Double Coconut

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Sanlo

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sanlo helps video game developers with payments and lending.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Double Coconut to accomplish?

Grow our development team to build APIs and SDKs for new product development.

SOLUTION

How did you find Double Coconut?

Referral

Why did you select Double Coconut over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Double Coconut were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Project 1: Create a Unity SDK for mobile game developers to easily integrate their games with a webshop powered by Sanlo Webshop.

Key deliverables:

• Porting existing IP to Unity.
• Unity SDK
• Integrating Unity SDK into Unity port game
• Developer documentation

Project 2: Augment development team to build API and backend features for a webshop product.

Key deliverables:

• Integrate with existing Agile development team
• Develop vertical features including: developer APIs for revenue analytics, authenticatio, web store inventory and offer management. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The measurable outcomes included consistently delivering technical designs on schedule, accurately estimating development tasks based on those designs, implementing code efficiently, and releasing features promptly to meet project timelines.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Deliveries were consistently on schedule, with engineers responding promptly and empathetically, keeping a strong focus on customer needs. This approach aligned seamlessly with our company’s core values, making it an excellent cultural fit.

What was your primary form of communication with Double Coconut?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The company’s standout quality was their extensive experience across diverse gaming industry projects, giving them an intuitive understanding of the end-user pain points that our products aim to address.

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

An area for improvement with Double Coconut would be achieving greater consistency in the quality of reviews across engineers. While certain team members excelled in reviewing PRDs, creating thorough technical documentation, and implementing solutions, the depth of review varied, which impacted the uniformity of quality checks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Deep State Games Inc (DBA One Tao Trivia)

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Designs and publishes casual games for mobile and web.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Double Coconut to accomplish?

• Program "Stick Figure Movie Trivia" for web and mobile.
• Create a database for the questions and images.
• Provide documentation to allow us to add new movies and schedule puzzles.

SOLUTION

How did you find Double Coconut?

Referral

Why did you select Double Coconut over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Double Coconut were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Create mobile (iOS and Android) and web versions of the game "Stick Figure Movie Trivia" based on our design. Design the underlying database for images and trivia questions. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The reliabilty of the game.  The great reviews from our testers. The positive reception from our marketing partner (movie review website) that led to a sucessful copromotion agreement.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, items delivered on time. They were very responsive to our needs and flexible regarding the needed modifications to the game.

What was your primary form of communication with Double Coconut?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

High standard of quality, timeleness of delivery, extremely fair pricing.

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

None that I can think of.  In my 40+ years as a game designer/producer/executive, Double Coconut is the finest developer I have ever used for a game project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former chief digital officer of OTG Management. We operated restaurants at several US airports. We had about 20,000 iPads that people used to order and play games.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Double Coconut?

We had about 100 million guests every year in our restaurants. Many used our iPads to place their food orders, read the news, and play unique games to win prizes like free food or drinks.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Double Coconut helped us design and develop complex games using HTML5 as the key technology. They also provided maintenance and monitoring of the games, which were based in the cloud. If the systems or servers had any issues, they took care of them.

What is the team composition?

We had 3–4 teammates assigned to our team, including a graphic designer, a programmer, a project manager, and a testing engineer.

How did you come to work with Double Coconut?

A friend of mine worked with their group and referred them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere over $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June 2015–December 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our customers liked the games; the more they liked them, the longer they sat at the restaurants and the more they ordered. We wanted to make sure the people enjoyed playing, and they definitely did, so it served the business purpose.

Double Coconut’s team was creative and helped us design good-quality games.

How did Double Coconut perform from a project management standpoint?

They ensured we planned realistic timelines and budgets and got everything done. Moreover, they delivered on budget and on time.

