Toontastic Modules Now Available

Our friends over at LaunchPad Toys have just announced that they have opened a Toy Store in Toontastic. This means that parents can purchase a range of new characters and backgrounds for children to make their own cartoons and stories with in this fantastically creative and open-ended app.

What most impressed us was co-creator Andy Russell's comments about why they have chosen to go in this direction. He said:

We created a 'Toy Store' branch off the Main Menu for parents to purchase new Playsets with additional Characters and Settings. I'm sure you'll recognize the LEGO influences. We thought long and hard over the past two years about how best to extend play-time while still covering development costs and decided to follow LEGO's lead: build a library of Playsets that empower kids to create new content through incremental purchases. Rather than charge for feature updates like EA (Madden 2012, Battlefield 2, etc.) or push game play consumables (Tap Zoo, Smurf Village), we believe that app developers should support and improve the core play experience free of charge while offering new assets for sale that extend playability. We're hoping this strikes a nice balance for our users.

It is great to see there are developers out there who are interested in finding the balance between play and profit, who spend enough time thinking about not what will work for their hip pockets, but how that will also work for parents and their children. Toy companies have been exploring this fine line for years - some trying to find a balance, others heading straight towards exploitation. Best we support those who are trying their best to make it easier for parents and more engaging for our kids.