Our feature this week is written by Susy Christiansen, a mother of twins and mom-app-developer. Susy runs Busy Bee Studios, a production company that makes family-friendly games, websites, and other digital content. Susy’s experience with her preschoolers inspired the idea that mobile apps for kids should be as high-quality and engaging as their grown-up counterparts. In her article she shares six criteria behind the design framework for Zoo Train.
When I first ventured into the app world two years ago, I was concerned about the quality of apps available for my twin preschoolers. I wanted to treat their screen-time with the same skepticism as we do our television. Most parents filter what their kids watch on TV, and try to expose them to quality shows, whatever that might mean to you (family values, educational content, production quality, etc.). My goal was to provide kids’ content that would meet that same list of criteria — what you might call my “Mom Checklist”.
- Intuitive Game Play
What makes the iOS devices so great for kids is their touch interface – it is immediate, visceral and intuitive, even for toddlers. But on top of that, game-play and user interface (UI) should also be intuitive. Our goal was that once in the game, a child could quickly figure out how to play it on their own. As a result, there is no instruction screen, no voice-over prompting, and no text in Zoo Train, but kids are able to jump in and play immediately. - No Marketing to Kids
In-App Purchases are a hot topic right now, but even simple marketing efforts that accidentally (or intentionally) engage kids are in serious debate. Buttons intended to sell, up-sell, market or lead users away from the game, should not be placed or designed in a way that a kid might accidentally click on it. There are too many games out there that include “Buy Now” buttons directly next to a “Play” button. As a mom, these tactics completely annoy me; as a developer, I see this as a potential way to accidentally disengage the user from the game, resulting in a bad user experience. - High-Quality Assets
While most developers self-finance their apps, I don’t think it’s enough for us to try to stumble through creating our own art, get a friend to record the narration, or even to use Garage Band to kick out a quick music track. I appreciate games that engage my kids because they feature great art, well-acted narration, or a well-crafted story. I think we should hold kids’ apps to the same production standards as we do grown-up apps. - Reward & Encouragement
As any parent knows, kids respond strongly to any small reward for a job well done – a big smile or a high-five goes a very long way. I believe positive feedback and payoff are key components to keeping kids engaged, so not only did we include positive encouragement throughout Zoo Train, we implemented a sticker reward system so that kids could try to collect as many as they could as they play. We’ve seen some amazing collections from our users! - Educational Value
I like that my kids enjoy their time on the iPad & iPhone, but I also want them to get something out of the time spent. I credit many games on our iPad & iPhone with helping my kids learn the alphabet, how to count, how to write letters, and more – and I had no idea what a positive impact these apps could have on their education. - Make it Fun
My strongest suggestion to developers is to do as much testing with your target audience as possible. Let your kids beta test the app early in development, or enlist your friends’ and neighbors’ kids. Hand the app to them, then (resisting the terrible urge to interrupt) watch them carefully. You’ll learn a lot about not only how they react to the fun (or not-so-fun) elements of your game, but you’ll get great insight on how well you’ve developed your UI.
We’re constantly learning from feedback, reviews and comments about Zoo Train. We also try a LOT of kids’ apps, read blog reviews, scour user comments in the iTunes Store, and seek to understand all we can from everything going on around us… and there’s a lot going on. The kids’ app market is rapidly expanding and getting better, with more great choices every day. As a developer, this does make it harder to get your voice heard, but as a mom I love that I have a diverse selection of apps to choose from.
I like your ideas, Susy. You seem to be using some of the best ideas from game developers, especially intuitive game play (however, I’m not really sure what that means). I think there are even college majors in “game theory” these days!
Thanks Toni – I think “intuitive game play” is a bit hard to define, since it’s a bit subjective! I basically mean that the user interface, the rules for playing the game, and any other required interaction should be easy to pick up without a lot of instruction. I think it’s especially critical for younger kids’ games since those users aren’t readers. It’s also why I find testing with kids so helpful – that’s the real litmus for how well your game works overall!
Thanks for the post.
I think the quality of the assets matter more to the purchases (mom) than they do to the child (<5 years old). We tested our graphics with kids and the younger ones preferred the simple ones, while the parents wanted the more elaborate ones. However, we updated our graphics to accomodate the purchases. This challenge of the purchaser vs. user is rather interesting, and does affect many features in kids apps.
I agree that kids don’t always gravitate towards “quality” over something that they simply perceive as fun (i.e. the old joke that a kid has more fun with the box the toy came in), and if a graphic is too complicated or ‘elaborate’, they may not be able to connect with it on some level.
But I also think parents need to filter quality apps for their kids, so that they aren’t just playing with the equivalent of ‘junk food’, and that they are playing with apps that are fun for them, and good for them too.