIAMM project proved the potential success of blending between commercial brands and videogames. It was time to start thinking about new developments.

The journey begins

While Simone Majocchi first elaborated the concept for a possible Camel Trophy-themed videogame in the summer of 1984, the decisive days for the project happened during the fall, when the initial meetings and presentations were held. Together with the marketing agency working on behalf of the brand owner, a storyboard draft and a potential return on investment plan were defined: it was immediately clear that such an initiative had a potential not only to pay for its production costs, but also to produce a net profit. The financial side of the plan was possibly the final motivating factor for all involved parties who gave the green light in spite of the inevitable critiques that usually arise in the face of too innovative proposals even in an industry - marketing promotion and advertising - often supposed to be more creative than it seems to be.

It was immediately apparent that the Camel Trophy project called for a uniquely designed game. The storyboard had to stick to reality as much as possible while adhering to the strict brand identity rules, comprehensive guidelines describing and regulating every possible brand use to ensure a consistent corporate and product image. For this reason the first stage of the Camel Trophy Videogame, featuring a test on technical preparedness, off-road driving theory, survival and first aid techniques, was completely based on the actual test given to the candidates to of the real Camel Trophy race. Even minor details had to be checked against the official guidelines: for example, the Land Rover Construction Challenge section in the third stage of the game originally had a red camping tent in the background, but such hue was disputed since it might have recalled a competitive cigarette brand - hence it could not be used. Even a simple decorative item such as the oriental junk filling a graphic void in the Borneo map of the first stage comes from a mandatory change: the original version sported a machete, which was deemed too "violent" for the Camel Trophy brand image. Strangely enough, the tribal shield and lances drawn for the same reason in the Zaire map were swiftly approved. Ah, the mysteries of the brand identity...

To tell the truth, changes requested during the actual production stage were sparse and relevant anyway, partly thanks to the careful storyboard design. Guidelines were few and clear: the player could not "die", animals or opponents of whatever nature could not be killed, and the environment had to be preserved. Since the envisioned game had to be an adventure simulator of sorts, though, at a deeper level we had to deal with almost infinite details.

The Camel staff provided us with a bounty of photographic and textual reference material, gladly took part in prolonged Q&A sessions, and did a great work during the creative meetings in the storyboard design stage. Ideas were constantly springing out, such that we would have greatly benefited from the next generation technologies of the Nineties, when multimedia-capable PCs coupled with vast storage media such as CD-ROMs would have enabled a more realistic experience. In 1985 we had to deal with 48KB RAM, a 256x192 display resolution, two colors out of 16 in each 8x8 pixels block, and a slow, sequential storage support such as the magnetic tape. It was then agreed to split the arcade game component from other logically separated features such as the qualification test or the track selection, which respectively became the first and the second section of the whole videogame.

We then had a final, comprehensive storyboard leaving us in charge to tackle the various technical issues as we saw fit. The map to our own digital Camel Trophy was finalized and delivered in early June 1985. Allotted time: until mid-September. At last, the journey was beginning.