Greetings fellow Builders! It's time for another Infinity Wall Shoutout!
This week's shoutout goes to Radio for his game "Spiral Showcase"(31, -6). Head over to the Infinity Wall to check out this super fun game!
Kids as Video Game Makers 2016 Finalists Announced
Congrats to our Top 10 Finalists in the inaugural Kids as Video Game Makers 2016 Event.
Check out the video below for a 30 second clip of each of the finalists games and enter the coordinates on the Infinity Wall within the Bloxels Builder app to play them!
Did the creators of these games build the pixel artwork for the these games? YES! Most of the artwork – with a few exceptions – is completely original and was built with Bloxels. Nice work creators!
These games are now being judged (see our judges list below) and the winners will be announced at the Children's Creativity Museum on Wednesday March 16, 2016 at 3p PST.
Bloxels Builder v1.1.4 Released
v.1.1.4 is now out on Apple devices, Kindle and Android will be available within 24 hours.
UPDATE NOTES
Hi all - This update (v1.1.4) is a big clean-up update, so we decided to share all the nitty gritty with you below. Gameboard capture is now improved dramatically, so if you were having trouble before, please give this new update a try!
- Enhancement : Faster Gameboard Capture Processor
- Enhancement : Better Gameboard Detection in Capture
- Enhancement : Better blank/empty block detection in Capture
- Enhancement : Added Capture Progress Bar, with SFX!
- Enhancement : Added various tips and help menus, full “tour” mode coming soon
- Enhancement : Added “Reset Tutorials” to settings (found in global nav menu)
- Fixed Bug : Library Disappearing after Quick Start
- Fixed Bug : Player/Enemies sometimes collide with Story Blocks
- Fixed Bug : Blocks turning semi-transparent in gameplay after editing Level Backgrounds
- Fixed Bug : Removed extra white space when scrolling through the library with filtered search
- Fixed Bug : Hero stuck in terrain after changing rooms in Game Editor
- Fixed Bug : Story blocks not allowing capital letters
- Fixed Bug : Infinity Wall update notification constant refresh loop
- Fixed Bug : Quick start level layouts being added to library
- Fixed Bug : WiFi available but no network connection still allowed access to Infinity Wall
- Fixed Bug : Water rendering above Story Block text
- Fixed Bug : Water occasionally stops behaving like water
- Fixed Bug : Player log in/log out issues
- Other : Various performance enhancements and bug fixes
Our next update (v1.2) will be a big one including a number of “getting started tours” for those who have been trouble familiarizing themselves with the app features. Keep an eye out for that coming soon.
Seeing other issues or have ideas to share? Email us at support@bloxelsbuilder.com
For all the best Bloxels resources, including activities, video tutorials and more visit explore.bloxelsbuilder.com
Toy Fair New York: The Guerrilla Guide
A guide for first-time exhibitors looking to make the most of the toy industry’s biggest stage.
One of the main entries to the main floor at the Javits in New York, the calm before the crowd on an early Saturday morning.
This article originally appeared on Medium.
I’m the CEO of a tech toy startup, and as such this article is for toy fair first-timers.
Yes, there are mega booths at Toy Fair and many of them are private, protected from the eyes of the everyday showgoer. But for most of us, we’re there to be seen and being seen is important.
This year, at Toy Fair New York 2016 we ran our first-ever booth at the show, a 10' x 10', the only size available to first time exhibitors. We were located on the main floor (of two) on the outer rim; part of the the ever-growing “Tech Alley”.
A Bloxels game layout and character, both if which can be captured with a tablet camera and turned into a playable game. Photo by Elizabeth Wiseman Photography.
Our booth featured our latest product, Bloxels, created by our company Pixel Press.
We attended toy fair last year, and were lucky enough to have a 2' x 2' space inside another companies booth (thanks Plus-Plus USA!) and despite the limited exposure and a 1-month old prototype of Bloxels, we managed to be honored with Best of Toy Fair 2015 from Popular Science. This year we were ready to do it on our own.
Truthfully, it was a nerve-wracking experience. However, lots of planning and attention to detail made it a huge success for us. It ultimately went much smoother than we expected, in large part thanks to the materials, seminars, and high-touch contacts provided by the Toy Industry Association (TIA).
In this in-depth article I wanted to share what we found worked for us, in hopes that your Toy Fair New York 2017 and beyond will be successful too.
Toy Fair New York is every year in Mid-February at the Javits Center. It’s always really cold, and always on Valentine’s Day (sorry, Ashley).
The Bloxels booth on the last day of the show #3255. Photo by Elizabeth Wiseman Photography.
First Things First
Should you build it yourself?
If it’s your first year, first and foremost I recommend doing it yourself. The costs are ultimately going to add up quickly without involving a 3rd party and expensive materials.
We spent close to $10k doing it ourselves, including travel — more on budget later, and if it was all worth it.
First and foremost, assuming your product and message is in development while preparing for the show, it helps to have the flexibility to customize your booth and not be locked-in to concepts that can’t be changed late in the process.
Do you run the risk of the booth looking amateur? Possibly, but honestly most of the booths at Toy Fair among the smaller companies look amateur compared to the larger companies anyway. Also, it doesn’t take a huge budget to make it look well planned and consistent with your brand.
You can certainly spend a lot more, as I’m sure the guys did below (and I loved this booth), but you don’t have to go this far to stand out.
The LightUp (https://www.lightup.io/) booth at Toy Fair. Really cool — likely really expensive to build, ship and setup.
We’ll cover more on building and setup below.
