I once watched the Ramayana Ballet performed at Prambanan Temple. Until today, I think that it’s the most spectacular show I’ve ever seen. Today, after watching the story performed by Google in a Chrome experiment, I think Google managed to tell the epic story.
Last week, Google launched Ramaya.na. A browser based animation which tells the Ramayana story. The folktale famous in the South and Southest Asia regions was adapted to incorporate the technologies within Google products, especially Google Chrome.
In Ramaya.na, you can see how Raden Janaka using Google Chat to announce a competition, Jatayu posted a blog on Blogger, Hanoman sang in YouTube and Rahwana used Google Maps to locate Rama and Shinta. In addition, you can find some interactive scenes which make you play a part in the story. Those interactive scenes were built using HTML5 and WebGL.
Even though it was made in Indonesian, the animation is not made by a team from Indonesia. Credit goes to Ogilvy One Singapore who did the concept and adaptation, while the production process was done by Fantasy Interactive. The animation was made by an illustrator from Sweden, Therese Larsson, and the score is the work of Plan 8, also from Sweden.
So why did Google work so hard in bringing this to life? Because it is in Indonesian, the animation can only be enjoyed by Internet users in Indonesia. Besides, the story can only be understood by those who know the original story of Ramayana. Obviously, Google aims more than just showing off the HTML5, Javascript, SVG and WebGL technologies.
A hint may be found from the fact that this animation can only work on the newest version of Chrome. In the middle of browser war these last few weeks; this may be Chrome’s way to globally surpass Internet Explorer (IE) as well as catching up with Firefox’s popularity in Indonesia. The number of Chrome users in Indonesia, according to both GetClicky and StatCounter, is still below Firefox. But, Chrome users are increasing while Firefox and IE users are decreasing.
The large number of Internet users in Indonesia, with increasing new Internet users, is a ripe battleground for browser developers. Ramaya.na, indeed a great product, can be an interesting promotion to catch the attention of Internet users in Indonesia who are not Chrome users and eventually download Chrome’s newest version to see Google’s way in telling the classic Ramayana story.
