The making of Party Pooper
The making of Party Pooper
Behind the scenes of the strangest party you'll ever try to stop.
What started as a lunch-table chat quickly became Party Pooper, a viral web-toy that saw 14,000 plays in its first week. Within a month, players had
popped over 110,000 balloons and sparked a fierce Twitter competition for the fastest "party pooping" time. Here is how we brought the chaos to life.
Agility and tech
Managing an internal project alongside client work required a nimble, "unattached" mindset. We used React and Flux to handle complex game states, while the Bodymovin plugin allowed us to export animations as JSON.
To manage large file sizes, we turned the intro animation into a functional preloader. We ultimately stuck to a desktop-only release to ensure the hardware could handle the intense, simultaneous animations.
Fine-tuning the fiasco
The project evolved through five rounds of internal testing. While we initially hesitated to "gamify" the experience, the team's internal competitiveness convinced us to add the scoring system that eventually fueled its social media success.
Planning the surprise
Our launch strategy was all about mystery. We created a cryptic Facebook "Event" and used a vague URL to build hype. The intrigue worked, leading to features in Motionographer and Digital Arts, plus a Site of the Day award from the FWA.
The final blowout
Our custom analytics show that while the Knife was pooped the most (17,500 times), the Horse remains the hardest to catch.
With over 25,000 total plays, the experiment proved that a simple idea, executed with technical rigour, can make a massive splash.
Think you’ve got the lightning-fast reflexes to beat the legendary 18-second record and claim the title of the ultimate party pooper?
