Ideate to Win

Why I Stopped Eating Meat

I’ve started a new “thing” a few months ago.  I’ve stopped eating meat.  Not because it’s bad for you or that I don’t like it, animals are just too cute to eat.  I’ve found so much enjoyment out of seeing the animals created by the brilliant artists on Tiny Zoo that I just can’t imagine wanting to eat them!  From this point forward, if an animal brings me joy, I will not eat it.  So rest assured my dear Tiny Zoo animals, I will continue to find enjoyment by looking at you and I will no longer eat your friends.

Here are some of my favorites:

Check them all out on your iPhone or Android.

Winx Colour Changing Magic Doll

The Winx Colour Changing Magic Doll uses an invention I developed at IDEO which features color blending of RGB LED lights.  The feature was actually intended for a different toy application, but much to my surprise Mattel found a valid application for the wings of a Winx doll.  It’s a bit simpler than I had intended, but still a ton of fun.  I love fairies so this was an awesome surprise!

Without further ado, I’ll let bunnybroadcast demonstrate the feature for you, she does an awesome job!

And, here is an official commercial for it!

Backyardigans 3-in-1 Adventure Singers

Photo Credit IDEO

Backyardigans 3-in-1 Adventure Singers is an invention I designed and prototyped at IDEO.  The idea was in response to the trend in toys at the time – transformation, interaction and no parts to lose.

The Backyardigans is a TV show intended for 3-6 year old children and features broadway show tune style singing and dancing.  With the recent trend in toys, I devised a system which would allow the child to easily transform the costume of the plush toy without requiring any extra parts.  Each plush character has vests that are attached to its sides and the child can easily swing them around to change the costume.  Electronics in the character detect which costume is currently worn, and the music and voice would reflect this change.

This invention was my first product sold and was promptly licensed by Fisher Price.  Read the case study on IDEO’s website!

Estes Spin Control Model Rocket

The Spin Control rocket is an invention product I developed at IDEO and was licensed to Estes Rockets.  The idea was sparked by an electronic toy top that could count the number of revolutions it made – and even display this number while spinning.

We figured this would be a fun feature to add to a model rocket – it would count how many revolutions it took while in air.  Estes was intrigued by the idea and wanted a fully working prototype.  That’s where I came in.

This project presented a couple of particular challenges:

• Weight was a huge concern and adding a prototyped LCD screen would be too heavy to fly
• We had to provide a manufacturing ready schematic of the spin-detection circuitry

Estes had used LCD screens in previous rockets so a prototype of the actual screen was not necessary.  So, to solve the first challenge, I decided to make the prototype “announce” the number of spins verbally.  I’d launch the rocket, collect the nose cone and then plug it in to a black box which contained a speaker.  The electronics in the nose cone would continually announce the number of revolutions the rocket completed until it was reset.  Problem solved.

Next, I needed to prototype the spin detection circuitry.  To start, I was able to hook up the circuitry  from one of the spin detection toy tops.  Borrowing from the toy top, I was able to make a fully functioning prototype to prove out the idea.  However, the spin detection was not sensitive enough for the needs of a rocket.  The circuitry in the toy top could detect as few as 3 spins per second, but in a rocket this caused too many missed spins.  I had to modify this circuit to detect a slower spin rate.

While I do have a background in electronics, my experience is mainly in digital electronics – this circuit is analog.  I found schematics for the circuit online and I spent time trying to modify the circuit by adjusting the capacitors and coils.  I wasn’t having any luck, this circuitry required expertise beyond my capabilities.  Luckily, we had a resident electrical engineer from a different department who saved the day  He was able to show me exactly what I needed to do to make the circuit more sensitive and with this knowledge I was able to design a circuit which could detect revolutions of just under 1 spin per second.  This was plenty!

This project earned me the nickname of “Rocket Girl” at IDEO!

What’s That Spell?

What’s That Spell? is a flash prototype I built in between my Toy Invention position at IDEO and before I was hired as a Game Designer at Namco Networks.  I wanted to create something I could program easily and with simple art I could create on my own.  I chose to make an anagram game with blob-like characters, and of course I had to put my own spin on it!

I decided to go towards a “Brain Game” approach by incorporating memory elements.  Each character represents one letter of a 5-letter word.  At the start of the round, each character announces their letter in voice and with the visual letter above their head.  Then, the player must find as many words with those 5 letters as possible – with the goal of finding any and all 5 letter words.  It’s quite difficult – its intention is to exercise your brain!

Since I only wanted to demonstrate the game, I coded just 5 or 6 words and then posted it on Mochi Media.  The game popped up on multiple flash game websites and over the years has reached over 45,000 impressions.

