Aniballers, a newly formed start-up company, approached KI and asked how we could help them develop and launch a unique football training adventure app for kids aged 3-6 – and stay within budget. KI collaborated with Aniballers in a series of workshops to define the narrative and strategy for the app. We then gathered insights to create the digital and design principles, outlining a user’s full journey from the initial subscription model.
Aniball Kingdom is a fantasy football Island inhabited by highly skilled football playing animals. The island is ruled by King AJ and Queen Vee, who regularly practise with creatures called Skillzees. Players must travel through five zones and find the missing Skillzees to become the Ultimate Aniballer!
Our design team brought Aniball Kingdom to life through animation, creating an immersive experience that feels like you are really interacting with the Aniballers in their world. We achieved this through detailed UX and seamless design transitions between different areas of the app.
Working in sprints following an intense period of R&D, the Aniballers app was developed using Google MediaPipe to utilise body tracking, face mesh tracking and image marker tracking for the challenges and celebrations.
This technology meant Aniballers became one of the first to build a training app adopting AR tracking in an outdoor, quick-paced, physical learning environment.
KI also developed a CMS to deliver the content via api to the Aniballers app. This enables Aniballers to update the app’s content, add new challenges or change the parameters of the AR filters without having to release an update to the app store.
An essential factor contributing to the project’s success was KI’s knowledge of the dynamics between children and parents, and how they can enjoy a shared learning experience whilst gaining a sense of achievement together. The app contains 50 different football training challenges, designed by UEFA approved coaches. Each of these are tailored towards a specific skill set with the aim of improving children’s coordination and confidence – all whilst they are having fun!
