Tahd Frentzel Portfolio

I was, and was soon put to work on their brand NEW up-and-coming game Wordscapes Solitaire. As much as I enjoyed Wordscapes, I could not get over how beautifully put together Wordscapes Solitaire was – and continues to be. It’s one of the few casual games I’d seen where the creators, Steve Meretzky, Will Wallace, and Ted McCormick amongst others, made every part of the game connect in a way I’d not seen before in a casual game.

Players become “apprentices” for the game’s mascot, Wordsworth, and their duty is to find Lost Words for the game to complete the many volumes of books found in the Library of Lost Words. It is easily one of the most fun and engaging games I’ve ever had the opportunity to contribute to.

As we moved forward with our social media efforts, we decided to have Wordsworth run the Facebook Fan page. I adopted a Wordsworth persona, based on how the game’s creators, especially Steve Meretzky, had envisioned him.

It was the right move, as players easily felt a kinship with Wordsworth, and enjoyed hearing from him in the comments. It was important for Wordsworth to be helpful, appreciative, a little stiff, perhaps too easily offended, but also funny. He was a means to engagement.

In addition to managing the Facebook Fan Page, helping to increase the follower count from around 50 Followers to 111,000 within a year and a half, I also managed the Wordscapes Solitaire Instagram Page, where I grew it from just a few followers to almost 18K. And I also owned the Wordscapes Solitaire YouTube Page, where I created all of the content under Shorts, including detailed “How-To” videos.

During my time at PeopleFun, I also spent a lot of time launching the PeopleFun Merch Store for Wordscapes, and to a lesser degree, Wordscapes Solitaire. This involved working with the games’ art departments to figure out what would be compelling, what might make players hit that “buy” button, and what items we might want to offer in the future.

We worked with an outside vendor to stock certain game-specific items (mugs, magnets, coasters, keychains, etc.) and had a number of Made-to-Order items available for purchase as well. I learned a lot about merchandising, pricing, and getting the word out there.

While my time at PeopleFun was short, especially compared to how long I was at my previous positions, I will always appreciate how they focused on community and in fact used it as a selling point.