Case study · Creative · Event production · F1 hospitality
Lights outin eight days.
Hooke Production Management needed an F1 start-light game for CrowdStrike’s hospitality guests. We built it in Unity, worked with the event’s creative agency on the artwork, packaged it with its own installer and supplied the kit to run it.
The challenge
From the driver’s seat.
Hooke PM wanted a quick, physical game that any guest could pick up, fully on brand. The screen had to show what a driver sees at the start of a race: the view from the cockpit as the lights come on.
It had to work on a busy hospitality stand with real racing hardware in guests’ hands, and the timescale was tight.
What we did
What we put in place.
A Unity game
Built with the Universal Render Pipeline and the Input System. The wheel’s clutch paddle drives the whole game.
Sound
Layered idle, launch and false-start effects, crowd ambience and start-light tones from a licensed F1 sound library.
Packaged
A branded Windows installer built with Inno Setup, so the game can go onto a new or replacement PC without a developer.
Hardware supplied
A sim-racing wheel with clutch paddle, a mini PC and a low-haze commercial display to cut glare, with screens from 22" to 32" offered.
How it plays
Five lights. One clutch.
We built a self-contained Windows game for an unattended stand. Every outcome is handled, so staff never need to reset it.
Idle
The start lights flash and crowd noise plays, drawing people over.
Arm
The guest pulls the clutch paddle. The engine revs and the lights come on one by one, a second apart.
Hold
With every light lit, the game waits a random time, so nobody can guess the start.
Lights out
The guest lets go. A results banner shows their reaction time over an acceleration sound.
Reset
After 10 seconds it returns to idle, or the next guest pulls the clutch to go straight away.
Jumped the start
False start
Let go before the lights go out and the banner calls it, the engine stalls and no time is recorded.
Held too long
Engine stall
Hold on after lights out and the car stalls. Again, no time is recorded.
For stand staff
Esc menu
Separate engine, buzzer and crowd volumes, a Reload button that restarts the game without closing it, and Exit.
Try it
Beat the lights.
Press and hold the button (or the space bar) to pull the clutch. Let go the moment the lights go out.
A web version of the game’s start sequence, for illustration. The event version runs in Unity on a real sim-racing wheel.
Last –Best –
The look
On brand, on the grid.
We mocked up the driver’s-eye scene to build and test the game against. The event’s creative agency then produced the final branded artwork, and we laid the working start lights over the gantry.
We also made the stand instructions: a branded card showing which paddle is the clutch, a looping instruction video for the screen, and a CrowdStrike splash screen that shows while the game loads.
Delivery
Brief to demo in eight days.
One partner handled the software, the creative hand-offs and the kit.
- 31 Mar 2026
Brief from Hooke PM, with an intro to the creative agency
- 1 Apr 2026
Cockpit mock-up and light-overlay brief sent for artwork
- 2 Apr 2026
Revised artwork and animated logos received
- 8 Apr 2026
Working build and demo video delivered
- Jun 2026
Further complete game units quoted
The outcome
What changed.
Delivered in eight days
A working, branded game with sound, staff controls and an installer, eight days after the brief.
More units quoted
PC1 has since quoted further complete game units.
Ready to re-skin
Artwork, splash screen and sounds sit apart from the game logic, so it can be re-branded for other sponsors and events.
Kit & technology
Built with.
- Unity
- Universal Render Pipeline
- Input System
- Sim-racing wheel
- Inno Setup installer
- Low-haze display
“They have been amazing over the years supporting me in so many different ways from building apps, websites and even supplying the kit.”
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