Registering for Toy Fair
Registration is easy and we did not find it overly selective. You’ll pay 75% upfront in October and 25% in December leading up to the event mid-February. The cost for a 10’ x 10’ booth was $3,200 in 2016 for new exhibitors and included 1-year of TIA membership ($1,700 value) which does give you access to some great resources. Larger booths are not available for first-timers.
When you register, also make sure the product you are promoting is what is listed in the program. For us that meant our product name Bloxels instead of our company name Pixel Press. For most this won’t be an issue, just make sure people will be able to find you with the name that matters the most for the show.
Picking Your Spot
After you’ve made your down payment you’ll be contacted to setup a call to pick your booth location, which for us happened in September and was officially assigned to us on October 1st. This is important as you’ll need to know your booth’s relationship to other booths before you can start planning. For example, are you on a corner or are other booths on both sides?
The TIA is particular about you being available for a call during a certain time slot, but it’s pretty casual from there on. You’ll have a quick call and be able to see online what is available and you’ll be able to get helpful input on location. As a first-timer and therefore being at the end of the list, your pick will be slim. If you pick a corner it will be ~$200 more. I’d recommend grabbing anouter rim spot on Level 3. There are 2 levels, but this is the main one.
The 2 floors are huge. You can see where we were on Level 3 below(marked with the red dot ) in and we thought it was a great spot. You’ll hear that the veteran showgoers like to browse the outer rim because they know the scrappy companies are there and it’s the best place to find new, innovative products.
If you can get a corner spot, grab it, as it will give you more booth flexibility and an extra entry point to work with, but most likely you won’t have that luxury as a first-timer.
Now that you have your booth location you can start planning, but you won’t hear from the TIA for a bit.
Sometime in November you’ll be assigned an official representative from TIA to assist you along the way and I found ours to be very helpful. You’ll get access to a few rookie seminars on things like booth setup and garnering press at the show, and an invitation to the “Product Preview” on the Friday before the show to have your product screened and presented to the press. I found all of this very helpful and highly recommend taking advantage of the free resources that are offered.
Top Tips from a Pro
Because we attended without a booth the year before (something we highly recommend if you have the chance) we were not only able to get a lay of the land, but meet some veterans as well.
When I asked Rory O’Connor with The Creativity Hub for his advice, he shared this simple but effective list for us.
- Make sure you show the actual product and play experience, not just a big display. You need to help retailers visualize how it will appear in-store.
- Make sure you have enough storage for product samples, staff coats and bags, water etc. Hopefully you will be too busy to leave the stand.
- Make sure the brand name is clearly visible both close to the product on display and so that it can be seen by people searching for the booth.
All great advice! Of course every booth will be different based on the product experience, but try to be creative with the space and be unique to your brand.DON’T rent a table from the exhibitor company, jam it in the front of your booth, and create a less-than-engaging experience. You want people to feel welcome and engaged.
Planning Your Booth
Start Early & Build a Mock-up
Our Mock booth setup in our conference room.
We started buying a few materials for our booth in October, once we knew our spot, and began laying out it in our conference room in December — slowly assembling, evaluating the flow, and tweaking.
If you have the space, lay out tape of the 10' x 10' booth (it will be smaller than you think once stuff is in it) and start visualizing and building.
This is critical, because things like the design of your banners will be affected by the placement of your table space; the size of the TV (if you have one) will have an impact on your banners; where you store your jackets will ultimately matter a lot if you don’t want it to be cluttered; etc., etc.
Point is, planning is key.
Below is likely the diagram you will receive to give you guidelines for building your booth.
All in all getting everything ready was a lot of work, and everyone got involved. Kudos to Josh for helping with a lot of the logistics and to Daniel for his superb work on the booth graphics. Bottom line, the booth should be a team affair.
Hyping Your Booth
There is really only so much you can do to hype that you will be at Toy Fair, as it’s only relevant to a small section of your audience. However, we suggest you make a point to “drip” this information as you approach the event and amplify it as you get closer. Use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with the hash tag #TFNY and #TFNY17.
You’d be surprised how many people we met at our booth this year who knew about it beforehand, and if you can “wow” them once they get there, those will be the first people driving traffic to your booth while at the show. This was very helpful in generating buzz.
Show Budget
Did you just scroll directly to this section? Yes, I understand. On top of the $3,200 it will cost you to register your booth, you are going to have some major expenses to pull everything off.
A lot of it will depend on how many people go and from how far you are flying (if you have to fly). Here is a rough and incomplete outline of our budget, with notes below on how we saved money to keep everything to around $10k.
Our budget worksheet in Quip.
