MEETING AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS

The BBC is the UK’s leading children’s broadcaster, reaching 58% of 6-12 year olds and 82% of 0-6s with their TV and online content each month. As children’s media consumption moves increasingly online, the BBC have committed to making substantial investment to their digital portfolio with a focus on shows and brands which are most loved by kids.

As one of the broadcaster’s most popular and iconic shows, Danger Mouse is certainly one of those beloved brands. The brief for Preloaded was to further extend the reach of the Danger Mouse brand by delivering an ambitious and scalable game which would satisfy the high expectations of this passionate audience.

BRINGING 3D RACING TO A BROWSER

Mindful of BBC’s commitment to browser-based games, the PlayCanvas engine was selected as our technology solution for the Danger Mouse: Full Speed project, allowing us to bring 3D and WebGL gaming to the BBC audience for the first time.

Danger Mouse: Full Speed is a frenetic racing game, inspired by the great arcade racers of the late 80s such as Outrun and Chase HQ.

The game is built around a core “race mode” and set in five distinct worlds.  The player gets the chance to get behind the wheel of Danger Mouse’s famous Mark IV, in pursuit of his arch-enemies, Baron Greenback, Dr Loocifer, Quark, Pom Pom and Isambard King-Kong Brunel. The Preloaded team worked directly with the series writers to ensure that the wacky characters, brand humour and animation style have been authentically captured to deliver a bold extension of this brand into the games space.

AUDIENCE-LED DEVELOPMENT

Alongside this innovative project was the strict requirement to adhere to the BBC Children’s Games Accessibility Guidelines requirements, to ensure the game could reach children with a range of skills and abilities. To ensure that the Danger Mouse: Full Speed game met these audience needs, Preloaded led an audience-centric approach, starting the project with two full rounds of prototyping and user-testing to hone the gameplay ahead of starting on the full production phase.

As is critical for this audience, and age group, there was a strong focus on creating a ‘low threshold’ experience, one that aims to remove all barriers to play and rewards curiosity. Central to the design is the slot-based racing mechanic, which delivers a compelling but forgiving experience for the broad target audience. The game also adopts best practice in its use of the minimal text and inline visual instructions.

Based on feedback and play data, audiences can expect new worlds, levels, vehicles and modes to be included in future game updates.