Wanting to make a toy that would increase interaction between children offline, just as much as online, the Draw & Code team designed the cost efficient and accessible line of toys; the SwapBots.
SwapBots are collectable toys that are brought to life by your smartphone or tablet using augmented reality.
Easy to use and with no expensive in-app purchases, by downloading the free app from the Play Store or App Store, pointing it at your SwapBot, you can see the game to come to life as you and your opponent battle it out, the space around you becoming the battlefield.
Each SwapBot consists of three separate blocks that can be swapped with other characters. In battle mode this will mean hundreds of combinations are possible as you seek to knock your opponent’s SwapBot out of the game.
The turn-based gameplay gives the player the opportunity to swap components to create the most powerful SwapBot possible. Also, players have the option of using a spectacular special move to help overcome their rivals.
Draw & Code director Andy Cooper says,
SwapBots address two of the key failings of some toys “life products” the lack of connection between physical and digital play is neatly addressed by the use of augmented reality as you look through the screen to see the physical SwapBot, also, the price-point is lower than most rivals with no need for an NFC base station.
Six core characters will be introduced with further campaign rewards including limited edition figures that are only available to the early backers and the ability to contribute to the next wave of SwapBots due in 2016.
After the initial crowd-funded launch of SwapBots, the toys will be available in blind-packs at pocket money prices. With no further software costs, SwapBots are a truly affordable and highly collectable digital toy hybrid.
The team behind this revolutionary product were eager to make the magical world of augmented reality available to children of all backgrounds, whilst delivering an exciting and exceptionally good quality product, and they’ve done just that.
The initial wave of SwapBots is to be crowd-funded through an Indiegogo campaign that you can find here.
