Traci Lawson - Game Portfolio

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

Frogs and Fireflies, present
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.

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. If the answer isn’t right, Rosita tells if it is too many, or not enough, and they player tries again. If the amount is correct, everyone at the party eats the treat, or plays with the toy. Then, some guests leave, or more arrive, and Rosita has a new basket of goodies to share.
I am proud of this game because instead of being overtly about counting, it is about pretend play and hosting a party.  Where many preschool games would have you click guests to count them, it instead asks children to help Rosita lay out the number of goods we need to share.  The player has to determine the necessary amount, instead of absentmindedly clicking on every head.

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:

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

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

PAPERS:

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