McDonald’s Rösti Fall

From loyalty program to entertainment platform

McDonald’s France has been progressively turning the McDo+ app into more than a utility platform. Beyond ordering, discovery and rewards, the app is becoming a space for branded entertainment, where customers can engage with the brand through playful moments that create habit, attachment and return visits.

The opportunity with Rösti Fall was to build on this momentum and create a game that could support a key product launch, drive repeat engagement, and reinforce McDonald’s France’s position as a pioneer in game-based loyalty.

Access to the game is directly connected to the loyalty ecosystem. Players can use tokens earned by purchasing products from the 280 Rösti range, or convert loyalty points to enter the game. This mechanic connects product discovery, loyalty value and gameplay in one seamless loop.

With 1.6 million McGamers already representing 11% of the app’s audience, and more than 6.2 million games played across previous activations, McDonald’s France had already proven the potential of gaming as a loyalty driver. Rösti Fall has been designed to take this ambition further, with deeper gameplay, stronger replayability and a competitive framework built for fairness.

Sound was also designed as a key part of the experience. The original soundtrack pays tribute to classic video games such as Donkey Kong and Crash Bandicoot, while the sound effects were created using McDonald’s products. Produced with Press Play on Tape, the audio gives the game its rhythm, personality and unmistakable brand flavour.

Built with AI, from prototype to protection

Behind the experience, makemepulse used AI to accelerate and strengthen the production process.

Before full production began, the team prototyped the entire game, including original gameplay mechanics such as special platforms and character powers. AI helped speed up pre-production, support the writing of the Game Design Document, and test key mechanics early. This reduced risk and gave the team greater confidence before moving into development.

AI also supported the procedural level generation workflow. Because Rösti Fall relies on procedurally generated levels, the game developer and game designer needed to collaborate closely on rhythm, difficulty and balance. AI helped them co-create level generation systems, iterate faster after playtests and fine-tune the experience without slowing down the creative process.

AI played a key role in prototyping the game’s anti-cheat system. To ensure a fair competitive experience, the tool analyzes player inputs and game sessions in real time across more than 30 criteria, from movement speed and input consistency to teleportation or unnatural behavior. Suspicious runs are automatically flagged in a dedicated dashboard, where leaderboard partners can monitor, search and replay sessions, then make informed decisions.

Simple to start, fun to replay and rewarding to master, Rösti Fall proves once again that when gameplay is designed as a system, it can become a powerful driver of engagement and Brand Love.