A themed launch built to put a studio's own team inside the game they made
SERVICES DELIVERED
CONTEXT
That was the brief Dambuster Studios brought us for the Dead Island 2 launch party: living versions of the game's characters, two leads and four zombies, cast, costumed and produced from scratch.
The client was a creative studio that had built the game from the ground up. Every costume, prosthetic and performance would be measured against the game itself, by the people who designed it. They would know immediately what was right and what was not.
The zombie work carried a specific technical demand. The brief required prosthetics and special effects make-up that would hold up at close range, in event lighting, across a full evening. The performers also had to move and behave in character throughout. The zombies could not just look the part. And working inside a creative client's vision, rather than alongside it, meant we had to understand the characters deeply enough to make production decisions the studio would trust, earning creative confidence early rather than requesting sign-off on every detail.
We began with a detailed session with the Dambuster Studios creative team, to understand each character from the inside, their look, their movement and the specific qualities that made them recognisable in-game. That groundwork shaped every production decision that followed.
Casting was matched against the game's character designs, not general suitability. Actors were chosen for physical likeness and for the ability to inhabit a character rather than simply perform one, and the two leads needed performers who could hold a personality across an entire evening of direct guest interaction. The four zombie performers were produced with professional prosthetics and special effects make-up, worked to a standard that would hold at close range in a live environment, with make-up artists working directly from game reference material throughout.
Costume production for all six characters was built to match the in-game designs precisely. Every detail, materials, construction, wear and damage, was referenced against the game's visual assets rather than approximated from memory. The point was never to suggest the characters. It was to reproduce them.
Six characters moved through the event for the full duration of the evening. Guests interacted directly with the lead characters and encountered the zombie performers throughout the venue. The make-up held at close range across the whole night, in the one setting where it could be judged most harshly: an event hosted by the team that designed the characters in the first place.
The studio's response confirmed the characters had been produced to the standard the brief required. When the audience is the studio, and the studio is satisfied, that is the proof.
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"The team from Stacked were great partners to work with in planning and delivering our launch party event to celebrate the release of 'Dead Island 2'. The Stacked team were professional and diligent throughout all stages of planning and when it came to the actual event, the performers and activities they staged were a real highlight of the evening."
IF THIS FEELS RELEVANT
Planning an internal launch event or themed company party?
If you're planning a product launch, a themed launch party or any event that has to bring a world to life in the room, tell us what's coming and what it needs to do. We'll come back with relevant work and how we'd approach it.
