Cartoon Network New Media, the online publishing division of cable television channel Cartoon Network, recently pulled the curtain Mini Match, a free-to-play, browser-based 3D virtual world focused on delivering multiplayer match-ups and social gaming to kids.
Players create miniature avatars and are sent to a microscopic island, where they explore environments based on adventure themes in Cartoon Network shows, such as Ben 10 and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. They also play multiplayer games featuring characters and content from the channel's programs, all while trying to learn more about the mysterious island.
Creative Director Art Roche spoke with Worlds In Motion about Mini Match's kid-targeted social gaming features and the company's future plans for the brand.
Worlds In Motion: How long has Mini Match been under development?
Art Roche: We have been working on Mini Match for about a year, probably concepting and planning for a little longer than that.
Was this developed in-house or by an external studio, as is the case with FusionFall?
AR: We're using an external studio as a development partner with it. We sort of designed the game and got with an external vendor to build the game.
[Note: Roche later revealed its development partner to be Dubit, stating that the studio has done "an outstanding job of tackling this project and sharing our passion for making it the best it can be."]
What significant points do you see separating Mini Match from FusionFall or other kid-targeted virtual worlds?
AR: We consider Mini Match a light virtual world, as it's basically just an environment to walk around in and create your own avatar. We also consider the play sessions to be of a shorter nature than Fusion Fall or any other MMOG.
You don't really level up, you gain points by playing games with other players. We're encouraging play basically between all the inhabitants. You use those points in our in-game shop to buy gear for your avatar or to buy clothes - pirate clothes, space clothes, ninja clothes, etc.
One of the differentiating factors is that its centered around quick-to-play two-player games. Players simply pick a game from the UI and drag it over someone's head - it's very easy to get into. We also have [an alluring] mystery and adventure story overlaid on top of Mini Match that a lot of other places don't have.
Why did you feel that it was essential to incorporate the social-gaming component into Mini Match?
AR: We experimented with some community aspects several years ago with a thing we called Cartoon Orbit. Basically, it was a registration system where you could collect badges. When we did focus groups on Cartoon Orbit, all you could do was collect these badges and trade with other people.
Every time we did a redesign, we did these focus groups. What we always heard, especially from the boys, was 'Where's the competition? This is great, but how do i fight? How do i compete? How do i win?
So we set out to create a social environment, mix it with gaming, and still make it safe for kids in the 6 to 11-year-old age group. We kind of took the best of several different products, keeping an eye on gaming and some of that competitive nature that most boys have.
The thing about social networks is they're all sort of about building a network of friends. The thing about kids is you don't want their personal information exchange. When you watch real kids play, though, say on a culdesac, they can play with each other all day long and they really don't care to exchange names or personal details. They just want that adjacency of another person and other kids to play with.
We wanted to create a virtual world where gaming was at the core of the experience. I think a lot of people now are talking about gaming inside of the virtual world, but we hit upon this idea a couple years ago. We decided that we want to make gaming a cornerstone of any virtual world we create.
Are you considering any alternatives to Mini Match's current ad-supported model?
AR: We hope to try some innovative methods for creating sponsorships within Mini Match using ad-supported revenue to run the game. We found that, for a product like this, a subscription wasn't going to be right with it. Microtransactions aren't something we're looking into right now, either - possibly in the future, but we're not interested in it right now. For a game of this scale, it seemed ad supported was the way to go.
How are you promoting Mini Match and bringing in users?
AR: Mainly through the [Cartoon Network] site right now. There are some ads running on the channel this month. on and off, we'll do spot TV advertisements for it. As events roll out in Mini Match, it will float to the top of our promotional opportunities on the website and eventually on-air. Most of the persistent promotion will through the [Cartoon Network] web site.
Are you looking to extend the Mini Match brand beyond the virtual world?
AR: We're exploring ideas for that with Mini Match. For instance, a comic book or single player games that might live outside of the game but still based on the Mini Match IP. We're exploring that for the future, building on the world and its stories.
Now that you're out of beta, what else do you have planned for Mini Match?
AR: We've had a fair amount of people playing, and we spent a lot of time polishing it and load testing it, so it has been a very stable environment. We're very pleased with how it's held up under the demand.
We're looking forward to expanding the world. There will be different rooms to go in, different gear to buy. we're going to add onto the gallery of games available to play, too. This is not something we're going to launch and leave alone. It's more of a service, you have to take care of it.
