Jon Howard
Bio
on is a creative coder, product creator, game maker and purveyor of digital creativity with a great interest in machine learning.
Ten years at the BBC has seen Jon deliver numerous award-winning innovative interactive experiences - working with brands from Doctor Who and EastEnders to Dick & Dom and Radio 1. A polymath, future thinker and occasional film-maker - waking hours are spent jabbing digits into a keyboard trying to make magic happen - occasionally it all comes together.
Session
Playability: Making Games For Kids
BBC Children's have a huge audience for online games. Developing games for this audience brings many different challenges. This session will explore how to approach these challenges, which mechanics work best and how to ensure engagement.
CBBC & CBeebies have some of the biggest brands in kid's TV. Building games to supplement and enhance these brands brings the responsibility of allowing users to interact with their most loved characters. In the session there will be a deconstruction of some the biggest hitting games to find out why these have become more successful than others, and what makes them brand appropriate.
Playability is the big overriding goal. How do you make a game as playable as it can be?
Most of all, how do you make a game FUN?
