Skylanders
THE BRIEF
For 3+ years, Activision developed a toy/video game hybrid idea.
Physical toys, when placed on a “portal” would become playable characters in-game.
Our challenge was to bring these characters to life in a real way.
THE SOLUTION
Build backstories, character personalities, and relationships. Making these characters feel real was about making their lives feel multi-dimensional.
Create mystery and magic in the “Boom” moment.
Let the moment the characters come to life feel big, supernatural, and enchanting.
MY ROLE
Art Director / Lead Designer
We pitched a lot of ideas.
But the main one that stuck was having distinct personalities for each of the characters.
We began with a character launch video during E3– the biggest video game convention in the world. The idea was to hype up this army of characters…. it worked.
We then created a full cinematic backstory that explained that the Skylanders weren’t toys, but alive on the inside.
And only you could bring them back to life.
This film premiered in cinemas like a trailer before Cars 2, Puss N Boots, and Smurfs.
We made lots of commercials showing the “frozen” characters coming to life in the game.
And we also created special :15s highlighting each character
OUT OF HOME FEATURING VARIOUS CHARACTERS