- Booth Registration $3,200
With the first-year exhibitor discount of ~$200. - Booth Materials $4,000
Includes custom banners, cabinets from IKEA, carpet ($200 rented from exhibition company), electricity ($150). We brought the TV from our conference room. - Giveaways $1,000
We already had this for the most part, but it does add up and it helps to have a lot. Make sure you have at least 400 double sided sell sheets targeting retailers and as many or more business cards. We gave away t-shirts, more in-depth pamphlets, and we had custom slap bracelets that people really enjoyed. You know, for the kids. - Shipping of Materials to the Event
This can cost a lot if you are not careful. We estimated shipping materials there and back would have cost around $1,500 via UPS and that was with our shipping partners discount. We decided to drive our materials to the show (15 hours from St. Louis, ouch). It was a lot of work and tiring, but we saved a lot in this area and eliminated flights and material handling fees in the process. - Material Handling ($150 per 100 lbs)
What is this material handling you speak of? Well, if you ship your items you’ll have to pay around $150 per 100 pounds for your materials to be stored, unloaded, and then reloaded at the end of the show. Considering one of our small cabinets weighed 75 lbs, this can really add up. Alternatively, you can bring everything yourself in an SUV or small van and move it in through the front entrance — again eliminating a ton of cost between flights, shipping and material handling. What are the rules? You have to be able to actually carry the item by hand, you can’t use dollies, just 2 wheeled hand carts, and someone has to stay at the car at all times. This work around is primarily meant for carrying in your product, not your entire booth, but we did it with everything and didn’t have any trouble meeting the requirements. This was a huge savings for us and probably was the difference maker for us to have a successful show and budget left over for other things like PR (more on that later). Assuming the TIA will be reading this, please don’t change this policy, please! - Flights ($400-$600/person)
This cost will be eliminated if you drive as we suggest above, and of course how many people are going. If you book far enough in advance and are in the US you should be able to find flights round trip for $400. - Hotels ($150/night, 5 nights per person)
Hotels are cheap in NY compared to San Francisco. You can book ahead and get a nice place for $150, or book 3 days out and get the same nice place for $175. Setup is on Friday and teardown is the end of the day Tuesday, so you’ll need 5 nights per person, unless you take off Tuesday night. Other ways to save cost here are of course to stay with friends, which a few of us did. - Food $50 person/day
Food at the Javits is expensive and not always great (sorry!). Food in New York is also expensive but amazing (yep!). $50/day is probably on the low side, especially if you are planning a team dinner or two. - Union Labor $200/hour
By rule, you aren’t supposed to use any tools to setup your booth, else you should be hiring union labor. We got some dirty looks from New York’s finest, but outside of that they have bigger fish to fry. These guys are primarily working with the larger companies, where the booths require heavy equipment and in some cases power tools. - Internet $8/day or more
Internet is available over the air just as you would pay for it on an airplane each day, and it works about as well. If your demo depends on it you should upgrade to the dedicated line (~$3,500 for the entire show, wowzers!) or a cheaper route would be to add multiple tablet devices to your wireless plan. We had a few iPad’s connected to our AT&T wireless plan ($10/month) and that worked well. This may not be a good option if you are running a lot of PCs. - The Extras
As you get closer to Toy Fair, you’ll get lots of emails both from the TIA and from those who got your email from lists. The only “extras” we paid for were to have our logo in the program ($250) and the online press room (VPO) which came along with the press release distribution we were paying for anyway; around $1000 total (and admittedly not budgeted above). If you have the cash, there are some really cool marketing opportunities. Anywhere from event program ads to lobby graphics and visuals, to costumed characters. But for us, staying focused on making the most of the 10' x 10' space we had direct control over was our priority.
Who should go?
Robin, Richard, Mark, Josh, Rob and Daniel wearing the “Create-a-Character” winning shirts.
This is always a challenge with events and travel, as there is a company culture impact for small teams.
Here are our tips:
- Bring those who have demonstrated skills in other smaller demonstration experiences. Some people thrive on long days and high touch points, some don’t. Those who excel in this area should be rewarded.
- Have enough people to simultaneously support effective demos, write retail orders (if applicable), take physical and mental breaks, and attend meetings. 4 people for us would have been too few, 5 would have been perfect, 6 may have been too many. But with 6 we had the luxury of a “scout” to check out the floor, record video interviews, and in some cases drive a few people to our booth just from a conversation. If you are taking meetings at the show, which will certainly pull you from the booth, only having 3 people will make the show hard for everyone.
- Bring a developer if you have a complex product — even if they aren't good at being a booth personality. It’s good for them to see your product in action with everyday showgoers and to get a chance to understand customer needs. And they may just end up letting some of that critical “customer empathy” rub off on the rest of the team.
The Friday Move-In
Move-in will be on Friday before the show officially starts on Saturday. If you took advantage of the material handling, you would have needed to coordinate shipping your items in during a scheduled day (Tues to Thur the week leading up to the show) and your items should be waiting for you at your booth. If this is you, congrats, it cost you but you are going to have a much easier Friday.
If you are hand carrying as we did, you’ll be doing that as early as 8 a.m. on Friday. For us it was around 10 a.m. It took us 5 hours to setup a relatively complex 10' x 10' booth (or about as complex as you can get away with and not pay union labor). That was with 4 people and it didn’t feel overly rushed. They say the floor closes at 6 p.m., but I’m told you can stick around much longer. Do yourself a favor though and get your team out of there by 6 p.m. so you can rest-up for the big day.
Team Prep
I spent a good amount of time taking notes along the way of things that I wanted to make sure the team understood while on the show floor. Anywhere from how to pitch, how to demo, how to respond to pricing questions, answering hard questions, answering “what’s next” questions and more.
We met for about an hour after setup on Friday to talk through what we called the Team Fact Sheet and collaboratively updated it both that day and each day of the show. Consistency is important, as is flexibility in the message. Communicate what is working and what is not with each other on a daily basis. By the end of the show you’ll all be pros at pitching.
Richard talking with a potential retailer. Photo by Elizabeth Wiseman Photography.
If you have a complex product experience, spend a good amount of time on everyone understanding what you perceive to be the best demo. However, also be prepared to be flexible and adapt during the show, and share notes with each other. I keep mentioning that because it was key for us. Also consider setting up a group text. Everyone can better stay in communication and share exciting things, tips and more.
Recognize that this show also has different sub-audiences. Demos may need to vary based on who you are pitching.
For Toy Fair, the most prominent sub-audiences we found were:
- Specialty Toy Store Owners
- Medium and Large Retailers
- Press
- Toy Manufacturers / Exhibitors
- Toy Distributors
- Sales & Marketing Organizations
- Other Service Providers (Manufacturing, Legal, etc.)
Focus on the first three, and the others will be some form of that.
