https://www.polygon.com/23776996/barbie-fashion-designer-retro-game-untold-story-history
How Digital Domain and Mattel Media built Barbie’s wardrobe
Oh man ,this brought back memories. My little sister and I would play this together when we were kids (I was a few years older and male, but back then a PC was magic, who cares what was on it). This was a huge nostalgia trip, thank you!
This article was an excellent read. I learned more about James Cameron, Titanic, Apollo 13, and Barbie's Fashion Designer than I ever knew in the span of 10 minutes.
This part is freaky:
"Dalton said the stress of it all pushed him to his limits, so much so that immediately after the game’s launch, he felt superstitious about upsetting Barbie — as in, the metaphysical concept of Barbie. For years, he was afraid to even talk about his experiences working on the game because of this bizarre and fantastical fear. Barbie Fashion Designer broke people, he said."
This article was a thrill to read. I had no idea that any clothing designed in the software could be printed out onto specialized fabric paper so it could be worn on the doll in real life! Plus the software rendered 3D models of any design quickly on home computers of the time! This is incredible stuff from a technical accomplishment standpoint. I'm glad they're getting recognition in museums; well deserved
Holy crap. I loved this game as a kid. I completely forgot it existed. I just went on a YouTube 90s commercial deep dive because of this - fun memories!
Really interesting read! I remember that box at the store and being curious about it. I can't remember if I ever played it though.