On behalf of all of the interested Disney Infinity Fans we asked Enrem some questions.
What is your real name? Country?
Nathan Remick from the good ol' US of A
What is the origin story of your Toy Box submission username?
EN(athan)Rem(ick)
What made you decide to buy Disney Infinity?
I had been enjoying the first release of Skylanders, and when I hear Disney was doing something similar, I was intrigued. I love toys and video games, so the combination of the two was perfect for me. And when I saw you could create your own levels, that was it! I jumped ship from Skylanders and went full time with Disney Infinity!
What is your favorite play set and why?
I think I enjoyed playing the Lone Ranger play set more than any others. I was hesitant to buy it at first because I hadn't even seen the movie and have never been a big western fan, but I found myself having the most fun in that play set. Riding horses and shooting bad guys is a lot of fun!
Who is your favorite Disney Infinity character and why?
I love playing as Elsa. She's strong, beautiful, dressed in blue and has ice powers! What's not to love?
Which character would you like to see included that hasn't already been and why?
Aside from the obvious characters from Marvel and Star Wars, I'd really like to see Goofy added. Ever since A Goofy Movie he's been my favorite from the Mickey crew, which is a group that needs more representation considering it is a Disney game.
What is your favorite power disc and why?
I love the Tron theme discs because I love the visual style and music from Tron Legacy, but more often than not when I want a special car to drive, I pick Mickey's jalopy.
When you hear of a new challenge, what steps do you take to make your idea for a Toy Box a reality?
When a new challenge is issued, I often try and visualize the world that challenge is from and then try and figure out what I have at my disposal to make that world. I don't worry about limitations of the Toy Box until they pop up, and just try and figure out how to best represent that world. Occasionally, I'll have an idea I've been toying with in my head or in another Toy Box that fits the challenge and I implement that.
How long did each of your featured Toy Boxes take to build?
I don't really keep track, but at least several hours. I've never finished a toy box in one sitting.
What do you consider to be your specialty when building Toy Boxes?
I think my specialty is detail. My goal on any toy box is to create a world that feels alive rather than just an arrangement of blocks.
What is your favorite Toy Box that you have built?
Santa's Workshop. The BIG Room may have put me on the map, but I am most proud of Santa's Workshop. I think, more than any of my other toy boxes, it really fits my criteria of feeling like it's a world all it's own and not just something built in the toy box. I drew inspiration from a number of Santa-themed films from Nightmare Before Christmas to Polar Express and even Fred Claus. I really wanted it to feel like the player had entered the North Pole, and filled it with as much detail as possible to bring it to life. It originally was going to have more functionality, but bugs in the creativi-toys prevented me from adding more stuff.
Your The BIG Room toy box was not only selected as a featured toy box in the Toy Story Challenge, but it was also voted as the Top Toy Box for 2013. Please give us some Inside the Toy Box details on your The BIG Room toy box.
The funny story behind the BIG Room is that I originally just built it for myself. I wanted to recreate the feeling I felt the first time I played Toy Story 2 way back on the first PlayStation. It blew my mind being a toy in this massive house, and I wanted to recreate that experience in the toy box. Then, when the Toy Story challenge came around, I decided to enter it. I made some tweaks to it, added some functionality, added the soccer game and made the race track AI capable. I figured I had a good chance of making it in the top 5, but I was shocked to see I won first place! Then, when the nominees for top toy box came out, I was shocked again to find myself in the running. I looked at the other contenders and didn't think I had a chance. Then, to my surprise, I won! I was so honored!
How surprised are you to see the reaction to your The BIG Room toy box?
Very surprised. I love the level, but I never thought much of it since there's no story to it or any real goals. But all the praise I've received from it is overwhelming. I'm quite humbled.
What is your favorite Toy Box that someone else has built?
Definitely Blast From the Past by Papa Echo. I'm a big time travel fan, and the way he worked so many different experiences into one toy box was just brilliant.
Your Dig-it-Ralph! toy box was selected as a featured toy box in the Wreck-it-Ralph Challenge. Please give us some Inside the Toy Box details on your Dig-it-Ralph! toy box.
Not much I can say about this one. It was pretty simple. I just took advantage of Ralph's jack-hammer like attack and threw in the retro-styled Ralph from the poster.
What are some of your classic Toy Boxes that have not been a featured top 5 Toy Box?
One I was disappointed that didn't make it into the top 5 was one I did for the Pirate Challenge. I built a giant fish tank, similar to the BIG Room, that was filled with all kinds of features, and you had to hunt down the piles of treasure while avoiding pirates. It took a lot of effort because I had to program the creativi-toys to make the gold piles disappear, make a noise, AND not allow the player to step on the switch again and artificially inflate their score. THEN I made it so you could reset the whole thing and do it again. It was the most programming I've had to do for a toy box level.
What is your dream Toy Box challenge?
A Star Wars challenge would be awesome. Actually, I have a really cool space-themed level that's just been waiting for a space challenge in general.
Do you place any hidden features in your winning Toy Boxes?
I don't necessarily add hidden features, but I do add a lot of detail. I guess if I have a signature feature it's that all my toy boxes start at a checkpoint rather than the full Infinity start point. This is for a number of reasons, primarily because it allows me to start the level with the music I want right off the bat.
Your Grid Escape toy box was selected as a featured toy box in the Tron Challenge. Please give us some Inside the Toy Box details on your Grid Escape toy box.
I was excited when the Tron challenge was announced because I'm such a big fan of Tron Legacy. I had been building for fun, so when the challenge came up, so I expanded it. The rail jumping section was inspired by one of my favorite platformer games series, Ratchet and Clank.
Share a story of adversity from when you were building one of your Toy Boxes that you had to overcome.
As I mentioned earlier, my Santa's Workshop level was supposed to have more functionality. I had it set up to have different toys constantly dropping down a chute onto a conveyor belt and down another chute. This was just supposed to be a background detail to make the workshop itself feel alive, but I just couldn't get the creativi-toys to work consistently. In the end I had to reduce it to buttons in front of each chute that triggers a single toy at a time.
Share a funny story from when you were building one of your Toy Boxes.
I don't have a lot of funny stories from my time working in the toy box. As I stated above, the funniest thing to me was how I just built the BIG Room for myself without any other thought or ambition for it, and it went on to win Toy Box of the year.
Do you have any advice for aspiring Toy Box Artists?
Don't feel limited by the Toy Box. Look for creative ways to make whatever you want to make. Like I said my number one goal when building a toy box is to make it feel like it wasn't built in the Toy Box. keep that in mind while you build, and try and add details to cover up seams and edges. Smooth it out. And keep dreaming!