Lastly, we politely encouraged everyone to stay on their game the night before and not come in dragging. While the lure of the New York night is high, nothing can be worse than being hung-over at a trade show. Yes, growing up is lame sometimes, but at least there are toys!
What to Expect Each Day
The warm-up day and the big day(s).
This is likely not the rule, but our experience with the four days of the event are as follows:
- Saturday, warm-up day. Moderate traffic, a chance for everyone to get their pitch and demo down. Pack it with any pre-arranged partner and press meetings — but not the really big ones since your pitch isn’t perfected yet. Your goal should be to get your team in the flow on this generally slower day.
- Sunday, off-day. Advance schedule as many meetings as you can on this day as you’ll find more will pile up on Saturday and Monday as you get closer to the show.
- Monday, the first big day. We found most traffic happended on this day, and a lot of booth referrals (“Someone said I should come see this!”). This is your big day. Be ready!
- Tuesday, the second big day. It’s a short day (ends at 4 p.m, not 6 p.m) and will go by in a blur. Traffic will be nearly as high as Monday, and it may be busier if you have a lot of leads and partners coming by for a last look. For whatever reason our pre-scheduled meetings were very light this day, and that’s probably a good thing.
Collecting Leads
Daniel demoing a game and Josh taking an interview with a writer.
You will make sales, and you will talk to the press, but the highest volume action will be pitching, demoing and then collecting leads.
Here are our tips:
- Treat everyone the same. Yes, a demo to a patent attorney might be a relative waste of time compared to talking with a 100-store retail chain, but if you start cutting people short it will throw you off your game. The best way to combat this is to have enough help in your booth and prioritize who is demoing to who. It’s okay to politely switch people mid-demo; you’ll need to do it from time-to-time.
- Ask for the business card. It’s more or less expected, and you are wasting your time if you don’t get a card. You’ll have to remind your team of this constantly, and that’s okay. (Mark!)
- Take notes and have a system. We took notes after talking to each lead on a 4" x 6" note pad and taped the card to the sheet. This was super helpful later on. Next year we’ll have a system for pre-organizing these based on the sub-audiences outlined in a previous section, and also have a “hot” folder to be sure we don’t miss any at the show follow-ups or day after Toy Fair follow-ups.
- Be sure to put your initials on the notes so that whomever is breaking them down later can circle back if they have specific questions. If there are ACTIONS ITEMS, mark them very clearly.
- Larger retailer groups or organizations will have lots of team members on the floor. For example, a marketing group we talked to had 40 people at the show! If you have the chance, group your cards at the end of each day and let the team flip through the entire collection. Having that extra insight into who is coming by and being able to reference key names like CEOs — or even just that “someone from your company” had been by already — can help fuel the hype.
Speaking of Hype, that’s why you are here, right?
Garnering press coverage, building floor hype & more.
Richard taking a video interview with Yahoo Tech.
To make the show a success, hype is key. Creating a buzz on the floor will increase the volume of press, which in turn will lead to more traffic and more leads, and more on-floor sales.
It’s hard to describe the energy you’ll have when every other person coming by your booth is saying “I was told I have to come see this.” It’s a lot of fun and it’s a big opportunity to figure out what people really like about your product.Take notes.
To start the hype, we had an awesome article go live the morning of day 2, and that helped contribute to a lot of excitement among our team, attendees from the first day, and those who knew about us and were planning to visit us later in the week.
To get great press, launching a brand-new product at Toy Fair helps, which was the case for us with Bloxels, as it was just released a few weeks prior to the show. We saved our press outreach to coincide with this event and were lucky enough to attract the attention of a few people who had covered us before.
For the most part though, 30 days out from the show we were starting from scratch.
Building momentum with press along with prepping for the show and also running a business is a daunting proposition, so we decided to hire an independent PR representative.
We’ve found you can spend a lot of good money on PR, and we were fortunate enough to find someone with the right experience to maximize Toy Fair for us. We started working with Andrea about a month out and she used a combination of the TIA provided Toy Fair press list (which you can get for free with your registration) and our own press list to start building the conversation.
A collection of logos from the various press coverage we received.
Andrea sent out a press alert 2 weeks out, then a distributed (paid) press release the Tuesday before the show launched on Saturday, and then a reminder to the initial contact list the day after the press release. That coordination, along with helping to schedule meetings, sending out digital press kits, and then timely follow-ups was a huge time savings for us and relieved a lot of stress — not to mention it was highly effective. If you can budget $2500 to $5000 (again, also not included in the budget above) for the month leading up to toy fair and the month after you should do it. Plan to cover at least a 2 month window as there is a good amount of pre-show prep and post-show follow up.
PR tip: Have something more worth talking about. Try to find a unique story (or more bluntly, a hook) that gives your story a bit more punch. Even a product launch can feel a bit too promotional for top press if you don’t have a story to go along with it. For us, we shared the details of an upcoming event to exclusive press, our “Kids as Video Game Makers” competition, which had a compelling storyline to tell in addition to our product launch. This helped us get into Forbes the next day.
Ultimately, a combination of press, a hook, and the uniqueness of our product brought a lot of hype to the show. This resulted in an absurd amount of cards, many resulting invery meaningful opportunities, and more importantly real sales.
Getting Your $ Worth
Taking orders.
Taking orders with Quickbooks online on your mobile device.
Let’s face it, you are here to sell, and there are plenty of buyers. While Toy Fair is not traditionally known as an order taking show we’re told, there are plenty of opportunities to write orders with specialty retailers. Further, you may only be a week or so away from a trial order with a mid-sized retailer that can lead to real sales.
Here are our tips:
- Have a process down for creating an email-able invoice on the floor and to take a credit card payment if offered. We use Quickbooks Online, which has a nice mobile app and card reader. We were able to write an order in a few minutes and even send off a PDF invoice immediately.
