The all-Swiss duo of animator Michael Frei and game developer Mario von Rickenbach, who released the fabulous and award-winning Plug & Play in 2015, are back with a teaser for more interactive fun called KIDS.

Michael Frei and Mario von Rickenbach: “KIDS was made using traditional 2D hand-drawn line animation. The animation was assembled, composited and choreographed using a game engine with a custom-made animation system in conjunction with physics simulations.

“The characters in a crowd behave much like matter: they attract and repel, lead and follow, grow and shrink, align and separate. KIDS are purely defined by how they relate to one other without showing any distinguishable features.

“How do we define ourselves when we are all equal? Who is steering the crowd? What if it is heading in the wrong direction? Where does the individual end and the group begin? What is done by choice, and what under duress?”

Watch a quick behind the scenes:

Animation: Michael Frei
Code: Mario von Rickenbach