Keenville

Welcome to Keenville on Planet Peachy Keen! We're glad you're here to meet our friends, the Keens. The Keens live in Keenville and want to help Georgia's youngest learners – those in first and second grade – grow and learn important reading and math skills. Keenville is an innovative, developmentally appropriate game-based approach to instruction.​​​​

Fast Travel Systems

I was brought onto the project when a need for a fast-travel system arose. The travel originally worked by clicking nodes on a large map to move the player, and it took a while to reach specific locations. Kids would also get lost. My job was to figure out how the fast travel system would work, how it would be introduced, and how other key elements of the game would need to be adjusted in response. I created the breakdown below to get a sense of the game and its systems.

Next, I presented a couple of options for how the fast travel system could work through mock-ups. I wanted to give the client a visual and a written walkthrough so that we all would be on the same page.

I made a point of explaining my thoughts on all the options and collaborated with the Keenville team to determine the best one. The option above is the one we ended up going with.

After these systems were approved, I also drafted VO lines and outlined how the mini-map tutorial would work when you first enter and leave the home.

At this point, we had the fast travel system worked out, documented, and implemented. However, when you used the mini-map, the screen would fade in and out of white, and you would appear in the mini-game. FableVision wanted a vehicle system that would let kids use vehicles to get around and explore the world of Keenville. My job was to determine whether you would need to purchase vehicles, where they would be introduced, how they would be tutorialized, and how they would appear on the mini-map. I created mock-ups for all of these screens and the accompanying documentation.

Home Upgrade System

I was also brought on to design a home expansion system, where kids can use their beans to pay for a new yard and a second room to decorate and explore! I created mock-ups of what this expansion shop could look like, in-depth documentation, and VO lines to support tutorialization.

Get those Beans!

Lastly, I was asked to design one of the mini games for Keenville. I dubbed this game "Get those Beans!" and it mimicked a game show with two categories: Math and ELA! I created a prototype in Adobe XD, creating screen mock-ups and linking them together so the client could play through a mock version of the game and get a sense of how it would function. I wrote a comprehensive document outlining each step of the game, VO, and tutorialization, and collaborated with FableVision and the client to ensure everyone was satisfied with the design.