'Botik Barsukolik' - Mini-app Visual Novel For Series Promo

Objective

Kinopoisk, Russia's leading video streaming platform, launched a promotional campaign coinciding with Badger Day to drive awareness of the second season of its animated detective series 'Beastly Crimes' (Барсукот. Очень зверский детектив). The campaign aimed to engage family audiences aged 9-12 through an innovative interactive experience on Telegram — the brand's first mini-app built around an interactive investigation format.

Solution

Brand Games developed a Telegram mini-app visual novel game called 'Botik Barsutkotik' where players assume the role of Barsukot's detective assistant investigating the disappearance of hedgehogs in the Far Forest. The experience opens with a brief onboarding that sets out the investigation's goals. The game features exploration of the Far Forest setting, interviews with local residents, collection of evidence items logged into a case dossier, and branching dialogue conversations with characters, and voice acting by Bogdan Korshunovov. Players navigate through environmental clues and make dialogue choices that determine one of three possible story endings. The mini-app was optimized for mobile play and included quick-restart functionality to encourage multiple playthroughs.

Results

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