Games for Kids Roundtable

Organized by Traci Lawson

Johnny Richardson's notes:

Harley: wasn’t interested in games until she had a kid, and wants an education about children’s games

Johnny: a lot of kids games are focused on “textbook” games, not about new ideas.

Parents want to see something quantifiable, like math or science games

Don’t have a very good education about games in general
But really, kids need less structured content to learn better, according to recent studies
Some games test very well, but then are marketed very poorly

Challenge within digital distribution to get parents to buy a game for their kids

Entertainment vs. Educational

Can a kids game just be entertaining without being educational?
Going about a design with the purpose of teaching gets you into trouble
- Kids will immediately turn off game once they know it’s trying to push a message
  - Let the kids decide the message of the game
- If you allow a player to hold onto their own message, they get more out of it
- Instead of teaching a concept directly, let the players experience it

Oregon Trail!

Never has a message, but teaches you based on decisions you have to make
- Not a “chocolate-covered broccoli” kind of game, where the player knows it’s supposed to be educational

UI is not paid enough attention to

A lot of kids games designers think UI can be total crap as long as a message is there
Not enough care put into fundamental mechanics
If UI is too complex, kids are immediately turned off
- Moment you break the immersion, you’re in trouble

Not sure how many kids are actual playing content for very young audiences

20 yrs ago, all gamers were kids
Mario Galaxy, LittleBigPlanet appeal to all audiences, including kids
Stuff like Pixar movies or Shrek are distinctly for young audience, but appeal to adults

Weird things that happen in playtesting with kids

Traci: Kids can’t click and drag — issue with fine motor
A we move toward motion controls and touchscreens, it may actually become easier for kids to play a game
- More immersion, less abstraction
Johnny: You really can’t plan ahead
- Kids are going to play the way they want, no structure to speak of
- Observing their play and pay attention
- Often will tell you it wasn’t fun and then can’t say why
- Kids observing play, not actually playing, had more to say

What is it like to design kids games? Is it different than designing other kinds of games?

Almost always using pre-existing IP (like TV shows), so you have constraints setup for you immediately
- Oftentimes people running the IP want to be strict with the aesthetics/themes/etc but it may not make good gameplay
- Right now the only way to get money to make kids games
- Also, kids familiar with a property more likely to buy its associated games

Is there a kids games culture?

Important to have multiple difficulty settings

Even single-player games are very social.

Kids seem to like violence in games. What does this mean for us?

Harley: Demiurge brought kids into their studio for the day and they all said that the best game ever would be full of guns! Uh oh…?
Parents really lax about what content their kids play
- Do not pay attention to ESRB ratings
- Often use games as a babysitter
Johnny: every kid in testing sessions said they played GTA4 and Halo 3, etc.
Ultimate test of parenting is ability to turn media off

Ratings tangent: If you’re an indie, expensive to get ESRB rating

Maybe makes it hard to legitimize you kids product to parents who pay attention to ratings?
Hypocritical in how platforms like iPhone won’t allow some violent content but allows other offensive things

Session Audio

From Johnny Richardson:
.mp3 Audio, 5.52mb (Good quality, but sorry my voice is annoyingly loud — mic was too close!)

page revision: 1, last edited: 20 Aug 2009 00:04