Things seem to have been pretty quiet on the Flash game development side here recently but there are a few projects coming to completion in the background, one is an arcade game set in space, the other is a puzzle game with cartoon like characters. These have unfortunately taken something of a backseat recently mostly down to a few new development projects I’ve taken up, as well as an increase in blog writing.

Most of the available development time recently has been taken up putting together a new interactive exploratory environment for young kids. The first stage will go online soon for testing and I’m pretty excited about it – the kids seem to like it so far and they don’t pull any punches about what they like and don’t like. The best thing about the environment is that it’s easily extensible so new features, interactive learning experiences, and games can be added easily whilst maintaining a free exploration environment for the little ones.

The aim of this project is to make the environment completely free, safe and ad-free whilst providing a learning playground for the kids, ideally something along the lines of Poisson Rouge, KS1 BiteSize, Leapster, Mouse Club, and Club Penguin but with a more direct learning involvement so we’ve been busy reading all about the KS1 (5-7) and KS2 (7-11) curriculum. The KS (Key Stage) curriculum includes the learning areas of Engligh Language, Mathematics, Science, ICT, Design Technology, History, Geography, Art and Design, Music,Physical Education and Religious Education.

It’s particularly relevant, and timely, at the moment as one of the kids is currently learning to read and write at school whilst the other is set to go to school at the end of the year. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many places to let little kids learn safely online so hopefully this will go some small way to redressing the balance – let’s see how it goes!

I will be writing a series of articles about the ongoing development of this interactive learning experience, and appreciate any and all input!