Aardman: TV and games must ‘talk the same language’

Talking at today’s Games for TV conference the creative digital director of animation studio Aardman said that for the worlds of television and games to have a more productive relationship, a shared language must be established.

Dan Efergan’s comments came in an on-stage panel titled ‘How Generation G* Consumers TV Content’ as it tackled the way the crossover of production methods, technologies and even end platforms means television and games industry professionals can create and co-create products that work in parallel or as one.

"All the typical issues and difficulties that occur between storytelling and interaction and the point at where they meet will cause even more trouble when TV and games cross and overlap," said Efergan, who’s employer became famous for clay animation work and the Wallace and Grommit animated characters, as well as the ‘Creature Comforts’ advertisment series.

"TV and games people needed a unified idea of what they are creating when they work together, and a shared language to work together," he continued, talking of his experiences of Aardman’s in-house games and digital team’s interaction with the company’s storytelling and film and TV staff.

"We all need to be able to reference the same things, and that’s what we’re trying to do at Aardman, by making our storytellers play games and read Raph Coster, and teaching our games people about TV," he added.

Aardman’s digital wing was established four years ago to allow the company to create content in-house, saving money and maintaining control of IP.