Infinity Gaming at the parks

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Top Vacation Destinations... For Infinity Toys
Part of the fun in staying at a Walt Disney World resort is that the theming is so great, you feel like you're escaping to another place before you even get to a park. If you visit the World multiple times, you can stay at different resorts for different experiences. In some respects, the same is true for video games. Once the general mechanics are determined, characters are chosen, obstacles, power-ups, and villains are decided, there's the matter of location. Location, location, location. This virtual real estate can create variety and bring all of the other elements of the game together.

With Infinity, these locations come in the form of Play Sets. They will be an important part of the Infinity deliverable because it's not only about creating mini-games, it's also about creating worlds. The more varied the terrain, the more imaginative the worlds can be. Disney's library provides lots of options, where kids have yet another way to relate back to their favorite movies, and possibly their favorite Walt Disney World resort. A Lilo & Stitch Play Set could include Polynesian buildings and a volcano. A Princess & the Frog Play Set could include references to the Port Orleans resorts, including Mardi Gras, a bayou, riverboat, and alligators. A Lion King Play Set could include buildings like those in the Animal Kingdom Lodge along with its African savannah, and trucks from Kilimanjaro Safaris. Disney Infinity has shown to already include the park symbols of Spaceship Earth (thankfully without the wand) and Cinderella's Castle, so maybe resort references could be in the works as well (Caribbean Beach is already covered). Imagine playing a video game at a WDW resort featuring Disney characters in a setting that matches the theming of that resort. The cross-referencing would add a little more magic.

Play Sets Providing Mechanics
Play Sets that provide different mechanics along with those famous Disney settings could really enhance the Toy Box as well. A Tarzan or Jungle Book Play Set could provide the variety of a jungle background while adding the option of those Infinity Toys swinging from vine to vine. A Play Set based on the upcoming Frozen movie could provide a snowy landscape and a very popular game mechanic: slippery ice. Throw in some snowmen, trolls, and reindeer mounts, and this could be a top candidate for 2014 (maybe it could even throw in a few references to Blizzard Beach).

Under The Sea
Underwater adventures are more difficult to program into 3D (then again, this is Disney, and the rowboat clip in the Infinity trailer looks amazing). If you had to choose, would you go with fish or mermaids? Nemo's probably more popular, but the Little Mermaid provides a princess, and the fact that she has hands makes it easier to include her in more mini-games. It does beg the question whether certain games' locations might restrict which characters can be used. Or maybe it's simply the matter of a trading-card-power-up. If you can catch a magic carpet ride to fly in Agrabah, you can get a scuba suit or magical air bubble to swim underwater. Mash-ups would be fun - build your castles, roads, etc. at the bottom of the ocean, and throw in a coral reef and some barnacles for scenery. And this mashes with the pirates as well (without the mermaids being carnivorous).

 

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Choose Your Own Adventure... An Epcot Attraction
Captain EO was groundbreaking in 1986, and has been a good temporary replacement for "Honey I Shrunk The Kids", but the Imagineers must be wondering what could be done with this 3D Epcot theater. This attraction could receive a refurb incorporating elements from two popular, if unlikely, attractions: American Idol and Star Tours. For the latter, its own refurb made a great attraction even better - splicing random scenes together to create dozens of possible 3D experiences. It added elements from all of the Star Wars locations and continues to make park guests want to ride it over and over again. Now consider American Idol, specifically its chairs. What if, instead of water-squirting, scent-wafting chairs, this Epcot theater received new seating with those armrest keypads that enable audience participation, that allow them to vote. Imagine a "Choose Your Own Adventure" attraction using Disney Infinity characters.

The guests take their seats, and John Lasseter is their taped pre-show host, explaining that their help is needed to tell a story. A Disney cast member is there to help with coordination. This is a toy story of sorts - a Disney Infinity toy story. 2D Infinity graphics are used to present storyboards, and at various spots the audience is asked to vote on the main toy character's choices. There could be some Mad Lib elements as well - choose 1 of 4 villains, 1 of 4 locations, 1 of 4 minions, 1 of 4 vehicles, etc. The result of each vote is shown with bar graphs on the screen - the audience is in charge here. The 2D storyboards provide a simplified overview of events, except for the ending scene. When the voting is done, everyone dons their 3D glasses, and the 3D Infinity animation is shown. Guests could enjoy this attraction over and over - the story might never be the same twice. It would also highlight the mash-up qualities of the Toy Box. Imagine that Tinker Bell mashup with Caribbean pirates, with Neverland lost boys in a Bayou of princely frogs and jazz-playing alligators, dodging Syndrome bots and confronting that mermaid "kraken", Ursula. Imagine any number of combinations of Infinity toys from this year or the next. There could even be a story-telling contest for kids to submit a new one - an attraction that already has much replay value could be redesigned by Disney fans.

Disney Infinity Movies on YouTube
Walkthroughs of a video game can be found on YouTube literally days after a game's release. This shows another reason why moderating Disney Infinity user-content is so problematic. Anything created locally on a PC can be broadcast to the Internet almost instantly. Parents ultimately must be the moderators of Internet content for young kids - always have and always will be. Disney Infinity provides a Disney printing press, and hopefully kids are given the ability to publish.

In addition to creating worlds, and video games, and perhaps 2D storyboards, what if Disney Infinity allowed kids to make their own Infinity Toy movies? When you think about how little kids play, dressing up in costumes to pretend they are their favorite movie characters, they often put on a show. The game of pretend is not a competition; it's a play. With Infinity, you have collectible sets that you can rearrange, unlockable props, supporting cast, and you have control of a virtual camera. There could be 2D text bubbles, perhaps with Disney soundtracks in the background. Disney Infinity could allow older kids to make their own 3D cartoons. They could create their own title screens, roll their own set of credits, and tell stories. Disney Infinity could allow them to post them to the Infinity Cloud or straight to YouTube. Once again the Disney Infinity Team would show that this is not-just-another-video-game. It's a design platform. It's a way for kids to be creative, encouraging "out-of-the-Toy-Box" thinking, with collectible, iconic Disney characters. And it's best highlighted at a Walt Disney World park.

 

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Senior Wilderness Explorer's Choose-Your-Own-Adventure
He may not have any super-powers, but little Russell from Pixar's "Up" would be an excellent Infinity Toy for a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure attraction at Epcot. He's a chatty, determined optimist, a curious explorer, and is always eager to help - a natural storyteller and sidekick. This 3D Epcot attraction might be much closer to a Madlib game than a true choose-your-own-ending story, as the latter tends to have a half-dozen unhappy endings and only one good one. Every Disney attraction needs to have a happy ending. With American-Idol-Experience chairs, the audience could pick the hero (say Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible, Sully, or Buzz), the villain (Syndrome, Davy Jones, Emperor Zurg, or any others available), and a pirate (plenty Infinity toys to choose from there). They could choose a weapon (Space Ranger blaster, toilet-paper launcher, frying pan, or bouncy ball), a flying power-up (Buzz wings, Aladdin's carpet, or Dumbo), two cars (lots to choose from there too), and a steed. All these choices are nouns, but this isn't a grammar exercise. It's an attraction to come up with a wacky Infinity cartoon.