How many words can you spell from memory?  Play now:  What’s That Spell? – Spell Anagrams From Memory

Pool Pro Online 3: PC Edition

Pool Pro Online 3 is a multi-platform billiards game by Namco Networks and was the launch title for the groundbreaking social networking platform called UniteSDK.  I was tasked to Design and Produce the PC version of the game.  When I joined the project, the iOs version had already been released in the app store and due to the nature of multi-platform play, there were no changes to be made to the gameplay.  However, there were a bunch of design elements I was able to incorporate into the PC version – I focused on the biggest bang-for-the-buck improvements like the chat and shopping experiences.

This was the first game I was technically assigned to produce – though I did a bunch of that in Mahjong Butterfly too.  However, the production challenge here was significant since it involved much cross-collaboration between the three major departments at Namco Networks – PC, Apple and Mobile (Android).  The Android version was scheduled to be released a few months after the PC version – but we had to plan ahead for it’s release and incorporate that version into our test plan.

I loved solving the complex problems brought on by this multi-platform project, and even more so, I learned I loved being a producer!

Livin’ the Tamagotchi Life: Electronic Game

Tamagotchi Livin’ the Tamagotchi Life:  Electronic Game is a project I lead at IDEO and was published by Pressman.  Pressman is a game manufacturer whose been publishing games for over 85 years.  The Toy Invention team at IDEO had a long-standing relationship with Pressman and when they were interested in making a game for the Tamagotchi license, they chose to work with us.

This project was different than most other invention projects I worked on at IDEO.  Usually we came up with ideas on our own and approached toy companies to try and sell them.  This time, we were approached by Pressman and were asked to design the entire game – everything except for the final graphics since they would be provided by Bandai.  The challenge was to design a game for children ages 7 and up that could be played in about 20 minutes for 2 to 4 players.  The game would also feature a central electronic device that would act as a randomizer.  Above all, the game must incorporate the key elements of Tamagotchi.

Wahoo!  Tamagotchi’s were the coolest thing when they came out and getting to design a board game around this license was a treat!  To start, I bought a Tamagotchi and actively took care of my little guy.  I also explored the Tamagotchi website and researched into the license on fan pages.  The next step was to play, play, play every relevant and non-relevant board game we could find.  We played everything from Pretty, Pretty Princess to a fun football simulation called Battle Ball.  In fact, Battle Ball was one of the main inspirations for the board layout of the Tamagotchi game.

We presented Pressman with three different concepts for the board game experience.  These were 11×14 renderings of the board game layout with descriptions of the electronic device’s functioning and high level gameplay details.  Once Pressman chose a direction, it was time to make playable prototypes!

We used dice to prototype the electronic randomizer, printed out our own board layouts and used placeholder movers.   Once we had a solid direction, I created a functional prototype of the electronic randomizer in flash.  This flash prototype was actually used at the International Toy Fair to demonstrate the game to sell to buyers like Toys R Us and Target.  After much play testing, tuning, board redesign and more play testing we were excited with the gameplay experience.

Next, we had to get the game approved by the Tamagotchi licensor, Bandai.  I remember being on phone conversations with both Bandai representatives and Pressman discussing the differences between the poop pixel art in the electronic randomizer and the poop in the actual Tamagotchi device.  ”You’re poop just doesn’t look like our poop!” they said!  Eventually we got our poop looking more like their poop

Then we worked with the oversees manufactures to design, spec and get the electronic device ready for manufacturing.  This was an interesting challenge and a great learning experience.  I had to figure out how to convey the information to the manufacturers who did not speak english.  Every minute detail needed to be speced out – nothing could be left for interpretation.  I ended up creating a series of flow charts number-coded with each of the pixel art layouts, sound FX file names and timing between each frame of the animations and the other functions.   It kinda felt like programming in pictures!  When they made progress, the overseas manufacturers would mail the prototype to me for feedback and then I’d mail it to Pressman for their feedback.  Then back to Asia!  

Lastly, I wrote the instructions!  You can see them here: Livin’ the Tamagotchi Life.

It’s a neat little game for those enthusiastic with the Tamagotchi license!

Also, read the case study on IDEO’s website!

Tetris 360

Of my 3.5 years as an Inventor, Tetris 360 is my proudest achievement, hands down.  Tetris 360 adds one simple mechanic to the well-loved Tetris game – gravity detection.  The player twists and turns the device to control the direction in which the Tetris blocks fall.  Most interestingly, Tetris blocks can be dropped and cleared on any of the 4 sides.  Instead of spawning from the top, the Tetris blocks spawn from a rectangle located in the center of the screen – if the blocks get stacked too high, it’s game over!  It’s a radically different way to play Tetris!

