Traci Lawson - Game Portfolio

The following is a sample of my game-related work. For more a more detailed document, please contact me at traci (dot) lawson @ gmail (dot) com. 

Unannounced preschool in-classroom iPad game, to be released Fall 2011
Role: Game Designer & Usability Researcher
Description: Researched and planned a math game that would work will in a preschool classroom setting, with multiple children playing cooperatively.  Addresses skills not currently seen in other apps in the App Store.

Unannounced Scholastic in-classroom game, Spring 2011
Role: Game Designer
Description: Conceived and planned remedial reading skills games that gradually increase in difficulty.

Move Like Me, November 2010
Role: Game Designer & Producer
Description: We know the iPhone can entertain a child alone for a good length of time, but what about those times that you want to play a game WITH your child?  Move Like Me is a game with cute animated characters and a 'Simon'-like memory mechanic that allow you and your child to both be challenged.  Look out, your child might win if you're not paying attention!

Frogs and Fireflies, April 2010
Role: Game Designer & Producer
Description: The swamp is full of hungry frogs in every color of the rainbow.  They’ll only eat fireflies that match their color.  Players mix primary colored fireflies to create the necessary colors, using simple touch controls specially adjusted for small hands.

Unannounced PC Platform Game for 3 to 5 year olds, May 2009
Role: Game Designer
Description: I wrote a design document for a client’s side-scrolling PC platform game for preschoolers. I also determined age-appropriate educational content to build the game around. This game is currently in development.

© Sesame Workshop

Rosita’s Fiesta, February 2009
Target Age: 3 to 5 years
Role: Game Design & Research (team)

Description:  Rosita is hosting a party, and she needs your help!  She has a basket of goodies to share with the guests, but she is not sure how many are needed.  The player helps her set the proper amount of goodies on the table.  Rosita’s Fiesta is different from other preschool math games because the computer never counts for the child.  It is up to the player to decide if the quantities are equal.  When the correct number of treats have been shared, some guests leave, or more arrive, and Rosita has a new basket of goodies to share.

Gandhi Gandhi Boom Boom, January 2009
Roles: Game Design (team), Asset Acquisition & Management
Platform: XNA, Target Age: Adult, Game Type: Casual

Description: Move and rotate to collect items for time. Don't let opposites like war and peace, cats and dogs, or Gandhi and hamburgers touch each other, or you'll lose time on the clock. This game was designed and built in 48 hours as part of Global Game Jam 2009, and won first prize at the Columbia University site.

Curriculum Implementation & Child Usability Testing at Sesame Workshop
June 2007 - March 2009
Platform: Flash & iPhone, Game Type: Educational
Role Description: Advised game designers on age-appropriate curriculum content, and ways to integrate it into game play. Took alpha builds of games to schools to ensure children understood how to play them. Communicated trouble spots to producers and programmers so games could be improved before release.

Sesame Street (Target Age: 3 to 5 years)
Rosita’s Fiesta, Abby’s Adventures, Color with Murray, This Is Your Lunch with Guy Smiley, Listen for the Letter, Count with The Count, One of These Things, Keyboard-o-Rama, Opposites Button, All About Zero, Patterns with Shapes, Drawing with Shapes, Picture Play, Play Along, What Comes Next?, Pick Up the Trash

The Electric Company (Target Age: 6 to 10 years)
Chain Game, Combotronic, Sort It Out, Word Transformer
iREAD classroom research prototype for iPod Touch

Pinky Dinky Doo (Target Age: 6 to 10 years)
Your Story Box, Pinky’s Fantastic Print-O-Matic

Panwapa (Target Age: 6 to 10 years)
Unreleased iPhone Prototype App - Users browse photos from nations around the world, and show kids in other countries what their neighborhood looks like.

PRESENTATIONS:

Lawson, T. Getting Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the App Store, Women in Children's Media meeting, held at and sponsored by Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, August 2011

Revelle, G., Mays-Green, M., Reardon, E. & Lawson, T. Social Mobile Media for Young Children's Learning: Panwapa World Mobile. Stanford University Social Mobile Media Workshop, Palo Alto, CA, August 2008

Lee, J. and Lawson, T. The Longest Street in the World: Highlights from Sesame Workshop's International Projects, 2008 PIER Summer Institute at Yale University, New Haven, CT, July 2008

PAPERS:

Lawson, T. The Impact of Globaloria on Collaborative Problem Solving Skills, World Wide Workshop, Charleston, WV and New York, NY, July 2009