Netflix recently revealed that their epic fantasy series The Witcher, ranked in the top ten most watched offerings in 2019 despite the show premiering right at the end of the year. One of the big surprised of the show was how it played with the narrative’s timeline, driving many fans to go back and watch the series all over again.
If you found yourself scratching your head, or just want to continue the story in an interactive way, you may want to dig into the new, beautifully crafted ‘Map of the Continent‘, the official companion website to the Netflix series.
The site is packed with extra information and story elements to enhance the characters’ back stories and draw you further into the world of the Witcher.
It’s the visual presentation that is really turning heads and getting fans exited. The site is full of beautiful design elements, smart and engaging interactivity and CSS animation, all of which come together to provide a storytelling experience of the highest order.
HOW IT WORKS
The timeline is split into four tracks dedicated to different narrative strands where users can follow their favorite characters; Geralt, Yennefer or Ciri, or explore the history of the world of The Witcher.
- The grey line is world events
- The gold line are events tied to Geralt
- The purple line are events tied to Yennefer
- The cyan line are events tied to Ciri
Each track converges when the timeline is dragged to 1250 (the birth of Ciri). Key points along the timeline animate to inform the user there is something to read: a pop-up window slides up to reveal an event, and more usefully, what episode and what year key plotlines occurs in.
The dynamic map uses animation to add atmosphere by reflecting the weather. If it feels similar to Google Maps that’s because it was designed that way. You can zoom in, zoom out and drag to wherever you want to go on the map just like you do with Google.
The first season of The Witcher taught us about the main characters, so in season two, they’re all close together.
Fans will have to wait until 2021 for season 2, so until then, enjoy this awesome map and, of course, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt!
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