Disney brought their next big thing in gaming, the "Infinity" platform, to this week's GDC with the intention of showing off their various NFC-enabled "Play Sets" and the open-ended "Toy Box" mode, which allows up to four people to run around an open canvas as a Disney character and create with the availabel tools.
The most in-your-face aspect about the new game, which should be available on whatever console you own, are the NFC action figures. They're sold as a starter pack bundled with the disc and separately for further collection, granting players new Play Set storylines, crafted specifically in a Disney universe like "Monsters University" or "Pirates of the Caribbean," and tools for the Toy Box. The big appeal for each individual Play Set, where players are required to use a mtaching character in a certain Universe to play through a storyline, are different play mechanics that come with each. Jack Sparrow navigates the open seas in his pirate ship while Mr. Incredible takes on bad guys in more traditional melee action. And then there's the "Cars" Play Set that has you racing down the streets of Radiator Springs.
It's a fun design and it should really play well with the younger audience, but what Disney is showing off about the unseens depths of Toy Box mode this week may actually entice long-time gaming fans. It's all about the logic.
Like "Little Big Planet," "Infinity" opens up the game assets and tools used to build it to the players, letting them design gaming scenarios with simple if/then commands. The example Disney Interactive executive Producer John Vignocchi showed, during an interview with Gamespot, involved putting down a pressure pad and coordinating it's activation with another object - a fireworks display. Simple stuff, yes, but he went on to describe recreations of "Super Mario Bros." World 1-1 and "Super Off Road" wherein Mr. Incredible takes on Mrs. Incredible in Barbie's Corvette, the camera angle manipulated in-game to show a top-down view. If you consider yourself the creative type you should already be coming up with scenarios on your own.
And here's the best part. All this minor-league, light-hearted logic creation is done strictly within the three-dimensional world of the Toy Box. In the demos shown at GDC, Mr. Incredible, equipped with Buzz Lightyear's jetpack, is floating around the stage using the Blue Fairy's Wand as the magical do-it-all object placer, manipulator and programmer. The player would simply point the wand at an object, choose its properties and then, for logic design, would choose an action or reaction to connect to another object. Having Soccer goals connected with a scoreboard was a simple three step process - place the goals, place the scoreboard and connect them with a flick of the wand.
Translating the idea of programming in this way is ideal for kids, of course, but also for gamers who've always thought about their own scenarios but never wanted to put I the time or effort to figure it out on their own. Even "Little Big Planet" has its caveats in complexity, there is a learning curve in most games of this sort, but "Infinity's" seems like it is historically shorter than ever.
However, within the Toy Box are a subset of logic toys, which means creation is going to be limited to the tools Disney gives you and their pre-configured logic capabilities. So it isn't unlimited, you can't enable any object with any outcome you can think of. "Infinity" creations likely won't match the endearing complexity that "Little Big Planet" offers, but on the flip side, it won't take weeks or even months to master. It seems like it may not even take more than an hour to get a real feel for it. Now consider doing it with four players at once, each of whom can get a handle on the concept in record time, and Disney may be putting together quite the inspirational creative tool. With the massive popularity of "Minecraft" on the Xbox 360, these kinds of open-ended experiences are catching on with a wider base. If that base can overlook, and even embrace, the cuter Disney styling of the game, there may be some true, hardcore depth to what looks like a Skylanders cash-in on the surface.
Either way, though, whether you're going for the Play Sets or the Toy Box, everyone's going to need to keep buying those figurines to introduce new opportunities to create. Vignocchi said a Toy Box play session's available tools are based on those unlocked by the hosting player. And just like before, it's he or she with the most toys that wins.