In China, coding never stops. The 9-9-6 working culture drives progress, but also exhaustion for developers. Especially in 2020, with no separation between bedroom and boardroom. So, in a year where virtual conferences exploded globally, for its 2020 Google Developer Summit in China, we needed to do something different. Our challenge was to genuinely prove to Chinese developers that Google is a helpful brand for their community.

We didn't just want to tell the Chinese developer community that we could help them with their ambition to use code to solve problems, we needed to show them that with our help, they could literally code some more good into the world. So we created an interactive gaming experience that utilised the best of Google’s technologies to inspire all developers to get up from their seats, and get active while enjoying the talks and seminars throughout the 6-day event.

We based the game play on a subject close to the hearts of Chinese developers: Noodles. Culturally - the longer the noodle, the longer and happier the life. So, the objective of the game was to use your body movements to make your virtual noodles as long, and tasty as possible. Competitive developers were then able to challenge their peers through social media.

To prove ourselves as a helpful brand to Chinese developers, we had to start with their needs. In a year where their already long working hours increased, they were spending more time than ever sitting at their desks. So to truly engage them, we didn’t just want to pack our 6-day conference full of inspiration and tools to help them achieve their goals. We also wanted to use code to physically get them moving, give them a break, and maybe even a bit of fun. Which is proven to increase productivity and engagement. Our strategy was to engage them in a fun, unexpected experience that literally proved that Google could help them code more good into their world.

We utilised the best of Google’s technologies to inspire all developers to get active while enjoying the talks and seminars throughout the 6-day event.

We based the game play on a subject close to the hearts of Chinese developers: Noodles. Culturally - the longer the noodle, the longer and happier the life. So, the objective of the game was to use your body movements to make your virtual noodles as long, and tasty as possible; catching good ingredients to increase points, and avoiding bad, which would cost points. We wanted to make the gameplay as simple and fun as possible. Competitive developers were then able to challenge their peers through social media.

The game showcased Google tools, such as TensorFlow.js and PoseNet library, to track motion and gestures directly through the webcam and browser, giving Chinese developers first-hand experience of their potential to code a little goodness in the world.

We tripled 2019’s engagement: 33.9M.

Our sessions had 7.36M unique views in 5 days

Developers spent 22hrs in total, making about 6.5km of virtual noodles. That’s 10X higher than China’s tallest building.

98% of developers agreed that Google is helpful to the developer community in China.