If you’re reading this, there is no doubt in my mind that you’ve played some version of Tetris before.  In a period of just 5 years, Tetris sold more than 100 million copies for mobile devices alone.  Tetris is the epitome of a casual game – it’s incredibly simple and accesible yet endlessly addictive i.e. easy to pick up, hard to put down!  Inventing a new “spin” for this everlasting mechanic and having it approved by both Mattel and the Tetris brand was especially humbling. They even used the name I came up with for it!

The idea was sparked by the then trend in video gaming – gestural controls.  The Wii had recently been launched and there had already been a bunch of handheld games taking advantage of this exploding trend.  Plus, the iPhone had just been launched and we knew the upcoming app store would certainly result in more interest into this trend.

I brainstormed some of the top games in multiple genres including board, card and video games.  I thought about how I could make each of them work in a stand alone handheld device with tilt controls.  I gravitated towards a screen-based experience instead of a more organic experience like Bop It since it seemed there was a lot more we could do with a screen.  Eventually I realized Tetris would be a perfect fit – it already uses gravity as a core mechanic!  So the challenge was to figure out how to make tilting an integral part of the experience.

Naturally, one would think to replace the left/right buttons with tilt sensors and keep the gameplay mechanic the same.  I knew this wouldn’t be enough to sell the idea.  I had to come up with something more creative and more unique.  I started to explore the possibility of allowing the blocks to drop on all 4 sides.  It seemed there was something there so I kept on going.

Next, I made a few paper prototypes and mocked up a few different screen layouts.  When I came up with a plan which solved some of the key issues, I moved on to creating a simple flash demo.  This first demo was a canned experience (no user interaction) but was enough for me to work out the biggest details like how wide the screen should be, how the lines would clear and what to do with the odd corner situations.  Seeing how it could work furthered my interest in the idea – but I still wasn’t sure it would be fun.  The last step was to create a fully playable demo – and guess what?  It was REALLY fun!

Tetris 360 made it through the insanely rigorous invention submission process, was manufactured and then sold in toy stores, game stores, department stores and many other places.  In fact, Best Buy featured Tetris 360 as one of 5 events in their “Brain Playground Day!”

Later, Mattel extended the 360 platform by making an Uno 360 version and a Pictionary 360 version.  That feels pretty cool, too

Tinseltown Dreams: The 50′s

Tinseltown Dreams:  The 50′s was the first project I was assigned to design at Namco and the catalyst for my career in video games.

When I joined Namco in 2008, PC Downloadable games were hot – this was right before facebook games had started to take off and before much thought had been given into microtransactions.  Therefore, the game was to be sold as a single purchase and not designed to be freemium like the games I work on now.

The game’s theming and core mechanic had been greenlit by the time I started at Namco.  The game would be a Match 3 game with a movie theme set in the 50′s.  The producer, Danny Pisano and I were tasked to explore the Match 3 genre and to figure out the details.  We decided we needed something more than just the Match 3 mechanic to make it viable in the casual games market.  The top Match 3 games typically had a strong customizable element – the leader at the time was Fishdom.  Fishdom featured a similar Match 3 mechanic with the added customization of a fish tank.  Players complete Match 3 boards to earn currency to purchase items for their fish tank.  Having the fish tank gave much more motivation to play the Match 3.  We decided to take a similar approach with our movie themed game - customizable movie sets would be our fish tank.

One of the major challenges of Tinseltown Dreams were the art constraints – we had a limited amount of artists but wanted a ton of character art.  The Lead Artist, Shaun Tsai figured out a way to reduce art time by finding folks around the office to pose for the character assets.  We created our own photo studio and even had a bunch of costumes – it was a ton of fun!  With the lighting already set and a posed model for each character – the artists could quickly render the assets with minimal iteration time.  I modeled for the western showgirl!  In fact, you can pick “me” to be your avatar on the casual gaming portal, Gamezebo.com!

My favorite part of the project was designing the Match 3 board layouts.  It required lots of iteration to get the board designs challenging enough to be fun, but not TOO challenging and alienating the slower users.  We ended up running a beta test to get real user feedback on each level including level complete time, scoring, a rating of 1-10 and an open field for feedback.  My first pass was too challenging – so I reduced the complexities of each of them just a bit to reach the final tuning.  I also wanted to work in elements from the current stage’s movie theme wherever I could.  My favorite design was the octopus level from the horror theme!

Another fun part was designing the ultra-awesome bomb power ups.  Each movie genre had a different themed special effect which removed a massive amount of pieces.  For example, the sci fi theme had a UFO that hovered over and sucked up the pieces:

The comedy theme had a bicycling cow with tomatoes splatting on the board:

And the romance theme had convertible cruising into the sunset over the board:

And the worst part about the project… Namco interviewing me on video about the game!  It’s honestly the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done!  So go watch it and giggle!