CACKLEBERRIES
Platforms | PC
Status | Shipped Jul 2011
Developer | Cackleberries Entertainment
Position | Producer / Lead Game Designer
Description |
Cackleberries is an online virtual world filled with colourful characters, games, activities, songs, stories, and lots of educational content. It reminds me of the Saturday morning cartoons I watched as a kid and also has a Sesame Street vibe to it. The game is used to teach children English through their exploration of a town called Oville. Players can meet the characters in the game and interact with them in order to access a variety of educational content.
I started at Cackleberries about two months after they had initially launched the core product. The framework was in place and they needed a Game Designer to create content for the subscribers of the service. During my time there I created a bunch of new games while simultaneously improving the existing games to bring them up to the same level of quality.
PRODUCER:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
► Produced nine games by directly managing a team of seven people ensuring that all contributions in Art, Programming, Audio, and Animation were in keeping with the creative vision of the game.
► Revised and improved the games that were there before I started to bring them up to the same level of consistency across the board by implementing similar User Interfaces, common controls, and User Experiences.
► Managed bi-monthly sprints by assigning and overseeing the tasks of programmers, artists, and animators.
► Ran the company’s social media networks (Facebook, Twitter), answered questions as the Community Manager, and maintained the game’s wiki page.
LEAD GAME DESIGNER:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
► Designed and prototyped numerous games within the online world of Oville (Twist & Spout, Frobit Fling, Ramp Builder, Mumbee’s Meals, Mumbee’s Match, Balloon Blast, Shadow Shapes, Recycle Rush, Cracker’s Clean Up, Jumble Jars).
► Created a Kindness Quest system which included designing the complete User Interface, creating multiple quest scenarios, writing character dialogue, and implementing a reward system.
► Provided in-studio Quality Assurance, and also recorded, edited, and implemented audio assets.
Skills
» Team and project management
» Community management
» User Interface design
» User Experience design
» Mechanics design
» Systems design
» Rapid prototyping
» Resource planning
» Quality assurance