Yinka Ilori's Dreaming with Flamingos

Overview

Created in collaboration with artist Yinka Ilori and Google Arts & Culture Lab, this is a narrative-driven game where you play as a young flamingo on a quest to restore a park’s lost song and unlock a musical playground powered by AI.

The game blends Ilori’s vibrant visual language with interactive storytelling and AI-generated music.

Setting the Direction

My talented colleagues at the Lab had been working with Yinka on a number of ideas and directions based on his art, such as physical augmented instruments using Google’s AI music technologies.

Early illustrations of physical instruments

There was a desire to create an online version that allowed you to play as a virtual flamingo. However, the team were unsure what direction to take, so I was tasked with coming up with a narrative for the project.

Yinka had previously worked on restoring Parsloes Park in Barking, East London and, inspired by his work, I thought it would be cool if the game allowed players to bring the park back to life by solving quests.

Game mechanics + NPC interactions

As Yinka’s artwork pays homage to Nigerian proverbs, I thought it would be a fun idea for players to solve riddles given to them by other flamingos in the park.

Solving all the riddles in a level brings life back to the park and reveals the parable behind it as a special artwork by Yinka Ilori.

Each flamingo has their own personality, their own issue that they’re concerned about. They’ve lost their way and need your help getting their groove back.

A framework for the Flamingo's personality

Player receiving a riddle

Player solving a riddle to bring colour and music back to the park

The parable behind the level being revealed as a special artwork by Yinka Ilori

The playground itself became a living instrument. Gameplay actions like solving riddles or exploring spaces automatically generate prompts that evolve the musical soundtrack, powered by Google’s Lyria model.

Player can make new songs in the park

Reception

How artist Yinka Ilori is using AI to bring his vision to life — Google Blog
How Yinka Ilori Is Harnessing Google AI to Bring His Creative Vision to Life — Art Plugged
Yinka Ilori Debuts His First Digital Artwork, and Other News — Surface Magazine

Credits

Client — Google Arts & Culture Lab
Artist — Yinka Ilori
Creative Coder — Lex Fefegha
Creative Coder — Chris Sugrue
Producer — Shóna Slemon