Fresh From The Field: Fresh From The Field – Google Play G-STAR minigames

Fresh from the field

Fresh From The Field: Fresh From The Field – Google Play G-STAR minigames – By PHQ Studios

3 weeks ago by Iris Kalff

Press play! PHQ Studios transformed Google Play’s G-STAR booth into a high-energy arcade experience that kept more than 7,000 gamers coming back for more.

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The brief

Google Play tasked PHQ with creating a hero experience for their booth at G-STAR, Korea’s premier gaming festival that attracts over 200,000 gamers and industry leaders. The brief called to shift the booth experience from a traditional product showcase to a celebration of the Google Play platform itself.

The solution needed to blend skill with fast-paced, spectator-friendly fun, and be a physical manifestation of Play’s loyalty programme. This space was to be a centrepiece for visitor journeys at G-STAR, deepening their engagement with Google Play and highlighting it as a true haven for gamers, building a long-term affinity with the brand.

The design response

PHQ transformed Google Play’s booth at G-STAR into a live arcade experience built on rapid, collective fun.

Our approach amplified Google Play Points icons into the language of gameplay itself. The primary incentive of the loyalty programme, Play Points, were infused visually throughout three minigames. Every interaction, from tapping sequences to racing through whirlpools, or dashing across forest arenas, was a nod to Google Play. This integration translated core brand messages through action, rather than explanation:

– (Vault Run – race game) Google Play enhances your gaming journey.
– (Forest Frenzy – survival game) The more Google Play Points you earn, the bigger your rewards.
– (Melody Catch – rhythm game) Google Play rewards commitment and skill.

Fulfilling the brief required a fusion of design flair and technical muscle. PHQ designed the complete gameplay journey, from intuitive onboarding screens to hype-driven scoring reveals that reflected the game energy to the G-STAR floor. The results UI in-booth and live spectator leaderboards were designed to spotlight competition clearly: elevating player rankings, item counts, and victory cues, to make wins instantly readable.

Behind the scenes, PHQ engineered the real-time multiplayer system, the day to day leaderboard and scoring tracking, and hardware splitter setup that kept the gameplay seamless and the spectators captivated via a 16:9 screen. The game UI was designed to flex with the technical screen-splitter infrastructure, while pixel-art assets built in Tiled supported state changes and in-game interactions.

PHQ unified the UI experience within the celebrated art direction in Diamond Valley, placing the booth naturally within Google Play’s broader event ecosystem. The result was a cohesive, festival-ready identity that made the arcade feel immersive and a natural extension of the Play universe.

High stakes demanded flawless execution. Despite the challenges of remote development, PHQ collaborated closely with Google Play Korea and pixel-art partner Muchang to ensure a polished arcade experience through a high-quality build on physical hardware. To support these local teams, we produced detailed infrastructure documentation with step-by-step build notes, ensuring the systems could be assembled, intensively tested, and operated onsite prior to the event.

The final result was a high-energy arcade buzzing with fans – the Google Play booth transformed into a stage where the gaming party never stopped. Across four days, 7,057 attendees played the arcade games, completing 897 rounds and smashing over 150 new records in real time. The endless action confirmed that shifting the spotlight to Google Play itself, and celebrating the gamers who choose it, was a winning strategy.