Playdeo
From 2018-2020 I worked at a London startup, Playdeo, on the development team for Avo, a mobile game published in 2019.
Playdeo was founded by Jack Schulze and Timo Arnall (formerly BERG and Ottica, currently at Apple) and grew to around 10-15 people between 2016-2020. I joined at a time where the company was transitioning from a phase of R&D and product discovery to production.
The company’s vision was to establish a new format of entertainment—a type of interactive video you can touch and explore as if it were a 3D open-world game.
Our first title, Avo, was a story where you play as a sentient avocado—brought to life by a young inventor, Billie. The entire game was shot in live action video, and the sets were 3D-scanned and assembled together in a game engine to be shipped to iOS.
The resulting experience relied on a novel interaction pattern—drawing lines with your finger to move the character around a live-action video world in real time.
Playthrough of Avo, Episodes 1 and 2
My role at Playdeo varied depending on where we were at any given point in development, but broadly I was responsible for:
Avo launched globally in March 2019 on the App Store, with nearly 4 million downloads in the first year. It was recognised by The Design Museum’s Beazley Designs of the Year, Game of the Day by Apple, and Dan Hill wrote a 4-part series on how Avo sketches out new ideas for TV and games. We also made a short film on how Avo was made.
Making of Avo
Playdeo
From 2018-2020 I worked at a London startup, Playdeo, on the development team for Avo, a mobile game published in 2019.
Playdeo was founded by Jack Schulze and Timo Arnall (formerly BERG and Ottica, currently at Apple) and grew to around 10-15 people between 2016-2020. I joined at a time where the company was transitioning from a phase of R&D and product discovery to production.
The company’s vision was to establish a new format of entertainment—a type of interactive video you can touch and explore as if it were a 3D open-world game.
Our first title, Avo, was a story where you play as a sentient avocado—brought to life by a young inventor, Billie. The entire game was shot in live action video, and the sets were 3D-scanned and assembled together in a game engine to be shipped to iOS.
The resulting experience relied on a novel interaction pattern—drawing lines with your finger to move the character around a live-action video world in real time.
Playthrough of Avo, Episodes 1 and 2
My role at Playdeo varied depending on where we were at any given point in development, but broadly I was responsible for:
Avo launched globally in March 2019 on the App Store, with nearly 4 million downloads in the first year. It was recognised by The Design Museum’s Beazley Designs of the Year, Game of the Day by Apple, and Dan Hill wrote a 4-part series on how Avo sketches out new ideas for TV and games. We also made a short film on how Avo was made.
Making of Avo
Playdeo
From 2018-2020 I worked at a London startup, Playdeo, on the development team for Avo, a mobile game published in 2019.
Playdeo was founded by Jack Schulze and Timo Arnall (formerly BERG and Ottica, currently at Apple) and grew to around 10-15 people between 2016-2020. I joined at a time where the company was transitioning from a phase of R&D and product discovery to production.
The company’s vision was to establish a new format of entertainment—a type of interactive video you can touch and explore as if it were a 3D open-world game.
Our first title, Avo, was a story where you play as a sentient avocado—brought to life by a young inventor, Billie. The entire game was shot in live action video, and the sets were 3D-scanned and assembled together in a game engine to be shipped to iOS.
The resulting experience relied on a novel interaction pattern—drawing lines with your finger to move the character around a live-action video world in real time.
Playthrough of Avo, Episodes 1 and 2
My role at Playdeo varied depending on where we were at any given point in development, but broadly I was responsible for:
Avo launched globally in March 2019 on the App Store, with nearly 4 million downloads in the first year. It was recognised by The Design Museum’s Beazley Designs of the Year, Game of the Day by Apple, and Dan Hill wrote a 4-part series on how Avo sketches out new ideas for TV and games. We also made a short film on how Avo was made.
Making of Avo