I was lucky enough to consult for theory11 and help write Neil Patrick Harris’ new game, BOXOne. It was a joy to help early days, and then to see the thing on my doorstep a year later was wild. I spent the week watching people play it on YouTube (Spoilers) and now related NPH videos are popping up. Like his performance on Carson—watching this inspired me to build a web search prediction and force in fifteen mins. Here’s how I did it and how you can too…
Prototyping Magic Tricks
Make it work before you make it beautiful
-Paul Kieve
Paul Kieve is the wonderful illusion designer behind award-winning musicals like Mathilda, Groundhog Day, Ghost and the Harry Potter films. Bloody hell Harry, there’s real magic in Harry Potter? Yep. Catch a glimpse of Pauls illusions in Ghost here. He also has a great domain name; stageillusion.com.
In the business startup world, the “make it work first” mantra is referred to as starting with an MVP (minimum viable product). It’s a strategy I was unknowingly applying to all my magic consultancy work, and one I am surprised to see magicians fail to do.
