When Activision Blizzard confronted United Front Games, the Game Director and I worked closely together to create the pitch for we would imagine our version of the game would be like. The premise was simple; Hot Wheels play fantasy but with Skylanders. I was already a big fan of Skylanders having collected many of the games and toys to begin with. Layering on a fixed/tracking camera system, the feeling of being able to take your vehicle to any terrain; land, sea and air, while also driving along the edges of surfaces, up mountains and cliffs, and taking huge leaps of air, all the while defeating charismatic, colorful and elemental characters, this became the foundation for understanding one of the biggest IPs at the time.

After a few days of developing the pitch deck, we landed the funding, and thus tasked with creating the Vertical Slice. Ideating enemies, vehicles, what the levels would be like, as well as the dramatic boss encounters, all in a simple enough way that the target audience of kids would be able to control, but also not feel overwhelmed. The completed Vertical Slice served as the prototype for the full game which was tasked back to an Activision internal development studio.