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!