#186: When A Game You Developed Gets Nominated For a Toy Of The Year Award with Christian Castro
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Calling all game people! In this week’s episode, we delve into the captivating world of game development with Christian Castro, Director of Product Development at Relatable. Christian's conversation highlights the story behind "Search Party Chaos at the Park," a first-of-its-kind 3D board game that's been nominated for the prestigious Toy of the Year Award.
The game, a family-friendly cooperative experience, introduces a unique blend of storytelling, search-and-find gameplay, and stunning three-dimensional pop-up structures. As we explore the development process from ideation to TOTY nomination, Christian unveils the challenges faced, the creative collaborations undertaken, and the milestones achieved. The undertaking of this complex project was well worth it in Christian’s eyes, as the result was a game-changing (hopefully award winning) board game experience that bridges the gap between flat board games and immersive three-dimensional play.
If you plan to submit your own game for a TOTY nomination, this is an episode you should dive right into. We kick off with an overview about the award itself, and share where you can find more information on how to apply. Our guest provides insights on what it takes to actually BE nominated, encouraging you to push the envelope on your next toy or game creation to snag a future TOTY nomination for yourself!
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
TOTY Award Overview: What are the TOTY awards and what are the benefits of a nomination or a win?
Dimensional Gameplay: "Search Party: Chaos at the Park" stands out for its fusion of search-and-find challenges and cooperative gameplay, as well as a 2D and 3D board game experience, giving the game major replayability.
Search Party Unboxing: Christian walks us through the moment of unboxing, where the three-dimensional paper amusement park pops to life, creating an exciting and captivating initial impression. If you’re listening to the podcast, be sure to check out the YouTube video to watch the unboxing in real time.
Importance of Audience: When asked to share a word of wisdom Christian shares this – understanding your audience is vital when developing toys or games, ensuring the final product resonates with its intended users first and foremost.
Meticulous Development: Christian details the intricate process of creating a Search Party: Chaos at the Park, a game that marries storytelling, illustration, and engineering, highlighting the challenges and triumphs along the way.
A Proud Moment For Relatable: Our guest Christian, shares his pride that Relatable is being recognized for a family-friendly game like Search Party: Chaos at the Park. The company, formerly known as What Do You Meme? Has primarily been known for their adult party games...until now! This TOTY nomination for a family game product is an exciting and proud moment for the entire team!
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Vote for Search Party: Chaos at the Park as Toy Of The Year in the Games Category by clicking here.
Connect with Christian Castro on LinkedIn by clicking here.
Check out more games by Relatable (formerly known as What Do You Meme?) by clicking here.
Learn more about the TOTY awards and The Toy Foundation by clicking here.
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[00:00:00] Christian Castro: Search Party is a family friendly cooperative game, you open up the game board thinking it's gonna be a regular board game, but it actually pops out twice and it reveals this amusement park made out of paper. You literally have a paper Ferris wheel and a paper rollercoaster, and within those three D and two D structures, there are thousands of illustrated characters scattered across the board.
[00:00:24] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to making it in the Toy Industry, episode number 186.
[00:00:30] Hey there, toy people. Agel Wade here and welcome back to another episode of the Toy Coach Podcast, making it in the Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com.
[00:00:54] Today's episode is going to introduce you to a nominee in the games category for [00:01:00] the toy of the year awards 2023. But before we dive into that, I thought you guys might want a little overview on what the TOTY or toy of the year awards are as stated on the toy foundation.org. The TOTY awards honor the best of the best in the toy industry. This year the awards includes 17 product categories. Plus for the first time ever, the award is being extended to four people focus categories and campaign categories. Now the product categories range from action figure of the year creative toy of the year, doll of the year, game of the year, all the way to vehicle of the year.
[00:01:42] The campaign focused categories involve categories like new marketing campaign of the year corporate social responsibility. And the people focus categories, highlight champions of sustainability, champions of diversity and inclusion, and much more for all of the details on [00:02:00] all of the categories head over to the toy foundation.org.
