APPLIED PRIMATE ENGINEERING

OUR APPROACH \\\

To bring these NFTs to life, we created the fictional universe of “Applied Primate Engineering (APE)” and the deep lore behind it, then developed an alternate reality game (ARG) in this world that placed participants at the center of a fantastical battle between good and evil.

Gotham created memorable characters based on nothing more than digital drawings, transforming NFTs like “Mutant #1796” into the much-loved “Dr. Abbott ‘Doc’ Gibbons.” We also developed the Cold War-era aesthetic of his lab and populated it with what became a beloved staff of lab assistants. Then, we wrote the original story of Doc’s trusted lab director, Avila, and her betrayal of Doc, joining a nefarious cult known as the Simian Path, which kicked off the broader story.

The experience was launched via mysterious posts on Twitter and hosted through a Discord server where users were invited to help search for Doc Gibbons. Solvers reported from around the globe to participate in a months-long digital hunt that spawned numerous fan accounts, explainers, and Twitter buzz.

This culminated in an all-day adventure at NFT.NYC, one of the largest crypto industry conferences. This in-person extravaganza featured a giant inflatable ape, a trip to a secret cave in Central Park, an ice cream truck with a puzzle embedded in a banana split, and stops at the Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal, and the Central Park Zoo. We made sure that elements contained both an in-person challenge as well as elements that could be solved remotely by players joining from around the world.

Throughout the experience, voice memos and cutscenes that GIL cast, wrote, and produced from Doc, Avila, and their nemesis at the villainous Simian Path told the story for players in a compelling, immersive way that could be experienced from anywhere.

After the IRL event, we continued to tell stories in this universe by planting real-life artifacts with puzzles in them across the world for community members to find in lockers, bars, phone booths, and the merchandise that was given to fans. The in-world puzzles continued as we prompted followers to fill out lab forms, perform maintenance on the lab robots, dispose of toxic waste, and apply for funding from mysterious, in-world scientific organizations, providing exciting moments for the community and pushing the story forward.

Our work developing the world, story, and tone of the Applied Primate Labs world has been the foundation for the continued rise of the project in the NFT community and the feverish trading of their NFTs. The participant Discord server currently boasts an ever-growing community of over twenty-two thousand participants, the NFTs have generated over $3 million in sales in their first three months, numerous fan sites have popped up, and the project continues to be named as one of the most exciting NFT projects in the web3 space by publications like The Bored Ape Gazette.