Create fantastical creatures
Creature Garden App
Product design
Creature Garden is Tinybop’s 6th app of the Digital Toys series. It is an open-ended construction kit that gives kids hundreds of parts to create and play with. Kids can race their creatures through obstacle courses, see if they will (or won’t!) walk, swim, and fly, and cross creatures to make new breeds.
The app is available for iOS on the App Store and in 50+ languages.
![CreatureGarden_hero](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CreatureGarden_hero.png)
![CreatureGarden_hero](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CreatureGarden_hero.png)
App trailer
Tinybop branded opening animation
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_1showroom](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_1showroom.png)
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_1showroom](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_1showroom.png)
Users can create and collect all types of creatures
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_2build](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_2build.png)
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_2build](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_2build.png)
Users start with a body as a base and can build and test their creatures
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_3skyrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_3skyrace.png)
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_3skyrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_3skyrace.png)
Creatures can be pinned against each other in races
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_4openplayarea](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_4openplayarea.png)
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_4openplayarea](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_4openplayarea.png)
Creatures can play, interact, and even make babies in the open play area
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_5parts](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_5parts.png)
![960x640_thecreaturegarden_5parts](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/960x640_thecreaturegarden_5parts.png)
Different limbs, pieces, and features a user can choose from
![miniraces](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/miniraces.gif)
![miniraces](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/miniraces.gif)
Mini race machines that test for locomotion on land, air, and in water
![interactiveplay](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/interactiveplay.png)
![interactiveplay](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/interactiveplay.png)
![raceitems](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/raceitems.png)
![raceitems](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/raceitems.png)
Interactive play items and race obstacles
![breeding](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/breeding.png)
![breeding](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/breeding.png)
Breeding creatures produces an egg that hatches one with shared traits from its parent
![racesandmedals](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/racesandmedals.png)
![racesandmedals](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/racesandmedals.png)
Race entries and medals
![airrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/airrace.png)
![airrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/airrace.png)
Air racing
![landrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/landrace.png)
![landrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/landrace.png)
Land race
![waterrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/waterrace.png)
![waterrace](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/waterrace.png)
Water race
Inspiration & Reference Imagery
![keroseneincubator](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/keroseneincubator.jpg)
![keroseneincubator](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/keroseneincubator.jpg)
![unnamed](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unnamed.jpg)
![unnamed](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unnamed.jpg)
![unnamed](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unnamed.png)
![unnamed](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unnamed.png)
![IMG_9428](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_9428.jpg)
![IMG_9428](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_9428.jpg)
![e12d222e4a79bfc7f359b8c77d63ee74](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/e12d222e4a79bfc7f359b8c77d63ee74.gif)
![e12d222e4a79bfc7f359b8c77d63ee74](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/e12d222e4a79bfc7f359b8c77d63ee74.gif)
Inspiration drawn from curiosity cabinets and illustrator Natasha Durley’s style
Process
![ui1](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ui1.png)
![ui1](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ui1.png)
UI guidelines
![ux](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ux.png)
![ux](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ux.png)
Wireframes
![Screen Shot 2018-03-19 at 12.32.45 AM](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-19-at-12.32.45-AM.png)
![Screen Shot 2018-03-19 at 12.32.45 AM](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-19-at-12.32.45-AM.png)
Alternative App Store icons
![sketches](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/sketches.jpg)
![sketches](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/sketches.jpg)
Sketches
Results and Reactions
![Retention](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Retention.png)
![Retention](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Retention.png)
Average session of time spent in the app is at 18 minutes on initial launch, higher than 89% of Tinybop apps.
![creaturegardenmentions](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/creaturegardenmentions.png)
![creaturegardenmentions](http://www.thingsimake.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/creaturegardenmentions.png)
Featured on the App Store multiple times at time of launch and beyond, The Creature Garden has been mentioned by other outlets and materials, both printed and digital.
Contributions
Art & Creative Direction, User Interface Design, User Experience, Marketing
Collaborators
Leah Feuer and Diva Hurtado · Natasha Durley, Illustration · Holly Graham and Jessie Sattler, Technical Art · Yin Liu, Robert Blackwood, Unity Engineering · Brian Jacobs, Sound Design · Beckie Choe, Motion, Illustration & Design
Press & Mentions
Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Wired, Designweek, School Library Journal