- Role
- Developer: front end, WordPress build, design feasibility
- Design
- Agency design team
- Status
- Live
- Stack
- WordPress theme, PHP, CSS, JavaScript
- Visit site
- spylandwine.com/
The brief
Spyland was launching a wine with a spy story behind it and wanted the site to feel like you were under surveillance.
What I built
The concept and visuals came from the agency's design team. I built it as a custom WordPress theme: one long scroll page plus a second landing, Land of Spies. You get in through a surveillance style entry, an ALWAYS WATCHING ticker runs across the top, and further down you can try to crack a code to open a hidden section. I also told the team early which animations were realistic to build.
Features
- Surveillance style entry with age check
- Crack the code game with right, wrong and bypass messages
- Hidden section that opens with the code
- Bottle and awards block
- Second landing: Land of Spies
- About 80 content fields, so marketing changes copy without me
Challenges
Problem. The page is mostly animation and story, and the client still wanted to edit it.
Solution. Every text, image and game message is a content field, grouped by section. The animation stays in code, the words don't.
Problem. The code game had to feel real without a backend.
Solution. The check and its three outcomes run in the browser, and the messages come from the admin.
Takeaway
Most fun I had with an age gate.
