Pixel Gecko

Spot the ball and win the latest high-tech gizmo. Pixel Gecko is an online Spot-the-Ball game that gives players the chance to win a new high-value prize every week.

Our role

The Pixel Gecko team commissioned us to help design and create the software for their online game, marketing, and sales infrastructure. We've worked closely with them to create a Ruby on Rails web application.

We continue to work with Pixel Gecko to develop their platform in response to user feedback.

Andy from Pixel Gecko was kind enough to send over this feedback for this case study:

In our experience, or lack thereof, we very quickly realised there was an awful lot more we didn’t know about turning our idea into a reality than we did know! Enter Katana…. the team is very professional, yet very un-stereotypically approachable for IT geeks. You’ll quickly learn that they have differing skill sets, but as a team they are formidable, building trust, bringing clarity and above all instilling confidence.

They quickly understood what we wanted to achieve and planned all the required steps and processes to get there. Every detail was meticulously structured, thought out and documented. This was then conveyed to us in layman's terms we could understand and quantify, making the whole process (slightly) less daunting.

Time and time again they gave insight, guidance and a fresh perspective of how things could be done, and when required, how they SHOULD be done. Often highlighting things, we hadn’t even considered and regularly going beyond the call of duty to enlighten us.

Starting your own business is daunting enough, and Katana code at very least have removed some of that burden of worry with the reassuring manner in which they go about their business.

Watch out for Bob though, he has a horrible habit of asking the difficult questions…That deep down inside we know need answered.

—Andy Lumsden

Pixel Gecko web app

At the heart of Pixel Gecko is their bespoke web application driving the whole system. Built using the latest version of Ruby on Rails, this application provides customer-facing marketing pages, the interactive spot-the-ball game, and an admin suite to manage their customers, sales, prizes, and game adjudication.

The system is designed to be a sophisticated marketing engine, and allows the team to: create split tests, optimise their page content, and maximise user engagement.

Because the site is full of large, rich images, we've employed the latest techniques for website optimisation and content delivery, for a slick and fast user experience—even on a 3G connection.

• Mobile responsive
• Editable CMS
• Built-in split-testing suite
• Optimised for speed

Andy Lumsden, CEO Pixel Gecko

They quickly understood what we wanted to achieve and planned all the required steps and processes to get there. Every detail was meticulously structured, thought out and documented. This was then conveyed to us in layman’s terms we could understand and quantify, making the whole process (slightly) less daunting.