Cartoon illustration of a yellow dog with a red collar standing on grass, with letters spelling 'BARK' below it.

Martha Speaks Games

From 2007 - 2011 I worked in WGBH Boston's Children's Interactive group. During my time there I worked on a range of Children's brands including Arthur, Curious George, Zoom, Design Squad Nation. However my primary project during that time was Martha Speaks. On Martha I was able to tackle a number of different responsibilities including game mechanics, animation, sound design, music scoring, information architecture, user experience and storyboarding on multiple platforms. These are just a sample of the interfaces and game scenarios I designed during my time on the project.

Kids' game illustration with a dog dressed as a chef and a dog dressed as a cook, a pizza, and the text 'SKITS COOKS' on a brick wall.

Inspired by gestural interfaces, like those found on the Wii, I designed the actions in Skits Cooks to react to simple gestural motions. By simply moving the mouse up and down, left to right, or in a circle, kids can control the dogs to make pizza in a dog-owned parlor. We also experimented with particle generators to react to the user's movements to create a more dynamic experience.

Skits Cooks

Game Snapshots

Cartoon scene with a cow dressed as a chef standing on the green ground, looking at a bowl. The background has a red brick wall with a pipe and tank overhead, and a person's hand holding a mouse.
A computer screen showing a digital activity where an orange-written word 'SPREAD' is displayed. There are images of a plate of tomato sauce with a spoon, and a hand holding a computer mouse, illustrating the word 'spread'.
A picture of a pizza with a pink birthday cake on top, indicating a second birthday celebration. The pizza has slices of banana and some other toppings. There are icons of a birthday cake, a banana, and an ice cream bar on the left side, with a target for selecting the correct items, and an arrow labeled 'NEXT' on the right.
Animated scene from Martha Speaks Kids with a talking dog in a restaurant, enjoying a plate of pizza with pink cakes and bananas, with other animated dogs and humans dining in the background.

The fire hydrant topping adder in the dog pizza parlor

An animated image of a robot dispensing cheese onto a pizza dough with tomato sauce on a green countertop.
A magician standing on a stage with a red curtain, displaying wooden signs spelling 'WORD PLAY' and a small blue sign saying 'PLAY' with an image of a piece of pie. The top of the image features buttons for games and more images of food items.

A series of mini-games inspired by Nintendo’s WarioWare, framed as a talent show hosted by Truman, to teach a miscellaneous set of words.

Word Play

Game Snapshots

A young boy dressed as a magician on stage with a microphone in hand, wearing a top hat and a red cape, in a theater or auditorium setting.
An animated scene of a puppet show with a dog on stage, surrounded by what looks like paint buckets, a colorful background, and a clock.
A cartoon dog balancing a large hat labeled 'Balance' with pineapples on either side on its head in a stage setting.
Educational scene with hanging objects on a red wooden background, including a pineapple, a red and white polka dot sock, a magnifying glass, a purple rat, a pink ice cream cone, a yellow toy tractor, a brown raccoon, and a basketball.
Colorful animated game screen titled "Socks in Space" featuring an astronaut dog floating in space surrounded by colorful socks with starry background. Includes menu options for games, print, video, and Martha's stories.

A game in which Astronaut Martha is on a mission to find all of the socks that go missing in the laundry, while teaching her fans space-related vocabulary.

Socks in Space

Martha Speaks PBS Kids scene showing a dog and a boy watching an astronaut on a space screen.
An animated space scene featuring an astronaut floating in space near Earth with stars and nebulae in the background.
Four dogs on a green background, with one dog lying on its back with paws in the air, a small gray dog sitting, a small white dog standing, and a large brown and white dog lying down and looking to the side.

This game was designed in response to a common request from kids interested in adopting a dog. This feature allows our users to choose a dog, from a set of five, to play with and nurture through a unique set of interactions. When the feature first launched, the user's dog would rest in a dog bed up in the navigation while that user visited other parts of the site. (The site has since restructured, and the dog bed feature has been taken away.)

Pup Pals

A cartoon illustration of a dog holding a blue toy in its mouth, sitting on a green background. There are various clipart items including a fan, a rope, and a flashlight, along with buttons for games, print, video, and stories at the top.
A colorful digital illustration featuring a xylophone, a gray dog, and a picture of a giraffe toy with a xylophone in the grass.
A cartoon scene with various foods including steak, chicken leg, hot dog, and dog bed with a bone. A dog eats from a bowl labeled "Skits" while a drink container with a straw is nearby. Small icons in the upper left include a plate with a piece of pie, a box of dog food, and a basket of berries.