The Tinker Bell Effect
Here's an example of how an "Infinity Short" might go - Russell has gone exploring, and stumbles across Pixie Hollow & Tinker Bell. She's as patient as one might expect, with lots of bell ringing. Russell is excited to meet her but must then head back home. He draws up a map as he goes to make sure he can find his way back. Upon his return to a port town, he then stumbles upon a pirate who he mistakes as a sailor. The pirate in return mistakes the map to be a buried treasure map. He fools Russell into guiding him back, ends up capturing Tinker Bell, runs back to his ship and sets sail. Russell needs a hero. He cries for help, and blows his bugle. The hero arrives, dons the flying gear, and sets off in pursuit. Russell has somehow acquired some pixie dust from his visit with Tinker Bell. He focuses on a happy thought, and flies off to help the hero. The pirate ship is anchored and the rowboat is heading for the villain's island where the pirate intends to sell Tinker Bell. Russell runs out of pixie dust, crash lands, and the hero stops to help. The pirate jumps in a nearby vehicle and speeds off. The hero jumps in another car and a race ensues. Underage Russell finds a native animal (maybe even Kevin) and follows after them. There are henchmen for the hero to battle, with Russell helping with a weapon pulled from his backpack. The pirate complains of the faerie's bell ringing sound as he reaches the villain but the villain hears none of it. The pirate tries to barter for gold. The hero bursts in to battle the villain and Russell frees Tinker Bell. The pirate shows redeeming qualities... the villain goes to attack Russell and the pirate exclaims, "Not the boy!" and blocks the attack. The hero steps in and finishes the fight. Just as the villain falls, defeated, he yells "I don't believe in faeries!" From a toy, this apparently has the same effect as coming from a child. Tinker Bell falls stricken, and Russell appeals to the audience to clap their hands to save her. Tinker Bell is revived, spreads pixie dust everywhere so that they all fly away, even the pirate, but excluding the main villain, who grumbles, "I don't have any happy thoughts." Credits roll.

There are all kinds of funny stories possible in mixing up the Disney characters, and since they're virtual toys, the crossovers can be as silly as you dream them to be. Star Tours splicing and American Idol Experience choices could make for a fun attraction. Different combinations of characters and gear would provide a lot of variety in the 3D footage. Guests could enjoy an attraction like this many times.

Voice-Overs
There could be even further inclusion if a few members of the audience could provide voice-overs for the hero, the pirate, and the villain. A few short quotes could go a long way: a pirate's "Arr!", a hero's "To Infinity and Beyond!" (Buzz or no), a villain's "Bwa ha ha", and just a few other lines would sound great coming from a 3D visualization of Infinity Toy characters. Russell is doing most of the talking to minimize the difficulty of inserting the sound bytes. The voice-over volunteers could then have the added bonus of being pictured in the rolling credits.

Magic-Band Credits
In fact the entire audience could be included in the credits, since they all played a part in the Madlib choices. The Magic Bands have their names and their resort info, if they chose to share them. The credits could be organized by resort name as a heading, with the names listed in paragraph form. Those park guests that didn't stay on site but still provided their names could be in the "Out of this World" heading. The Infinity logo could finish off the credits. This would be another opportunity for the combined investments of Magic Band technology and Infinity Gaming to create a unique experience for Walt Disney World guests.

 

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Segways & Segues
It's unfortunate that the Epcot Segway tours have recently been cancelled. Perhaps we could start a rumor that the closing of Segway Central is making way for a Disney Infinity expansion in Innoventions West, especially since the video playground is so close by Regardless, it would be fun to see virtual segways make their way as "vehicles" into Disney Infinity, including helmets for all of the characters. The resulting races would look hilarious.

What's even more interesting to imagine for Disney Infinity however are the segues, the transitions for the various games of the Toy Box. How does a character shift from a virtual world tour into one of various mini-games? Reviewing thoughts from earlier posts, might there be Playlists of mini-games? Might they be shuffled? Might there be a user-defined quest in the virtual world that links a series of games together? What if... the mini-games were part of a board game?

Party Time
The comparisons with Nintendo are unavoidable (and not necessarily a bad thing either). Disney Infinity could provide its own versions of toon sports titles, kart racing, and even "Smash Bros". But with an "Infinity Party", kids can not only choose/create their list of mini-games, they can design their own game boards. Throw down some translucent tiling, add virtual dice or a spinner, include some temporary power-up mechanics for movement changes (don't forget those Mickey coins), and now any virtual Infinity world can become one big game. Placement of the tiles and camera could provide an interesting tour of kids' creations.

The Infinity Cloud's Reigning Apps
We could also start a rumor that in the not-so-distant future, nearly all mobile apps from Disney will be free. It's centered around the fact that pricing is based on the collectible figurines. It also relates back to the cross-platform nature of Infinity. There may be differences with touch controls and screen sizes, but many mini-games designed on the console could be straight ports to mobile phones. You might not have an Infinity base with you when you play an Infinity app on your iPhone, but you'll have an account - logging in, Infinity will know all of the figurines, Play Sets, and even Power-Ups that you've purchased ("registration" would have been done earlier on the Infinity base). This increases the value of your figurine. Design once, play anywhere. The Infinity Cloud could host its own "app store" that keeps track of those apps' figurine/Play-Set/Power-up dependencies and distributes them for free. There's the added benefit that these mobile games might have been designed by kids.

 

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Mouse Gear
If there's to be any park-exclusive Infinity content, I think it should be directly related to Mickey Mouse & friends. Many have wondered if/when Mickey makes his way to the Infinity cast. I'm wondering how many, and I'm hoping for just one. One of my favorite Disney T-shirt designs has the image of Mickey drawing Mickey drawing Mickey, etc. Steamboat Willie might not be a good fit for Infinity gaming, but the Brave Little Tailor would, as well as the Sorcerer's Apprentice, and hopefully Jedi Mickey is a given. Instead of separate figurines for all of these Mickeys, what if there was special Power-Up gear? There could be a set of collectibles that only applied to a subset of Infinity characters: Mickey, Minney, Goofy, & Donald. These Mickey Power-Ups might only be purchased at Disney parks, or at least be very rare among Power-Up packs yet specifically purchased at park stores like Mouse Gear.

Teaching at the Clubhouse
That leaves the question of what Play Set that Mickey & friends apply. What about the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? This preschoolers show has been very popular and already presents them in 3D. The Infinity variety would simply be the toy version. What if the Clubhouse provided gaming versions of the various school lessons? Imagine a separate tie-in for Disney to leverage Infinity to provide educational content that could be significantly augmented by the user community? It wouldn't need to be limited to preschoolers either. There are a fair number of educational apps available today that cover a variety of age groups. How might Disney Infinity differentiate itself?

