For its latest take on augmented reality-infused playsets, Lego is giving the young, and simply the young at heart, its spin on the viral lip-sync format made popular by TikTok with Lego Vidiyo.
The game remixes TikTok’s video creation and curation features with a music business simulation that brings your playsets into the action. But, if you want to succeed anywhere in the music business, kid, you’re gonna need a manager. Or, someone to guide you through the scene. I can do it for you, and I won’t even ask you for a percentage of your earnings.
So, here we go, let’s start with Lego Vidiyo.
Step 1: Install the app
To get started, all you need is the Lego Vidiyo app. If you wish to extend the experience further, you will need to purchase a Vidiyo Beatbox or Bandmates game set.
You will also need a smartphone or tablet capable of running ARKit for iOS or ARCore for Android. These are the toolkits that allow apps to leverage your mobile device’s sensors to display AR content.
- For iOS, that means, at a minimum, an iPhone 6S, 6S Plus or SE (first generation), an iPad (fifth generation), iPad Pro (second generation), iPad Air (third generation) or iPad Mini (fifth generation), or an iPod touch (seventh generation). You will also need to be running at least iOS 12.1.
- For Android, your device must be running Android 7.0 or later and be Google Play Store certified. Google maintains a list of Devices supported by ARCore to check.
Step 2: Configure the app
Upon opening the app, you will learn that the app will eventually need to download around 320MB of additional data. You can postpone this, which means the app will download new content when it needs it. Or, you can just rip the band-aid off now and download the full package now. Your choice.
After that press play on the start screen to continue. Next, the app will ask you for your year of birth. Drag the slider to the left until the correct year is displayed, then tap “Confirm” to continue.
Finally, you will need to consent to at least one data collection policy. A policy concerns the data necessary for the operation of the application. The other policy is for experience data, which is optional but will help developers improve the app. Make your decisions, then press the “Save Settings” button to continue.
Step 3: Start your group
After flipping your device to landscape mode and watching a quick intro video, you’ll need to grant the app camera permissions, which are necessary for the AR experience. Press the play button and then confirm permissions in the pop-up window.
Before the fun begins, you’ll need to confirm whether you want to start with a digital party mate or scan playset. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll start with the former; you will have the chance to scan physical toys later.
Now you are ready to start your rock star experience. Select the base figure, then press the play button to continue. After a short loading screen, you will start customizing your avatar. Press Play again to bring your character to life and move on to the party naming process.
The selection of band names is based on randomly generated combinations of relatively unrelated words that sound like band names. If you don’t like the first one, tap the refresh icon on the left for another option. Repeat until you land on something appetizing, then press play.
Step 4: Shoot your first video
You haven’t even written a song yet, but you’re already shooting a music video? You must be a big deal.
First of all, you will get three warnings about safe AR gaming. Press play to confirm you understand.
This is where ARKit/ARCore comes into play. When your camera view appears, you’ll see digital overlays with dots indicating where the app has identified a flat surface as well as three circles where your party members stand. will place. When you’ve found a spot with enough room for the party, the circles will change from red to green. (In real life, your party will just have to squeeze into whatever space the venue gives you.)
With the scene in place, press play to begin capturing the band’s performance. Six tiles will appear on either side of the screen, along with a button at the bottom for your party member. Tap the tiles to activate special effects; some stay on until you press the “x” to turn them off, others take turns and end on their own. Tap the party member icon to initiate a special dance move.
Once your performance is complete, you will receive your scores. You will earn in-game currency for completing certain goals. Good work!
Step 5: Explore the game
Now that you’ve created your first video, the game opens up to you (and, for now, the app returns to portrait mode). On the home screen, you will find five options: Social, Gallery, Play, Bands, and Scan.
Social is the TikTok-like part of the game. The For You section is a curated feed of performances from other players that you can watch, react to, or comment on, along with the occasional recommended song for your next performance. The Discover section is a grid of videos by others that you can scroll through or filter with the tags at the top.
The Activities section is the challenge part of the game, where you can claim rewards in the form of in-game coins for filming performances that meet stated objectives, such as using as many BeatBits as possible or playing along to a hit song. .
Gallery contains the content you have captured, organized under videos, photos and shared. You can share any videos or photos you’ve created on the Vidiyo network, but you’ll need to sign in to an existing Lego account or create a new one.
Sharing photos is simple, but for videos you’ll need to trim your video to five, 10 or 20 seconds, using the timeline to select your favorite part. Before sharing your content, you can add an emoji message and add up to six tags on your video.
Player is where you generate new videos. First, you’ll select your song, with six free options under Daily Mix and more songs you’ve unlocked by scanning a Bandmate you’ve acquired. Then you’ll select your group (at this point you’ll have an option, but that may change shortly). Then press play to continue as you did in step 4.
Bands is where you manage your performers, and there’s a lot going on here. You will already have your default strip and you can touch it to customize it and view its performance stats.
In the party editor screen, tap the customize button to give your party members a new look with items in your inventory or buy new accessories from the store (where the coins you’ve earned from step 4 come into play).
Tap the band name to remix their name with the name generator (you can lock words you like and create new ones) and choose a logo style.
The band layout lets you adjust how the band appears on stage, with backup dancers and lifters among the options.
You can also do a photoshoot, with options for poses, backgrounds, filters, and group logos available, with photos collected from the gallery.
Finally, you can manage group members by adding artists from your list or skipping Scan mode.
To analyse This is where you will need to have a playset in your possession. Even if you don’t have one yet, you can preview available party mates, and even preview their moves with audition mode.
I haven’t had a chance to scan figurines yet, but the process is very clever in order to prevent people from just scanning photos of the figurines. You will need to attach the Bandmate to the top of the accompanying stage and place the BeatBits tiles on the pegs in front in order to get the proper setup to scan the character and in-game effects.
Overall, it’s an intriguing approach to meeting the needs of kids who may be too young to have a TikTok account. Plus, it’s a contrasting aesthetic to the fantasy and adventure lines and licensed properties that Lego typically sells. Add some augmented reality magic, and Lego may have something here.
