Rapid custom builds

One organisation's need becomes a purpose-built experience on a short, published timeline. Rapid Custom Builds is the umbrella for PTR's Web, Mobile, Games, AI and XR work.

A digital human, part face, part wireframe.

From a clear brief to a working build

Rapid prototypes from two business days. Full builds up to eight working weeks. Each build starts with one organisation's problem and ends with something its people can use.

You see working builds in sprints, not a single reveal at the end.

The Fast Builds process

What you bring, what you get

A rapid build works best when the problem is clear enough to test in visible sprints. The rest is PTR's job.

Two luminous pale-blue wireframe hands reach toward the camera, palms open, against a deep dark background, representing the digital technology behind PTR's builds. — The hands behind every build, drawn in wireframe.

You bring the problem, the people and the constraints

The brief names who the build is for, what they must be able to do, and what would count as proof. It also names what cannot change: the devices in the room, the systems it has to talk to, the date it is needed by.

PTR brings the studio: a pair on the build, a working version early, and a review with the people who will use it before anything is polished.

A person wearing a headset stands on a small stage beside a facilitator, rehearsing a demonstration in front of a projected screen. A scene for PTR's rapid custom builds. — Rehearsing the demo before the client sees it.

A woman wearing a headset holds a tablet while a colleague looks on, a coloured display on the wall behind them. A scene for PTR's rapid custom builds. — Showing the build on a tablet.

A builder hands a tablet to reviewers. A rapid prototyping scenario for rapid custom builds, from idea to working product. — A builder hands the tablet to reviewers.

Brief, Build, Test, Refine, Ship

Steps a client can see, each with something to open at the end of it.

Two people at a monitor, one wearing a headset and moving both hands, the other watching the screen. A scene for PTR's rapid custom builds. — Polishing an interaction between headset and monitor.

Sprints, not a reveal

Brief defines the problem, the outcome and the constraints. Build turns the idea into something people can use. Test puts it in front of the people who matter. Refine changes what the test showed. Ship deploys it and keeps evolving it.

A fast build trades some scope for speed, so it suits a well-defined problem.

When the brief is still being worked out, or the build has to integrate closely with existing systems and content, a longer engagement with more co-design is the better fit.

"It's kind of like being in a big prototyping sandpit. We're also really lucky that the extended reality (XR) community in Australia is so advanced and supportive."

Leonie Sanderson, PTR's co-founder, seated at a table with her phone in hand. Leonie Sanderson
Co-founder, People Tech Revolution, on building from Australia. Startup Spotlight, Aerospace Xelerated, 2023

What a rapid build can be

The same steps produce a browser page, a phone app, a game, an AI experience or a headset scene. These are the shapes they take.

A woman stands among translucent glass panels, one showing a page layout, in a blue-lit room. A first person scene for PTR's rapid custom builds. — A web layout, laid out as glass panels.

A woman stands in an office facing a translucent floating panel of text lines. A first person scene for PTR's rapid custom builds. — An AI conversation on a floating panel.

A man in a studio points at a translucent floating panel above a large tablet of controls. A first person scene for PTR's rapid custom builds. — A demo build, its controls on a console.

Two people at a workbench with a coloured display behind them, one wearing a headset, the other placing coloured blocks on a table. A scene for PTR's games and interactive builds. — Testing a game loop with coloured blocks.

A person touches rising pathways. A first person rapid prototyping scenario for rapid custom builds, seen through the headset. — Discovery, seen from inside the build.

Two testers move modular scenario features. A first person rapid prototyping scenario for rapid custom builds, seen through the headset. — Testers rearrange a modular scenario.

The practice underneath the timeline

The stages describe how PTR works on every project; the build steps above are the timeline a rapid-build client sees.

Three builders stand among desktop stations. A rapid prototyping scenario for fast builds, from idea to working product. — The build deployed to every desktop station.

Discovery, co-design, prototyping, testing, support

Discovery and consultation establish the goals and the right technology. Co-design workshops shape the experience with the client's team. Prototyping and development build the environments, characters and features.

Testing and deployment prepare it for its platforms, with analytics and support included. Ongoing support lets it evolve after launch.

The full detail of each stage is on our approach.

Prototyping with the headset in view

When the build is a physical thing, or a scene around one, the first prototype is a model a person can walk around before anything is manufactured.

A designer pinches beside a smooth prototype shell. A rapid prototyping scenario for fast builds, from idea to working product. — A designer pinches beside a smooth prototype shell.

A maker gestures above a plain timber joint. A rapid prototyping scenario for fast builds, from idea to working product. — A maker gestures above a plain timber joint.

A clinician holds a plain device model. A rapid prototyping scenario for fast builds, from idea to working product. — A clinician holds a plain device model.

A wheelchair user pinches above an accessible bench. A rapid prototyping scenario for fast builds, from idea to working product. — A wheelchair user pinches above an accessible bench.

A designer pinches beside fabric on a stand. A rapid prototyping scenario for fast builds, from idea to working product. — A designer pinches beside fabric on a stand.

An engineer checks a drone shell at the workshop bench. — An engineer checks a drone shell.

Characters, rigs and the build that keeps going

A digital human starts as a wireframe, and a shipped build keeps changing as its owner learns what people do with it.

A full-length luminous pale-blue wireframe figure of a man stands with arms slightly out against a deep dark background, an early stage of a digital-human build. — The figure, before it is dressed.

From wireframe to a person in the room

Characters in a PTR build are made in stages: a rigged figure first, then the face, the clothes and the voice, each checked with the client before the next layer goes on.

That order is what keeps a rapid build rapid: a character can be tested for pace and posture long before it looks finished.