Fast Builds

Games & Interactive Experiences

A games or interactive build uses play mechanics, such as challenges, choices, feedback and progress, to make an experience more engaging than a static page or a linear video.

Games is one of the capabilities PTR lists on its Fast Builds page, alongside Web, Mobile, AI and XR, built to the same published turnaround as every Fast Build: "Rapid prototypes from 2 business days. Full builds up to 8 working weeks." This capability also connects to PTR's own leadership: Simon Lowe, PTR's co-founder and CEO, is described on PTR's published About page as "also known for using gamification to address social issues, such as ageing and end-of-life conversations."

Some of PTR's interactive work is already playable in the browser. PTR's Labs Demos site includes Play experiences you can try now, without installing anything. LABS DEMOS

In general terms, games and interactive formats are used in learning and engagement contexts because active participation, making a choice and seeing its consequence, tends to hold attention better than passively watching or reading, though how much that helps depends heavily on the design and the audience. Common building blocks include scoring or progress systems, branching choices with visible consequences, timed challenges, and simple competitive or collaborative mechanics layered over the underlying content, whether that content is a training scenario, a brand activation, or a straightforward piece of learning.

Featured work

One documented example of PTR building for engagement through play: Cook It, a gamified VR cooking simulation built in collaboration with FoodStream Network to make food and nutrition education hands-on in New York City schools.

Cook It: Food Education

"Cook It!" VR turns the classroom into a kitchen, letting students prepare meals and explore the science and stories behind their food instead of sitting through a lecture. In FoodStream Network's own program evaluation of one classroom sample, 9 of 12 students actively chose to take part, a small-sample result FoodStream Network reports as evidence, not a proven general effect. Full case study

Play takes more shapes than a videogame

Interactive work from PTR and its founders' wider practice spans physical card games, browser games driven by computer vision, and installation-style experiences. Four real examples:

The Carked It! card game box with a party-hat skull and three decks of LIVE, DIE and BYE cards
Physical card game

Carked It!, The Ageing Revolution's tabletop game about death and dying, created by PTR's founders' sister company and winner of a 2024 Australian Good Design Award for Social Impact. Play as a way into a hard conversation. Image: the 2024 award entry.

The Pissing Game title screen: Restroom Arcade, a toilet with a party-hat skull logo, built by People Tech Revolution
Hand-tracked browser game

The Pissing Game, PTR's own browser arcade game: the camera tracks your hands, you aim and fire without touching the mouse, and the video never leaves your device. Play it on Labs Demos.

Scope Creep Sprint mid-run later in the workday: the chibi character on the lane with the score, focus meter and workday clock live
Photo-to-3D runner

Scope Creep Sprint turns a photo of you into a 3D character who runs a whole workday, timed to a song, entirely on your own device. Try it on Labs Demos.

The Immersive Learning Wall running: a wall of idea words with live pose tracking and burst counters
Pose-tracked installation

The Immersive Learning Wall: stand back and move, and full-body pose tracking lets your hands push, gather and burst the ideas on the wall, in the browser. See it on Labs Demos.

To see the other Fast Builds capabilities, visit the Fast Builds overview page. If you would like to talk through a games or interactive build, the Contact Form is one tap away in the site menu, and in the footer of every page.

Key takeaway

Play mechanics work because active participation, making a choice and seeing its consequence, tends to hold attention better than passively reading or watching; PTR has already shipped a gamified build on this pattern, Cook It, a VR cooking simulation for food education.