A Ukrainian digital agency has created a website about a website. What is its essence and how did the idea come about?

Creative digital agency CF.Digital has developed a website game called Website about Website. It showed the entire sequence of website development in accordance with the “Technical Regulations for the Development of an Internet Project”. The All-Ukrainian Advertising Coalition released this document in 2018. It regulates the requirements and standards for the development and implementation of Internet projects for advertising market participants.

Why do you need a “Site about a site”?

“Site about site” explains the algorithm of web project implementation in a playful way and introduces the customer to the peculiarities of development. The user will need to play as brand manager Alyosha, go through several levels and understand the peculiarities of communication with the agency.

Particular attention was paid to the “liveliness” of the characters: animation and character images were created by the Galagan creative agency. All the lines and jokes were taken from the real experience of communication between customers and clients.

Each stage has several plot branches at once. The game keeps track of all player's decisions - they directly affect progress and budget.

How the idea came about

According to Iryna Mushtina, over 17 years of work in the field of website development, they have faced the problem of misunderstanding the processes, stages of work, necessary materials, and evaluation criteria. This happens not only on the part of the client, but also on the part of agencies:

"Some agencies, perhaps due to inexperience, are also far from understanding the need to clearly communicate this information to clients. After all, their task is not just to develop a website, but also to explain why it should be exactly like that. The task of any agency is not just to do its job, but also to shape the market, raising the level of its education and culture."

In 2018, the “Technical Regulations for the Development of an Internet Project” appeared. It was created by the CF.Digital team together with leading Ukrainian agencies. The authors also took into account the experience of European agencies.

"The document is voluminous, detailed and useful. But no one likes to read large, albeit useful articles and documents. And everyone likes to play with fun toys. That's how we came up with the idea to make a game that is also educational. Fun, vital, bright and to the point,“ says Irina Mushtina. ”Some agencies, perhaps due to inexperience, are also far from understanding the need to clearly convey this information to clients. After all, their task is not just to develop a website, but also to explain why it should be exactly like that. The task of any agency is not just to do its job, but also to shape the market, raising the level of its education and culture."

How the game was developed

The CF.Digital team has been working on the project for almost a year. In the process, they faced two challenges. First, this is a social project. Even though it was clearly planned, CF.Digital had to prioritize client projects. This was the reason for the long development.

Secondly, the agency had technical difficulties with adapting the game for iPhone 10 and above. Due to the peculiarities of the system itself, they could not scale the game correctly, clearly fitting the smartphone screen.

What is the essence and features of the game

Before starting the technical development, CF.Digital spent several months on creativity - character images, emotions, and especially dialogues. According to Irina Mushtina, all dialogues were taken from life, there is nothing far-fetched in the game. Of course, they were a bit hyperbolic in some places, but in general, these are real “negotiations” with CF.Digital clients and the experiences of the agency's team.

"For example, I received an answer to the question 'Tell us more about your target and the path the buyer goes through? "You are experts! Can't you google it? ". This dialog can be found in our game," explained Irina Mushtina.

The point is that by playing the role of a brand manager with the task of developing a website, the agency showed the entire project: from choosing an agency to post-release training. They also showed all the team members and provided links to useful documents.

"We wanted to explain to our clients that website development is a joint project. We really need their participation and involvement. Now our customers have a kind of game “roadmap” that will help us make cool projects more efficiently together," says Irina Mushtina.

The point is that by playing the role of a brand manager with the task of developing a website, the agency showed the entire project: from choosing an agency to post-release training. They also showed all the team members and provided links to useful documents.

"We wanted to explain to our clients that website development is a joint project. We really need their participation and involvement. Now our customers have a kind of game “roadmap” that will help us make cool projects together more efficiently," says Irina Mushtina.How the project is planned to develop.

Iryna Mushtina says the team has a lot of plans. The first pitch showed that there is a great demand for education and fan in the creative and digital industry.

"We are planning to hold workshops for start-up agencies and clients based on the game, telling and sharing our development experience. Separately, we are launching a project on merchandise - T-shirts with funny prints are already in the press," says Irina Mushtina.

The material was published on vctr.media