Game concept / Art direction / Build
Jumping Jacko.
A playable pixel world built around Xpert, my colleagues, my dog and a questionable amount of coffee.
- My role
- Concept, creative direction, character and gameplay development, with an AI-assisted design and build process.
- Project
- Personal project
01 / THE BRIEF
A brand people can play.
The starting point was a creative challenge: could the people, habits and details of my working day become something people actually wanted to play? A logo placed on a generic game would have missed the point. It needed its own characters, jokes and visual world, while still being simple enough to understand on a phone. That meant treating it as a small game product: designing the identity, the rules, the feedback and the reasons to have another go.
02 / THE IDEA
Turn the familiar into a game world.
Make an endless runner out of a day in the Xpert world. Jack becomes the runner; Rupert, the vehicles, workwear and farm animals become part of the course. Colleagues turn into increasingly ridiculous bosses, with attacks connected to their personalities and roles. Coffee becomes protection, an energy can becomes a burst of speed, and Beef Hula Hoops become a deliberately tempting mistake. The familiar references give the game its character; changing attack patterns give the player something to learn.
03 / THE BUILD
The work behind “one more go”.
I developed a complete browser game around an illustrated countryside, bespoke character sprites and the supplied Xpert identity. The course combines moving traffic, animals, flying boots and tractors you can land on, with six milestone challenges stretching from the first cow stampede to a late-game tractor rally. Touch and keyboard controls support held jumps and double jumps, with pause, sound and layouts for different screen orientations. Distance and coins give players two different goals. Behind the playful surface, the build separates rendering from game rules and includes a system for replaying submitted runs on the server, so online scores can be calculated from the actual inputs rather than accepted as a number.
04 / THE SCOPE
What went into it.
- 01
An identity for the game
Created a distinct Jumping Jacko wordmark and pixel character world, then carried the official Xpert logos, colours and Panton Narrow typography through the menus, controls, scoreboards and guide.
- 02
Characters with a reason to exist
Developed Jack’s running and waddle animations, Rupert’s reaction, branded vehicles and three colleague bosses. Craig’s golf balls, Karl’s deliveries and Giles’s drumsticks turn personal references into recognisable game mechanics.
- 03
Rules, pace and replay value
Built held jumps, double jumps, landable tractor roofs, protection, superspeed and the snack slowdown. Six milestone challenges vary the pace, while attack heights and timing reward reading the course.
- 04
A phone-ready game
Designed touch and keyboard input, portrait and landscape layouts, fullscreen behaviour, readable progress indicators, pause and sound controls. The game’s logical dimensions adapt without making the artwork or collision rules arbitrary.
- 05
Competition behind the scenes
Built separate distance and coin boards, weekly and all-time views, guest identities and recoverable submissions. The online system replays timed inputs against shared rules and retains older rule versions for existing runs.
- 06
A world beyond the start screen
Created an illustrated field guide covering the cast, power-ups, obstacles and challenge milestones. It gives the game a fuller identity and helps new players understand what is happening on screen.
IN THE DETAIL
A closer look.
05 / THE RESULT
Where it stands.
The result is a playable browser game with its own identity, illustrated world, six challenge sequences and a companion guide. The build includes local scoreboards and an online leaderboard implementation, with separate goals for distance and coins. Together, the characters, controls and competitive systems turn a personal idea into something visitors can pick up and play.
Playable browser game
Play Jumping Jacko