Hunger Crunch
- Brand
- Rice Bowls
- Year
- 2014
- Objective
- Other
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- App
Objective
Rice Bowls, a nonprofit feeding orphaned children in 54 shelters across 8 countries, wanted a fundraising channel that met young donors on their own turf: apps, not donation forms. Rather than a donate button, the charity wanted people to play a game for fun, with every in-app purchase converting directly into meals, and with a hook schools and community groups could rally around to raise money together.
Solution
Players guide Beasty, a fanged black mount, through a fantasy kingdom in a one-button side-scrolling platformer, tapping the screen to jump and stomp on Hunger and its minions to win back stolen food. The run spans 12 levels with a boss fight every third stage, and along the way players scoop up candy coins and hunt for hidden collectibles. Clearing a level earns up to three stars, which feed into an overall rank, unlockable achievements, and a leaderboard, giving players a reason to replay and chase a better score. Between runs, players can spend their coins or premium Beasty Bucks in the shop, or enter their school, church, or community into a tournament to see whose group can post the highest combined score.
Results
The game passed 10,000 downloads within its first months on the market, and the money players spent in-app went on to feed more than 1,700 children across Rice Bowls' 54 orphanages worldwide.
- 1
Players discover Hunger Crunch on Rice Bowls' promotional one-page site, where a parallax-scrolling story introduces it as a free platformer made for and by the nonprofit and links to free downloads on the App Store and Google Play. On opening the app, they see a startup tagline urging them to stomp out Hunger alongside their steed Beasty, in the game and in the real world.
- 2
The main menu is a hand-drawn fantasy screen with options to start playing, visit the shop, or check rankings. The premise casts Hunger and its minion army as having stolen food across the kingdom, and players mount Beasty, a black fanged beast, to take it back.
- 3
Players choose from twelve levels, which unlock one after another as they progress.
- 4
Within a level the character auto-runs forward; the player doesn't steer, only jumps, tapping the screen while grounded to hop and holding the tap for a higher jump that reaches distant platforms and upper rows of candy. Tapping again while airborne triggers a downward stomp that crushes the monster below.
- 5
Bouncing from enemy to enemy without touching the ground chains jumps into a combo multiplier, the main way to run up a high score.
- 6
Along the way players collect Candy Coin currency, recover stolen food, and find hidden collectibles that give levels a reason to be replayed.
- 7
Every third level ends in a boss fight, with each boss standing in for a different facet of the real-world fight against hunger.
- 8
Finishing a level opens a results screen with a score and a three-star rating; only a high result earns all three stars, which pushes players to replay for a better grade.
- 9
Scores accumulate into an overall rank, surfacing a "You've ranked up" screen at each new tier, alongside one-off and cumulative achievements and a leaderboard where players compare their scores against others.
- 10
The shop sells Candy Coin packs and premium Beasty Bucks for real money, with all proceeds funding meals for children in Rice Bowls' orphan care homes; groups such as schools or churches can also run tournaments where members compete on score while their in-game spending becomes a shared fundraiser.