Lectures by Ludwig
In addition to apps, some specific concepts (often mathematics) are taught by way of YouTube. Educators videotape short talks while drawing on a whiteboard. They provide an alternative explanation to kids' schoolwork - if they can find one that matches their specific topic. A hierarchy of topics, a filtering mechanism for categories & sub-categories, is not always available. Imagine this being provided through Disney Infinity. If the Infinity Team did provide a 2D Storyboard editor, that same Choose-Your-Own-Adventure programming could be used to create organized lecture material with multiple-choice feedback. This would take a significant investment in educators' time to create, but that's the whole point of appealing to a user community. And for those who might not want to be lectured by Mickey Mouse on Geometry or Physics, consider this potential Infinity character: Ludwig Von Drake. You might remember his lectures from the Wonderful World of Disney TV shows, or you may have seen him as a guest at the Clubhouse. The storyboard would be like a PowerPoint presentation with 3D Ludwig's voice balloons taking you through the topic, then quizzing you afterwards. There could be sets of animations provided, having Ludwig draw on the board, erase from it, have different reactions to questions and answers. He could have different props for different categories. Imagine dozens of short topics on any given subject, easily queried from Infinity Cloud category filters. The Clubhouse storyboard(s) could include a blackboard, whiteboard, world map, US map, or even a periodic table (although you might consider Bunsen Honeydew for the Chemistry). Disney could really leverage this from an educational perspective. For those who'd argue kids would just use the platform for video games, they deal with this already studying on their laptop or tablet (and eventually, hopefully, Ludwig's lectures would make their way to a tablet). Also - the multiple choice questions could be stored separately like a set of mini-games - virtual world board games could be made of mathematical topics for example, or Ludwig might be the host of a Jeapardy-style trivia game, where the Infinity user-community provides all of the categories. Imagine your favorite Infinity characters standing at a virtual podium (co-op or online), punching virtual (and physical) buttons to answer trivia questions worth some number of Mickey coins. Maybe Ludwig could unlock this Jeapardy stage from the Infinity Clubhouse too. Imagine hosting this kind of educational resource at Epcot's Innoventions as part of the Infinity Showcasing - it would be a great fit.

Star Tours
But what about those Power-Ups? Take for example a Star Tours Play Set. This may be a polarizing statement, but perhaps the Star Wars characters don't fit within the Disney Infinity "universe". Maybe only the Mickey-mashed versions do. And as cool as all these figurines look, perhaps folks don't want to purchase half a dozen versions of Mickey Mouse. Imagine a Star Tours Play Set that didn't come with figurines, but instead it came with specialized Power-Ups for Mickey & Friends. "Friends" in this case could also include Stitch from a Polynesian Play Set. Consider three types of Power-Ups: blue lightsaber, red lightsaber, and blaster. Different characters get different roles from them. The blue lightsaber "unlocks" Jedi characters including Jedi Mickey and Stitch Yoda. The red unlocks the Sith, including Goofy Darth Vader, Duck Maul, and Emperor Stitch. The blaster unlocks Mickey Solo, Goofy Chewbacca, Princess Minney, and the Duck Stormtrooper. A role could be created for every combination of these five figurines. Hmm.. this Play Set would probably be really popular - perhaps not the best choice for park-exclusive content.

The same method could be used for different Mickey Power-Ups though, including the tailor & friends, as well as "That Hat", which Donald already tried once or twice at Philharmagic

 

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Universally Marvel
The recent announcement regarding Marvel superheroes coming to Hong Kong Disneyland included the reminder that Disney is not allowed to bring Marvel to Walt Disney World. It's unfortunate, but an understandable clause in the Marvel purchase. You could have easily imagined a lot of Marvel in Hollywood Studios, whether it was a coaster, a dark ride, or even an update to The Great Movie Ride. The X-Men fits Disney theming with its superhero message of accepting people for who they are, and one wonders if Spiderman's Broadway show could translate into a park show. Hong Kong will be happy, and perhaps Marvel will eventually make it to every Disney park location but Florida.

Mickey Marvels
Will Marvel come to Disney Infinity? Like Star Wars, it's a different brand and has its own huge cast of characters. There have been lots of posts hoping for both brands to make their way to the Infinity platform. Perhaps the "toy" aspect of Infinity will make the transition easier. The pirates have their own distinct toy look. It would also make it possible for all "Mouse Gear Power Discs" to be in random, trade-able packs. Star Wars and Marvel Play Sets could come with a pair of toy figurines, and the Mickey-mashes would be separate add-ons. Imagine a Fantastic Four Mouse Disc for Mickey Fantastic, the Invisible Mouse, Duck Thing, and the Goofy Torch (as well as Doom Stitch). Imagine an X-Men Disc for Xavier Mouse, Minnie Storm, Goofy Cyclops, and Ice Duck (as well as Wolverine Stitch). A red-X-Men Disc could translate to Mickey-mash villains Magneto Mouse, Phoenix Mouse, Goofy Nightcrawler, and Pyro Duck (with Stitch Sabretooth). An Avengers Disc could translate to Iron Mouse, Widow Mouse, Goofy Captain, and Duck Hulk (with alien Thor Stitch). There could be other Marvel heroes whose Mouse Gear Power Disc would translate the same for Mickey & friends: what about Spider-man or the Silver Surfer? Incidentally a Mouse Gear Power Disc for pirates would be fun, too. This type of disc might even allow Mickey & friends to enter the corresponding Play Set for extra Mickey-mashed unlockables. On a side-note, perhaps there could be a Star Command Mouse Gear Power Disc? Yes, that's a Goofy Space Ranger request

 

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It was cool to see a soccer ball in the early Infinity images, and to read of a fully-functional soccer field for the Toy Box. But it was also a little confusing too. It makes one wonder how Infinity sports games will go in general...

Team Mickey & the ESPN Wide World of Sports
The Team Mickey Athletic Store in Downtown Disney has some great sports apparel and knick-knacks featuring Mickey & friends. Even the signage and the store decorations feature them in a variety of sports gear. On a side-note, it also features Daisy, Chip & Dale - perhaps these characters should get Infinity toys added to the Clubhouse (applicable to all Mouse Gear). Consider Disney's Wide World of Sports state-of-the-art sports complex. Consider the ESPN brand. All of these elements would be great - more examples where not only can you bring Infinity to the parks, but you can bring the parks to Infinity. There have been lots of video games released for sports. Competing with the gameplay of EA Sports titles would certainly be an uphill climb. Reviewing the Nintendo sport titles is a probably better avenue for the Infinity toys. It would be challenging to come up with something novel - perhaps a sports bundle? Would it be released as a Play Set with no figurines? Or would it be released as part of the Power Disc set, with a separate disc for football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, & golf? This would be another example where the gear makes the in-game Infinity toy look different than the actual figurine. Would it be exclusive to Mouse Gear or would it be open to nearly any Infinity toy (at least those with both hands & feet)? Hopefully it will be the latter. The resulting uniforms could be especially funny on the pirates and the monsters. But what are the teams?

Friendly Competition Among the Parks
There could be Olympic teams with representation from the World Showcase pavilions, the teams could be simply divided by their respective Play Sets (Pirates!), or there could be arbitrary color-coding. But if you're going to the trouble of designing separate outfits for these Infinity characters and allow any combination of toys to be on the same team, why not have the teams represent the Disney Parks? The resulting team names could be fun, and they'd offer a closer connection between Disney gaming and Disney theme parks. The icons of the WDW parks could be the logos on the uniforms. The international parks are trickier because the park names are based on location, but you could use the Eiffel tower for Paris and elements of the flags for Hong Kong & Tokyo:
- Magic Kingdom Royals
- Epcot Imagineers
- Hollywood Studios Magic-Makers
- Animal Kingdom Expedition
- Californian Adventurers
- Disneyland Originals
- Parisian Towers
- Hong Kong Stars
- Tokyo Suns

Golf, Anyone?
Although not much of a team sport (then again, neither is tennis), golf might be the best sport for Infinity gaming. Just as it seems the Cars Play Set can make the entire Toy Box world into one big race, Infinity golf could make the entire Toy Box world into one big golf course. There could be arrows directing the golfers to the next flag (the same arrow that would direct an adventurer to their next quest). This could offer a new "tour of the world" that kids have designed. There might be a mini-golf option that allows scaled-down versions of Infinity world structures and Mario-pipe-style holes that shoot the golf balls out to different parts of the green. This would offer a whole new category of Disney Infinity game design contest. All sorts of Play Set unlockables could be thrown into the design of each golf course design. Beware the sand traps of Agrabah!

