CP3K
Open the game- Brand
- Nike
- Year
- 2010
- Objective
- Product Launch
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Apollo Studios
- With
- Academy
- With
- Blast Radius
Objective
Jordan Brand needed to launch the CP3.IV around a single idea: Chris Paul's quickness, which Paul himself likened to playing with a cheat code. Rather than just advertise that speed, the brand built a promo game that let fans feel it firsthand, releasing it simultaneously on the web and as a free iPhone/iPad app so the campaign could keep circulating through social challenges and leaderboards past launch day.
Solution
The player doesn't steer Chris Paul, only times his jumps — a tap or click (or the space bar on web) sends him up, and holding the input longer sends him higher. He auto-runs down a stacked platform course, and the only job is clearing black obstacles and hitting the right colored sections underfoot, which trigger a speed burst, a jump boost, a launch pad, or a rim-shattering dunk. Every run plays out alongside a ghost of the player's own best attempt, and beating that ghost's time is what opens the next of nine increasingly difficult levels. After a run, players can post their time to Facebook to challenge friends or check it against the global rankings before running again.
- 1
The player reaches CP3K either through Nike's Jumpman23 site, where it is billed as a performance simulator for testing Chris Paul's quickness, or by downloading the free universal iPhone/iPad app.
- 2
Each level begins automatically with the Chris Paul avatar running forward through a futuristic platform arena; the player never steers direction or speed, only jumping by tapping (holding for a higher jump) on mobile or clicking/pressing space on the web.
- 3
Courses are built from randomly stacked layers of platforms, so the player continually picks which layer to land on while running rightward.
- 4
Different platform surfaces alter the run: dark blue sections grant a temporary speed burst, light blue sections grant a jump boost that reaches otherwise unreachable layers, and wood-colored launch platforms fire the runner forward or backward along the course.
- 5
Black obstacles block the path; the player can smash through them at the cost of momentum, and they are notoriously hard to see against the course.
- 6
Landing on a red section triggers an automatic dunk sequence, sending the runner to a rim to finish by shattering the backboard.
- 7
A ghost of the player's own best run appears throughout the level, showing in real time whether the current attempt is ahead of or behind the personal record.
- 8
Beating a level's time unlocks the next of nine levels of rising difficulty, encouraging the player to revisit earlier levels for faster times.
- 9
Beyond racing his own ghost, the player can compare times against Facebook friends or the wider field via global rankings, framing each course as a time-trial contest.