[00:02:03] Now this year, the TOTY awards are rolling out the best of the best in their entertainment for the night of this dinner and gala and award show. They are having the three time Grammy award winner. Wyclef Jean performing at this event? It is going to be an incredible memorable night. Now being nominated for a TOTY award in the toy industry is like being nominated for an Oscar. It is a big deal. The products that win these awards are often sought after, by major retailers, an award like this can actually help a company break into mass market retail if they haven't been able to do so already. And other than that, it can give you incredible press. Simply being nominated is an incredible achievement for any toy company or person that is lucky to [00:03:00] be on this ballot.
[00:03:01] Now in this episode, we are going to talk to a product developer behind one of the products that was nominated for the toy of the year awards 2023. And we're going to hear a whole lot about the product that was nominated and about the product development process.
[00:03:18] So hopefully by the time you're listening to this episode, you haven't voted yet. And you'll learn a little bit more about one of the exciting games on the ballot. Now, without further ado, let's dive in to this episode.
[00:03:31] Azhelle Wade: My guest today on the podcast is a very special guest. None other than my husband, Christian Castro. Last time we were on this podcast, you were my boyfriend, Christian.
[00:03:41] Yes. A lot's changed since then. Yeah, a lot's changed. So Christian is the director of product Development at Relatable. The company that's formerly known as, what do you mean? At relatable Christian leads a team of toy innovators and creatives who help in developing [00:04:00] hundreds of games, toys, and consumer products that make life more fun.
[00:04:04] Christian is the 2019 winner of a Taggy award for innovative art and visuals, and as of this week, it was announced that search party chaos at the park, a game that he worked on with his team is the toy of the year nominee. Ah, congratulations to the whole team at Relatable. And of course, my hubby Christian Castro. So Christian, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me again. Great to be back. Yeah, it's great to be back. Yeah, it's great to have you back, babe. So I wanna talk about, uh, how you feel, how it feels being nominated for the biggest award in the toy industry. Yeah, I mean, the Toy of the Year awards are the, the quote unquote most prestigious award and mass market toys and games. And to be nominated specifically in the game of the year category is huge as a games company.
[00:04:55] How did it first feel when you found out that you were nominated? Um, [00:05:00] well, it was hard to believe at first, honestly, like Relatable or What Do You Meme? Had never been nominated for a TOTY. I personally have never been nominated for a TOTY, so it was kind of like, An unbelievable moment at first.
[00:05:13] But you know, once it settled and once it really kicked in, it was just an incredible feeling. For the longest time I've known about the Toadies and the toy industry has really known about, what do you mean? And known them as a adult party game company. Mm-hmm. So to be recognized by the industry, for a family game, which search party is, I think it's, it's a huge milestone for us.
[00:05:35] 'cause we do a lot more than just. Adult party games, we do more than even just games. So it really shows how unique the product really is.
[00:05:43] Have you ever had a game or a toy be nominated for an award like this before? No, none. I. Well, you did win that award. Innovative Arts and Visuals for that.
[00:05:55] Christian Castro: Yeah. For art and visuals of the year. Right. For new phone who dis Right. But [00:06:00] never a Toti award. No, never. So what would it mean for you if you won this award? I mean, it would be huge. It would be a personal. And career achievement of mine honestly, when we both went to f i t for Toy Design and when I was at the Fashion Institute of Technology in the design studio, there was like a display wall of, toy design alumni and different toys that they had designed.
[00:06:23] Azhelle Wade: Mm-hmm.
[00:06:23] Christian Castro: And a lot of them were toy of the year nominees or to Toy of the Year winners. So ever since then, like the tote has been like ingrained in my brain. It was kind of like a. Bucket list item of mine. Yeah. So to be nominated is like, or halfway there.
[00:06:36] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. It's like, honestly, I always say the TOTY, like the Oscars of the toy industry.
