Scanning Demo — Skylanders Collection Vault (2013)

Agency: AKQA

Role: Creative Lead, Prototyper

Tools used: Objective-C

In 2013, we worked with Activision to create the Skylanders Collection Vault, an iOS app that would allow Skylanders fans to add the figures they already owned, earn achievements, and use their collection to compete against friends.

One of the key challenges we faced was how to “add” a Skylanders figurine to your collection. Although you could type in a code from a given character’s packaging, we sought to make the experience more magical by letting users simply pointing their camera at a figurine. But robust, on-device learning wasn’t yet available and server-based image recognition would have taken too long.

So I created this prototype to show how we could achieve this experience on even the lowest-power phone, without an internet connection. How? I’ll tell you over a cup of coffee.

Activision Is Going To Make So Much Money From This Skylanders App (Kotaku)