I made the Let’s Count tablet game to help my toddler learn numbers, but it had the unexpected effect of improving dexterity as well. Previously, kiddo had trouble hitting targets on a tablet, but now it’s a bullseye every time. Of course video games can improve hand-eye coordination, we all know that, but that’s not where my head was at when I made the game.
Marlin asked me to expand the Let’s Count game to have an additional level with moving targets. We talked it out and decided on a setup where little birds carry the fruit across the screen, and when you hit ten of them the game ends. Since I’m thinking about dexterity now I’ve decided to add a speed control so the Bard can change the speed while they’re playing. This solves another problem I had, because I wanted to expand the numbers to 20 but I didn’t have enough room on the screen without making the fruit really small. Now we can count as high as we want.
I was originally going to use forward-facing birds, but thanks to Flappy Bird there are many side-facing flying bird assets out there, including some cute ones by bevouliin at Open Game Art, so that’s what I’ll use.
Use-study and resource availability can change your perspective on a project. I could try to anticipate future use, but since these are small projects it’s better to wait and see how kiddo responds to the game and go from there.