[00:06:40] Everybody always says that actually. Yeah, you could say that. Yeah, I agree. So where can people go to vote if they wanna help you win? As I said in my latest LinkedIn post, collect the final Infinity Stone. Where can they go to vote?
[00:06:53] Christian Castro: you could go to toy awards.org and click on the games category to vote for search party.
[00:06:58] You can click on any of the [00:07:00] other categories to check out all the awesome finalists in different categories.
[00:07:03] Azhelle Wade: So we have a copy of Search party here. Christian, would you tell us a little bit about the game and I would like to open it up and if you're listening to this podcast, I want you to check out search party@relatable.com
[00:07:18] but if you're watching the video, we're actually gonna open it up and just take a quick peek at all of the pieces inside. We've got.
[00:07:27] All of the pieces inside of the game. Okay, so the reason I wanted to bring this up on camera now is just because this is a fun popup search and find game. So I wanna show that as Christian explains what search party is. Go for it, babe. Awesome. So
[00:07:43] Christian Castro: Search Party is a family friendly cooperative game
[00:07:47] Azhelle Wade: that has this three dimensional paper popup feature.
[00:07:50] Christian Castro: As you can see here, if you're watching the video. So it is really big. It does have this really nice wow factor, a nice unboxing moment, if you will. It's pretty [00:08:00] gargantuan as you could tell, like much bigger than Michelle's head there.
[00:08:03] What kind of game is search party? Search party is a family friendly cooperative search and find game. And what does it come with? So it actually comes with this unique and innovative. Three D pop-up, paper amusement park. You open up the game board thinking it's gonna be a regular board game feature, but it actually pops out twice and it reveals this amusement park made out of paper. You literally have a paper Ferris wheel and a paper rollercoaster, and within those three D and two D structures, there are thousands of illustrated characters scattered across the board. And there's also 15 decks of cards with each deck representing a different mission that you have to work together in order to achieve that mission. I can explain more about those later. And there's also a little magnifying glass that helps you like hone in on the tiny little illustrated characters.
[00:08:58] 'cause there's a lot to look at. [00:09:00] Trust me, you'll be there for hours analyzing everything. And there's also a little search and find booklet. Where it comes with 300 different objects that are hidden across the amusement park, and it's up to you to find them. So you definitely get great bang for your buck here.
[00:09:13] Azhelle Wade: So how do you play the game? What is the main focus of this game?
[00:09:18] Christian Castro: So there's two game modes. There's the, the simple, search and find where it's just like there's a rubber duck scattered somewhere and you just look for the rubber duck. That's the simple one. But then the main game is the mission mode. That's the decks of cards. There's 15 decks of cards. Each is color coordinated to represent a specific mission that's gonna involve a task, a crime, or some sort of puzzle that you need to solve. So you would grab one of the decks of cards, you'd read the first card out loud, and then it's up to everyone to.
[00:09:49] Do exactly what it describes on the card, and I'll give you a fun example that I helped write this mission. There's a character on the rollercoaster who was taking a selfie and dropped their [00:10:00] cell phone. So step one of that mission is to find the person who dropped their cell phone, and of course, they're somewhere on top of the rollercoaster.
[00:10:07] So it's fun getting to search literally on, on top of this paper rollercoaster. And once you find them, the next card tells you to find where their phone landed at the bottom of the rollercoaster. So you, you eventually keep searching until you help this poor person, retrieve their fallen cell phone.
[00:10:24] Azhelle Wade: So you mentioned that you helped develop that mission. Was that all a part of the development process and could you tell us a little bit about that development process for this game?
[00:10:34] Christian Castro: Oh yeah. I mean there's, there's, to my knowledge, not a, a game that has this type of. Three D structure mixed in with that type of storytelling search and find gameplay. So it was, it was hard to develop it at first 'cause we had no reference point. So it was really working very closely with a paper engineer who helped develop the three D structure, along with working with our internal, writing team, spearheaded by our, [00:11:00] rockstar. Copywriter named Emma. And then working with the brand manager to help, art Direct the illustrations 'cause there's, like I said, thousands of illustrated characters in there.
