LIAM MURRAY GAMES
Flagship Project
Umbro x UEL Collaboration
About the Collaboration
The Umbro x UEL collaboration involved several departments and over a hundred students, primarily from the fashion department, creating ideas and products for Umbro China. For my department in games design, we were given the chance to get into groups and create a game working with the fashion students.
About the Game
Umbro Impact is an endless runner game with the ability to customize your character through an item shop with coins that the player collect. The player finds themselves running through streets inspired by the streets of Shanghai, running through randomly generated areas avoiding obstacles.
Why the Game
We wanted our game to be a pick-and-play game, so anyone can play the game regardless of their individual skill or spare time they have. We also aimed to appeal the game to the brand we were making it for, Umbro China being a sports brand, the game needed to involve the character being active, to reflect the core values of the company. Finally we needed the game to have a marketable aspect to it, this way it is useful for Umbro China, so providing a system for them to advertise their own clothing in the game through the item shop only made sense.
The Team
Liam Murray
Lead Games Designer
I lead the production of the game working on the programming of the game, and the implementation of the playable character using MetaHuman
Jenna Bidwell
Lead Level & UI Designer
Jenna worked on designing and modelling the levels that the player would run through, she also created the UI for the main menu, shop, and in-game.
Raffaele Loconsole
3D Artist
Joining the team later on in production, we recruited Raffa for his expertise in 3D modelling and him interest with working on the project, he designed the clothing for the characters to wear and helped create some props for the levels.
Achievements
Showcasing
The game was showcased at many events such London Fashion Week at the UEL Stratford campus and Shanghai Fashion week in 2023.
Exhibition at EGX
My team exhibited at EGX at the London Excel Center in October 2023, showcasing our work in an EGX Rezzed Session.
DIA Honorable Mention
The collaboration received an honorable mention for the 2023 Design Intelligence Award. More information here.
Media Coverage
Any event that this project was showcased at was covered by Chinese media reporters, and because of that, the collaboration did it's rounds on new articles such as Vogue China, reaching 120 million people and growing.
Pitch Presentation
At the start of the project, my team presented our game pitches to the General Manager of Umbro China, Keith Cheng
Umbro 100 Year Anniversary
The collaboration continues through the summer of 2024 for Umbro's 100 year anniversary with a collaboration with East London Sports