John Lasseter of Disney/Pixar has recorded a bunch of segments that go into the design thinking behind new Disney toys. One interesting fact is that the CAD files used to manufacture the toy are taken directly from the movie so no fidelity is lost at the hands of a hack toy sculptor.
These videos are essentially commercials, but he geeks out (in the best sense of the word) letting you in on secrets like Buzz lightyear being purple and green because those are he and his wife’s favorite colors. The attention to detail is also very impressive. The box that the toy comes in is a near perfect replica of the box in the movie with no crappy toy company branding mussing up the aesthetics. It will be interesting to see more of this game to toy conversion in the future.
Lego’s Augmented Reality kiosk is one of the nicest implementations of AR. The dedicated setup allows for a seamless experience and it has a very clear use. I can’t wait to see other retailers incorporate this into the shopping experience.
A good configuration tool is a key part of the customization experience. This video shows off the flexibility of the new game, APB. It provides all the potential of the Spore Creature Creator except you are customizing criminals rather than critters.
The South Korean game maker Kurien has done an amazing job balancing complexity and freedom in their fashion game design tool. The figures are approaching the uncanny valley, but the design tool demonstrates great potetnial. I have a feeling that when you combine these tools and 3D printers, game companies are going to become toy companies as well.
Fabricio Dore, an Interaction Designer at IDEO Munich has written a thorough history of sketching with hardware over at Core77. Most articles like this stop at “Arduino is Great!”, but this article sets up the historical development and future possibilities nicely.
