Game Design

Games are design with stakes. You have to earn the next screen. This section covers two distinct chapters of game design work, and they couldn't be more different in context — which makes them a pretty good argument for the breadth of what game design actually is.

The first is a four-year stretch at WGBH Boston's Children's Interactive group, where Daniel served as the lead designer on Martha Speaks, the PBS kids show about a talking dog with an impressive vocabulary. On Martha, he wore essentially every hat: game mechanics, animation, sound design, music scoring, information architecture, UX, storyboarding. The games here — a pizza parlor run by dogs, an astronaut sock-retrieval mission, a virtual dog adoption sim — are deceptively well-crafted. Teaching vocabulary to six-year-olds through gameplay is genuinely hard design work, and the fact that these feel fun first and educational second is the whole point.

The second is a series of interactive games designed for a Kansas City Chiefs museum installation, centered on mental and physical wellness. A passing game, a memory game, a balance game — built for a very different audience, but grounded in the same core question: what makes someone want to keep playing?

Cartoon illustration of a yellow dog with a red collar standing on grass, with letters spelling 'BARK' below it.

Martha Speaks

From 2007 - 2011 I worked in WGBH Boston's Children's Interactive group. During my time there I worked on a range of Children's brands including Arthur, Curious George, Zoom, Design Squad Nation. However my primary project during that time was Martha Speaks. On Martha I was able to tackle a number of different responsibilities including game mechanics, animation, sound design, music scoring, information architecture, user experience and storyboarding on multiple platforms. These are just a sample of the interfaces and game scenarios I designed during my time on the project.

Inspired by gestural interfaces, like those found on the Wii, I designed the actions in Skits Cooks to react to simple gestural motions. By simply moving the mouse up and down, left to right, or in a circle, kids can control the dogs to make pizza in a dog-owned parlor. We also experimented with particle generators to react to the user's movements to create a more dynamic experience.

Skits Cooks

Game Snapshots

Cartoon scene with a cow dressed as a chef standing on the green ground, looking at a bowl. The background has a red brick wall with a pipe and tank overhead, and a person's hand holding a mouse.

A computer screen showing a digital activity where an orange-written word 'SPREAD' is displayed. There are images of a plate of tomato sauce with a spoon, and a hand holding a computer mouse, illustrating the word 'spread'.

A picture of a pizza with a pink birthday cake on top, indicating a second birthday celebration. The pizza has slices of banana and some other toppings. There are icons of a birthday cake, a banana, and an ice cream bar on the left side, with a target for selecting the correct items, and an arrow labeled 'NEXT' on the right.

Animated scene from Martha Speaks Kids with a talking dog in a restaurant, enjoying a plate of pizza with pink cakes and bananas, with other animated dogs and humans dining in the background.

The fire hydrant topping adder in the dog pizza parlor

An animated image of a robot dispensing cheese onto a pizza dough with tomato sauce on a green countertop.

A series of mini-games inspired by Nintendo’s WarioWare, framed as a talent show hosted by Truman, to teach a miscellaneous set of words.

Word Play

Game Snapshots

A young boy dressed as a magician on stage with a microphone in hand, wearing a top hat and a red cape, in a theater or auditorium setting.

An animated scene of a puppet show with a dog on stage, surrounded by what looks like paint buckets, a colorful background, and a clock.

A cartoon dog balancing a large hat labeled 'Balance' with pineapples on either side on its head in a stage setting.

Educational scene with hanging objects on a red wooden background, including a pineapple, a red and white polka dot sock, a magnifying glass, a purple rat, a pink ice cream cone, a yellow toy tractor, a brown raccoon, and a basketball.

A game in which Astronaut Martha is on a mission to find all of the socks that go missing in the laundry, while teaching her fans space-related vocabulary.

Socks in Space

Game Snapshots

Martha Speaks PBS Kids scene showing a dog and a boy watching an astronaut on a space screen.

An animated space scene featuring an astronaut floating in space near Earth with stars and nebulae in the background.

Four dogs on a green background, with one dog lying on its back with paws in the air, a small gray dog sitting, a small white dog standing, and a large brown and white dog lying down and looking to the side.

This game was designed in response to a common request from kids interested in adopting a dog. This feature allows our users to choose a dog, from a set of five, to play with and nurture through a unique set of interactions. When the feature first launched, the user's dog would rest in a dog bed up in the navigation while that user visited other parts of the site. (The site has since restructured, and the dog bed feature has been taken away.)