[00:11:09] So it was, kind of a chicken and egg situation. At first we didn't know, should we write the stories first, then illustrate them or illustrate the story and then write the stories around that. So eventually we figured it out, but it's essentially, mapping out where each individual step of each individual mission needs to be executed. So that was a process in and of itself. And then hiding those, key characters with hundreds, if not thousands of other distraction characters around them. So definitely a labor of love, but we made it work.
[00:11:38] Azhelle Wade: I saw online that one reviewer said they like I spy games so they were drawn to this game. Where can someone interested in this game find it to purchase it? Where is it currently sold?
[00:11:49] Christian Castro: You can find it at any major retailer for toys or board games such as Target, Walmart, or amazon.com. I always encourage people to visit their local [00:12:00] toy or game store to see if it might be in stock or visit relatable.com. Now that we're relatable and find out more information there.
[00:12:07] Azhelle Wade: Have you taken a look at any of the reviews or gotten any feedback about what people think about the game?
[00:12:12] Christian Castro: Oh, yeah. I'm addicted to reading those Amazon reviews and target reviews. I'm happy to see it's been overwhelmingly positive reaction. We're still conducting some internal play tests just so we can make sure the game can be as high quality as possible. But yeah, we look forward to seeing all the positive feedback and, I mean, we're literally nominated for a TOTY award, so it's, it's harder to get better reaction than that.
[00:12:35] Azhelle Wade: You know, I remember your cousin came over one day and had seen this game and loved it and I was like, oh, maybe this is something.
[00:12:42] Christian Castro: Yeah. I mean, people who don't play board games or like pop-up books are really like, drawn to this because it's so different than anything that I've seen before. Like, honestly, I don't even think I'm doing it justice by explaining it 'cause. It's so unique and I'm so excited when I talk about it that I just blurred out information. But hopefully [00:13:00] people can figure out that it's a great game, and if you don't believe me, please just go on Amazon. Look for a search party, chaos at the park by relatable, and see for yourself.
[00:13:09] Azhelle Wade: Do you remember, or are you open to sharing a time where you had a big struggle while developing this game and how you overcame it? I, I mean, I remember, but I mean,
[00:13:20] Christian Castro: yeah, every step of this. Had some sort of obstacle we had to overcome. But I would say working with a board game factory that may not have had experience working in three D pop-up structures was a struggle. And having to write essentially like an interactive I spy video game of sorts, was a difficult part as well. But it was a team effort and we have a lot of talented creatives at relatable that really helped push this through and helped us achieve our goals.
[00:13:49] Azhelle Wade: Do you remember your first big win with this board game? The moment where you felt like, yes, this is working out. It's looking good. I think it's gonna be a hit. Even before you got [00:14:00] the TOTY nam,
[00:14:00] Christian Castro: I would say there were many points where I'm like, this is gonna be amazing. And other points where I'm like, what have I done right? When we found the right illustrator and paper engineer, that was a huge win. When we got the first sample of the three D structure, it was like all white.
[00:14:16] There was no illustration on it or color whatsoever, but just like opening it up and seeing it pop up, that was like a win. And just seeing how everyone in the office, even those who weren't involved in the game, they would just like walk by and see the pop-up structure and they were like, what's that?
[00:14:30] What's going on? Like it would really grab their attention. Like that's when I knew like, okay, we have something here.
[00:14:35] Azhelle Wade: Oh, that's a really interesting point. Like even people in your own office. Who are used to seeing games that you guys develop all the time and used to seeing competitor games that you might purchase just to play when they're stopping and they're saying, wait, hold what's going on here?
[00:14:49] That's when you know you really have something that might pop, um, in the game aisle. It's really interesting.
[00:14:53] Christian Castro: Quite literally. Yeah, pop, right?
