A game screen is mocked in a mobile phone is presented by the barista character sits to the right of the logo and overlays a pastoral scene - a coffee shop with whipped cream trees on the left and fork trees with a teapot cottage on the right. A game screen is mocked in a mobile phone is presented by the barista character sits to the right of the logo and overlays a pastoral scene - a coffee shop with whipped cream trees on the left and fork trees with a teapot cottage on the right.

Client

Extrafeet

Industry

Mobile Games

Our Role

UI Design, Illustration, UX Design, Mobile App Development, Animation & Video

ALL SOLUTIONS

Barista Blitz Mobile Game for iOS

The client

Extrafeet is the sister company to Skyward Interactive, specializing in game and app development.

The challenge

Extrafeet wanted to build a free-to-play game that could be easily skinned with various themes so that one code base could potentially be used to create multiple games. They settled on a matching/memory game that would utilize in-app purchases of in-game currency and consumables for revenue generation. Skyward team members were pulled in to assist with the large amount of design and development work required for the first theme — a coffee house adventure.

Our response

The Extrafeet and Skyward teams worked together to solidify the game design and artistic style. Customers in a queue request an order that the player must create by matching the correct ingredients. We built a custom avatar generator that randomly creates customers and allows for their moods and expressions to change based on the service they're receiving. Orders become more complex and difficult to remember as the game progresses. The first proof of concept was an endless play version in which a single player continued to play until they ran out of time.

Cartoon customers with coffee orders line the top of the interface. A grid of coffee items are below, waiting to be matched. Cartoon customers with coffee orders line the top of the interface. A grid of coffee items are below, waiting to be matched.

To keep players interested, several additional game modes, such as limited moves were added along with a beautifully animated level map for tracking progress. This allowed players to navigate through an illustrated world, compete with friends, and unlock a variety of rewards.

Game map sections— a coffee shop with whipped cream trees, a cake shaped tea house with fork trees, and a waffle shaped diner in a syrup swamp. Game map sections— a coffee shop with whipped cream trees, a cake shaped tea house with fork trees, and a waffle shaped diner in a syrup swamp.

Barista Blitz has been featured within the App Store multiple times and has won several awards. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Spanish from Latin America, Spanish from Spain, Russian, French, German, and Arabic and is still played around the world.

Barista Blitz can be found in the iOS App Store, so if you'd like to give the live game a try, use the button below to download the app. Just beware! You're in for a caffeinated challenge that can lead to hours of fun!

Apple Store Button
Collage of awards Barista Blitz has won, in-game map, and illustration of the emotional range of the generated cartoon faces. Collage of awards Barista Blitz has won, in-game map, and illustration of the emotional range of the generated cartoon faces.