Dreamworks - Po's Kung Fu Challenge - PC Game & Website

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This was my first project when I came aboard at Curious Oranj. The project was already in the design phase and I had to get up to speed quickly. We partnered with Manifest Games to design and build a full 3D PC game in support of Dreamworks Animations soon-to-be box office smash hit Kung Fu Panda. The game design document was pretty well devised and Matt Scott's team at Manifest Games was already building up the game mechanics. Curious Oranj handled design support for the marketing materials and UIs for the game itself. The look of the game was primarily dictated by the Kung Fu Panda Style guide, and gave us plenty to work with.

We worked closely with Manifest Games to design all of the in-game UIs, making adjustments as needed to support new features that were being added to the game. Essentially the game was a turn-based fighting game that allowed users to earn points in order to buy new "moves" in the form of fighting cards. Users collected cards as well as accessories to build up their panda character, and challenged their friends or random users in online matches. In addition, users could also buy Mattel's Kung Fu Panda toys and get special codes to unlock more items in the game.

To seed the game, we also created a special code card for the launch of the movie that was handed out in theaters. We were able to get actor Jack Black to do custom voice work for the game and video trailers which helped to keep the experience on brand and fun. The marketing site had leaderboards as well as flash mini-games to earn more panda points for use in the 3D game. The desktop game launcher application included a light social networking feature that was COPPA compliant, as well as game news.

The campaign was a huge success, with more than 2.1 million users to the site, over 1.3 million visits to the flash mini-games, more than 200 thousand registered players and over 500 thousand multiplayer battles. Barry Hamaguchi and I led the design and trailer efforts, with Connie Tran supporting. Andre Yi developed all the flash materials. I worked with Stuart Hall and Matt Scott to develop concepts and solutions, managed the design team and participated in the design efforts as well, whenever necessary.

Shout outs: Barry Hamaguchi, Andre Yi, Connie Tran, Stuart Hall, Matt Scott