Spin Master is one of the most innovative and popular toy companies that releases a number of new and inventive items every year in a number of categories. One of their most recent releases is called “wobbly Worm” which is a fun game that is geared towards preschoolers but also holds appeal to older children.
“Wobbly Worm” features a plastic stalk with a worm figurine on top. The stalk wobbles, spins, and bobs as platers attempt to loop rings over the top. Intended for two to three players, the winner of the game is the first person to manages to loop three rings.
Recently Brady Lang, the game’s designer, discussed his inventions and experiences as a toy and game designer in an exclusive Interview.
Game
Blasting News (BN): How did you get into game design and do you think your favorite childhood games influenced you?
Brady Lang (BL): I’ve been modifying and making up games since I was ten years old. Growing up in a family that loved games has been my biggest influence. I love to create game experiences that brings everyone around the table, laughing and having fun.
BN: What gave you the idea for the "Wobbly Worm" game, what were the challenges of developing it and how long did it take?
BL: The “Wobbly Worm” was inspired by the movement of inflatable air dancers.
We wanted to make a ring toss game with a big, crazy, whipping character in the center. And the idea was nearly lost! We had drawn the idea in a brainstorm a couple of years back, and found it in a stack of old sketches!
We did a lot of development on a very short schedule! Design development kicked off in January of 2016, and we were in production by October.
The design started with a pretty direct translation of the air-dancer idea, but the production costs were too high. At that point, we turned to mechanism guru Eric Ostendorff, who rapidly developed a series of models that got the right motion with a purely mechanical model. We then worked with him to simplify the design without sacrificing the fun.
When the mechanism was perfected, we began developing the Wobbly Worm character. And that’s when my wife gave birth to our baby daughter!
While I was out on leave, our design director Richard Melohn took over and, along with designer Terry Tomei, created the final adorable worm and apple base you see in the final product. From there, our excellent engineering team took over and made Wobbly Worm a reality.
A lot of elements came together very rapidly to make the Wobbly Worm game, and we’re very proud of the final product.
Inventions
BN: How did you come to work with Spin Master and what have your experiences with them been like?
BL: I began my career in the toy business as product designer, but kept pitching game ideas until they let me make some!
In 2009, I joined Spin Master as a full-time game designer where I got to combine my toy design background with my passion for game design. We’ve since grown from a three-person team into a multi-million-dollar business that makes lots of innovative inventions including the Cardinal and Marbles game lines. It’s been a wild ride at times, but always fun!
BN: What has public response been like so far and what have you enjoyed most about the process of designing the game?
BL: So far, people have loved it. It’s been very well received. Watching kids--and adults--play with the final version of the game has been a lot of fun!
BN: What other games have you designed and are you working on anything else?
BL: I’ve designed or co-designed many games in the last seven years at Spin Master. The items I’m particularly proud of are: Shark Mania, Moustache Smash, and Word Wave. I also had a lot of fun working on the 50th Anniversary edition of Stratego. For this fall, keep an eye out for Soggy Doggy, Silly Sausage, Hedbanz Jr. and The Cat Game. They are not all my designs, but they are A LOT of fun!