 

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The Inevitability of Many Mickeys
In all truthfulness, the roll-out of multiple Mickey Mouse figurines is probably inevitable, especially for the parks. Outside of Star Tours, you can already purchase many Star Wars Mickey mash-up action figures, and that's without any RFIDs or video game counterparts. The same is true for Mickey pirates outside of the Pirates ride at the Magic Kingdom. There is bound to be demand for these. A Sorcerer's Apprentice would not be able stay in stock at Hollywood Studios, and Marvel-based figurines would fare the same (without a Florida tie-in, or apparently a Tokyo one either). We can only hope that Disney Infinity offers something comparable to Mouse Gear Power Discs as well. There is only so much shelf space, and family budgets are not Disney Infinite. Mouse Gear Power Discs would provide an exclusive Infinity trading option for the Disney parks, and would still entail plenty of purchases. Mickey & friends would essentially be "actor toys" for many Play Sets, and it would encourage the purchase of more "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" characters because of the replay value. Folks might still purchase an additional favorite Mickey or two, which could still use the Mouse Gear (if for no other reason for a Mickey vs. Mickey game or Mickey co-op). Does Infinity allow multiple instances of the same character in a given game (at least if the characters are wearing different gear)? In the case of Star Wars, it could be an attack of the clones

More Miscellaneous Mickey Mash-Ups
Regardless of delivery device or dollar figure, here are a few more Mouse mix possibilities:
- Incredible Mickeys: mix up the super-powers pre-Marvel - Incredible Mickey dashes, Incredible Minnie vanishes, Incredibly Goofy stretches, and Incredible Donald bashes (his temper lends toward the strength attribute). Chip & Dale could emulate the Frozone & Gazerbeam heroes (will they make Infinity on their own?). There could be Daisy Mirage and Syndrome Stitch.
- Cowboy Mickeys: Who knows how the Lone Ranger film may be received? Plus, Toy Story already provides a cowboy, cowgirl, and a horse. Mickey & friends could go western, maybe assisting Star Command in a zany Toy Box version of Cowboys and Aliens.
- Tron: Uprising: ironically I learned about the Tron: Uprising TV show from reading Infinity articles. Thought the merchandising was supposed to go the other way around . If Tron: Legacy received too much hype, perhaps Uprising received too little. Regardless, Tron is a more natural fit for Disney Infinity than Wreck-It Ralph (and that's saying something). And who wouldn't want to try Tron Mickey on a Light Cycle? The set of classic Tron games with an Infinity spin on an Uprising upload would sell a lot of Play Sets.
- Star Wars update: can't forget the dogfights. In the case of Mouse Gear Power Discs, there could be one for a Rebel Pilot and one for an Empire Pilot. Or there could be a disc for each type of fighter, as they changed over the course of the movies.

The general gist is that the vast majority of foreseeable Infinity Play Sets could mix with Mickey & friends. Whether it's through figurines or power discs, or both, it could make for some great park-exclusive content.

 

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Would Ludwig be Open or Closed Minded?
It would be possible for Disney's educational division to handle "Ludwig Lectures" internally, and there would be some advantages to that. There could be a separately purchase-able "Ludwig Power Disc" of each curriculum (e.g. Algebra, Geometry, Trig, etc.). Wouldn't recommend putting them in random trade-able packs The pricing would be tricky to compete with books and apps that are already available, but it would help ensure that each curriculum was organized and complete. Someone could methodically go through chapter by chapter, concept by concept in a progression, or have the option to search for a particular concept. They could follow AP curriculum for example since it's standard across the country.

However that wouldn't utilize the resources of the user community. It wouldn't encourage creating something new like the rest of the Toy Box. There's no telling what set of interesting lecture topics someone might submit via Disney's most knowledgeable duck. There's also something to be said for lots of examples. Even if a curriculum is complete, even if each concept is easily found from this huge compilation of data, one example may not be enough. If a student is struggling with a particular concept, he or she might want test out their newly acquired knowledge multiple times to make sure they "got it".

It may boil down to how Infinity compiles submitted data in general. It's the same organizational problem of a virtual world board game that uses multiple mini-games after each turn, a trivia contest with multiple categories of questions, or a quest world that segues to multiple mini-games at specific destinations. They're compilations where each piece might be independently used in another assortment somewhere else. The ability to post and query submissions independently from Infinity could significantly enhance the possibilities of user-created content.

Return of the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review Board
If Disney Infinity would choose this educational avenue, that's a whole other level of review. It would not just be brand protection, but accuracy, completeness, organization, and clarity. Perhaps the compromise between the open and closed models is a separate review board from the user community. There could be applications sent to Disney with educators' credentials where they would offering their expertise to ensure the quality of the content.

Scrolling Chalkboard
In mathematical problems it's important to show all of your work. That's especially important in trying to explain a solution. PowerPoint-style presentations don't lend themselves to this without becoming an eye test chart. Imagine Ludwig with a scrolling chalkboard, a virtual web page within his Clubhouse classroom. Then imagine a blank chalkboard available on the tablet version for a student to work out their answer with a stylus. Then imagine two chalkboards side-by-side for the student to compare the work with the answer key. It could help determine specific missteps in case the student got the answer wrong. Imagine lots and lots of example questions covering query-able topics for any curriculum that the user community takes the time to create. Ludwig could provide a common framework for some useful reference material.

The Educator's Style-us
A tablet version of Ludwig's role in the Toy Box could be useful for the creators of this content too. A crisp font goes a long way toward readability, but the free-hand use of a stylus allows an educator to underline or circle spots of emphasis in a pseudo-animated sequence, and also to provide free-form diagrams. There could be imported pictures and sounds as well - whatever works. That level of creative license brings in the brand protection again, making a review board that much more important. But the resulting product would provide greater value.

 

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PhilharMagic Mickey
Disney has always had a great appreciation for music. Soundtracks for Disney movies are nearly as well-known as the animations themselves. Hopefully lots of soundtrack material will be unlocked with each Infinity Play Set to be used as background music in game design. But what if there's more than that. Imagine how music appreciation might be incorporated into Disney Infinity via another park-exclusive Mickey. Imagine what a PhilharMagic Mickey might be able to do.

