S.P.L.A.T. is still working hard at uncovering the mystery behind who this Tangorra is and where he came from, but it’s believed that Sorcerer Tangorra may be responsible for the infamous Punk Punk Fiasco of 1900!

Whoever he is, Tangorra is back and hungry for power!  His newest scheme is to brew a potion that will suck the energy right out of JumpStart!  Sorcerer Tangorra is almost done with his power potion. The last ingredient he needs is the egg of the rare Voltage Dragon!

The only known image of a Voltage Dragon!

The clock is ticking and S.P.L.A.T. needs your help! Follow a clue every day to collect a piece of the map that will lead you to the eggs before Tangorra finds them! The more explorers helping out, the better! It’s up to Jumpeez everywhere to save JumpStart!

For Frankie, the Fourth of July was an action-packed day full of fun and adventure! The sun was shining, the bees were buzzing, and there was plenty of summer fun to be had in the virtual world!

He spent the morning hanging out and playing at the Adventure Island beach with some laid-back Jumpeez. Then, Frankie headed over to the cola slide and skate plate in MainStreet! When he was dizzy from all the sliding and skating, Frankie had a picnic with Kisha, Eleanor, Hops, and CJ. They ate hamburgers, carrots, watermelon, and cupcakes. What a treat!

When it finally grew dark, it was fireworks time! Frankie and all of his JumpStart friends looked up above to watch the sky fill with color! What a great day it was!

We hope all of you had a fun and safe Fourth of July too! We would love to hear how it went!

That green top is off limits until I level up...

Lately, we’ve received a few questions about ranks so we thought this would be the perfect time to take you behind the scenes and show you how ranks work. The ranks at JumpStart.com are powered by stars…JumpStars that is! As you earn JumpStars, you’ll level up and reach new ranks.

Wondering how many JumpStars you have? Just click on your JumpStart Communicator and select the JumpStars tab. You’ll be able to see your current rank as well as how many stars you need to level up.

Yipee! Level 4.

So where do these mysterious JumpStars come from? Great question! Jumpeez are rewarded with JumpStars for exploring new areas and playing new games! There are stars waiting to be earned in MainStreet, in the Lands (FutureLand, MarineLand, AdventureLand & StoryLand) and in the downloadable games that are included with a JumpStart membership.

In MainStreet, try playing new levels of Ghost Town Grab or stop by the Sound Bop or Robo-A-Go-Go kiosks in the arcade for stars. In the Speed Drome, race your way through the various levels of Buggy Racer to see if you can level up! In the Lands, complete missions and try all of the learning game levels – each new level that you achieve mastery (more than 80% correct) in will boost your star count! Finally, if you are a member, make sure to try out the downloadable games…there are hundreds of additional JumpStars waiting to be earned!

Now that you’ve got the scoop on the best spots to land some JumpStars, make sure to keep an eye on the competition in the Hall of Fame. There, you’ll be able to see how you stack up to Jumpeez around the world.

Such talented Jumpeez!

So next time you’re in one of the shops DownTown and discover the item you want is locked, head on over to a learning game and give a new level a try. You’ll earn JumpStars, rake in some coins and train your brain, all at the same time!

Hi, I’m Glenn Seidel. I am a game designer here at Knowledge Adventure. Over the next few months, I’ll be talking about many different subjects in this blog. But I think the best thing to start with is one that seems simple…“What is Fun?”

This is something I’ve been trying to get my head around over the last couple of years. Fun is obviously subjective; one player’s challenge maybe another’s frustration. It can be tough to design for kid’s games as there are many restrictions a designer has to consider: the age ranges, boys vs. girls, and using only a keyboard and a mouse for controls. All of these might seem limiting but I find that as a designer I must continue to be creative inside these limits. I always apply that one simple question “Is it fun?” to make sure I am on the right track.

We have been doing a lot more testing with players recently and much of the data indicates that kids enjoy things that they can’t do themselves but aspire too. For example, swimming and scuba diving always seem to be a hit – even for kids who don’t do these activities in real life. That’s precisely why we have decided to make the next world for AdventureLand underwater! Along the same lines, our new jet pack game has tested very well and continues to draw a lot of traffic…but then who wouldn’t want their own jet pack?!

Back to the original question - what is fun? Fun is empowering and entertaining to the player. Fun engages the player and allows them to do things they can’t do in their normal lives. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, a game that makes you feel better about yourself and makes you laugh is simply a good game!

Glenn

@JumpStart_Glenn

With the launch of Adventure Land only 3 days away, excitement is running high as we busily check to make sure our latest and greatest game is glitch-free for your enjoyment next week.

Art complete? Check! New characters animated? Check! New worlds populated? Check! Missions and games in place? Check!

Now that all the brand new characters, landscapes, hidden treasures and games are up and running on the JumpStart servers, its time for everyone at the office to do their best impression of a 5 year old.

That’s right, just before launch, the JumpStart team focuses on testing the limits of every piece of a game – just a like a 5 year old trying to figure out how many times he can say “why” before you beg him to stop.

If I decide to make my robot dance at exactly the same moment as 65 other people, what will happen? Hmmm. Time to recruit the whole office for a stress test.

Can I drive my dune buggy into just the right corner and get myself stuck? Uhoh. There’s a fix for the production team.

What if I decide to ride my hang glider over the ocean – will my Jumpee fall in and sink? Whoops, we certainly don’t want any drowning Jumpees once real kids are playing the game!

Luckily for you, with all the nerf guns, beach balls and ping pong tournaments and the Knowledge Adventure offices, we do a pretty good job of keeping everyone young at heart – which means if a 5 year old can figure out how to break our game, we’ll figure it out first.

Of course, once we find the problems we have to put our grown-up hats back on and dive into the code, textures and design to find a way to fix the error. But with the great production and development teams here at Knowledge Adventure, you can rest easy, knowing that by the time Adventure Land arrives on your computer next week, it will be absolutely perfect (or at least pretty darn close)!

Congrats to the JumpStart team for designing another great game!