- Have a “show special.” For us it was free shipping on orders of $300 or more. Specialty retailers love free shipping, and ideally an order on a small quantity will lead to more orders in the future.
- For mid-sized retailers (and of course larger retailers) be in the mindset to pitch the concept of a trial order, 200–300 units that will spread across multiple stores. Be prepared to talk about “point of sale” tools like banners, sample display product, video displays and more. Point of sale is a separate topic all together, but the general strategy is spend as much as you can to make the trial launch successful in these stores to ensure follow on orders. Even if you don’t have it all figured out yet, have this mindset when talking with mid-sized retailers, you’ll come across like you know your game and be more likely to close.
- You will talk to mass retailers. Take the cards and follow up, but remember you need to find success at the lower levels before you go after mass. The general advice I’ve received is: Don’t try to get into mass if you don’t have a broad product awareness, which often means you’ve also spent a lot on marketing.
- Be humble, thankful, and ask for the referral! Many specialty retailers have friends and peers on the floor or friends back home watching on social media. If you build a good report or make a sale, don’t be afraid to ask them to share their interest in your product verbally with others at the show and on their social accounts.
The Move-Out
Whoa, is it that time already? Are you tired yet? Yes you are. But if things went well you’ll also be running on adrenaline by this point.
Move-out is strictly set to after 4 p.m. on the last day of the show, Tuesday. With the task to tear down and hand carry in front of us, we suspected that it would be a nightmare. That was far from the case. We were packed up and in the car by 5:30 p.m., and leaving town by 6 p.m. We hope your experience is the same!
Wrap Up
How to stand out, have fun, and why attending is important.
If you are going to Toy Fair New York, the goal is to stand out and build hype, so consider that your number one priority. Doing so will lead to more booth traffic, press leads, and ultimately more sales both at the show and after.
To stand out, you’ll need to be sure you are offering something unique and fresh. Last year drones were cool, this year every other booth was drones. Maybe some did something different, but at a show like this it all looked the same save a few smart exceptions.
This year there were a lot of companies doing educational gaming with toys, but no one was doing game creation with toys for the sake of game creation, and with a simple, nostalgic, pixelated twist. It stood out for us and we benefited because of it.
If you are building physical objects targeted towards kids, regardless of how much of it is a “toy” you should highly consider Toy Fair. It’s a major industry event. There are lots of buyers, and lots of opportunity to network with your first specialty toy store customers all the way up to the titans of the retail and manufacturing industry. The network you’ll build is a once-a-year opportunity.
Above all, have fun because it’s toys and it’s an awesome industry to be a part of. Don’t be afraid to be social both in-person and also online by sharing the toys you that catch your eye. Your fans are excited to be there and want to see what impresses you just as much as they want to see your product.
I’ll hope to see you there next year! If I can help in anyway please email me at robin [AT] projectpixelpress.com or on Twitter @robinrath.
You can also learn all about our product, Bloxels here, and our company Pixel Press here. You can check out our full Toy Fair Video recap here.
If you enjoyed this article, please share and like, thank you!
So did we make our money back? Dollar for dollar at the show, yes, and lots more to come.
Infinity Wall Weekly Shoutout!
Hello Builders! It's time for the Infinity Wall Weekly Shoutout!
This week's Infinity Wall shoutout goes to Alpha Jared for his awesome game Galactic Hunter (-23,21)! Check it out!
Meet the New Interns Helping to Shape Bloxels!
Phil Stortzum (left) and Richard Centeno (right) show off their Bloxels board creations.
The Pixel Press/Bloxels team has two new friendly faces added to it! Meet Phil and Richard! Or Richard and Phil if you prefer! To get to know just a little about these two guys, check out their answers to three questions we posed to them. Let's start with Phil!
1) What are your favorite video games of all time?
Too many to name, but let's try anyway! The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario World, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Resident Evil 4, Mega Man X, Metroid Prime, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Perfect Dark-- I better cut myself off here or we'll be here all day.
2) Why did you want to join the team at Pixel Press?
I wanted to join a team of talented and friendly group of people, and I think I have found such a team with the folks at Pixel Press. I also wished to further my career in gaming, so an internship seemed like the best start to do that.
3) What part of Bloxels is the coolest to you?
Being able to design a character in tangible form with the little colorful cubes, taking out a tablet, and taking a photo to turn that physical collection of cubes into a digital character is something that blows my mind. It's amazing how far technology has come in such a short time that it allows such a feat to be possible. We've come a long way since when I was a kid (I'm 30 as of February 27th), that's for sure!
===
Now it's Richard's time to shine! Let's get to his answers!
1) What are your favorite video games of all time?
Mass Effect; Pokemon Emerald; Halo 2; Metal Gear Solid V;
Honorable Mention: Scott Pilgrim VS the World the Video Game.
2) Why did you want to join the team at Pixel Press?
Video games are the most immersive storytelling experiences, but when it comes to making one, game design and development is no easy task. Pixel Press encourages kids to make their own video games and explore what it's like to be a game designer, developer, and artist! It's an honor to be part of an amazing team that helps kids get creative through an awesome art form that is video gaming.
3) What part of Bloxels is the coolest to you?
The Story Block and Infinity Wall! Adding narratives, be it small or large, makes all the difference in a video game, and the Infinity Wall lets you share all your creations with everyone!
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The Pixel Press/Bloxels team is very happy and excited to have Phil and Richard join our esteemed ranks! Be sure to catch Bloxels blog posts from both Phil and Richard in the near future on a regular basis!
