Emmy award-winning studio Submarine Channel has been pushing the boundaries of screen-based comics for years now with projects like The Killer and The Art of Pho. Their latest work, the post-apocalyptic graphic novel Ascent from Akeron, uses Panoply to enhance the impact of the story through interactive parallax, animation, and sound, delivered across multiple platforms with smooth swipe navigation.
Indie developer Too Kind Studio is using Panoply to create cut scenes for their lavishly illustrated platformer Pankapu: The Dreamkeeper. Using Panoply’s multi-panel layouts, choreographed camera movements, and customizable captions, Too Kind is able to create a “storybook” feel that advances the plot of the game while keeping players immersed in the world.
Emmy award-winning filmmaker Kelly Kowalski is developing SPOILED, an interactive documentary about our connection to the African oil industry. Produced in a rich visual style by illustrator Olalekan Jeyifous, SPOILED uses Panoply to turn Jeyifous’ images into 3D sets the camera moves through cinematically. Integrating both 2D and 3D elements, SPOILED shows the versatility of the Panoply engine.
Panoply is based on the technology that powers Upgrade Soul, the critically-acclaimed sci-fi comic app by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Erik Loyer. An IndieCade finalist, Upgrade Soul was the first title to use Panoply’s seamless swipe transitions, interactive parallax, and multi-panel layouts to build a powerful sense of immersion for readers, without distracting gimmicks. Note that Upgrade Soul includes customizations to the engine to achieve special animation and audio effects.
“Fleischwolf” was initially developed by illustrator Melanie Wigger as a first-person story-driven experience in a 3D world. Months after producing the intial project, Wigger used Panoply to re-envision the work as a split screen experience, with powerful results after just a few days of work.
“Panoply gave me – as the author – much more control over the arc of suspense… Players found a path through my story much more easily than in the first-person version, enabling them to focus more on the content.”- Melanie Wigger, Illustrator
I’m Erik Loyer, founder of Opertoon and creator of Panoply. I’ve spent years studying how comics and screens work together, and with Panoply I’ve tried to distill that knowledge into a technology that leverages the strengths of both.
I used Panoply to put together a video on the subject of comics and screens—it’s called Space Into Game, Time Into Book.
Panoply was formerly known as Opertoonity. • Questions? Check the Unity Forum.
