Explore 2050
Web development of the interactive experience.
Development assignment for the studio Upian · L'Équipe explore
Explore 2050 is a web-based gamebook published by L'Équipe explore and produced by the studio Upian. The player moves through the climate-disrupted sport of 2050 across three worlds, with choices that branch the story. Unslash handled the web development of the experience.
Concept, editorial direction, art direction and illustrations belong to L'Équipe explore and Upian. Unslash's part on this project, and the subject of this study, is the development.
- Built
- 2023
- Role
- Web development
- Format
- Interactive gamebook
- Scale
- ~370 pages · 3 worlds
- Branching narrative
- ~370 illustrated cards
- Text based on IPCC reports
// The technical challenge
A gamebook, at a major media's scale
The experience had to behave like a game: you read a situation, choose between two options, and the story branches into the matching path. All of it on a mainstream media site, so fast, legible and seamless, on mobile and desktop alike.
On the development side, the point was not a page but an engine: structuring hundreds of narrative steps linked by choices, tracking the player's progress through the tree, and serving a large volume of illustrations without breaking the reading rhythm.
// Under the hood
What was built
The branching system
Each step pairs a text, a full-screen illustration and two choices. The engine chains steps based on the player's decision, tracks progress through the tree and handles the many possible paths across the three worlds (football, cycling, alpine skiing).
Holding the rhythm across hundreds of cards
Around 370 narrative pages and 250,000 characters, as many illustrated cards drawn from a production of nearly 12,000 visuals. Development focused on the reading/visual layout, the transitions between cards and image loading to keep the experience smooth from start to finish.
// Approach
On the engineering side
- Story engine
- Steps chained by choice, progress tracking and handling of multiple paths.
- Structured content
- Hundreds of steps (text, visual, choices) organised to stay maintainable and consistent.
- Visual performance
- Reading/illustration layout and image loading designed for a high volume.
- Multi-device
- Smooth reading on mobile and desktop, embedded in L'Équipe's editorial environment.
// Credits
The project team
Credits as published by Upian. Unslash's role on this project is web development.
- Studio
- Upian
- Media
- L'Équipe explore
- Author
- Alexis Danjon
- Editors-in-chief
- Imanol Corcostegui, Jean-Baptiste Renet
- Art direction
- Thomas Deyriès, Martin Jouvet, Jérôme Gonçalvès
- Technical direction
- Maxime Quintard
- Project management
- Baptiste Duchêne
- Web development
- Tony Trancard / Unslash
// Live
A dev reference, in its rightful place
Explore 2050 has been live on L'Équipe explore since February 2024. It is a development reference produced for Upian, a pioneering web-documentary studio, on a major sports media production.
See the experience online