senior character gameplay designer

Skylanders Swap Force was developed by Vicarious Visions (VV). This was VV's first Skylander game and it would be running off essentially the same engine but developed with entirely different tools.  In essence and practice, VV ported each character over to their tool.  This process involved an incredible amount of review and comparison trying to get VV designers to fix every inconsistency all the while under the gun to complete their first Skylander title.  Because the TFB designers knew their Skylanders best, we would design their Series 3 Wow Pow upgrades in a most round-about way: we created them in our tool for what would eventually become Skylanders Trap Team and VV would take our builds and specs and port them over to their game.  Process aside, this versions Wow-Pows significantly improved on the Series 2 versions.  I will keep the descriptions below relatively short as they address a single upgrade rather than an entire character.

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Watch Meet the Skylanders: Big Bang Trigger Happy l SWAP Force l Skylanders #swapforce SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/skylandersgame?sub_confirmation=1 Connect with Skylanders Website: https://www.skylanders.com/video-games/skylanders-imaginators Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skylandersthegame/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkylandersGame/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/skylandersgame About Skylanders SWAP Force: Embark on an exciting new adventure with the Skylanders and the SWAP Force. For generations, the SWAP Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands' magic.

 

For Trigger Happy, the toy says it all.  The control layout is not the best but that is usually the challenge with a lot of these characters.  Sometimes some characters have more flexibility for expanding the ability kit but the end product looks great.

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Watch Meet the Skylanders: Ninja Stealth Elf l SWAP Force l Skylanders #swapforce SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/skylandersgame?sub_confirmation=1 Connect with Skylanders Website: https://www.skylanders.com/video-games/skylanders-imaginators Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skylandersthegame/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkylandersGame/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/skylandersgame About Skylanders SWAP Force: Embark on an exciting new adventure with the Skylanders and the SWAP Force. For generations, the SWAP Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands' magic.

 

I believe Stealth Elf was the first series 3 Wow-Pow we embarked on.  Early on we had received notice that Stealth Elf was getting a new look for a starter pack variant and as such would need a splashy Wow-Pow.  This anecdote is a little longer as rigging half of a ghost tiger was somehow Mara "fresh-out-of-college" Macmahon's first assignment at Toys For Bob.  She did an amazing job and would move on to do more amazing work for the likes of Dreamworks and Pixar.

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Watch Meet the Skylanders: Twin Blade Chop Chop l SWAP Force l Skylanders #swapforce SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/skylandersgame?sub_confirmation=1 Connect with Skylanders Website: https://www.skylanders.com/video-games/skylanders-imaginators Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skylandersthegame/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkylandersGame/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/skylandersgame About Skylanders SWAP Force: Embark on an exciting new adventure with the Skylanders and the SWAP Force. For generations, the SWAP Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands' magic.

 

So the guy who's shtick is a sword and shield has two swords now?  These are some of the problems in the life of a Skylander designer.  This one took a few attempts but eventually we settle on the inhuman weed whacker.

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Watch Meet the Skylanders: Fire Bone Hot Dog l SWAP Force l Skylanders #swapforce SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/skylandersgame?sub_confirmation=1 Connect with Skylanders Website: https://www.skylanders.com/video-games/skylanders-imaginators Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skylandersthegame/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkylandersGame/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/skylandersgame About Skylanders SWAP Force: Embark on an exciting new adventure with the Skylanders and the SWAP Force. For generations, the SWAP Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands' magic.

 

If you read my Hot Dog entry on the Giants page, you might recall I mentioned how dogs shooting bees when they bark would be more prominently featured in this version.  Mission accomplished.

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Watch Meet the Skylanders: Super Gulp Pop Fizz l SWAP Force l Skylanders #swapforce SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/skylandersgame?sub_confirmation=1 Connect with Skylanders Website: https://www.skylanders.com/video-games/skylanders-imaginators Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skylandersthegame/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkylandersGame/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/skylandersgame About Skylanders SWAP Force: Embark on an exciting new adventure with the Skylanders and the SWAP Force. For generations, the SWAP Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands' magic.

 

Much like Trigger Happy's toy, Super Gulp Pop Fizz's toy made it pretty clear what direction I should be heading in.