BIC brings colouring to life with augmented reality games & unique app
The BIC®Kids DrawyBook app and augmented reality games had its UK launch event last week at The Ice tank in Covent Garden
The unique storytelling app brings traditional drawing skills to life for connected kids with the magic of augmented reality games. Publishers in the parenting, education and retail sectors were invited along with influential parenting bloggers to try the app out with a steady stream of willing children experiencing the immersive gaming experience.
Bringing storytelling to life with augmented reality games
After the many hours that went into the creation and development of the app and augmented reality games in Unity and following on from extensive testing, it was great to see the app ‘in the wild’ with kids of all ages immersing themselves in the DrawyBook experience.
At 4 years old, Jessica’s (daughter of parenting blogger Louise) reaction was typical of the dozens of children who played with the app:
“There are various points within the story where you are prompted to draw and colour a picture, take a photo and then upload it to the gallery to be used in the next section of the story. You can also add stickers to the drawing before it is uploaded and used in the story.
This was Jessica’s favourite part of the app and she loved seeing her drawings come to life and become part of the story. She especially loved the part where her drawings became food being offered to the alien and each time he ate one, he gave a big BURRP!”
A unique immersive gaming experience for kids
As the digital creative agency behind the app development, the Engine Creative team attended alongside the BIC project team and children’s author Elissa Elwick who penned the first DrawyBook story, ‘Marty and the Alien’.
Elissa comments on the unique challenge of integrating traditional storytelling with digital innovation:
“Working in partnership with leading digital creative agency Engine Creative has been great fun and an extremely rewarding collaboration. In contrast to my usual format of picture books, it’s been an exciting challenge using emerging technology such as augmented reality to bring storytelling to life in a unique way for a new generation of readers.”
Enhancing physical products using augmented reality
As BIC®Kids flagship digital experience, the DrawyBook app will be supported by a story colouring book offering augmented reality colouring and audio story-telling through the app. Available in major retailers including Asda and Amazon, the 21-page colouring book includes 9 AR scenes and will be sold with a pouch of magical BIC®Kids colouring pens.
The UK version of the DrawyBook app is available to download now for free on iTunes and Google Play.
