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Solaris Media was founded in 1995 by Rob Davis to create advanced digital content, including web sites, interactives and games. We are a specialised production house that combines an original creative approach with cutting edge technology to make great work for our clients. You can download a document with information and screen shots from recent Solaris Media productions below.

PORTFOLIO

GAMES

We create advanced web games that can be played in your browser or downloaded. Our games can be single player or multiplayer, allowing users to play against their friends or challenging artificial intelligence (AI) opponents. We have also developed our won online multiplayer games technology. Web games are used for educational, promotional or paid entertainment purposes.

BATTLE OF TRAGALGAR

Working with BBC History and National Maritime Museum expert Colin White, we have created a special edition of our Battlefield Academy game with a mission based on the Battle of Trafalgar. The game starts with the historically accurate positions of the two fleets and adds new game features such as mast breakage and sound effects. Take on the role of Admiral Nelson and see if you can prevent the Combined fleet from reaching the safety of Cadiz.

LOST ARMY OF FU SHI

This action puzzle game for BBC Bitesize is consistently played 1/4 million times per month. Set in a series of mysterious archaeological digs, the player must travel from island to island unearthing sets of statues and then racing against the clock to rotate them so that their heads align. At intervals users are asked questions from one of nine GCSE topics, and answering accurately is critical to making progress. The gameplay gets more and more challenging over 10 fiendish levels of play.

BATTLEFIELD ACADEMY

Developed for Peter Snow's BBC2 series Battlefield Britain, this groundbreaking game was played 250,000 times over its launch weekend and clocks up one million plays per month. The game pits the player against an AI opponent in four historical scenarios: a Roman hill fort, a Medieval river crossing, a Napoleonic sea battle and a WW2 air battle. Players can learn about strategy, consult famous leaders such as Boudicca or Caesar and interact with military units such as chariots, knights, frigates and fighter planes.

SURVIVE DICKENS LONDON

Our platform adventure game for BBC Television's "Life of Charles Dickens" series features famous characters from Dickens' novels and allows players to explore interactive scenes from Dickensian London, whilst learning about the novelist. Players talk to Oliver Twist and Jacob Marley, go pick pocketing with Fagin and take a boat ride on the Thames in their quest to meet Dickens himself. The game was nominated for a Cream Awards 2002 in the category "Best Use of Multimedia

FIRST AID ACTION

We developed a multiple-choice quiz system for BBC Television's "999" series. The quizzes test viewers on their first aid knowledge and teach first aid topics. The quiz software features an easy-to-use editor, which is being used by BBC staff to create 30 online games, and dramatic 3D computer-generated animations of first aid scenarios.

INTERACTIVE

We produce dynamic, interactive web sites with a focus on creativity and usability. We also create exciting interactives for your existing site, giving your users an experience they will remember and bringing them back for more.

DIGITAL SOUNDBOY

The site we created for dance music pioneers Shy FX and T Power their new label features an urban cityscape that changes with the time of day. As well as news, artist diaries, release info, integrated audio player, DJ mixes and gig lists, the site will feature an online shop selling MP3 downloads and ring tones. Within a fortnight of launch, 10,000 visitors had listened to over 200 GB of audio.

TIMELINE OF NAZI GENOCIDE

We have produced an interactive timeline of genocide under the Nazis to accompany the BBC2 series Auschwitz. It is featured on the BBC History web site and will also be used by Holocaust education centres. The timeline is the result of work by leading historian of the period, David Cesarani, and BBC research at major worldwide archives such as Yad Vashem, Landesarchiv Berlin, The Wiener Library and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Some of information presented has not previously been available.

LIVE

Our live digital installations have been displayed at the ICA, 291 Gallery, Great Eastern Hotel and Big Chill Festival. Installations are projected into indoors our outdoors spaces or displayed on plasma screens. Audiences or performers can interact via sound, location and movement sensors. They can also be connected to networks to communicate with other locations or Internet visitors.

