Project Overview
This 8-bit promotional mini game was developed in Unity as a full-stack project for the TBWA advertising agency on behalf of the Mennen brand. The game promotes Mennen's products in a cute and funny retro-styled way, featuring classic 8-bit aesthetics with modern gameplay polish. Players navigate through fast-paced levels collecting Mennen products while dodging obstacles, with the charming pixel art style and upbeat chiptune soundtrack creating an immediately nostalgic and engaging experience. Released on iOS, Android, and the Facebook Games platform, the game was designed to maximize reach across mobile and social channels as part of a broader digital marketing campaign.
My Role & Contributions
As the sole developer on this project, I handled every aspect of production from initial game design through to multi-platform deployment. I designed the gameplay loop in collaboration with the creative team at TBWA, ensuring the game was fun enough to drive organic engagement while naturally integrating the Mennen brand without feeling forced or overly promotional. I implemented the 8-bit visual style, integrating pixel art assets into Unity with proper sprite rendering, parallax scrolling backgrounds, and retro-styled visual effects that authentically capture the charm of classic arcade games. I built the level generation system that creates increasingly challenging obstacle patterns across multiple game sessions, keeping the experience fresh for returning players. I developed the backend leaderboard service that handles score submissions, global and friend-based rankings, and anti-cheat validation to maintain competitive integrity. The Facebook Games integration was a key deliverable — I implemented the Facebook SDK for social login, friend leaderboards, score sharing, and challenge invitations that allowed the game to spread virally through social networks. I also managed the iOS and Android build pipelines, handling platform-specific requirements for App Store and Google Play submission including screenshot generation, metadata localization, and compliance with each store's advertising game policies.
Technical Challenges
The primary technical challenge was building a game that works seamlessly across three very different platforms — native iOS, native Android, and the Facebook web canvas — from a single Unity codebase. Each platform had distinct input methods (touch vs. mouse), screen aspect ratios, performance characteristics, and SDK integration requirements. I developed an abstraction layer for platform-specific services including authentication, social features, and analytics, allowing the core game code to remain platform-agnostic while each platform implementation handled its specific quirks. The Facebook Games canvas required additional optimization as it runs within a browser context with more constrained performance compared to native mobile deployments. The leaderboard system needed to handle concurrent score submissions from all three platforms while presenting unified rankings, requiring careful API design and database architecture. The chiptune audio system was another interesting challenge — I wanted authentic retro sound effects and music that triggered nostalgia while maintaining modern audio quality standards, which meant carefully balancing the lo-fi aesthetic with clean playback across different device speakers and headphones. Working within the constraints of an advertising campaign also required rapid development cycles and the flexibility to incorporate last-minute branding feedback without disrupting the gameplay experience.
Results & Impact
The Mennen mini game reached thousands of players across all three platforms during the campaign period, significantly exceeding the engagement targets set by the TBWA agency. The Facebook integration drove strong organic sharing, with players challenging friends and competing on leaderboards, extending the campaign's reach beyond paid advertising. The game's retro charm and genuine playability generated positive brand sentiment — players engaged with Mennen's products in a fun, memorable context rather than through a traditional advertisement. TBWA cited the project as a successful example of gamified brand marketing, and the game's engagement metrics contributed to the broader campaign's ROI reporting. The project demonstrated my ability to deliver a complete, polished product for a major brand on a tight agency timeline, managing the full stack from game design and development through backend services and multi-platform deployment — all as a solo developer.
