Futurama App
The “Futurama Head-In-A-Jar Creator” app allows users to jump into the animated world of “Futurama” and create their own customized characters. Users could choose from a male or female human, robot, or alien, and customize many traits including the eyes, nose, hair, blemishes and background. The Futurama team created original artwork and sound design specifically for the app. Among many features, the app also includes streaming clips from the current season of Futurama.
The Creator
We were only provided one set of assets for the heads, and we did not have the ability to request more from the animation studio. Since there were combinations of assets that were incomplete or didn’t match, and “hidden” portions of assets needed to be filled in, it was necessary to carefully adapt existing assets without taking any liberties. In order to QA and make adjustments, I built a prototype of the app.
The Museum
Fans could share their heads on Facebook and Twitter, save them to their phone as a background, or build their friends and make them images for your contacts. You can even create and share collections of heads in your own personal Head Museum, populated with Futurama versions of your family, friends, or fellow inmates.Animation
Custom illustration and animation needed to be made with great deference to the creators of the show and the animation studio. These were created in Flash and then optimized into graphic assets for the developers to recreate.Upshot
The “Futurama Head-In-A-Jar Creator” app was a resounding success, with over half a million installs in just the first two days it was available. The avatars were widely shared on social media, and the tune-in message was brought to a wide audience.
