Game design and direction, artworking, and animation for a web video game featuring Justin Bieber doing skateboarding.
The game launched just in time to support the release of his album Purpose and let fans take control of the singer to pull tricks and ride along the boardwalk of Venice, LA, and the streets of Sydney, Australia.
The primary design problem was crafting a difficult genre into the most accessible form for an audience of likely inexperienced gamers. Fans found the one finger controls easy to pick up, and the obstacles appropriately challenging.
A tight deadline forced innovation in level design, and a bespoke level editor to match. Segments of the endless skateboarder are comprised of a small number of tiles that convey the feel of the location they are drawn from while giving flexibility to create unique environments of varying difficulty.
Fans that attain high scores unlock bonus content relating to Justin and his skating exploits around the world. Fan-made videos on YouTube show how to do that the most economically!
Players had helped Bieber fall off his board 1,000,000 times in 66 days.
Here’s a video of somebody getting a decent score if you need a hand.