[00:14:54] Azhelle Wade: Oh,
[00:14:55] Christian Castro: There are tons of flat board games and there are tons of like three dimensional plastic [00:15:00] toys, but having a, a kind of combination of a flat board game that opens up into a three dimensional toyetic game, like that's very unique.
[00:15:09] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Congratulations on that.
[00:15:11] Christian Castro: Thank you. So, I don't know if I can ask this, but what is coming next for relatable in the search party family? Oh, I mean, hopefully by this time next year we would've won the Toti for Game of the year. But I mean, we're, we're only just getting started. We're a lot more than just card games nowadays. We have plush, we have collectible, plush, we have heating pads. We're in the wellness category. And that's not even touching games like search Party is a big initiative. And then in terms of other games, we have a really, really cool, this really innovative, immersive digital murder mystery game called Who Killed Mia. It just came out and it's a fusion of physical, tangible, and digital assets. So it's kind of like what would happen if relatable. Came out with a murder [00:16:00] mystery game. It's everything you'd expect it to be. It's really cool, really fun. I would say along with search parties, probably the most creative, innovative product we've ever released.
[00:16:09] Azhelle Wade: Well, I look forward to hearing even more creative, innovative products, from relatable.
[00:16:14] So actually at this point I wanna ask you our closing questions, Christian, what piece of advice would you give somebody who wants to break into a career in the toy industry? Remember, you're not always making a toy for yourself.
[00:16:27] You're making it for your audience and who that audience is, that's dependent on who you are. It could be a buyer, it could be a toy company, it could be a mom, but you just make sure you remember who your audience is when you're developing any product. That's what someone told me, and it's really stayed with me for almost a decade now, and I want you to finish this sentence.
[00:16:50] The thing that surprised me most about the toy industry was, How long it takes to make anything really, even something rushed to market can still take [00:17:00] several months. And my final closing question for you, what toy or game blew your mind as a kid? I was a sucker for anything Power Ranger related. So any licensed product for power rangers, specifically the action figures like the rotating heads that. Flipped from the non-Med Ranger to the morphed ranger. That was so cool. It felt like I, I was like watching an animation of my favorite characters brought to life.
[00:17:28] And if someone wants to connect with you, Christian, where can people reach you or learn more about search party?
[00:17:34] Christian Castro: I would just reiterate, go to toy awards.org, click on games and vote for search party. But you could always find me on LinkedIn christian Castro. I work for relatable. And yeah, just shoot me a message.
[00:17:46] I love to keep in touch.
[00:17:48] Azhelle Wade: If you're driving and you can't grab those links right now, you can always head over to the toy coach.com/ 1 8 6. Yes, and we'll have the links for where you can vote for search Party Chaos at the park [00:18:00] for the toy of the year in the games category. Yes. And where you can connect with Christian Drive safe, please drive safe.
[00:18:06] Yeah, christian, thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure having you back on the podcast. Oh, thank you for having me. I love being here
[00:18:13] before we close out today's episode, I wanna read a review. This review comes from Chanel McCullough who says, I've been listening to this podcast with one idea of a product in mind.
[00:18:24] As I continue to listen and get insights, my product ideas have expanded. Agel has truly opened up my eyes to see the possibilities in this industry. I enjoy her style of teaching and her eras knowledge in this industry. Looking forward to learning more and working with her in the future.
[00:18:38] Thank you so much Chanel. If you are listening to this podcast and you love it, like Chanel and you haven't yet left a review, what are you waiting for? Your reviews means so much to the podcast. It helps the show get to new listeners, and it encourages me and my guests like Christian to come back each and every week with actionable tips and advice for [00:19:00] breaking into the toy industry. So stop what you're doing. Review this podcast and of course, vote for search party as a TOTY of the year in the games category. As always, thank you so much for being here with me today. I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one.
[00:19:22] Until next week, I'll see you later toy people. Bye.
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