Defining the Future of Story-Led Digital Physical Play

Role

– Interaction Design Lead (Exploration Phase)
– Technical Lead

Skills

Play Design, Interaction Design, UI Design, Digital Play Prototyping, C# (Unity3D), Maya, Asset Pipeline Development

PrototypingUser Experience

Note on confidentiality
Due to NDAs and child-safety guidelines, I can only show publicly released assets from this project. The visuals below represent final or promotional material; my contribution focused on interaction design, prototyping, and playtesting earlier in development.

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The Challenge

LEGO City Missions aimed to rethink traditional building sets by blending story, problem-solving, and real-time digital guidance. But at the start of the project, two key challenges stood in the way:

  • How do you guide kids through open-ended creative play without rigid instructions?

  • How do you deliver animation-rich experiences that scale across teams and vendors?

We needed to invent a new kind of digital play loop—and build the tools to support it.

My Role & Approach

Designing the Core Play Loop

I worked closely with play designers and narrative leads to shape the foundation of story-driven play. We explored how narrative prompts could encourage kids to build creatively and respond to challenges using real LEGO bricks.

  • Prototyped interactions in Unity3D (C#)

  • Tested guidance patterns, build prompts, and feedback loops

  • Focused on keeping UI and digital content supportive, not directive

 

Kid-Centered Prototyping

I helped build digital prototypes tested with over 100 kids in their homes. This gave us real insight into:

  • When kids got stuck or inspired

  • How much screen time was “just right”

  • How story pacing affected physical play

 

Technical Art & Pipeline Development

In parallel, I acted as a technical artist/designer, designing asset workflows to support internal and external animation production:

  • Built a scalable animation asset pipeline in Unity

  • Worked closely with external vendors to review models, animations, and formats

  • Ensured all content was delivered on time, at high quality, and pipeline-ready

  • Created tools and documentation to align teams across time zones and disciplines