‘Boris Games’ was the first educational game I worked on, making a wide impact in special needs schools as well as individuals outside of schools with learning disabilities. It was even a huge success with people simply wanting to learn sign language in an entertaining and stylistic manner. Alongside aiding the company with programming some of the mechanics of the game, I also designed some of the levels as well as some additional post launch content. The main launch of the game including learning key words used in everyday language like greetings and health and safety. The post launch content featured new key words and settings, like road safety and travel knowledge. I also wrote all of their marketing material for the game, which can be seen here: Boris-Games-Makaton-Digital-Edition.
The player takes control of the game using the Xbox Kinect; so, when the superhero Boris makes a gesture, the player can begin interacting with him using Makaton. Upon visiting multiple special needs schools and taking part in user testing, we found that they all loved the ease of the game and it was a sensation in plenty of schools that bought the game as an interactive classroom activity.
Game Awards: 2 TIGA Awards, BETT Finalist Award, Japan Prize Runner Up and Children’s BAFTA Nominated.
