Square Enix Collective
Creating an innovative crowdfunding platform

The client.
Square Enix is one of the world’s leading games development groups. It boasts a formidable roster of games, including FIinal Fantasy®, Dragon Quest® , Tomb Raider® and the legendary Space Invaders®.
The challenge.
To design and develop a revolutionary crowdfunding platform geared towards the independent games market. The platform needed to enable gaming fans to crowdfund the development of their favourite game concepts.
The strategy.
Build the platform using an Agile approach with Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Unicorn, Nginx, and Ubuntu. Prioritise key user stories and complete in two-week sprints with regular demos to Square Enix. Deploy in two phases: initial phase with limited projects and functionality, followed by a phase with full functionality and public submissions.

What we did.
Stakeholder research
We communicated with Square Enix to get a clear understanding of their vision for Collective. Like all smart industry players, Square Enix recognised that a great way to innovate and create fantastic products is to listen to those people who already love your product, bringing about the idea of a crowdfunding platform.Agile approach
Contra took an Agile approach to building the platform using Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Unicorn, Nginx and Ubuntu. We identified the key user stories and prioritised them, completing them in two-week sprints and providing regular demos to Square Enix for clarity.Seamless deployment
We ensured the deployment of the platform went smoothly by carrying it out in two phases – the first with a limited amount of projects and functionality and the second with fuller functionality and with public submissions open. This enabled us to identify any issues and iron them out before the full launch.Customer control
The platform follows a simple four-stage process that encourages user engagement. This process involves community members submitting game pitches and fans of the franchise voting for their favourite game. The most popular pitches then have the chance to be funded and developed, meaning Square Enix supporters can directly impact the creation of future games.Project snapshot.
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Contra made it seem like a breeze, and the launch was one of the smoothest we’ve seen. Great service, great ideas and fantastic to work with.

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