Overview
UndercoverTourist is a reseller of theme park tickets for Disney World and other Orlando parks. In 2012, the company created browser game Frog Jump as a buzz marketing promotion.
Challenge
UndercoverTourist had recently hired a veteran game industry programmer and wanted to leverage his unique experience in conducting an experiment in casual gaming. At the very least, it would serve to generate buzz, but the possibility also existed for additional channels of revenue.
The game required a fun, easy, and simple style of play to appeal to young, uncoordinated players. It also needed a scope small enough for two people to complete without seriously interrupting operations in a very small company.
Result
Frog Jump took the form of a vertical-scrolling platform jumper that leveraged the category recognition players had of (then) popular titles Doodle Jump, Mega Jump, and others. The intuitive interactions made possible by smartphone accelerometers translated into greater ease of use and appeal and was a huge factor in the direction that the game took. Unfortunately, the many in-game power-ups, pickups, and enemies proved difficult to produce given team size and time constraints, resulting in a reduction of scope to a single playable land from Disney World. The game was released free to play on the company website, which worked in both mobile and desktop browsers. Future plans involved additional levels, in-game rewards, and paid app store releases.
My Role
- interaction design
- user interface design
- art direction
- graphic design
- illustration