A brand experience takes longer than an integration into an existing game, a virtual store, or developing avatar items. And an experience with 5 maps inspired by a cartoon series that requires the approval of the producers takes much longer than a simulator built from a template.
Generally, every project includes the following phases:
Kick-off: The start of the project where the work team is introduced, and the process for the coming months is outlined.
Pre-development: Where the work team meets more frequently. There are two essential deliverables from the developer at this stage that will dictate the rest of the project: the GDD (Game Design Document), equivalent to a production bible in a TV series, and the ADD (Art Design Document), which is the style guide for the game adapted to the brand so the design team can work autonomously.
Development: Where the team works autonomously under a model of continuous reporting and supervision. Typically, there’s a delivery of what’s called a “vertical slice” – a sample of what the game will look and function like but without progression.
Beta testing: This phase is not only to test that the game works but also that it entertains. Beta testing is a complicated process. Usually, non-brand games have more flexibility to change on the fly. The challenge with brand experiences is that you’ll concentrate most of the visits in the days immediately following the launch, whereas in an internal project, the influx will be slower but continuous.
Release and Bug fixing: I always group these together because anyone who has created an experience knows there’s always some bug that doesn’t appear until you have thousands of concurrent users exploring the most unusual colliders.
Promotion and KPIs validation: Every brand experience needs promotion. One of the major mistakes in early proposals was not spending enough time discussing promotion with the client because just launching your experience on Roblox doesn’t mean anyone will visit it.
Maintenance and updates: This greatly depends on the client’s business and communication objectives, but considering what you’re going to invest in bringing someone to your experience, not considering an additional 20% to keep it alive with continuous updates is a missed opportunity.
This is part of our Guide BrandNewVerse-101: Mastering Branded Experiences, you can download the full report here or you can just subscribe to our Newsletter Roblox for Brands here