Counting Dana Game

About

For my university project, Advanced Web Production and Design, we were assigned to create an Interactive App Development for kids by building and developing a content-rich educational application. I chose the age group 2-5 as this is one of the most critical stages of development and learning. The name of my game is 'Counting Dana'; the topic I chose is counting, and it has a short storyline about Dana, which needs to learn how to count. The game's concept is that there will be several items on the screen, and the child will have to count how many items there are and select the correct answer from the multiple choices they have. My game is simple and should get the child thinking and excited to see the character.

Background

When looking into the background research for the ages 2-5, I found that children at this age learn their letters, how to count and learn primary colours. I also learned at ages 2-5; it becomes necessary for children to make friends, which is why I think it is crucial to include a character that looks friendly and fun and can be referred to as their friend, which will result in the child coming back to play the game multiple times. I have gathered elements whilst analysing other competitor games, such as bright colours and an easy to read large font easy for the child to read.

I developed my game because I believe there is a gap in the market regarding the subject, the counting apps available appear uninteresting and dull. A character is what primarily attracts a child; hence I thought it was vital to spend a fair amount of time researching my character. I think it will be a good idea to keep the colours of my character bright and use minimal colours, making the character memorable to the children. I also thought about how kids appreciate drawing and try to draw their favourite characters and implied that I should use simple shapes such as a circle to create my character. Children also learn about shapes that will make it easy for them to draw out the character at this age. Learning is critical at the age of 2-5 because brain development is critical, and children are keen to learn through playing. "The primary foundations of the brain are constructed early in life". (Children's Bureau, 2018).

Icon

This is my icon; I decided to go elementary with the design because the most memorable icons are always simplistic. For example, the McDonald's logo is made from solely the letter M. I used two of the primary colours from my chosen colour palette to create this icon. The colour yellow is meaningful because it symbolises the sun, which brings out everyone's memory of drawing a yellow sun in the corner of every drawing done as a child. 'CD stands for my game's name, 'Counting Dana'.

Character

Deciding on the aesthetics of my character, I decided to analyse other popular children's characters from which I have collected; most characters are animals with playful smiles. I chose to create a turtle using a circle and hexagon. I limited myself to two colours because, at the age of 2-5, children are continuously attempting to express themselves by drawing, so if my character is easy to draw, it will make them happy to see the resemblance in their attempt to draw the character.

References:

•  Children’s Bureau. (2018). Why the First 5 Years of Child Development Are So Important. all4kids.Available from https://www.all4kids.org/news/blog/why-thefirst-5-years-of-child-development-are-so-important/[Accessed 7 November 2020].