THE WORK/

Transitions Golf

It is with great pleasure we at Oddly announce the successful launch of MinigolfChampionship.com.

The minigolf championship game, sponsored by Transitions Lenses, is a state-of-the-art 3D interactive game that pushes the boundaries of online casual gaming. The team at Oddly Studios have been thrilled to work with such progressive partners as Transitions and The Marketing Store to create an online experience that points the way to the future of online games.

When it was clear that this game was to be a best-of-breed game, we sat down with the strategy teams and the creative teams to come up with ideas for how to make something outstanding that would bring attention to the brand.

Business Choices

Our team went through all of the business needs of the client, carefully noting them and labeling them to ensure nothing would be missed. We made recommendations on strategic decisions based on our experience. A game design document was created that mapped out the user flow for visitors to the game, and all of the game elements. In each decision, the business objectives were kept in mind, and the labels passed along all the way from strategy, to design, and on to production. Every single aspect of the game, from the play to the art style were crafted to reflect the message of the brand.

Artwork Choices

The choice to go with Unity as a delivery platform opened up many creative options. Our concept artist, Lamin, got busy with traditional sketches that allowed us to map out the vision for the game. When a look was established, the 3D modelers under Sheharzad got busy in Maya. Meanwhile, the GUI elements and all the brand styles were being worked out by Shazzmin and Neal. At the same time, the studio was busy designing and creating promotional materials for the game, including advertisements and community site assets.

Development Choices

While artwork and strategy were being mapped out, the development team under Adam got busy creating prototypes that would allow us to test out game play decisions. The physics engine of Unity was put through it’s paces, and the terrain editor created lightweight models that would fuse with the assets of the art team to create a look that would be jaw-dropping compared to other casual games. All of this was stitched together in a production pipeline that allowed extremely rapid deployment to the testing team.

Quality First

Quality assurance testing would be crucial for the enjoyment of the game. Recognizing this, the QA team under Courtney set up strict testing conditions across all browsers on a variety of machines to ensure that the game would be fun, and operate error-free. All play conditions were logged and reported back to the admin team, with any errors being assigned back to the developers. These stringent measures made for a seamless integration on launch day.

By first review, we knew we were on to something special.

Results

Today MinigolfChampionship is going strong with thousands of people visiting, sharing, and comparing their results. The site has spun off into a blog, youtube channel, and facebook fan page. So popular has it been that a Canadian version of the game is in the works.

Check out this amazing hole-in-one submitted by visitor Alex!