Launching Games at the Speed of Ideas: Building a Micro-Brand Launch Site with Shopify Headless

Rumors and Nastiness

Written by Tom Bueno, Co-Founder, Luma Digital

E-commerce

Headless Shopify

Product Launch

Retainer Partnership

Micro-Brand

Visit

Client

The Original Game Girls (TOGG)

Industry

Consumer Products / Gaming

Challenge

Creating a nimble digital infrastructure that allows rapid product launches under a growing portfolio of game brands

Solution

Retainer-based partnership with headless Shopify integration, enabling fast iteration and seamless commerce

The Results

Rapid Launch Capability

Infrastructure that allows new game brands to launch in weeks, not months

Headless Shopify Integration

Custom brand experience with enterprise-grade commerce reliability

Flexible Retainer Model

Ongoing partnership that adapts to business priorities without project friction

Scalable Micro-Brand System

Template architecture that makes each new game launch easier than the last

The Partnership

Rumors and Nastiness is a micro-brand under The Original Game Girls (TOGG), a creative studio launching innovative party games. When the company approached us, they were looking for a technical partner who could move at the speed of their creativity; launching new game brands, testing markets, and iterating based on real-world feedback.

We proposed a retainer model to give TOGG ongoing access to development resources without the overhead of hiring full-time developers or the friction of scoping new projects every time an idea emerges. We are an extension of the TOGG team, prioritizing their needs at any given moment: a new brand site, checkout flow optimization, or launching the next game in the portfolio.

The Micro-Brand Challenge

Rumors and Nastiness needed to feel distinct—its own brand with its own voice, while still living under the TOGG umbrella. This is the challenge of micro-brand architecture: how do you give each product its own personality without fragmenting the parent brand's equity?

We built a lightweight, modular site structure that allows each game brand to have its own dedicated launch site, with shared infrastructure and commerce integration behind the scenes. This means TOGG can focus on what makes each game unique—the stories, the gameplay, the community—while we handle the technical consistency that makes the business scalable.

Headless Shopify Integration

Why Headless Commerce?

Traditional Shopify themes are powerful but constraining when you need brand-specific designs for each product. Headless Shopify gives us the flexibility to create fully custom front-end experiences while leveraging Shopify's robust e-commerce backend: inventory management, checkout, payments, shipping, and customer data.

Seamless Checkout Experience

When customers click "Buy Now," they're taken into Shopify's optimized checkout flow—battle-tested for conversion and security. We don't reinvent the wheel. Instead, we focus on making the product discovery and brand experience exceptional, then hand off to Shopify for the transaction. This approach balances custom branding with proven commerce infrastructure.

Content Flexibility, Commerce Reliability

The headless approach lets us iterate quickly on content, imagery, and messaging without touching the commerce layer. TOGG can launch seasonal campaigns, test new messaging, or pivot positioning without worrying about breaking checkout or inventory sync. The content layer is agile; the commerce layer is rock-solid.

The Retainer Model: Prioritization Over Projects

Most agency relationships are transactional: you scope a project, deliver it, invoice, and start over. With a retainer, we work more like an in-house team. Every month, TOGG tells us what's most important: maybe it's launching a new game site, maybe it's optimizing the existing site for mobile conversion, maybe it's integrating a new analytics tool.

This model rewards trust and long-term thinking. We're not incentivized to oversell or over-scope. Instead, we focus on what actually moves the needle for TOGG's business. Some months are heads-down development. Other months are strategic planning. The flexibility allows the partnership to evolve with the business, not constrain it.

Building for What's Next

Rumors and Nastiness is just one game in what will become a growing portfolio. The infrastructure we've built isn't just for this launch—it's a template for the next game, and the one after that. Each new micro-brand can launch faster because the foundation is proven. Each iteration makes the system smarter. This is what ongoing partnership looks like: not just maintaining what exists, but building the infrastructure for what comes next.

"Working with Luma on a retainer has been a game-changer for how we launch products. They understand that startups need to move fast and test ideas without getting bogged down in traditional project cycles. Having them as an ongoing partner means I can focus on creating great games while they handle the technical execution."

Samantha Topping Gellert

Co-Founder & Chief Merriment Officer, The Original Game Girls (TOGG)

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