We communicated regularly through weekly online meetings and Slack.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

David (Founder) was very involved with the project. He was extremely helpful in many ways.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Many software or game development agencies don’t get involved in the creative part of the project. They expect customers to say what they want and then just create that. However, Double Coconut helped us come up with good ideas. Even after we built the game, they came back and suggested things to try. They felt like a partner, not a software development shop.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we had no issues with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

First of all, declare your budget and timelines. Secondly, make sure you have the right project management people involved from their side. Some people save money by saying they’ll manage the project themselves, but that doesn’t work out well. It’s better to pay them and let them handle the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Co-Founder of a sports betting company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company connectst traditional bars and restaurants to the world of online sports betting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Double Coconut to accomplish?

• Build and application
• use geolocation within the application
• foster a new type of game around online gaming

SOLUTION

How did you find Double Coconut?

Referral

Why did you select Double Coconut over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Double Coconut were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The Scope of work done by Double Coconut was, first, to build out a marketing website and a logged-in experience for a new venue that combined the physical world and the digital world of sports. Key Deliverables were:

• online web application allowing users to sync their legal online sportsbooks to aggregate their bets. 
• an online leaderboard that allows users to sync live bets to it and move up and down the leaderboard based on if the bets win or not. 
• A predict and win leaderboard game. 
• the transition from a web application to a ios and googleplay application

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Creation of a consistent product that was delivered on time with flexibility to adapt and evolve.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They Delivered efficiently and if there was a possibility of a delay this was communicated promptly and properly. They responded well to my needs and were open in having conversation about how to make the product better as well.

What was your primary form of communication with Double Coconut?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I'm impressed by their ability to adapt quickly and be willing to try new things and work through every idea to find the best and most feasible product.

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

nope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Founder of a Product Design Consultancy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Product Design Consultancy

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Double Coconut to accomplish?

• Build a gaming application for kids
• Comply with security requirements

SOLUTION

How did you find Double Coconut?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Double Coconut over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Referred to me
• Quality Consultation

How many teammates from Double Coconut were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of work encompassed the development of a multifaceted gaming application designed for iOS, Android, and Web platforms with the primary objective of imparting educational content on STEM subjects to children, thereby expanding the client's educational programming outreach. The application featured three distinct mini-games, each focusing on elements from the periodic table, to engage young learners in interactive educational experiences. 
The first mini-game centered around a recipe theme, providing children with insights into how elements from the periodic table are present in the nutritional components of various foods. Through interactive gameplay, users explored the relationship between elements and nutrition, fostering a deeper understanding of basic chemistry principles in their body. 
The second mini-game immersed players in a water cleaning scenario, where they learned about the biological, physical, and chemical contaminants commonly found in drinking water. By interacting with the game mechanics, children discovered the composition of water itself, comprised of the fundamental elements hydrogen and oxygen, as well as gained awareness of how elements are found in nature. 
In the third mini-game, players embarked on an excavation adventure to unearth minerals essential for building a cell phone. By collecting elements such as silicon, iron, and lithium, participants not only engaged in entertaining gameplay but also gained insights into the practical applications of elements in modern technology. 
The application boasted additional educational features to enrich the learning experience, including quizzes to assess comprehension, a curated library of educational videos covering various scientific topics, and a user-friendly platform enabling children to pose questions about science and vote on inquiries from their peers. These features aimed to foster curiosity, critical thinking, and collaborative learning among young users. 
Key deliverables for this app included fully functional mini-games, seamless integration of educational content, implementation of quiz features, incorporation of the video library, and development of the question and voting system, ensuring a comprehensive and engaging educational experience for children exploring the fascinating world of STEM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project was divided into 14 feature milestones. The Double Coconut Team consistently delivered the milestones to spec on time and within budget.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Communication was primarily on slack. All deliverables were on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Double Coconut?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I am impressed with the quality and speed of their development team.

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

This app is a non-profit initiative within a risk-adverse corporation, so there are unconventional constraints to the game design of the app. Double Coconut is excellent at delivering a defined idea, but could have provided different consultation for these unique constraints during the idea phase of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of iWin, Inc.  We’re a casual PC and mobile game publisher and distributor. We create puzzle and word games, and we distribute about 3,000 games on our site that users can pay a flat fee to access.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Double Coconut?

