When we started Pixel Press nearly a year and half ago we had a dream for an experience that could make creating your own Mario, Metroid or Mario Kart possible by drawing ideas on paper.
The possibility of that dream came to life through the power of Kickstarter and 10 months later we released our first product, Pixel Press Floors. Our plan was to follow up with two more titles, Quest and Tracks, however we were fortunate enough to be approached by Cartoon Network and shifted our plans to release the concept of Quest around the world of Adventure Time. 17 months after our Kickstarter we released Adventure Time: Game Wizard, a game that in it's first week was a smashing success, reaching #1 in 22 countries.
Today we announce our next big product, Bloxels™: Video Game Building System (visit the official Bloxels site).
Many will wonder how this product came to be and why we've decided to take a brand new (but not entirely new) approach to making games.
SO WHY BLOCKS?
It's about color(!), engagement, ease of use, accessibility to create, expandability, and most of all fun. Read on...
Color
Building in color is so much more fun. We still love the architectural nature of our draw-on-paper technology and plan to incorporate that in interesting ways as we grow. However, what we found was that creating a more engaging product started with integrating color.
More Engaging with Blocks
The world of toys starts and ends with blocks. Everyone is familiar with manipulating blocks, so building is natural and just more fun.
Easier to Use
Remember doing experiments in science class and your teacher telling you to be sure to have controlled variables? Our technology has always been challenged by a lack of control: shadows, different pencils, crooked lines, poor print quality, wrinkled paper, older device cameras, out of focus pictures, not holding the device steady and not aligning properly.
With Bloxels, so many of those challenges are eliminated and most importantly the capture process works from almost any angle – eliminating the most frustrating part of creating games with Pixel Press. We can't wait for you to get the chance to try it out.
More Iterative for More People
Designing anything is about iteration, making changes, improving, testing, rinse & repeat. That was always the idea with Pixel Press, but drawing on paper made that difficult. Especially for younger children when you brought erasing into the picture. With Bloxels, making changes is as easy as moving a block.
More Accessible
Making our product fun and easy to use for toddlers all the way to grandparents is our goal, and the Bloxels system makes that possible. We're especially excited about future opportunities to build games specifically for those who need experiences for learning development.
Expandable
Our dream for "draw your own video game" was always to make it work with experiences that go beyond gaming. With Bloxels, we believe that is now possible more than ever. Expect to see see different sized boards, new blocks shapes and patterns, and brand new entertainment & learning experiences in the future.
Collaborative & Fun
Want to build together in a nearly infinite space? Throw your Bloxels board in your backpack and team up with a friend to build. As we grow the Bloxels eco-system, the possibilities are endless.
What about Drawing?
As you will find in an upcoming behind the scenes video, we use drawing every day to concept and build everything from new toy ideas to new game ideas. We want that to continue to be a part of your building process as well. As we expand, you'll see drawing elements with both pencil, marker, paper and more.
Learn more about Bloxels at BloxelsBuilder.com