Tag Archives: producers

Sago Sago‘s apps are charming interactive experiences that aim to engage the youngest players. We recently had the opportunity to ask CEO Jason Krogh to share the story behind the company and to tell us more about their most recent game, “Friends,” which encourages young children to go on a digital play date.   Can you tell us a little bit about your path to developing apps for children? Like most people in the field, I stumbled into it. Shortly…

As a parent of a 4-year-old, I know that mobile apps are a) incredibly popular with preschoolers and b) that getting my daughter to brush her teeth twice a day is HARD.  In my professional role as VP of Digital at The Ad Council, I recently had the opportunity to work on developing Toothsavers, a mobile app for our Children’s Oral Health campaign. The challenge for this campaign was to motivate parents to take action to reduce their children’s risk…

The London Educational Games Meetup group (or LEGup, as it’s become known), was started just over two years ago by Kirsten Campbell Howes, an educational specialist and game designer. At first, it was a small gathering in a room above a pub, where a few like-minded games makers and enthusiasts would show what they were working on, ask for feedback, and share their experiences. Two years later, LEGup has nearly 800 members (including games developers, teachers, investors and others), has…

Mark Rabo recently led a Creative Jam as part of the TIFF Nexus New Media Literacies Conferences that took place in Toronto this spring. We asked him to share some tips for producers interested in collaborating with others in this innovative format that inspires creativity while harnessing the talents of its participants.   “Good artists steal” “Everything is a remix” “There is nothing new under the sun” It’s both terrifying and liberating that the raw material of every idea has always existed.…

For the second year in a row, I packed my necessities and headed into the wilderness for the Canadian May long weekend. OK … well by necessities, I mean my iPad, and by the wilderness, I mean the stunning Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California.  Yup, that’s right, another App Camp has come and gone. When I get back from App Camp, the first response I usually get from people is usually “That’s awesome!”  And then they follow with, “What’s an…

This year’s Sandbox Summit, hosted by MIT on April 17th and 18th, ranged from the very low tech (a live action card game) to very high tech FlickerLab’s new live (animation studio).  Despite the diversity of participants, there was one recurring theme: kids need and expect experiences rather than products.  And for producers and developers, that requires new ways of synthesizing ideas. The first keynote speaker and CEO of Callaway Digital Arts, Rex Ishibashi, argued that while the ecosystem of…

Here at the Cooney Center, we often talk about the importance of multi-disciplinary collaboration, and I love it when talented people from different sectors of the industry get together and do something great.  Last week, brilliant app developer Andy Russell of Launchpad Toys joined forces with one of my favorite kids-tech writers, Dan Donahoo of WIRED’s GeekDad blog, on what I think is an extremely important initiative.  The pair has released the Children’s App Manifesto, which was unveiled via this…