We initially hired them in 2013 to create an Android version of an existing game.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have an internal team, but we outsource a lot of our PC game development to them. They’ve worked on five of those, as well as a few mobile games. They’re currently porting another mobile game to Unity for us, so it’ll be accessible on a variety of platforms.

What is the team composition?

I usually coordinate directly with David Fox, their CEO. When we’re improving a game, we’ll frequently be assigned developers who’ve worked on it in the past, but we don’t specify who’s on their team for each project.

How did you come to work with Double Coconut?

I used to work with David. If we think one of our projects will fit their skill set, we’ll create a proposal defining the project scope and submit it to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $250,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2013 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched all of their projects without any major bugs or crashes. They’re pretty thorough on their QA testing. We’ll occasionally have our internal team or a third party review their work and we’ve never had any issues. Their games have also scaled well on the client/server side.

How did Double Coconut perform from a project management standpoint?

Since we interact with their senior leadership, they’re very attentive and available to us. David’s always on top of all the elements of each project. We communicate regularly via Skype and email, and we’ll occasionally connect via Basecamp or Slack as well.

They’ve grown and expanded over the years, so they have a fair amount of capability. Their engineers are smart and part of their team is overseas in Armenia, which helps keep the cost down.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve built up a great relationship with us since the start of our partnership. I have great confidence in their work. They stick to their budget and they’re cost-effective. David’s built a solid team, and he’s a unique leader because he’s an engineer who also has good design sensibility and creates a strong rapport with clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay close to your project and know what’s going on. Ask for a good design document up front so you understand what they’re building. Exchange feedback about the graphic design regularly so you don’t end up having to change too much later in the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of AlterAction/MasqChoices

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online social networking and entertainment

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Double Coconut to accomplish?

Authoring tools design and development

SOLUTION

How did you find Double Coconut?

Referral

Why did you select Double Coconut over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Exceptional expertise

How many teammates from Double Coconut were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Double Coconut analyzed our authoring tool requirements, designed the tool, including the database architecture, and co-developed the tool.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Detailed design documents, well documented. Frequent one-on-one meetings to address development progress, QA reports, etc.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

All tasks were completed within the scheduled timeline and under the allocated budget.

What was your primary form of communication with Double Coconut?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Creative problem solving and commitment

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a game-distributing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Double Coconut?

Before working with Double Coconut, I engaged with two different programmers to develop a mobile game. However, their work didn't meet my expectations and the game didn't function properly. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Double Coconut cleaned the app and revitalized the game, improving its functionalities. Double Coconut reviewed the game's code, and afterward, they came up with a plan and defined timelines. After creating the scope, the team worked on the development on a monthly basis using Unity. Double Coconut delivered a game for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Double Coconut's CEO and four programmers, including Anush (Junior Unity Developer).

How did you come to work with Double Coconut?

I found Double Coconut online and was attracted to their website and work. I had an initial conversation with the team and chose them.
How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with Double Coconut from May–November 2023. I had to end the relationship due to financial reasons, and Double Coconut continued to provide support 2–3 months after our engagement had ended.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
When we first arrived with Double Coconut, we couldn't test our game app, which had bugs. I spent a lot of money on that product, and for the same price I paid the previous programmers, Double Coconut revamped the app and added functionalities. The team helped us fix bugs and provided good advice on my requested work, fostering a simplified process. Double Coconut delivered good quality work and an app that ran smoothly and was ready for testing. I didn't experience any issues while playing. 

How did Double Coconut perform from a project management standpoint?

Double Coconut delivered work fast and met deadlines. We communicated via email, and the team responded quickly.
Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Anush's work was excellent and responded to me as soon as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was mostly impressed by Double Coconut's work quality. The team was committed to delivering a game in the best shape possible and told me everything ahead of time. Double Coconut delivered what they promised. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything for Double Coconut to improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Ensure Double Coconut has all the necessary information for development ahead of time because the team will give the best approximate time and pricing with the information you provide.