“How do we roll this hamsterball up a ramp? How might a unicorn challenge motivate players?” These are some of the day-to-day challenges put to the test by the 20-member GBH Kids games team as they create games to complement its award winning children’s programming.
“It’s great to tap into my inner child everyday at work,” says Digital Design Manager Becca Quigley, “I always catch myself smiling when designing this stuff.”
Since 1998, GBH Kids has created more than 250 digital games, which get millions of gameplays per month. The team also examines different aspects of children’s media and learning through research projects - such as how digital games can promote children’s engagement in STEM or how family co-play can support early literacy development.
To make a game, a smaller team of three to eight work together for months to perfect the idea and design. While the team is composed of producers, designers and developers, the most important collaborators are the kids.
GBH works with kids from the local community and across the country to test the games during the design and programming process. “User-testing is the most surprising and revealing step,” said Quigley. “In some instances, the kids blasted through levels when the gamemakers expected that their game would be difficult.”
When Executive Producer Melissa Carlson takes on a new game concept, she’s part juggler and part shepherd. In her role, she expresses gratitude for an amazing and talented team full of collaborative spirit, generosity and curiosity. “It’s such a wonderful group to solve big problems with, whether it’s looking at a design or playing through a build,” Carlson says.
Through several months, designers establish the look and feel of the game, craft the overall user experience and bring the art to life through animation and visual effects. When Quigley designs a game, she anchors and builds her designs through contemplating what made her happy and excited as a kid.
In addition to user-testing, there is quality assurance testing, which assures that the game is equally accessible for kids on various platforms, devices and browsers. Senior Developer Kit Buckley codes and troubleshoots software, a process that he compares to solving new and challenging puzzles.
“It’s rewarding when I do something that I haven’t done before,” Buckley says, “The result is something fun and cool-looking when everything comes together.”
The newest PBS KIDS games feature characters and themes from Work It Out Wombats!, Molly of Denali, Arthur, Pinkalicious & Peterrific and Team Hamster! and more games are on the way. The GBH Kids team also works closely with content advisors and partners to focus on and highlight specific curriculum - from computational thinking in Work It Out Wombats! to informational text literacy in Molly of Denali.
As a developer, Buckley is thankful to have an array of characters and storylines to choose from. “Each series has its own unique characteristics, and every game is a unique puzzle to figure out.”
“There is power in playful learning,” Carlson says, “These games give kids hands-on digital experience in a curriculum area. They teach confidence and persistence. Playful learning is supposed to be fun and educational, and these games are just that.”
Try them out, play the games at pbskids.org/games