What if a baton-wielding Mickey Mouse in formal concert attire also unlocked the musical scores? There are already lots of sheet music reader apps for tablets today. They provide a useful alternative to hardcopy folders and they simplify page turns. What might an Infinity version provide? Clearly it could access Disney's massive library of copyrighted music. What if Mickey himself was the metronome? Each score could have a default tempo which could be adjusted, and virtual PhilharMagic Mickey could wave his baton according the tempo and the time signature. Instead of a page-turn button, the musical score could scroll horizontally according to that tempo. It could be a video game where you shoot some randomly highlighted notes (while helping young ones to learn them by name). It could be a name-that-tune trivia question based on a few bars. It could be a sing-a-long with a bouncing ball over the lyrics. It could be sheet music for any number of instruments, with the key signature adjusted as appropriate. The chosen PhilharMagic instrument could be seen floating on the screen, showing appropriate strings and finger positions. It could be a trumpet or trombone, flute or clarinet, violin, cello, whatever. There could be a practice mode that focuses on a few bars at a time. There could be a performance mode that includes a piano accompaniment. A tablet version could be used to provide the scores for the piano. There could be simplified scores for novices and full scores for experienced pianists. And since the Toy Box is all about creativity, there could be a composer mode too. There could be a PhilharMagic Mouse Gear Power Disc to allow Mickey's friends to try out their conducting skills (even Donald). Or you could purchase your PhilharMagic Mickey figurine right outside Mickey's PhilharMagic attraction. Imagine young musicians using their Wii, PS3, or Xbox360 to practice their musical instruments, playing Disney tunes. PhilharMagic. No sorcerer's hat required.

 

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Souvenir Shop Startup
If Disney executives do choose to pilot "Magic Cabinet" arcade machines at the parks, they might not necessarily start with resorts, or DisneyQuest, or even Epcot Innoventions. They might start with the souvenir shops. Especially if park-exclusive Mickey figurines will be sold, consider the number of different attractions that could feature themed Infinity gaming: Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, Mickey's Philharmagic, Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, Fantasmic, and maybe Muppet Vision 3D and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride(!) The California Adventure Park could even have sit-down racers in Cars Land. If Disney Infinity figurines will be sold at each corresponding souvenir shop, a Disney Infinity arcade box could showcase the gaming. A single machine could be tucked in as easily as a pressed coin machine. Timed arcade games would mitigate crowding. Although the underlying hardware would support any number of games, the cabinet art and the provided figurine & game selections could target that particular attraction. MagicBand technology could still synch up leaderboards by the guest's resort. Imagine being greeted by a video game by name, posting a high score across the parks, and maybe even winning a FastPass, out of a souvenir shop? Disney souvenir shops have now become part of the entertainment, adding to the overall Disney experience.

Virtual Vouchers and MagicBand Proof Points
Remember that Disney resort arcade 100pt voucher? What if each MagicBand was primed with a few free virtual tokens, that could be used on any Magic Cabinet in the parks, including these souvenir shops? A few free trials could lead to more Disney Infinity sales, or simply lead to more money spent on the games themselves. The MagicBands could gather all sorts of data as to how often the games were played, who played them, what characters were selected, what games were selected, and what percentage led to a Disney Infinity sale. They could even track other persons' sales around the time the games were played (MagicBand big-data possibilities are really cool). These machines wouldn't necessarily need to make any money on their own and still contribute toward overall park revenue. And the MagicBands could prove it.

Souvenir Sales Bring Variety to the Arcades
Since the investment would have already been made to these souvenir shop Magic Cabinets and corresponding Disney Infinity games, they could be replicated for arcades in Epcot Innoventions, DisneyQuest, and the resort arcades. More generic cabinet art could be used for those boxes that would periodically change sets of games. This would provide a better visual presentation to these arcades. The selection would actually be somewhat diminished, given the souvenir-based selections, but it would feel like there was a bigger selection. The souvenir shop machines might also become in-Disney go-to machines. And every character in every game on every cabinet would be Disney.

 

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There's No Toy Box in the Magic Cabinet
It may seem that the ideas here for a retro arcade machine differ greatly from the goals of creativity and problem-solving provided in the Toy Box. And they do. A Game Designer's Club out of Epcot's Innoventions and possibly another in the Create Zone of DisneyQuest would help connect the dots. Game design takes time. The Magic Cabinets represent the fruits of those labors, whether those timed arcade games are designed by the Disney Infinity Team or by contest winners. They would showcase what is possible, while providing a new facet to the Disney experience. But if the Toy Box might be able to tie multiple mini-games together, why not try to do that with the cabinets too?

MagicBands and Mickey Coins
In addition to tracking virtual game tokens, MagicBands could track and display accumulated Mickey Coins. This could represent another Leaderboard category, but one that only resets when a guest has finished their resort stay (a single day if staying off-site). Every arcade game could produce some number of Mickey Coins, separate from the game score. These virtual coins would have no real monetary value, but could be used to purchase power-ups or multipliers on individual Magic Cabinet games to help achieve higher scores (much like Facebook apps like Bejeweled Blitz). The MagicBands could also encourage park guests to try multiple cabinets and multiple figurines with a particular cabinet. At the end of each game, the screen would display these attributes, and once a set of four or five were achieved, some amount of bonus Mickey Coins would be awarded and the count reset. Play a bunch of different pirates on the pirates cabinet for 500 Mickey Coins. Play a set of Magic Kingdom cabinets for 1000. Play one in each of the four parks and get 2000. This would make for another mini scavenger hunt in the parks, and encourage guests to take a look at lots of figurines.

Randomly Awarded Tokens
Randomly awarded FastPasses might not be the only reward for Magic Cabinet gaming. There could also be the random chance that a free game token is awarded, and in the case of resort guests, a free token to everyone sharing the resort room. It would cost essentially nothing, and would add another element of fun.

The Not-Forgotten Kingdom
There were no examples in the prior append for the Animal Kingdom, as if Disney Infinity wouldn't fit there. But there could be games based on the Lion King, perhaps Tarzan, and with the corresponding Pixar moving coming, Dinosaurs! If the Avatar plans would come to fruition, that's a given too. A toy avatar of an avatar

 

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Boardwalk Trinkets
Skeeball has been a staple of boardwalk arcades for years and many variants can now be found in smartphone apps. Part of its allure has been the tickets awarded based on the score, and the ability to redeem those tickets for a prize. It was always clear from the selection of trinkets that it would have been much less expensive to buy them outright, but there was a different feel, especially for young kids, that the prize had been won. Part of the price was to enjoy the game. You might play several times throughout your week of vacation at the beach. Then on the last day, the family would pool their tickets together and let the kids redeem their prizes. It would be something the kids looked forward to for that whole week. Skeeball apps have virtual unlockables, but it's not the same. There's not much anticipation to it, and you don't win a physical prize.

Magic Cabinet Prizes
What if you could win real prizes from playing Magic Cabinet games at the parks? Mickey coins would be the virtual tickets. For resort guests they could be accumulated over the course of the family's stay and be pooled together at the end to redeem prizes. This would be another advantage of staying on-site so that the Mickey coin count persisted for the entire vacation. The MyMagic+ app, in addition to showing the Disney Infinity Leaderboards, would track the guest's coin count and display the choice of prizes. It could also be used to redistribute the coins for the guests of a particular party. The Disney Infinity team could crunch the numbers on all the possible bonuses and multipliers of these games to determine the highest possible scores and "price" the prizes accordingly. It could be as simple as transferring Mickey coins into a small virtual gift card toward park purchases in general. Or it could be Infinity-related, to win a random Power Disc, a Disney Infinity T-shirt, or for some astronomical number of Mickey coins, an Infinity figurine. It could be that nearly-but-not-quite-unattainable grand prize to associate with the gaming. The prizes could be stocked throughout the parks & resorts so that they could be redeemed at multiple locations at nearly any time. Some prizes might even be exclusive to the gaming.