Pup Pals

Game Snapshots

A cartoon illustration of a dog holding a blue toy in its mouth, sitting on a green background. There are various clipart items including a fan, a rope, and a flashlight, along with buttons for games, print, video, and stories at the top.

A colorful digital illustration featuring a xylophone, a gray dog, and a picture of a giraffe toy with a xylophone in the grass.

A cartoon scene with various foods including steak, chicken leg, hot dog, and dog bed with a bone. A dog eats from a bowl labeled "Skits" while a drink container with a straw is nearby. Small icons in the upper left include a plate with a piece of pie, a box of dog food, and a basket of berries.

Kansas City Chiefs

A series of games designed for a KC Chiefs interactive museum focused on mental and physical wellness

A cartoon coach holding a clipboard with a whistle in his mouth, standing on a football field with orange cones and a football. The background features a red banner with text about balance and a large red button labeled 'Next'.

A game designed to promote the value of balance. The primary input affordance was a balance board connected to a potentiometer. I designed the game elements to harken to pinball elements.

Balance Game

Game Snapshots

Digital game screen with instructions to move left or right using a balance board, represented by a red and black icon labeled 'This is you'. The background is green resembling a sports field, with a timer showing 2:00 and a score of 2:00 at the top. The title says 'Now to Play' and the prompt instructs to move on the floor.

Screenshot of a soccer training game with instructions to dodge defenders and sleds, game timer, score, and a prompt at the top that says 'Now to Play'.

A digital football game screen with the message 'Pick up loose balls' displayed in the center. There are two red and yellow footballs, one on the field and one in the end zone, and a row of three gray and black footballs in the right corner. The top of the screen shows the game time, score, and other game information.

A digital game screen showing a soccer match with a penalty kick, displaying a green field, a black goal keeper, a red penalty kicker, a timer of 1:57, a score of 002, and a message "TACKLED!" at the top.

An arcade-style football game screen with a green field, showing a football, a robot-shaped player, and a red robot with a yellow number five on it. The top of the screen displays a timer and a score.

A digital game of Air Hockey on a green table, with red and gray paddles, a puck, and score and timer displayed at the top.

Two circular objects, one at the top and one at the bottom, with distinct designs and colors, floating against a white background. The top object has a gray and black color scheme with a star and a smiley face. The bottom object is red and orange with the number 5 on it.

A red and black foot pedal, a round metal stool, and part of a wooden wall in a room with red flooring.

A girl playing a video game on a tabletop touchscreen at a library, with an older woman watching intently.

A cartoon coach with sunglasses and a headset raising his hand with a pencil, holding a clipboard, standing on a football field with orange cones and a football. The background features red and black sections with a motivational message and a call to action about sports and memory skills.

A touch-screen, football route-based game to test the player’s memory. (While I created the concept, and timer/score bar, Dan Nolan created the final game touch UI.

Memory Game

A screenshot of a digital retro-style field hockey video game. The game displays the score, time, and various circles representing players on a green field. One yellow circle with a red outline is positioned near the bottom right corner, indicating the player's current position.

Video game scoreboard screen with a message saying, "Great job! You have today's high score." The scoreboard displays a score of 6, and options to play again, view leaderboard, view all pro teams, or go to the Chiefs Sports Lab. The background features green sections resembling a football field, and a cartoon team mascot is shown on the left side.

Game Snapshots

Child playing a digital hockey game with a touchscreen interface.

A football play diagram on a green field showing a red and yellow play with a red arrow indicating the movement. The play starts from the right side of the field and moves diagonally to the left. Instructions say, 'Look at a play and remember the red pattern...' The field has the word 'HOW TO PLAY' at the top, and a timer showing 2:00.

Screenshot of a football memory game with empty circles on a field, showing an arrow pointing from the bottom right circle to the middle circle, with a timer, score, and instructions at the top.

A person playing a vintage handheld electronic football game on a wooden table.

An arcade football game screen showing a cartoon football player in a red uniform holding a helmet, with a stadium crowd in the background and a timer set to 2 minutes at the top.

This game tested the reaction speed and accuracy of the player to tap the button in order catch the pass.

Passing Game

Game Snapshots

Children playing a hockey-themed electronic pinball game with a digital screen and red buttons.

Table with a rectangular glass panel surrounded by red buttons, showing a baseball game with a player in a field.

A small brown dot in the center of a light gray background.

A person playing an arcade baseball game with red buttons surrounding the screen, which displays a baseball scene.