Source: Chad Liddell, Lead Artist at The Walt Disney Company
I have just barely started to read about the response to the game. I’m stoked by the generally positive vibe. I’m also a bit shocked at how many inaccuracies I’m seeing.
Anyway, a few misconceptions that I really hope someone helps points out-
Infinity is a COMPLETELY different game than Skylanders. While I fully understand why the comparisons exist, people should stop making them;) Yes, they share the use of physical toys, but in my mind comparing them is like saying Borderlands 2 and Madden Football are similar because they both use the exact same controller. There is a rich history of crossing over toys into video games. When we started working on Infinity my kids were absolutely enamored with Webkinz. I think there is a pretty identifiable evolution of the use of toys in games in recent memory. Littlest Pet Shop -> Webkinz -> U.B. Funkeys -> Skylanders, and now Inifinity. U.B. Funkeys added the reader concept and in-game representation of the toy avatar to the previous code input system. Skylanders added the convenience of RFID, and we have added Play Set pieces and the collectivity of Power Discs as well as greatly scaled down the bulk the RFID reader. On the software side there are ZERO similarities.
Minor thing, but toys in the Toy Box come both from Play Sets and from the Toy Maker, which resides in the Toy Box. The basic concept of the Toy Maker is it is skill based slot machine type mini-game that yields toys. As you level up your figurines, complete challenges throughout the game, and complete adventures you will earn spins at the Toy Maker. And those toys will result in a more expansive Toy Box experience.
Play sets are NOT levels. They are full games who’s scale compares favorably with more than a few full price stand alone sand box style games. Think Grand Theft Pirates, (but family friendly of course.) For people who played Toy Story 3 Western Town would be considered a play set if it were in Infinity.
Infinity is not a kids game. This is my own personal view on this, (note, possibly not Disney’s…) As one of the primary creatives behind Toy Box my goal was to create an experience for families. By this I don’t mean the typical, “family,” game where dad, and maybe mom, will occasionally play the game with their kids and hopefully tolerate it. This is an experience designed from the ground up so that moms, dads, sons, and daughters will all love the game, regardless of how “hard core” they are even if they are playing alone. There is an almost insane amount of depth in the Toy Box. For example, the logic system has full on behavior and property modification and supports some pretty beefy almost programmer like concepts like data flow supporting functions such as AND and OR. (Try coming up with a non-nerd name for those btw…) For the younger kids we have gone to pretty major lengths to scale the experience for how advanced a player is. You may have noted that the Toy Box editing interface uses a ribbon interface plus categories. It allows a very young child to spawn and play with toys. If they can press the back button and the right trigger they can select and play with toys. But an older player will be able to take advantage of category hot switching, and other short cuts to jump around and quickly find the toy they are looking for. These little scaling touches are pervasive throughout the Infinity platform. The end result is I can confidently say this game is for you.
Credit: Mr Penguin Knight for the original link information