Iconic game Barbie Fashion Designer faced incredible technological hurdles
A new report from Polygon goes into the creation of Barbie Fashion Designer. The 1996 PC game from Mattel was innovative at the time for letting players design outfits in the game that could then be worn by real-life Barbie dolls. Part of Polygon's story shines a light on the unique technology needed to make a fashion game in an era where such titles were rare.
That technology was specifically cited as the reason for the game's inclusion in the 2023 Video Game Hall of Fame. New York's National Museum of Play said at the time that Barbie Fashion Designer "was innovative in bridging the gap between the digital and the physical. [...] And helped greatly expand the market for video games."
As Polygon explains it, Fashion Designer's original concept came from a young girl named E.J. Rifkin who wanted to use her computer to create clothes that her dolls could then wear. Her father Andy pitched the idea to Mattel, and after getting the toy company's approval, eventually partnered with visual effects studio Digital Domain.
Because there's so many clothing assets and different variations to choose from, animator Vicky Kwan revealed that she would attach clothes to Barbie's in-game model and animate the clothing as the character walked down the fashion runway.
"Let’s say it was a silk, so it’d have a lot of flow,” Kwan recalled. “If it was linen or a stiffer fabric, it wouldn’t have as much movement.”
Animation-wise, Kwan added that her department had to hand animate in some instances where fabric could possibly clip through Barbie's body. If something looked off, she would have to either hand animate or put it back in place.
Similarly, animation head Jordan Harris said that Barbie's in-game model had to be adjusted so her face could
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