In October 2023 Polysleep launched their breakout Fortnite mini-game, Woolen Warfare, a king-of-the-hill style, player-vs-player game developed in UEFN. “Calling all sleepyheads”, the game was styled to match the Polysleep branding offering a comfortable and cushioned arena for up to eight players to battle it out against one another to capture zones across the map while simultaneously preventing others from doing so.

‍

At the time of launch Jeremiah Curvers, CEO and Co-Founder of Polysleep, stated “Our goal is to seamlessly blend cutting-edge technology with the gaming experience, allowing gamers to enjoy their favorite pastime while encouraging healthy sleep habits.”. Having been published for over six months, MVG is revisiting Woolen Warfare to analyze the successes Polysleep found, and the lessons other brands can capitalize on when building their own game activations across platforms.

‍

The three main takeaways for brands

As more brands enter the gaming space, it’s more important than ever that activations are impactful and meet key standards to ensure a successful campaign. As the space evolves, brands should capitalize on the following three takeaways learned from the Polysleep Woolen Warfare activation.

‍

1. Digital site-scoping
   Just as a brand would scope a physical scene for real-world promotions at events, expos, and pop-up shops, they should also assess different digital-world scenes across platforms in real-time to continually review and edit their virtual real-estate. Ensuring both your budget and timeline have spare capacity to enable iterative game design is an important factor in entering the gaming arena.
   
   ‍
2. Playtesting with your audience
   Play testing is always key with any game launch, understanding how to connect with genuine players through launching a stealth, private version, to have peak optimal gameplay allowing for real-time adjustment of level-design, game parameters and settings, balancing items and power-ups within the game. Continual playtesting and improvements will help keep your audience engaged while continually improving performance and virility.
   ‍
   ‍
3. Leverage new UEFN updates
   As with any technology, the game mechanics and features available across game development studios (such as UEFN) are continually evolving with new features routinely being added and updated. For brands looking to create a competitive advantage, and seeking to keep players engaged, these updates should be continually implemented into an activation as they become available. For example, at the time of launch it wasn’t possible to create 3d wearables in Fortnite, however through continual updates we can now place 3D Objects on the Player-Character Avatar. Polysleep-Pillow-Victory -Crown Anyone?

‍

How can brands get into gaming?

The first step a brand can take into launching their own game activation is to check out what other brands and developers are already doing in the space. Assessing what is relevant on platforms such a TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube can offer great insight to the possibilities which match your brand image and styling. 

‍

Even if you don’t have a rough concept of how you would bring your brand to gaming, working with creative and developers and creatives like the MVG team can help shape your ideas and bridge the gap between theoretical ideas to reality. Assessing what is achievable with the latest UEFN mechanics can help brands leverage new features on any given platform to increase gameplay numbers and ultimately brand ROI. 

‍

Another option for brands who would like to get into gaming but not create a fully customized activation is creating 3d ‘wearables’. A wearable is a digital item which a player can attach to their character or use within a game, for example this could be a clothing item, a usable object, or something within a game that can be seen - to learn more about this check out our previous article.

‍

For brands still on the fence‍

After launching their game back in October, we asked Polysleep three primary questions regarding the publishing of their game and the impact their brand played on its creation and styling.

‍

1. Why did Polysleep create a “Woolen Warfare” Fortnite mini-game?
   “The approach we had was really to have a cozy environment that people and players particularly can feel comfortable staying multiple minutes maybe hours enjoying as they rack up some battle pass xp for their main experience within Fortnite”
   
   ‍
2. How is Polysleep represented in the “Woolen Warfare” Fortnite mini-game?
   “The world itself is a good representation, we wanted something that is dreamy, that is comfy, with a lot of textures that are close to the product we make which are obviously mattresses, so something that looks comfy.”
   
   ‍
3. What’s special about the “Woolen Warfare” Fortnite mini-game?
   “We wanted to do something that is not just “Hey we’re going to promote our brand everywhere”. No we want actually a fun experience that people can enjoy while being exposed to our brand and ultimately, winning real perks that will help them enjoy their sleep better”

‍

Play Woolen Warfare

‍If you’re looking to play Woolen Warfare you’ll need access to the Fortnite platform. Using the island code provided below, you’ll be able to launch the game and see what Polysleep delivered in collaboration with MVG.

Woolen Warfare Island Code: 3511-4821-9572