Edutainment (educational games)

[yaakovdov]

Hi there

I was wondering if anyone here knows anything about edutainment (educational games). I've just finished a computing degree and am looking for a job, and think that edutainment, or even educational software of any kind, seems appealing. Has anyone got any info of this, or any tips of how to get into it?

Thanks

[Curiosoft]

Yeah,

I make "edutainment" games. It's a very competitive field. Only do it if you have a deep desire to make games for kids. I go to my local library and view their edutainment games section and see literally 100s of titles. It shakes me up as only a handful of those have been successful.

At the same time, a lot of these games aren't fun. I would say about 50% fall into the "non fun" category. Some of these games are decent, but marketed poorly. Then there are the games that are fun and marketed well (very few of these).

There is a market for downloadable edutainment games. At the same time, there is a lot of competition. Places like "Cartoon Network", Nickelodeon (sp?), and Scholastic already offer kids games. How do you compete with these folks? Find a niche (or idea) that hasn't been done yet.

Later,
Curiosoft

P.S. I think that a major mistake folks make when designing kids games is that they want to "teach" the children something. The goal should be fun intellectual play.

[Sirrus]

Do you develop Edutainment full time Curiosoft?

[maksum]

I don't have much to bring to the table, as I'm new to this. But the games I'm aiming to create will be "Smart Games" (as I'm calling them). I don't want to go "edutainment" or "educational", but my first game is a puzzle game based on logic, strategy, and basic math.

My personal goal is to hook people with the fun, and then sell them on the value. In other words, I would like people to try my game, think it's really fun, then realize how much their 12 year-old my enjoy and benefit from it... we'll see. I'm a couple weeks away from releasing my first title: "Add 'em Up". Feel free to check out my Web site for details (link in sig.)

Anyway, I'll be watching this thread as I am also interested in the topic.

Mike