AreYouGame.com is the direct to consumer division of University Games, the San Francisco company behind decades of family board games and puzzles.
It sells games and puzzles straight to families, which means every product page has to do the job a store shelf and a sales associate used to do.
We first worked with another University Games team on a sample video for Crash Out, one of their games. That team loved it, and the work led to an introduction to AreYouGame.com.
Their product team came to us with a brief for a new launch: a 24 piece dinosaur jigsaw puzzle for young children, packed in a round tin, built around a grandparent and a grandchild putting it together.
There was one catch. Production stock had not arrived yet, and the product manager had a single sample she could not let go of.
The problem
A launch video usually needs the product in hand.
A crew shoots it, a director stages it, and the brand waits for both.
AreYouGame.com had one prototype, a launch date coming, and no way to ship that sample to anyone.
The video also had to get small things exactly right. This is a puzzle for little hands, sold to parents and grandparents. The pieces have to look like real jigsaw pieces. The moment has to feel unhurried, because the whole point of the product is slowing down and finishing something together.
And the product's own promises, large pieces for little hands, shared discovery, 8 dinosaurs, 24 pieces, all had to come through on screen.
A new puzzle heading to launch with one prototype, no production stock, and no way to stage a traditional shoot in time.
A finished launch video made from product photos, telling a grandparent and grandchild story with every product claim and detail in place, ready for release day.
What we did
We built the video from photos and the brief, then let the product manager's eye for detail guide every revision.
Brief and questions
- We worked from AreYouGame.com's written brief and asked for a short call to answer open questions before production.
- We shared a preliminary cut built from the brief ahead of that call, so the conversation could start from something real.
Production from photos, not a sample
- The product manager sent extra photos, including the full circumference of the tin and the back with its numbers, instead of the physical sample.
- We used those photos to keep the tin, the puzzle, and the packaging accurate in every shot.
Story and continuity
- We restored the grandfather rolling the tin into frame from the left, a more impactful entrance than sliding it over.
- We moved the “let's make another” line to voiceover instead of the grandfather's lips, and matched the child's skin tone so the same child appears in every shot.
Product accuracy and pacing
- We slowed the puzzle sequence down so it shows the enjoyment of finishing a puzzle, and made sure every piece reads as a true jigsaw piece, with no straight cuts.
- We added the product messages, “Large Pieces, Little Hands”, “Shared Discovery”, and “8 Dinosaurs, 24 Piece Puzzle”, brought back the child's “I did it” as the last piece goes in, and kept the original end frame with the finished puzzle beside the tin.
Kids' products are bought by adults who notice everything. A puzzle with straight edged pieces, a child who changes between shots, or a scene that rushes past the joy of finishing all tell a parent the brand was not paying attention. AI made it possible to produce this video without a crew or a production sample. Human creative direction is what made sure every detail matched the real product, with AI doing the heavy lifting, not making the calls.
The result
AreYouGame.com approved the final video.
It was made without a physical sample, from photos the product manager took herself.
It tells the story the brand wanted, a grandparent and grandchild slowing down together, with every product claim on screen and every piece shaped like a real jigsaw piece.
The video is ready for launch and will go live when the product is released.
We made a launch video for a new AreYouGame.com dinosaur jigsaw puzzle before production stock arrived, built from product photos instead of a sample. Made with AI, directed by people, revised for story, continuity, pacing, and product accuracy, and approved and ready for release.
A puzzle made for slowing down deserves a video that slows down too.
Why this matters
Toy and game launches run on tight timelines.
Product videos usually wait for production stock, a shoot, and an edit, and launch day does not wait for any of them.
For direct to consumer brands, the product page is the store. A launch without video is a launch with one hand tied behind its back.
AI video production lets game and puzzle companies have launch content ready before the first production unit arrives, made from the photos they already have.
The standard does not drop. Families buying for young children are paying attention to every detail, and the video has to be as carefully made as the product.
Want a launch video before your product ships
Tell us about your game or puzzle. We will build a launch ready video from the photos you already have, no production sample required.
This case study describes work humanreel.ai completed for AreYouGame.com, the direct to consumer division of University Games, based on humanreel.ai's own project records and the feedback shared by the AreYouGame.com product team, published with their approval. The video itself is not shown because the product has not yet been released. It will be added here after launch. Where a claim could not be verified, it has been left out rather than estimated.