By Nicole Matsen
BYU student Dave Cardon took an innovative approach to advertising by creating a Web game for Tomassito”s Pizza.
This summer, the creative marketing staff from Student Auxiliary Services brainstormed and created the idea of a Web game to attract customers.
“We thought a Web game on the Tomassito”s site would be interesting, something that will add more traffic to the site,” said Rebecca Orsini, an executive producer and Web designer for the program.
“It is a clever and different way of going at advertising,” said Justin Smith, 22, a junior from Longmont, Colo., majoring in mechanical engineering.
“The game caters to the type of crowd that plays online computer games,” Smith said.
Orsini said they got the idea from other major product sites, but that this is the first time a Web game has been offered on a dining services Web site.
Orsini said the object of the game is to make specific pizzas for cartoon characters and become the ultimate Tomassito”s pizza-maker.
Orsini said there are 10 different levels of the game. In each game, the player is faced with three wacky characters that become angry customers if they do not receive their pizza in time, or receive the wrong order.
Players are only allowed three mistakes before the game is over. Points are based on how well you perform in the given amount of time.
Once the idea was formed, Dave Cardon, 26, a senior from Carson City, Nev., majoring in computer science, was assigned as the Web game programmer.
“It was the first time I had programmed a game, but I think it was assigned to me because that is where my talents lie, in the programming end of the spectrum,” Cardon said.
By designing a game specifically for students, the creative marketing staff hoped to appeal to BYU students.
“There is one level that is themed for BYU students with Cosmo and a football player,” said Orsini.
Orsini hopes that the game will gain popularity, and become a unique and different way to advertise.
“We want students to get on and play,” said Orsini. “We hope that if enough students get on we can post high scores and the game will become competitive.”