Value of DisneyQuest
DisneyQuest presents a completely different pricing structure than the rest of Disney World's arcade machines of course. It's a flat rate cost for essentially unlimited gaming. This would be a challenge for the number crunching on possible Mickey coin totals to keep the maximum number of redeemed prizes in check, but it wouldn't be impossible. Perhaps all the other machines at the parks & resorts could have a multiplier for their games. The amount of bonuses awarded for a set of games in each park (or resort) would factor in as well. It's a do-able mathematical problem, where an upfront purchase of a DisneyQuest ticket could be a nice way for a kid to win a prize, without getting out of control. With some extra MagicBand reader investment, perhaps the Skeeball machines could generate virtual Mickey coins too. In fact all of the DisneyQuest games could support some nominal amount of coins, contributing toward that total.

Adding More Magic to the Magic Cabinets
Prizes don't need to make sense. They don't need to be cost-effective for the gamer. They're just fun. They present a goal. You enjoy the experience of multiple games themselves with the hopes of winning something when you're done. Redeemable prizes for Disney park gaming would connect all of the games in all of their locations across multiple days of vacationing together. It would add an extra bit of magic to an already-magical Disney experience.

 

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Ultimate Ride
Aside from DisneyQuest's CyberSpace Mountain and Epcot Innovention's Sum of All Thrills, when one thinks of virtual roller coasters, one thinks of Roller Coaster Tycoon, right? This decade-old PC game for managing a virtual theme park is a classic (and apparently is attempting a comeback - with iOS & Android versions coming early this year). Around the same time frame of the original game, another PC-based coaster simulator was developed, by none other than Disney Interactive Studios, titled "Ultimate Ride". With a follow-on version, the game even provided Disney park theming. They had weekly contests for best roller coaster design. Who knew?! Can we request some code reuse here? This could provide another Toy Box mode, where the landscape, structures, & scenery of the Disney Infinity world are part of the coaster theming, and the virtual toy character can hop in for a virtual ride. Different Play Sets could unlock different coaster design possibilities. The Disney Infinity graphics & tooling combined with kids' imaginations could provide fun simulations at home, and even more fun simulations at Walt Disney World. You could even throw in an educational crossover with Ludwig Von Drake. High school Physics classes often calculate coaster G forces prior to amusement park "field trips". Provide some Ludwig tutorials on the determination (it might actually help someone from getting ill )

Theme Park Mode
While they're at it, might the Disney Infinity team entertain a Theme Park mode for the Toy Box? What if the virtual world could be played out like a Roller Coaster Tycoon game? What if Play Sets came with unlockable rides that fit their themes? Who manages theme parks better than Disney? Why not make it into a game? Unlock a swinging pirate ship from the pirates' Play Set, and design a go-kart track from the Cars Play Set. Drop in carousels and scramblers, food vendors and souvenir shops, rest rooms, and character meet-n-greets. And of course design lots of different roller coasters. This would make a game out of the Toy Box itself, starting the "player" with a certain amount of Mickey Coins to gradually build up the park. The game would manage the park guests and simulate their behaviors. Manage the attraction queuing in different ways - "pay" more for interactive queues or FastPass+. Build stages to put on shows. "Pay" more for larger areas that provide more seating. Allow every figurine that a kid has purchased for the Infinity system to participate in the shows and meet-and-greets. Based on Play Set unlockables, build themed resorts for the guests' stay (the best way to build up those Mickey Coins in the game ). The game itself could gauge its simulated guest rating, or the virtual theme park could be another contest category. The virtual coasters could bring Disney Infinity to the theme parks, and Theme Park mode, well, you get the idea. Admittedly, it would require more retroactive coding for those Play Sets.

 

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YouTube Options Galore
There are lots of ways that Disney Infinity gamers will be able to create YouTube movies of their creations and their gaming. If they're using a video game console, they can split the feed to both the TV and a camcorder. Or they can record with a DVR recorder and transfer it their laptop with DVD ripper software. If they're playing on the laptop directly, they can use screen recording software like Fraps, Dxtory, D3DGear, or others. The point is that the technology exists, and one of the main goals of Disney Infinity is creativity. They should make it even easier. They should encourage movie-making.

Disney Infinity's Hollywood Studios
There are so many ways in which Disney Infinity lends itself to YouTube movies. It could include game walkthroughs, tours of virtual worlds, or trailers of personally designed games. It could include recordings of toy plays, where kids write their own scripts and record their own voice-overs. If the platform would support tutorials, they could get voice-overs there as well. If PhilharMagic Mickey was available to conduct musical performances, they could be recorded too. If virtual roller coasters could be designed, imagine those virtual world tours. The Disney Infinity Team could facilitate synching up background music, sound effects, and voice-overs. It could support editing options for rearranging or cutting sets of frames, adjusting camera angles, potentially inserting 2D boards with title screens, voice balloons, or movie credits. Movie making tools would bring more depth to the creativity, and rather than restrict YouTube posting to experienced gamers, it would open it up to everybody. "Look what my kid made with Disney Infinity <insert YouTube link here>" - email quote or Facebook post, either way, it would be Hollywood Studios Magic.

 

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Immersion Magic
Walt Disney World does not have the best roller coasters. It does not have the best "dark rides". It does not have the best water parks. Why then do so many people consider it the best amusement park (actually, best set of amusement parks)? It's about the immersion. It's about the overall "magical experience". It has the combination of rides, shows, restaurants, resorts, sporting facilities, you name it, all wrapped up together, relating to a tremendous collection of quality movies, appealing to the kid in everyone. What will make Disney Infinity such a great success? Same thing. Disney Interactive Studios need not attempt to create "the next best video game" any longer. Thank goodness. Some of the best-selling smartphone apps are repackaged variants of an earlier game. Like that famous dessert from Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club resort, the Disney Infinity Team could (& should) throw in everything including the kitchen sink. Leverage the investment with all of these figurines, 3D renderings, game mechanics, & infrastructure by including all kinds of references to the movies, the music, parks, everything. Categorize as much of it as possible into Play Set unlockables, feeding into that collective nature, and whatever can't be crammed into the schedules of their 2-month extension, retroactively throw it in with the next release as "bonus content". These elements don't need to be individually novel. They need to be of quality, but not necessarily novel. It's about the collection. There are collectible figurines, collectible Play Sets, collectible Power Discs, and along with them, collectible gaming & creativity constructs. The more the merrier.

Trivial Pursuits
As an example, consider movie trivia. Look up any movie on the IMDB web site/app. There's "Did You Know?" trivia, goofs, quotes, etc. Consider the Disney version of the Trivial Pursuit game. Apparently Ludwig Von Drake has been the host of a D23 fan club tournament for it. What if there was a Disney trivia category that could be unlocked with every Play Set? What if the Toy Box could be used to design the game board and the more Play Sets you had, the greater variety of Disney trivia questions you would have? Questions could be on the movie (or set of movies) for each Play Set, and any related park attraction related to them. Each question could have 4-5 choices to choose from and the correct answer would allow the player to gain points and/or move up the game board. Individually, this would not be a huge selling point for a game. But this a platform. It's a collection. And this would offer a fun change-up to arcade-style gaming. For all of us die-hard Disney fans who are interested in the collectible figurines alone, the ability to unlock Disney trivia from Infinity Play Sets would be a fun plus.

