Mine Tales

Inspiring the Next Generation: How Roy Hill Used Gamification to Spark Curiosity in Mining with Mine Tales

“An incredible outcome and more than we could ever have imagined.”

Elisa Llarda, Operations Manager / Project Lead, Western Health

Mining is one of Australia’s most important industries, but it can be a hard sell for the younger generation. How do you take something as technical and process-driven as mineral extraction and make it resonate with school-aged children? That was the challenge Roy Hill brought to us at Viewport XR when they needed a standout experience for their booth at the Resource Technologies Showcase (RTS) in Western Australia. This three-day event is one of the region’s premier showcases of modern mining and resources, drawing students from across the state with the goal of igniting their interest in the industry and – if all goes well-recruiting future talent.

But standing out in a crowd of flashy displays and interactive tech from every major mining company is no easy feat. Roy Hill needed more than just a good idea. They needed something educational yet fun, something memorable that would spread like wildfire across social media, and something that wouldn’t just attract attention, but also hold it – briefly. With only a few minutes to capture the imagination of each student before they rotated to the next booth, every second counted. To make matters more interesting, we had only six weeks to conceptualise, design, build, and deploy whatever solution we proposed.

When Roy Hill first approached us, their brief was both broad and constrained. They didn’t know exactly what they wanted, but they had clear outcomes in mind: it had to be engaging, educational, time-efficient, and shareable. With such a diverse set of requirements and an immovable deadline, we knew we had to go big-but also be smart. So, we kicked things off with a classic Viewport brainstorm, generating eight different ideas ranging from immersive VR experiences and touch screen learning stations to rollercoaster simulations and 3D holographic displays. Each concept came with its own storyboard and projected user experience, but one idea quickly rose to the top: a mobile game we internally nicknamed the “Mini Mine” and later, renamed to “Mine Tales”.

The beauty of the mobile game concept was in its scalability and versatility. It wasn’t limited to the physical event-students could keep playing it at home or share it with friends, giving Roy Hill continued exposure well beyond the three-day showcase. It also met the budget requirements, falling into the lower cost tier of our proposals while offering significant value and potential reach. Most importantly, it was a perfect balance of education and entertainment, the two pillars of engagement for this young audience.

From the very beginning, we knew the game needed a mascot, something lovable and silly that would resonate with kids. Enter “Rocky,” a cheeky animated rock who would guide players through the mining process. Rocky wasn’t just a character – he became the face of the game and, by the end of the project, something of a celebrity in his own right. Kids loved him, Roy Hill adopted him, and he turned into a de facto ambassador for the company’s youth engagement efforts.

With Rocky at the helm, we began designing the core gameplay around the actual mining cycle, broken into digestible mini-games that each represented a key part of the journey from pit to port. The trick was to capture the essence of each mining step – blasting, extraction, crushing, sorting, washing, and shipping-and translate it into a game mechanic that was easy to understand, quick to play, and, above all, fun.

One mini-game had players simulate the blasting process by placing virtual sticks of dynamite into a digital mine. In another, they’d crush ore by rapidly tapping the screen, turning raw material into manageable chunks. Sorting and washing involved aiming and swiping gestures to guide the ore into different containers or through water jets, while shipping was gamified as a fun flicking challenge where players had to load Rocky onto a truck or a ship by launching him across the screen. Each stage was filled with visual humor and satisfying interactions designed to entertain while subtly educating players on what each real-world process entailed.

We also knew that kids are naturally competitive and love to share their scores, so we built a robust scoring system that added depth to the experience without overcomplicating it. Players earned points for speed and accuracy, and their final score would convert into items manufactured from the processed ore – everything from bicycle frames to skyscraper beams. To amplify the fun and broaden the reach, we created a live leaderboard that aggregated scores across all devices. This wasn’t just about beating your own high score; it became a competition among attendees, a feature that encouraged repeat play and helped generate organic buzz.

The execution phase was tight but focused. Our team pushed hard across design, development, animation, and QA, pulling late nights to make sure everything was polished and reliable in time for launch. When the day finally arrived, Mini Mine made its debut in front of a bustling crowd of students, educators, and industry leaders-and it did not disappoint.

Roy Hill’s booth became one of the most talked-about installations at the Resource Technologies Showcase. Students lined up to play, drawn in by the bright visuals and animated Rocky statues stationed around the exhibit. Parents and teachers appreciated the educational value beneath the surface-level fun. The simplicity of the gameplay meant that no instruction was needed – kids could pick it up and play immediately, making the booth flow efficiently and keeping wait times short. This was critical given the time-limited nature of the event and the constant stream of visitors.

The true mark of success came from the unexpected attention the game received beyond the student audience. Among the attendees was the Premier of Western Australia, who not only visited the booth but played the game, drawing attention from media outlets and other dignitaries. This single moment turned the activation into a newsworthy event, elevating Roy Hill’s presence at RTS and giving them high-value marketing assets they could repurpose for future campaigns.

Even after the event wrapped, Mini Mine continued to deliver value. Kids kept playing the game at home, sharing it on social media, and spreading the word organically. Rocky became more than a digital character – he was turned into physical merch, life-sized statues, and a familiar face for Roy Hill’s education outreach. The game became a platform Roy Hill could build on, adaptable for school visits, career fairs, and even onboarding content in the future.

For us at Viewport XR, the Roy Hill Mini Mine project was more than just a job well done – it was proof that with the right concept and execution, even industries as complex as mining can be transformed into something that delights, educates, and inspires. We took a late-stage brief, a short deadline, and a demanding list of requirements, and turned it into a highly successful public engagement tool. It was an outcome we’re proud of, not only because of the attention it garnered, but because it showed what’s possible when creative technology meets purposeful storytelling.