PJ Masks - Howling Havoc

Watch out for the Werewolves!

Help the heroic PJ Masks fend off The Wolfy Kid’s super-sonic howls in this second HTLM5-powered outing for Entertainment One.

Brief

After the success of the first game (‘Sticky Splat Soccer’), eOne were looking to expand the set to a trilogy of games, each featuring different series villains, starting with ‘The Wolfy Kids’.

The games all needed to sit together and follow a similar formula, whilst highlighting new elements from season two, such as the PJ Masks new superpowers! Each new game would be designed to pit the player against a different villain and introduce fresh, new gameplay mechanics.

Our Response

Following on from ‘Sticky Splat Soccer’ meant we already had a good template to work with and audience expectations were already set, so our focus was on getting the balance right between introducing exciting new elements without overwhelming the player, and making sure this experience felt like a natural next step to the first game.

We also wanted to take the opportunity to ramp up the level of polish already established in the first game to bring the player even closer to their favourite PJ Masks heroes, with more detailed animation, audio and effects.

The Challenges

To help differentiate ‘Howling Havoc’ from ‘Sticky Splat Soccer’ we opted top go for a side-on ‘beat-em-up’ style presentation, which worked really well but created the challenge of sourcing the right assets, as most existing shots of the PJ Masks were head-on.

Coming up with a new mechanic that, as before, only required one finger to play, but resulted in compelling gameplay that felt rewarding to master without being too tricky!

The Results

This time players get to join the PJ Masks in a high-stakes face off with the trouble-making Wolfy Kids and protect HQ from a relentless barrage of their powerful super-sonic howls!

As the assets we needed to realise the game’s idea weren’t available, we requested the original 3D models used to make the PJ Masks TV show and rendered the custom poses and angles we needed ourselves. Together with Spine animation, this allowed us to really bring the PJ Masks and The Wolfy Kids to life.

Staying true to the audience requirements and the template laid down by ‘Sticky Splat Soccer’, ‘Howling Havoc’ is another quick-to-pick-up game that’s playable with one touch. It provides players with a new challenge and opportunity to play as their favourite hero, in a game of gently increasing timing-based difficulty.

Just as with the previous game, ‘Howling Havoc’ features multi-language support for release in multiple territories, and features the Peg stats system so eOne are able to keep track of how much players are enjoying the game.

PJ Masks – Sticky Splat Soccer

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