Brass delivers live action game for CBBC favourites Hacker and Dodge

A new BAFTA nominated, live action, interactive, music game featuring CBBC characters Hacker and Dodge has been launched by the CBBC, after being developed by creative communications agency Brass.

Created in house by Brass's 'Invent' team, which specialises in developing new products, services and IP, the game breaks new ground in the use of interactive live action video which allows children to directly control the actions of their CBBC heroes.

The BAFTA nominated 'Pup Stars', which is now available on the BBC website, follows the adventures of Hacker and Dodge as they seek to form a band to take part in Wigan's Dead Talented and allows players to help create the music as the story develops.

Paul Mallett, digital managing partner at Brass, said: "The development has taken Hacker and Dodge out of the studio and created new territories and directions for the characters to move into.

"This is really exciting as it is a clear demonstration of how you can take an existing brand and help it to build deeper engagements with consumers by focusing on areas such as narrative and storytelling - at the same time as creating original and unique IP for that brand."

The concept was borne out of the CBBC's desire to create new music based games around its programming. The idea, creative, scripts, direction and original music and game were all created by Brass.

The live action that forms the heart of the game was created and filmed over two days working collaboratively with BBC producers, the Brass team and the Hacker and Dodge puppeteers at Television Centre in London.

Andrew Brown, creative director at Brass, said: "The BBC gave us the freedom to work with their characters to develop something completely new. We needed to create a game that allowed kids to interact with their favourite characters on a personal level, something that TV doesn't allow you to do, and that meant looking at extending content created specifically for digital.

"This presented a number of challenges, one being that this is a music based game, which means that not only does the storytelling need to work but most importantly the interactive music and the audio has to perform seamlessly."

Damian Kavanagh, CBBC controller added: "The collaborative approach taken between the agency Brass, the producers and performers has created a fantastic product that kids love and gives Hacker and Dodge a completely new platform to operate from.

"It is a clear sign of the opportunities that exist for TV character properties as they continue to develop and grow in the digital space."

You can play the game at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/pup-stars-game