PUMA presents
RS-0 Play - The Game

PUMA RS-0 Play - The Game which is still addictive to play is an online game to celebrate the re-invention of the iconic kick RS-0 Play to more than 30 markets worldwide. It’s engaging concept was played by game and sneaker lovers across cultural borders and increased dwell time amongst Puma’s Ecommerce platforms.

Brief

The RS-0 Play sneaker has a history – but it’s now all developed to the future. Originally born as an ‘80s running phenomenon, this kick and its unique design and primary colors are inspired by the reinvention of gaming over the years – from old-school arcade games, to today’s reborn and rebooted game classics.

The brief was to introduce this iconic shoe amongst 30 markets in an engaging and playful way that goes beyond cultural borders plus attracts the young target audience and game culture worldwide.

In the desired game concept the RS-0 Play should tell a story of reinvention through a combination of bold graphics and playful propping. The RS-0 Play is set amidst a variety of vintage electronics and modern-day appliances that speak to the inspiration behind each drop.

The overall effect of the game design and execution should be clean, modern, and energetic, evoking a blend of future and retro. Old school aesthetics in a new light. The approach must be based on the shoe concepts: taking something retro / classic / vintage, stripping it down to its core, then building it up with modern materials. The result should be a cool fun and engaging game concept to coincide with the Puma RS-0 Play launch and increase dwell time and drive conversion.

Idea

Inspired by ’80s video games, the RS-0 Play is a retro-futuristic blast of bold colour and dynamic detailing for your feet. In order to create a game that was equally as eye-catching, we took cues from our favourite throwback video games as well as design elements of the sneaker itself and built an online world where the RS-0 Play takes centre stage. Users are challenged to run through an urban cityscape of geometric shapes and stunning colors to gain points, dodging potholes and other obstacles to become Puma’s ultimate RS-0 play champion.

Our approach was to compose our character from the RS-0 Play shoe itself, abstracting it from pixel chic geometric shapes with aesthetic and gentle motion. Like an invisible human character was running through a retro abstract world into current time design. As you run, you can pick up different diamonds, coins and other objects along the way, each ‘power-up’ transforming the level design.

When playing, the user is running automatically with a one button approach in which the only interaction is to jump. In this way we created an experience which was easy to play but impossible to master.

Craft

In the execution for RS-0 we incorporate futuristic grids and color and abstract props and pedestals. The idea was to feature this reinvented shoe in a context that blends future and retro, creating a sense of moving into the future while taking cues from the past. We gave the design of the RS-0 Play shoe game character a pixel chic sketchy style where retro-pixel-art meets soft warm pixely graphics.

The colours playfully emphasize the speed and movement of the shoe and tie into the first drop of the RS-01 Play. In the first screen the shoe is introduced by a lively animation along with the title for the game, following in a surreal geometric dreamscape full of simple moving shapes.

To let the game truly immersive we decided to predefined chunks of level we would be able to mix and match pieces to create a unique and seemingly random experience. Designing individual chunks, we had much greater control over creating challenging actions, bite-sized challenges which the user needed to solve. We ended up developing a tool that our design/ux team could use to design and edit these chunks. An exported configuration file could then be used to dictate the gameplay.

Relevancy

When the game slowly speeds up and getting more and more difficult, the surrounding window gets more narrower also, limiting the users ability to see and avoid pitfalls. Integrating more interactive elements to the platform aimed to increase time spent on the platform, while competitive elements such as a points system and leaderboard added to the game’s addictive and overall playability. It’s like the ’80s all over again… in a good way.

Taking a game from realisation to completion is a huge but rewarding challenge and we’ve been pumped about all of the positive feedback. As of writing the current top score is 75.807 (FRA) about 3 times the achievement of anyone here with us in the studio. We were also excited to achieve the dwell time Puma was hoping for with the average time on the site staying at around 5 mins a user.