Toy Fair New York 2016 Full Recap
Toy Fair New York 2016 was a blast! We had a great time sharing Bloxels with everyone and even got to check out some games people have been building.
Check the video below for our full recap and too see what people had to say about Bloxels at the show. You can also find a recap of our Toy Fair press coverage here.
Toy Fair New York 2016 Press Coverage
Photo courtesy of http://www.geekdad.com
We're back from Toy Fair and the coverage is rolling in! Thanks to all who attended. You also can watch a video recap of the event from inside the Bloxels booth here.
Inaugural Kids as Video Game Makers 2016 Competition Announced
See our official press release below, for more information on entering the KVGM2016 competition, to see our judges list, and more click here.
Pixel Press and the Children’s Creativity Museum to Showcase Winners in Exhibit during the Game Developers Conference
San Francisco, CA, February 18, 2016 -- Pixel Press today announced the First Annual Kids as Video Game Makers (KVGM) event. Aiming to encourage creativity and engineering skills, the competition is open to children ages 14 and under. Young designers are invited to create a video game using Bloxels, a first of its kind game creation technology. The contest opens today, February 18th, and runs through March 7th. Winners will be announced on March 15th and have their video games on display at the Children’s Creativity Museum during the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest professional video game event, from March 15th - 18th. The museum is located in the Yerba Buena Gardens, next to the Moscone Center, where GDC is hosted. Complete rules and other information regarding the contest are detailed on theKids as Video Game Makers 2016 website.
“Bloxels leverages the process of making video games to help young people find their voice and develop STEM-based skills through a unique combination of creativity and engineering,” said Robin Rath, CEO of Pixel Press. “We are very excited that the Children’s Creativity Museum will showcase the work of tomorrow’s game designers during this year’s GDC.”
“We are pleased to host with Pixel Press the Kids as Video Game Makers 2016 event and help empower children to become the producers of media, not just passive consumers,” said Carol M. Tang, Ph.D., Executive Director, Children’s Creativity Museum.
The Competition
With Bloxels, kids create entire worlds — characters, levels and stories — by simply building with blocks and capturing the gameboard with the camera on their mobile device. They then design, edit, configure and animate their content directly in the Bloxels Builder app, ultimately creating their very own unique video game. Once a game is created, entrants will submit their game to a panel of judges by posting it on the Bloxels’ Infinity Wall and filling out the Contest Entry Form.
Three KVGM 2016 Top Creators will be selected by a panel of industry experts from across games and learning and will be chosen on specific criteria including creativity, level design challenge and fun factor, storytelling and more.
The Prizes
In addition to having their games on display at the Children’s Creativity Museum during GDC, the KVGM 2016 Top Creators will each receive a recognition certificate, a framed print of the artwork from their game (which will also be on display at the Children's Creativity Museum) and a t-shirt featuring the main character from their game. The special display will be up and running on Tuesday, March 15th through Friday, March 18th, and the framed artwork will remain on display at the museum.
Each KVGM 2016 Top Creator will also receive a financial stipend towards attending the awards event, or to help contribute to their continued development in the video game design space.
For complete rules and other details regarding the contest, visit the Kids as Video Game Makers 2016 website.
About Bloxels
With Bloxels it’s never been easier to make your own video game. Build and design your games, create and animate your own characters, villains, power-ups and more – all done directly on the Bloxels gameboard and then activated with the FREE Bloxels Builder App. All you need are the tools inside the Bloxels Box Set and your mobile device to start experimenting, creating and sharing.
Bloxels is perfect for aspiring creators and makers and is now available at all US locations of Marbles: The Brain Store and at the Bloxels Online Store for $49.95, plus shipping and handling.
About the Children’s Creativity Museum
The Children’s Creativity Museum is a hands-on multimedia art and technology experience for kids designed to build creative confidence. Themuseum’smissionto nurture creativity and collaborationin all children and families stems fromthe belief that creative expression, innovation, and critical thinking are core to fostering the next generation . Futuresuccesshinges not only on what children know but on their ability to think and act creatively as global citizens.
The Children’s Creativity Museum is located at 221 Fourth Street in San Francisco. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm during the school year and Tuesday through Sunday from10:00 am to 4:00 pm during the summer. Visit www.creativity.org to learn more.
About Pixel Press
Based in St. Louis, Pixel Press makes games for your whole brain and is the creator of Bloxels. The video game development and technology company develops platforms to simplify the process of video game creation by starting with real-world objects. By merging the physical and digital worlds, Pixel Press is focused on creating experiences that empower people of all ages to create, share and play. For more information, visithttp://www.projectpixelpress.com/.
Media Contacts
Andrea Schneider, Definition PR, definitionpr@gmail.com
Pat Kilduff, Children’s Creativity Museum, pat@creativity.org
First Day Coverage of #TFNY16
Check out the video below for first day coverage of our booth at Toy Fair New York 2016 and some of the other great product we got a chance to see while at the show. Keep an eye out here on our blog for more videos to come.
Welcome Robert! Educator in Residence
We're extremely excited to announce that Robert Kalman is joining the Pixel Press team as our "Educator in Residence". Robert will be taking on the responsibility of developing the educational experience around Bloxels and managing Bloxels EDU; working with teachers, educators and parents to best leverage Bloxels in the home and classroom.
Read on below for some background on Robert's experience and a bit more on why he's so excited about Bloxels EDU.
Robert Kalman, Pixel Press Educator in Residence
I am an enthusiastic middle school computer technology teacher from northern New Jersey. I am married to a fellow computer tech teacher, and we have a beautiful daughter named Toby. After teaching all subjects in a fifth grade position for two years, constantly aiming for tech integration and exciting 21st century projects, I was lucky enough to transition to an ICT position in our 1:1 iPad middle school this past year.