 

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How Much Does A Toy Remember?
It's been noted that the Disney Infinity figurines can be mobile, not immediately tablet mobile, but Infinity Pad mobile, moving from one pad to another and still remember things. But how much does it remember? If Power Discs are meant to be tradeable, then they're probably not remembered. Each Infinity character will apparently have specific unlockables in the corresponding Play Set, so hopefully those will be remembered. What about alternate Play Sets for the Toy Box? It seems unlikely that the collection of Play Sets purchased for a given Infinity Pad could be transferred to another pad when the figurine docks there. This would imply that each Infinity Pad is the storehouse for the Play Set collection with regard to Toy Box creations, and that the particular figurines currently on the pad determine the players. What happens if the Infinity Pad used doesn't have the optional Play Set associated with the mobile figurine? Is that Play Set temporarily unlocked for that Toy Box session? Will the Play Set sculptures be mobile? It seems unlikely that the Disney Infinity Team would want an entire Play Set to be permanently transferred to someone else's Toy Box from one visit. It will be interesting to see how they work out the details.

How Many Accounts For Each Infinity Pad?
This is the bigger question: how many user accounts can a family have for a given Infinity Pad? Hopefully it's many. Hopefully it's unlimited. Hopefully lots of user-submitted content to the Infinity Cloud will be encouraged. Consider sibling rivalry alone. Sibling are not necessarily going to want to submit a family submission off the pad. They will probably want it to be individual. There's really no harm in it. It wouldn't slow sales. You need the figurines & pad to play. The accounts would really be tied to content submission. Each one could have a unique email address, and a corresponding avatar name for anonymity. Disney Infinity could look to Wizard101's naming conventions to prevent avatar names from being inappropriate. Have a list of optional adjectives, e.g. Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Incredible, Goofy, Blue, Red, etc. and have a list of roles, e.g. Pirate, Space Ranger, Cast Member, etc. and a huge list of optional first-names. Unlike Wizard101's names, these would need to be unique, so at registration a sequence number could be tacked on. Wonder how many Goofy Space Rangers there might be? There could be a collection of Infinity character faces to associate with the avatar. This would work well with Disney Infinity friendship circles too, regarding shared virtual worlds, leadership boards, etc. For collaborative content submission, everyone will want some credit, even if it's anonymous. Kids could take some figurines to their friends' house, work on a Toy Box creation together, and that submission could include both avatar IDs collectively. What about those academies at the parks to introduce Infinity? What about Game Design Clubs that could emerge out of schools? Kids need not own an Infinity Pad to start up an account. It's all about encouraging content, encouraging collaboration. The more mobile a Disney Infinity avatar account can be, the better. It would not slow sales. It would speed them up. Once someone experiments with Disney Infinity, they'll want their own Infinity Pad. Whenever some highly-rated Play Set mash game is seen on the Infinity Cloud, then kids will want all the required pieces to play the game. The more user-submitted content that becomes available, the more perceived value each figurine, each Play Set, each Power Disc will have.

 

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Play Set Icons
If you take a look at the Disney Infinity figurine packaging, each one has the icon for the Play Set to which it belongs. This a practical thing, to ensure the buyer has the corresponding Play Set for said figurine. It also provides the means for lots of cool game mechanics that could highlight the nature of the Disney Infinity platform. In the YouTube videos that show some of the Starter Pack gameplay, these icons can already be seen used at the completion of various checkpoints. There are tons of console games and tons of apps that have unlockables, but how many have categories of unlockables? When you encourage the mash-up of all these Play Sets, then the icons can be used to give bonuses to the characters who belong to those respective Play Sets, or simply highlight the variety provided in a large collection.

Play Set Boosts
With Nintendo's Mario Party games, blue & red tiles are used to designate added or lost coins. If Disney Infinity is to support boardgames, what if the tiles could instead be Play Set icons? What if your player gained coins only when landing on a space with the icon matching its Play Set? What if it meant sliding to the next occurrence of that icon on the board? If Disney Infinity is to support virtual golfing, what if the Play Set icons were placed on the flags, where a player belonging to that Play Set had a free Mulligan option, or a "handicap" that halved the number of strokes for that hole (ensure an even distribution of those flags and it could still be a fair game)? For sports games in general, instead of "park sponsor teams" from the earlier append, maybe they could simply use the Play Set icons (albeit, with a design trade-off that teams couldn't mix across Play Sets). Musical scores for karaoke or instrumental performances could display the icon of the Play Set which unlocked that particular song. "Smash Bros" variant games could have random boost tokens that were particular to the Play Sets. Disney Infinity is a collection of collections. Play Set icons could highlight this, and improve the gameplay.

Playing Without A Full Deck
This may sound madder than the Hatter, but forget Wonderland for a moment and consider collecting a partial deck of cards from every Play Set. Instead of the traditional suits like hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades, each Play Set is a suit. With the Starter Pack you'd get the suits of Pirates, Monsters, and Incredibles. The icons could be simplified to one color in these cards, 2-10, with character images for Jack, Queen, and King, with the full multi-colored icon for the Ace. Incredibles could have Dash, Mrs. & Mr. Incredible for the face cards, Pirates could have Jack Sparrow (of course for the Jack), perhaps Calypso & Davy Jones for Queen & King. Monsters are trickier (no apparent Queen), but some female Monster could be used. Buy the Cars Play Set and you could maybe have Lightning as Prince, Mater as King, with Holley as the Queen. Whether or not the actual figurines of these face cards would need to be purchased to complete the suits would be a merchandising decision. Card games make popular apps and popular mini-games. Disney Infinity's versions of Solitaire, Memory games, Rummy, etc. could possibly be played with 3, 4, 5, or more "suits"! There could be some games where a "trump" suit applies when it matches that of the figurine/player. If the face-card is an exact match, the card could be a wild card. Disney Infinity could provide a separate game editor that specializes in creating your own card game. Gambling card games might not fit well with the Disney brand - but Mickey Coins could be left out of that particular game editor. Card games could work well as single-player and AI/online multi-player. Also consider the popularity of "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" at the Magic Kingdom park. In addition to "traditional" Play Set suits, perhaps each Infinity figurine would unlock its own Sorcerers collectible card. Then with Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey (or The Hat as a Power Disc), there could be some Disney Infinity variant of this game. As with Disney trivia, this would not be a standalone winner. On its own, this would make for a rather expensive deck of cards. But thrown in with the rest of the games, this would be a nice addition to the collection and to the platform. And it would port well to smartphones & tablets.

 

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Infinity Box Icon Wildcard
The red Infinity Box icon looks cool in its own right. Given that the Toy Box is where all Play Sets will be mashed together, then the Infinity Box icon would make a perfect wildcard boost. Wherever there could be a Play Set specific boost for swashbuckler health points, a racer's speed, a boardgamer's moves, or a card player's trump, the Infinity Box icon could represent the wildcard boost that applies to all figurines, regardless of their Play Set. It would "complete" the game mechanic, bringing all of the Play Sets together.

