Make One Change was created as part of the Guinness Original launch campaign in South Africa.

With a fixed deadline (the launch) the pressure was on. In addition, as much of the visual style and imagery was derived from the television and billboard campaigns, we'd have to wait for those productions to be completed before we could take delivery of our assets.

Working closely with the IU design team, we created placeholder artwork to allow the bulk of the development to go ahead. A lot of the screen dynamics were physics-driven and needed to be carefully constructed; this would take time. To reduce the likelihood of reworking these sections several times in code, we created pre-rendered simulations to achieve sign-off on the look and feel before coding commenced.

The app itself comprised of 3 main sections, each with unique content designed to engage the user and impart the brand message.

The introduction to the app set up the key messaging that Guinness is different to other beers: they make one key change. This was realised in this section by asking the user to make one change - to rotate the iPad from portrait to landscape view. As they rotated the iPad, the messaging and screen objects were converted to physics bodies allowing them to tumble and fall off the screen in a unique way.

This created a number of interesting technical challenges, handing over of objects to the physics engine at just the right point, so the user can play with the tilt for a short period before being committed to the landscape orientation. Also changing from portrait to landscape view whilst keeping onscreen buttons and menus in the correct place.

Arthur's bar game. Continuing the message of the 'One Change' (that Guinness roast their barley) the user was invited to partake in a game competing over 3 rounds to flick all 4 ingredients into a Guinness Original bottle. Scores were awarded for each shot on target with extra points for the roasted barley. Time bonuses were added for a quick finish and the score, along with the players name, was added to the scoreboard.

We needed to quickly create a game that simulated 3D depth without the trouble of creating a fully realised 3D game. The solution was to use a 3D camera view in conjunction with a depth map. Objects in the bar scene were assigned a depth value within the map, allowing us to test whether an ingredient was in front of or behind a piece of furniture as it travelled through the scene. The flick mechanic was also interesting as the game had to be reasonably easy. For this we created a Goldilocks zone, if the flick was within a given tolerance to the correct angle the shot went in.

Toast the roast. The last section of the app comprised a video with subtitles. The app is often used in noisy environments or by people who don't understand English. The subtitles were activated via a PIN-protected operators menu.

We needed to support subtitles in English, French and Swahili. To achieve this, a simple timeline was derived from the video to show the subtitles in real-time, removing the need to have bespoke videos for each language version. This not only keeps the size of the app down, but also future-proofs it for additional language versions, we simply need to add a new translation to our online tools.

The Blue Label app is the flagship production for Johnnie Walker whiskies. Over the past few years we`ve created many apps for Johnnie walker, mostly used as Point-of-Sale devices in locations around the world.

When the client wanted an app to celebrate the heritage, excellence and latest bottle design of their most cherished blend, it deserved special treatment.

Firstly, we created a lavish real-time interactive bottle at the heart of the app. Working closely with the new production shots and launch videos we were able to work some magic (or rather do some tricky coding and artwork) to bring the bottle to life; not an easy task on a mobile device.

There was an epic introductory movie, which culminated in a heroic shot of the new bottle. Continuing this treatment as closely as possible was key. This meant simulating the environment, lighting, reflections, shadows, transparency of the glass and more.

None of those things are easy in real-time rendering. They are made considerably harder on a mobile device. So to get a great result we had to draw on our games development experience, where faking expensive processes like transparency and lighting are our bread and butter. The solution made extensive use of custom pixel and vertex shaders. No lights were used at all; a bespoke solution to a unique challenge.

The app had 7 chapters of text and images. All of these were translated to 14 languages. The layout and design of these pages meant we couldn`t use a traditional localisation solution. It would be a brute force approach: images for all the text. This meant a lot of texture-data to load into memory. In addition each page was comprised of three full screen paralaxing layers, multiplying the texture memory issues.

The solution was a multi-pronged approach of asset management and texture compression. Firsty, we needed to be able to load textures as quickly as possible. For this, we converted all assets to the native format supported by the iPad's GPU (PVR). Then, we added a load-on-demand and discard-when-not-used system for the texture assets. Lastly, each image was tested for its ability to hold up (visually) to texture compression. The result gave us chapters, which loaded super-fast and avoided any memory issues.

Working with Games Faction enables agencies and clients to enter into the mobile space with confidence. Our transparent working practices, robust quoting and delivery schedules make all the difference when planning projects.

We'll advise on what's possible with the targeted devices and highlight where the expense or possible issues lie in a given concept. We'll help you cut the cloth to fit a budget (if required) and empower you to create with confidence.

From your first enquiry, you`ll be assigned a project manager to provide a single point of contact during the project. As a minimum we`d recommend at least one face-to-face meeting before the project starts, at our place or yours. We do have a helter-skelter at our building if that helps sway things in our favour?

During the quote and early design phases of a project, we`re very happy to provide as much consultancy as we can in areas such as mobile design practice, technical suitability and publishing via the App Store or Enterprise scheme. We don`t charge this time to you; it's all part of ensuring the project will run smoothly with a fantastic outcome.

Once a project is given a green light, we can work with your design teams to bring them up to speed on best practices for asset creation and delivery. We can also identify areas where it would be beneficial for us to handle the art creation. In all cases, dependencies will be highlighted and work prioritised accordingly.

To manage production we`ll set up a Trello board to act as the central hub. A single place everyone can come to, for discussions, implementation, or resolve dependencies and see what`s actively being worked on.

At key stages we can supply WIP builds of the app, direct to your devices via our download servers. If your apps are for Enterprise distribution, this is where they will live once completed, unless you`d prefer them to be hosted on another server, which we can arrange.

If you are releasing the app on the AppStore, we`ll manage the whole process, using your developer licenses or our own white label.

Our platform-agnostic Cabal engine is a light-weight, flexible technology designed with mobile devices in mind. Unlike some middleware solutions, our engine is streamlined and targeted, apps are small and fast-to-load with blistering performance.

We currently support iOS and other platforms are planned.

If you have an upcoming project or concept for an app you`d like to discuss, the best way to reach us is via e-mail. We`ll get right back to you for a chat.