In this role, I have the opportunity to work with each 6th, 7th, and 8th grade student for six weeks out of the school year. My goal as an edtech teacher is to expose students to relevant and innovative technologies, while also creating authentic projects through Problem-Based learning, Coding, and Design Thinking. I place emphasis on CREATION: we don't simply play games, we make games. Each student leaves my class having made several impressive, technology-based artifacts with their iPads and computers.
Each day, I try to create a culture of innovation in my classroom by fostering a student-centered culture and encouraging students to “fail forward” with a growth mindset. I also attempt to tear down the walls of my classroom by having all students create websites to house their work, sharing them with the world, in addition to using our class Twitter account to connect with other classrooms, students, and educators.
I mirror this mindset professionally, as I'm very active on Twitter myself - constantly discovering and sharing new ideas with my Professional Learning Network online, and at workshops and conferences.
Based on my educational philosophy, Pixel Press is the perfect place to be an Educator in Residence. I first learned about the organization through Twitter. After initially reading “draw your own video game,” I decided that I had to give Pixel Press Floors a shot. I loved it. More importantly, my students loved it. I found the creativity, coding connection, design process, supportive educational materials, and the innovative technology to be amazing for my students.
Once I heard about the release of Bloxels, I connected with Robin Rath, CEO & Co-Founder, and suggested that I could help spread the word about this awesome game design and coding tool. Not only are Pixel Press' inventions fun, cool, exciting, relevant, authentic, and challenging, but they also give students a unique voice that they aren't often provided in school. I'm thrilled to be helping Pixel Press help educators put Bloxels into students' hands.
Please connect with me on Twitter @robert_kalman, or shoot me an email at robertkalman (at) gmail (dot) com.
- Robert Kalman
If you are not already registered, please sign up for our educator mailing list on our Bloxels EDU page. We are also currently forming a Bloxels Educator Ambassador program. If you are interested in participating in this program please contact Robert directly at the email address above.
Infinity Wall Weekly Shout-out!
Greetings Builders! Every week, Pixel Press will give a shout-out to one of the many creators who have posted something awesome on the Bloxels #InfinityWall! This week's shoutout goes to SuperCoolPerson74 for their game, "Steal the Crown Jewels" (-5,10).
Bloxels is now available at all 35 Marbles: The Brain Store Locations
We're excited to officially announce that Bloxels is available today in all 35 Marbles: The Brain Store locations, and to celebrate we're hosting a #BloxelsSelfie contest!
Marbles is our first retailer partner, and we're especially excited to be working with them because of their mission of offering games, gifts & gadgets to strengthen the brain.
You can receive a free sticker sheet and slap bracelet just for taking a selfie in front of any store display.
Be sure to visit your local marbles store this weekend, the contest runs through Tuesday. You'll find a store locator link at the link above.
Bloxels Builder v1.1.3 Released
Hi all, v.1.1.3 is now out on all platforms (Apple, Android, Kindle).
UPDATE NOTES
The Infinity Walls is growing! Thanks to everyone for sharing all their awesome creations. This update fixes a number of bugs you may have been experiencing on the Infinity Wall and a few new features as well, including an improved Gameboard capture experience.
- NEW Game previews on the Infinity Wall and in the Editor
- NEW Forgot to name your content or made a mistake before adding to the Infinity Wall? Now you can remove it and re-submit!
- NEW Minor updates to the Infinity Wall, like noting games with the "End Flag" set, and balancing to the coin exchange.
- NEW A few "tooltips" have been added and we'll be adding more in the next updates!
- IMPROVED We've updated the gameboard capture experience to include photos that will show you the best lighting, position and angle for capturing your gameboard and new, more obvious on-screen markers. Give it a try and let us know what you think!
- GAMEPLAY Character collision adjustments, now they can go "into" blocks that have negative space, try it!
- GAMEPLAY Expanded the jet pack's ability to go "outside" of rooms, giving you more control of hiding things outside your rooms.
- GAMEPLAY Various improvements to enemy physics
- BUG Fixed issues with Infinity Wall content displaying wrong creator
- BUG Fixed issues with playing games on the Infinity Wall
- Various stability improvements & bug fixes
- Security updates
Have you created an account and shared your creations to the Infinity Wall yet? If other players download your content, you get the coins!
Seeing other issues or have ideas to share? Email us at support@bloxelsbuilder.com
#13bitBuilder #TFNY "Create-a-Character" Contest Winners Announced!
Hello Builders! We're thrilled to announce the winners for the #TFNY Create-a-Character Contest!
We were blown away by all the cool characters you all created. Everyone did a fantastic job. We have tallied the likes and conducted our secret internal vote and decided upon our four favorites to be featured on our t-shirts during Toy Fair New York, February 13th to 16th.
So without further ado, here are the winners of the Create-a-Character Contest!
Our Grand Prize winner is Asia C. for her character "Super Asia"! Your art and animations are original, unique, and awesome! We can't to see more! You will receive a framed print of your Character along with a T-shirt featuring your character!
"Super Asia" by Asia C. can be found at (2,10) on the Bloxels Infinity Wall!
Thanks to Asia's dad, Richard for sharing this photo of Asia building what appears to be an early concept for "Super Asia".
Our 3 additional winners are:
Elizabeth J. for her "Corny Popster" (2,-12)
Claire H. for her "Rainbow Cloud" (-11,-4)
and John C. for his "Time-Traveler Tim" (-5,-15)
Congratulations Builders!
The Bloxels team will be wearing shirts featuring your characters during the Toy Fair New York 2016, and we'll send the winners their very own character t-shirts featuring the characters they designed! Also Asia C., our grand prize winner will be receiving a framed print of "Super Asia".
