Interview

Educational games are raising the bar for all mobile apps reckons Mindshapes' Jinhee Ahn Kim

Industry could learn from dev process

Educational games are raising the bar for all mobile apps reckons Mindshapes' Jinhee Ahn Kim
There's a notable perception amongst consumers that educational apps aimed at children occupy an entirely different space from the games that have become household names over the past couple of years.

One developer of such apps, however, disagrees. In the view of Jinhee Ahn Kim – director of product development for mobile at Mindshapes, which includes execs from Playfish, Glu Mobile and Sega – the kind of thorough development process educational releases live and die by is just as valuable to the studios behind mobile's biggest franchises

We caught up with Ahn Kim to ask why she thinks when it comes to tablets and smartphones, it's not just the kids that could benefit from a bit of education.

Pocket Gamer: You pitch yourself as a developer that focuses on 'fun, educational apps'. How easy is it to merge the two elements?

Jinhee Ahn Kim: We believe that children learn more effectively when learning is fun, so we've set ourselves the challenge of trying to merge the two elements in everything we do.

We've seen that there are many apps out there that are either fun but a bit frivolous, or educational but not that fun. As parents ourselves, we wanted to find a way to ensure that our apps are both educational and fun. Right from the initial brainstorm to the final development of the app, we put both education and fun at the centre.

The fun comes from our award-winning animators and game designers who can inject child appropriate humour from their years of experience working on cartoons and children's games.

We also have a team of educational experts who work with our game designers to ensure that there are progressively more challenging levels, that are age appropriate and educationally useful. Both teams work very closely, so this helps ensure we deliver on both objectives.

Consumers now appear more willing to accept games as an appropriate medium for education – in stark contrast to the days when games were vilified in the press. Is this a sea change you've experienced in your position as a developer?

Yes, we've found that there has been a change in opinions towards mobile devices such as iPads, but parents remain rightly cautious over what role technology should play in their children's' lives.

The iPad is viewed very positively by parents thanks to Apple's careful marketing, and education has always been a key part of the iPad's offer.

We're trying to establish a brand that parents can trust, where they can be reassured that their kids will learn something as well as be thoroughly entertained. We're finding that storybooks are very popular with parents, bringing an added interactive dimension to bedtime and ultimately encouraging more reading.

Why do you think tablets and smartphones are an appropriate format for educational output?

I think it's the iPad that's really revolutionising how young children can access educational materials. The iPad presents enormous potential to make educational apps that are really interactive, immersive and that will capture the attention of young minds.

We just need to make sure that those young minds are also being educated during the process. The handheld nature of the iPad and the intuitive touchscreen make it perfect for little fingers.

What reaction do you get from other mobile studios? Do they see you as a games developer, or something else entirely?

To be honest we haven't really been asked that question. In the educational children's space, studios and publishers we have met are keen to see the best quality come to market and respect for innovation and raising the bar on quality.

How do you ensure the quality of your titles remains high, without overloading your audience?

That's a good question, and one I think all app developers have to deal with. Our creative director has very high standards, so before anything comes to the commercial team it has to have met his critical eye.

The commercial team reviews the product at key stages and together we decide whether it is going to go forward or needs more work. We're trying to build a brand that parents will trust and their children will love, so ensuring consistently high quality is really important.

Is it an area you feel other mobile studios are overlooking?

We've seen a lot of new entrants into this sector recently, so I don't think it could be called overlooked anymore.

Is there a possibility of tapping into licensed content?

Finding compelling intellectual property that we can license is definitely something that we're interested in looking at in the future. It certainly delivers on the 'fun' and we can add the 'educational' side.

What's next for the studio?

We've got a lot of great educational apps coming out over the next couple of months and a full pipeline of titles for the next few months.

We're really excited about the imminent launch of Meteor Math - an arcade-style game that encourages children to drill their math skills.

Our goal is to build up a portfolio of high quality apps and earn the trust of our customers.
Thanks to Jinhee for her time.

You can find out more about Mindshapes on the firm's website.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.