A Video Game Without A Screen
The heart of Redboy and the Adventure Crew begins with a tension familiar to so many parents and designers: screen-time. Children are drawn toward unfiltered videos and endlessly looping mobile games, craving stimulation but often receiving it in ways that dull creativity and keep them indoors. They are too young for most video games, yet yearn for the spark and challenge those experiences promise. Between overstimulation and under-engagement lies a delicate grey space — one that felt worth exploring with care.
In the earliest stages, the central question became almost poetic: what if a video game could exist without a screen? Could the rhythm of play, the sense of progression, and the joy of discovery be carried through touch, story, and imagination instead of pixels? This problem guided countless sketches, prototypes, and tests — seeking to design not just a toy, but a new form of interactive storytelling. The goal was never to deny kids stimulation, but to offer it in a healthier, more wondrous way: a tactile adventure that feels alive in their hands while freeing their eyes.
The solution took shape as a hybrid between toy and game: a textile play surface that functions like a living map, paired with interactive pieces that bring the story to life. Similar to video games, Redboy and the Adventure Crew still uses a “controller”—but here it’s reimagined as attachable figurines, each one embodying a character or action within the adventure. The mat becomes the stage, the figures the avatars, and together they create the feeling of progression, choice, and challenge without ever needing a screen.
Getting there meant rethinking how kids interact with story and play. Through prototyping, the team explored how figurines could snap in and out like tools, how mats could suggest environments and “levels,” and how tactile cues could carry the same weight as on-screen prompts. What emerged was more than a toy: it became a new kind of game language, one that balances stimulation with imagination, offering kids a way to experience the magic of video games in the tangible world of their own hands.
Gameplay Systems
At its heart, Redboy and the Adventure Crew reimagines the idea of a “video game” without a screen. The game unfolds across textile mats that act as interactive play surfaces, each one designed like a living level or environment. Players move electronic RFID figurines across these mats, triggering events and challenges much like entering new areas in a digital game. The tactile surface and figurines become the language of progression, transforming the familiar grammar of video games into something physical, immediate, and tangible.
Interaction Loop
The play experience begins with a simple gesture: clicking a character onto the controller. This action “logs in” the figurine, assigning its unique identity to the session. From there, kids can slide the controller across the textile mat as though they are “walking” through the world, or pick it up and tap it onto specific embedded RFID zones. These zones act like interactable objects in a digital game, triggering voice clips, story moments, or mini-games. Outside of zones, the controller’s bumpers provide playful audio feedback, keeping toy-like free play alive even when the story isn’t advancing.
The controller itself anchors the feedback loop. Built-in storage keeps track of progress, while RGB lighting and audio responses from both main characters and NPCs confirm every action. Rather than dividing play into levels, the game “progresses” organically as story elements are uncovered across the mat. The physical movements—sliding, tapping, swapping figurines—mirror digital logic: walking, interacting, and choosing a character, but reimagined through touch and sound.
Collaboration is woven in through shared memory. Because the controller writes data back into the mat, each character can experience the world differently, creating unique branching interactions. One child’s actions leave traces that another can discover later, reinforcing the sense of a living, persistent game world. Even beyond the included figurines, kids can fold in their own toys alongside the bumper mechanics, blending structured gameplay with open-ended imaginative play.
Game World Design
Redboy and the Adventure Crew creates a world that is both imaginative and functional, blending narrative adventure with a clear, tactile design system. The game world is not only a stage for storytelling but also a tool for communication, ensuring that kids can explore freely while always understanding how to play.
The world is adventurous at its core, offering a mix of playful wonder and moments of mystery. Players travel across mats filled with diverse environments, from the harrowing Dark Forest to the windswept cliffs of Bighorn Bluffs. Narrative progression unfolds through four hidden treasure chests, each unlocking a major story beat. The final chest ties off the central arc, then shifts the game into free-play mode, where dialogue continues to evolve and the world feels persistent. Exploration is structured to make use of the entire mat: kids are encouraged to backtrack, revisit zones, and uncover new layers of play. NPCs remember where players have been, characters unlock different responses, and every return visit feels like a new discovery.
Interaction in the Game World
Because the game is screen-free, its visual direction carries the responsibility of clarity. The mat is made from a soft, mousepad-like textile—durable enough for floor play yet comfortable enough for the tabletop. Interactable zones are marked with bold borders and distinct shapes, clearly separating them from the illustrated background. This ensures kids can easily spot story triggers and interactive elements. The Adventure Crew figurines follow the same principle: each character has a strong silhouette and unique color palette that communicates their personality and role at a glance. Together, the environments and characters form a cohesive design language where atmosphere, storytelling, and functionality blend seamlessly.
Visual Design
Feedback & Iteration
Much of Redboy and the Adventure Crew was shaped through the way kids naturally played with the prototypes. In early sessions, children instinctively bumped and bashed the figures together, treating them more like toys than game pieces. Rather than resisting this, the design adapted: the controller was outfitted with tactile bumper buttons on its sides, allowing off-mat play to become part of the experience. These bumpers provide immediate audio feedback, keeping kids engaged even when they’re not triggering zones on the mat.
The form of the game also evolved significantly through testing. Early versions explored a modular system of attachable mats, but this created barriers: kids couldn’t experience the full story without all the pieces. To preserve narrative flow and accessibility, the decision (for this project) was made to keep a single, unified mat. This streamlined approach reduced setup friction and made the game more inviting, while still leaving room for expansion in future chapters. A concept was created to demonstrate what this might look like.
