Chaos Theory

Please describe your company and your position there.

Currently I work for a Government Council as an Environmental Education Officer focused on water.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chaos Theory, and what were your goals?

The Council hired Chaos Theory to develop a online game focused on increasing water literacy of students from the ages of 11-15 on the Central Coast.

The goal for this project were to increase knowledge of the Central Coast Water Supply System by game play.

How did you select Chaos Theory and what were the deciding factors?

When selecting Chaos Theory to be the developer of this project we looked an array of other developers to see which companies had experience in the educational game field along with design elements.

The professional proposal with detailed goals and objectives presented by Chaos Theory along with previous games created was a major deciding factor in choosing Chaos Theory

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project was developed initially in my mind by games I played as child and into adulthood. Using games to increase students knowledge on a specific topic can be very powerful.

When creating this project with Chaos Theory I first created wire frames based on "if this" then "this will happen". I also created a list of items of "needs" and "wants for game development to manage the expectations of all stakeholders.

Once this was created the project steps where more manageable. Content and story of the game was created followed with important infrastructure and the overall game play look.

Once we were all on the same page then key deliverables where met based on the initial concepts. The first deliverables were the maps, infrastructure and map layout.

Secondly, the interactions of game infrastructure, imagery, extra details to the game were completed. The last key deliverables were based on functionality and game performance based on user play.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

An estimated 13 people helped in various capacities from Council. The positions vary from Digital/Design, Comms, Education, Water & Sewer.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Currently the game has not gone live, but the initial testing has been very positive where 2 schools have already put the game into their Curriculum.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

The project management style by Chaos Theory was top notch. Weekly updates and meetings with a variety of stakeholders at key moments during the project.

Clarity of what was happening based on the timeline was accurate and the components were being met as outlined.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The consensus from my team was the professionalism of the team on this project. Providing solutions to issues rather than not looking at alternative solutions.

The constant focus to detail and the ability to learn about the project on a deeper level to create an amazing game.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

At this point I can say I do not have any improvements based on my experience.

The major improvements would be on my side to make the process more clear and smooth for the developers side.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Major Frank is games development studio based in Sydney, Australia.

For what projects/services did your company hire this vendor?

Scalable development support across multiple projects. 

What were your goals for this project?

Take simple concepts and execute them well, with high attention to detail. Meeting timeframes and deadlines was critical. 

How did you select this vendor?

Shared presence at Games Plus, Sydney

Describe the project in detail.

Major Frank has worked with Chaos Theory on multiple projects, including:

Lifty: iOS/Android free to play elevator game where the objective is to deliver passengers to specific floors 

Blendy: iOS/Android free to play fruit blending game where the objective is to blend the right amount of fruit to match a customer order

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact this project/engagement has had on your business?

The addition of Chaos Theory to Major Frank’s development support team has allowed us to increase the pace of development of projects while maintaining high quality and attention to detail. Fast turnaround of project features is important in such a fast changing industry and Chaos Theory well and truly delivered in that regard.

How effective is your workflow between your team and theirs? Did you use any specific project management tools?

Very effective. They were easy to communicate with and were a pleasure to work with. We utilised Asana for project management and Slack for daily communication.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Chaos Theory were easy to communicate with and were a pleasure to work with. They are hard working and were very professional in their delivery of services to our company.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Lazy Giant Games and the former director of ElApps. We were a builder of mobile app games that entered the market at the start of 2017.  

What challenge were you trying to address with Chaos Theory?

I initially approached Chaos Theory to build a mobile word game. Since then, we’ve produced several game apps together.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I approached Chaos Theory with my idea, and they gave me their own sights. They produced a document that outlined their execution plan, and we decided to roll with it. They’ve continued to partner with me to produce several mobile games. We use Unity 3D as our primary engine to create the games.

What is the team composition?

My main points of contact were Nico (Executive Director, Chaos Theory Games) and James (Managing Director, Chaos Theory Games), but I suspect the entire team consisted of 6–10 people.

How did you come to work with Chaos Theory?

I’d originally worked with overseas developers who provided services at a much lower cost but had quickly become unsatisfied with the poor quality of their work. I decided to look for local developers in Sydney.

I found a college for developers and attended an open day at this school. I spoke to a veteran teacher there who suggested three companies. Chaos Theory was among them, so I reached out and spoke to James over the phone.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $90,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I engaged them in January 2017, and it’s an ongoing partnership.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The quality of Chaos Theory’s work is truly amazing. One of our apps—called Owls and Vowels—boasts 20,000 downloads and a 4.7-star starting. In addition to their technical know-how, their prompt delivery is also stellar. They hold themselves to a very high standard to ensure the best quality.

How did perform from a project management standpoint?

They always abided by their deadlines to deliver on time. They stuck with all their promises; they never compromised quality or took shortcuts. I have nothing but positive feedback in that respect.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found their professionalism, their willingness to help, and the quality of their work to all be distinguishing factors. I’ve worked with several other developers, but Chaos Theory blows them out of the water.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While it’s a very minor issue, I’m impatient sometimes and am looking for an instant email response. In the light of demanding requirements, I’d appreciate that, but other than that the engagement has been perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage them. Give them all your ideas, even if you think they’re silly. They’ll have a way to make it happen.