AFTER MIYAJIMA

A digital art piece for the web and for on-site installation, After Miyajima is based on and inspired by the work of Japanese LED artist Tatsuo Miyajima. Five of his classic works are recreated digitally. They consist of arrays of static or moving LEDs that count down at different rates before blanking out and then re-appearing. Further "mutation" versions of each piece play with ideas of genetics as they use artificial intelligence to randomly evolve coherent numbers, yielding a spark of "life" when they succeed. After Miyajima was installed at the Great Eastern Hotel, London in 2002 and the National Film Theatre, London in 2006.

BIG CHILL

Solaris, together with Overlap, was commissioned by the Big Chill Festival to create a digital art installation for 7,000 visitors to their Summer 2002 Enchanted Garden event in the UK. Located in a tranquil glade in scenic gardens at night, the installation projected a bank of impenetrable clouds onto a large screen amongst the trees. When visitors were noisy, the clouds remained and the view was obscured. When visitors were quiet, the clouds cleared, revealing artificial satellite views of fantastical, computer-generated landscapes.

REDBLUE

We created two digital art installations for RedBlue's "Composing Fashion" event at the ICA, London in Feb 2003. The live pieces form part of shows for London Fashion Week by designers Christian Blanken and Tanya Ling. Dice Girls was a computer-controlled fashion show where models arrived on the catwalk without any instructions as to how they were to perform and random numbers, projected onto large screens, determined their actions and route. In Repro, digital creatures from an unknown ocean rose from the depths to swim and dance gracefully in response to each other and the models.

KIOSK

Our kiosk applications are appearing in locations including ferries, betting shops, shopping centres, live venues and pubs throughout the UK.%0A%0AWe are experienced with developing for touch screens and can plan your full installation with you, whether it be a single computer or multiple networked computers.

ITBOX

Next time you walk into a pub and make a selection from the content on offer on their games machine, you are likely to be using software that we have developed with Inspired Broadcast Networks (IBN), the digital arm of gaming machine giant Leisure Link. The flexible menu and content management system forms part of their next-generation game delivery technology and allows menu displays on 7,000 itboxes throughout the UK to be updated centrally and instantly.

INSPIRED MUSIC JUKEBOX

We have completed a music jukebox for Leisure Link's digital arm, Inspired Broadcast Networks (IBN) that allows venue owners to assemble music playlists and schedule them via a touch screen. AThe system features 2.5 million music tracks that are downloaded as required from remote servers. The jukebox, which was on show at ATEI, Earls' Court, works like an iPod® for landlords and will be bringing background music to a pub near you very soon.

OTHER

GEEK CHIC

Rob Davis, founder of Solaris Media, has developed the concept for and co-written a new book with Neil Feineman, Geek Chic, charting the history of the geek from Archimedes to the X-Box. The book traces how in recent years geeks have been transformed from gawky outsiders to the programmers, scientists, artists, musicians, gamers, creative visionaries and entrepreneurs of today. "Infectious and not to be missed" - Wired Magazine

WHAT WE DO

SERVICES

We create advanced digital content in four key areas. Please see the PORTFOLIO section of this web site for more details and examples.
GAMES
Our original single and multiplayer games clock up hours and hours of playing time as they entertain and educate users.
INTERACTIVE
Our engaging web sites and interactive content for existing web sites brings users back for more.
LIVE
Our digital art installations and live performances have been viewed by thousands of visitors to arts venues and festivals.
KIOSK
Our software appears on touchscreens kiosks installed in venues throughout the UK.

TECHNOLOGY

We are constantly carrying out research and development to explore new technologies and discover new techniques. This enables us to offer cutting edge solutions to our clients.Our currently favoured technologies include:
Flash / ActionScript 1.0/2.0/3.0
FlashLite 1.0 / 1.1 / 2.0
Java / J2SE / J2ME
Director / Shockwave / Lingo
HTML / CSS / JavaScript
Linux / Apache / mySQL / PHP
XML / XML-RPC / XMPP / Jabber
In addition we use a variety of 3rd party tools for video, graphics, 3D and sound design. We have also developed a number of our own custom software systems and tools to enhance our service.

PLATFORMS

Solaris productions are delivered to users via email, the web, kiosks, venue installations, CDROMs and mobiles. We develop applications compatible with Windows PC, Mac, Unix, Sun, Pocket PC, Symbian and interactive television (iTV) platforms. Emerging platforms include the next generation of mobile phones, PDAs and intelligent appliances.