Infinity Box Icon Portal
Might that icon also be used to connect Toy Box worlds? What if walking through a misty portal or dark cave entrance or reflective mirror, flying through a suspended ring, or diving into a murky pool would transport your Infinity toy player to another destination, be it a mini-game or simply some alternate area to explore? What if this three-dimensional red box denoted such a portal, serving as a beacon for location jumps, and a fun reminder of the anything-goes nature of the Toy Box?

The Infinity Platform Wild Card
The entire Disney Infinity platform is a bit of a wild card too. Individually these are all familiar game genres. Many have already been implemented by Disney Interactive itself in previous offerings. There can be a fine line between a "tribute" to video gaming and a "me-too", "been-there, done-that". The quality of the collectible figurines and the variety that will be available at the launch will go a long way. The mash-up of all the toy Disney/Pixar characters adds a lot too. But the depth of the Toy Box, and the open invitation for kids of all ages to participate, to collaborate in game design will ultimately drive the platform's success. This wild card is a good bet.

Smartphone Synchup
Early Infinity interviews were quick to highlight that the eventual mobile device support could be a key factor in Infinity's success as well. There has certainly been a huge shift from console gaming to mobile apps. With all of those collectible figurines, Play Set sculptures, and Power Discs unlocking digital content off a disc, how will smartphones and tablets work? I still hope that the "Toy Box creativity accounts" can be "infinite", that there won't be some limit to the number of mobile devices associated with any given Infinity Pad. How would Disney support this, without affecting sales? Perhaps it would be an acceptable trade-off that acquiring mobile Infinity apps would require a synchup on a PC with a connected Infinity Pad. Downloads would be managed by the Infinity Cloud, not iTunes or Google Play, and the apps that could be acquired would be limited to the unlocked portions of tools according to that particular pad. You could visit a friend's house for example, and synch up with everything unlocked from his Infinity Pad, but would lose the apps synched up from your own. At any given time the mobile device would reflect apps associated with a single pad and its registered purchases. Perhaps the Disney Infinity Team would want to publish an app or two for free out on iTunes and Google Play to promote the platform, but that's a separate point. Perhaps there might even be some free apps that were specifically designed for Disney park visits to promote park-exclusive content.

Advantages of a Free Cloud
There may be a temptation for Disney to follow the Chromebook pricing model and charge for the user-submitted games (or at least the storage where they reside). That would be the "cloud service" after all, to manage the data, and it could theoretically be subscription based. Hopefully that won't happen. The Disney Infinity expense has already been discussed online extensively, and pricing associated with collectible figurines is simply more palatable for lots of people. A figurine is something that you can physically hold in your hand, even if the virtual counterpart vanishes without the connectivity of an Infinity Pad. It's an emotional connection. Plus there may possibly be some legal benefits. If all of the user-generated content is kept free, perhaps there's some additional protection from copyright lawsuits (disclaimer: not a lawyer, defer to actual legal counsel). This platform shows appearances in becoming a tribute to video gaming. And while there are already unique elements with these Disney-trademarked characters, using new game editor software mashing them up in different ways, Disney is a large corporation. A quick scan on these Disboards shows a number of seemingly-frivolous lawsuits. If the user-submitted content can technically be freeware, that's probably a good thing. And if some contest winning games do make it to the Disney parks (where there certainly would be a separate charge), then those games need to be distinct, definitively unique.

 

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Artistic Bells & Whistles
There is certainly a big artistic element in designing virtual worlds. But it would be cool to see even more artistry included within Disney Infinity. Consider for example the Animation Academy in Hollywood Studios, a half-hour hands-on class where everyone draws a particular Disney character. The nearby gift shop sells various workbooks that cover sets of Disney characters. What if each Disney figurine unlocked such a lesson, with one or more views of that character? This Sketch Mode could feature Luxo Jr. the Pixar lamp with each instruction video (is he going to be a Disney Infinity unlockable for gaming too?). No, this is not attempting to synch up with Disney Infinity's Facebook April Fool's joke about supporting the paper platform . It would be fun. Tech-savvy kids might not use the traditional pencil & paper either, nor post on the refrigerator door. Many might use an iPad & stylus, posting to Facebook, Tumblr blog, or Twitter (or with age restrictions, their parents might post to their own accounts). Consider the Paper app by FiftyThree - it's an awesome, inexpensive drawing app with an unlimited number of virtual notebooks that can directly post to all three. Drawing lessons within Disney Infinity would be a nifty digital connection. Consider too the popularity of the DrawSomething app or the classic party game of Pictionary (which apparently has a Disney version too). Imagine an online Disney Infinity mini-game to draw some Infinity toy with a game controller to see which of the three other online players could guess the right answer.

Budding Artistry
Consider the popularity of Epcot's International Flower & Garden Festival. Imagine kids designing their own flower artwork in the virtual world of Disney Infinity. The original Roller Coaster Tycoon game included various shrubs & flowers as an important element to its virtual theme parks. Why not add more artistry in the design of virtual golf courses, theme parks, or any given mini-game? Imagine a contest to help design some portion of the next Epcot festival. And what about those famous Disney World topiaries? They've already appeared in Disney Interactive Studio's coaster software. What if every Disney Infinity figurine unlocked its own topiary? Each topiary could match the pose of the actual figurine. Or maybe these "virtual poseable action figures" could be used to design topiaries in different poses? You might only have two figurines on the Infinity Base at a time, but you could have dozens of topiaries. You could have dozens of instances of the same character. The topiaries need not be inanimate either. Imagine them becoming an active part of the gaming. They might be "sparring doubles", or be non-player-characters in a hedge maze game of tag, or perhaps... defenders of a castle.

Cinderella's Towers of Defense
On a side-note, another popular type of game is the Tower of Defense. This turn-based strategy game would be a good change-up from arcade style games, where strategically placed missile launchers and magical fireworks attempt to hold back a siege of evil minions. Isn't everyone wondering if we could design our own castles regardless? It just seems fitting that the "ground troops" defending a Disney castle would be topiaries. Different figurines could offer different missile defenders as well as "Topiary Troops" while different Play Sets could offer different types of castles and different sets of evil minions.

Collages & Cards, Puzzles & Posters
There have been some cool collages as well virtual cards posted to Disney Infinity's Facebook page. Imagine kids designing their own. Whether or not the platform is opened up for all-out Hollywood Studios' movie-making, why not facilitate this type of artistry? Kids could use Disney Infinity to email birthday cards and holiday greetings to family & friends, design backgrounds for their ipads or laptops, or post to Facebook, Tumbler, or Twitter. Imagine a Disney Infinity collage becoming a digital puzzle. The picture could be "cut up" by the system into some number of pieces based on a chosen difficulty level. It might just be some snapshot of the virtual world they created. There could be timed mini-games for solving simpler puzzles. It would probably be relatively simple to implement and really fun to play. Whether it's a hand-drawn sketch or digitally designed poster, a kid might even want to just print out a copy of their digital artwork for that traditional kitchen posting. Throwing in a few more artistic elements to Disney Infinity would be good for that "kitchen sink" of content, as well as the family refrigerator .