Mattel & HiT Entertainment are partners in the Bob the Builder TV series, which relaunched with a new style and design in 2015.

To coincide with the relaunch of Bob the Builder on TV, Mattel and HiT wanted to create a playful way of presenting the newly designed characters and toys to their audience.

Our research and design team first wanted to know how the audience related to the Bob brand through play, in particular how they played with the toy range which Mattel were producing. We held several “play sessions” with kids and Mattel’s range in our PlayLab, in order to find the patterns which could best translate into a digital “toy”. This then formed the basis for our game design, where kids can experience the fun of the real toy but as a digital version, and with add-ons that related to the TV series, such as sounds, buzzers, and the voice of Bob himself!

As a paid-for app, it was great to see Build City reached #1 in the app store in 45 countries!, For Christmas, we loved creating a snowy edition - complete with icy roads - driving better retention and increased downloads.  The app is profitable and we are looking to create some new updates in the future, with more of Build City being unveiled. Oh, and you can hear Mattel and Dubit talking about the project in a Kidscreen talk here.