Here's a quick look at some of the other entries. Check these awesome characters and more on the Bloxels Infinity Wall! You can find them by entering the location in the screenshot.
Infinity Wall Game Review of "My Station Draft" by @TavionStar15
Our first Bloxels #InfinityWall game review is up, the game is called “My Station Draft” (0,-10) and it was created by @TavionStar15, check it out below!
Bloxels Game Jam @ KIPP Triumph St. Louis
The Pixel Press Team had the chance to host a Bloxels Game Jam with its largest group yet, nearly 50 5th graders at KIPP Triumph Academy in St. Louis. The game jam took place on Saturday, January 23rd.
The event was also covered by FOX2 News, you can watch the news reel on their website here.
Here is a link to our short presentation (PDF) that included breaking each team into roles and objectives for the games the students built.
#13bitBuilder #TFNY "Create-a-Character" Contest
NOTE: Entries for this contest ends January 31st, 2016 at 11:59p CST and winners will be announced here on February 2nd, 2016.
2.1.16 UPDATE: Contest entry is now closed, thanks to all who participated.
2.2.16 UPDATE: Winners announced, read about it here.
About the #13bitBuilder #TFNY "Create-a-Character" Contest
Our very first 13-bit Builder contest is live today! We need your help in decorating our Toy Fair New York 2016 Booth (#3255, February 13th-16th 2016) and want to feature YOUR character, created with Bloxels.
To enter you'll just need to create a character, submit it to the Bloxels Infinity Wall, and enter your information in the entry form at the bottom of this page. Our four winners will be mailed a t-shirt with their character printed on it and we'll also be featuring the winning characters on t-shirts that we'll be wearing in the booth during Toy Fair. One luck grand prize winner will also receive a framed print of their character!
This contest runs now through January 31st, so get building today and remember to submit your entry here!
An example of a character that can be created with Bloxels. This is Safari Jack, or sometimes called Safari Bob.
Contest Guidelines
- Get Bloxels and create a character! Characters must have animations for Jump, Idle, and Walk, but each does not necessarily have to be animated. Watch the Character Creation Video Tutorial for help.
- Characters must be uploaded to the Bloxels Infinity Wall. If you are under 13, be sure you get permission from your parents first. Watch the Infinity Wall Tutorial Video for help.
- You can enter as many characters as you wish for this contest.
- You must fill out one submission form PER ENTRY.
- All creations must be kid-friendly and appropriate, and original (no copying!).
- Winners will be announced on February 2nd, 2016! (This contest is over, see the winners here)
- The contest will run from the moment of this post until January 31st at 11:59pm
An example of Idle, Walk, and Jump animations created with Bloxels. This is Pixtreme the Skateboarder, or sometimes just referred to as Pixtreme.
Prizes and Contest Winner Announcement
We will announce our favorite four (4) entries to be the winners on February 2nd, 2016, with one (1) of those four being the Grand Prize winner!
Each winner will receive a t-shirt with their winning Bloxels character on the front, and members of our team will wear shirts each day with your characters featured on it inside the Bloxels Booth (#3255) during the Toy Fair New York 2016, February 13-16, 2016!
Keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook accounts and this page for contest winners, photos and more.
Winning character designs will be featured on t-shirts worn by the Pixel Press team inside the Bloxels booth (#3255) at Toy Fair New York, February 13-16th, 2016.
Each of the four winners will each receive a t-shirt of their character design.
The Grand Prize Winner will also receive a Framed Print of the Character along with their T-Shirt. We can't wait to see the cool characters you send us!
Winners will be announced on February 2nd, 2016! (This contest is over, see the winners here)
The grand prize winner will received a framed print of their character.
How are winners selected?
Winners will be selected based on up to 3 criteria. (1) the number of likes to character receives, (2) an internal Pixel Press team vote or an external guest judge vote evaluating creations based on creativity and complexity, and (3) any voting that is conducted on our social media accounts.
Votes will be tallied and winners will be notified on or before February 2nd, 2016. (This contest is over, see the winners here)
Be sure to share your entry on social media and with others via email using the Infinity Wall share feature. (watch the Infinity Wall Tutorial Video for more information on how to share).
When sharing on social media use hash tags #Bloxels #TFNY #13bitbuilder and tweet us at @bloxelsbuilder to make sure people can find your entry!
How to Enter this Contest
Once you have created a character, you must post it on the Infinity Wall and fill out your Contest Entry Form.
To post your creation on the Infinity Wall:
- Sign up for a Bloxels account (if you are under 13, be sure you get permission from your parents first)
- Be sure you're logged into your Bloxels account.
- Upload your creation on the Infinity Wall. (Watch the Infinity Wall Tutorial Video for help)
The Bloxels Infinity Wall, where all the content you share is displayed!
Contest Entry Form
The Entry form must be filled out with required fields in order to be eligible to win. The contest will run from the moment of this post until January 31st at 11:59pm.
Winners will be announced on February 2nd, 2016. (This contest is over, see the winners here)
Get creating!
UPDATE: Contest entry is now closed,
thanks to all who participated.
Remember to share!
When sharing on social media use hash tag #Bloxels #NYTF #13bitbuilder and tweet us at @bloxelsbuilder to make sure people can find your entry!
Tweeeets!
Some of our favorite Tweets from pre-order shipment week. Thanks for sharing and keep tweeting, we'll post them here.
Bloxels Builder 1.0 App Released
We're excited to announce that Bloxels Builder is now released on Apple and Android phones and tablets and coming very soon to Kindle. You can download the app here.
Happy building!
