Count with Little Mole – learning to count for the youngest (Android/iOS)
Count with Little Mole is an educational game for the youngest, based on original illustrations by Zdenek Miler – the creator of the Mole character. The app teaches to recognize numbers and to count from 1 to 10. The Mole, a beloved cartoon character which has won the hearts of many generations, accompanies children when they learn how to count.
A goal we set for ourselves was convey the atmosphere of the old beloved fairy tale. We got scans of Zdenek Miler’s original illustrations, and we spent a lot of time and effort to save hand painted backgrounds and make them look beautiful on smartphone and tablet screen. The characters, however, have been faithfully reproduced and carefully creaed using 2D vector graphics techniques, thanks to which we could have animated them. All the additional details and elements of the interface were created with the intention of not distracting the child but being an interesting accent, that fits into the whole design. The result was an unusual combination of illustrations made with traditional techniques and computer graphics. We hope that this project will contribute to passing down family traditions, and children will love The Little Mole as much as their parents, but in a more contemporary format :).
The game is based on a simple mechanism, appropriate for very young children. On each level the child has to drag characters or objects to their destined location. At that point an appropriate number is displayed on the screen and the speaker voice counts “one, two, three…”.
Simple stories are presented through each task: you can help the Mole hide from the rain, free fish from a net, gather fruits for the Hedgehog’s basket or strawberries for the Mouse. This game mainly provides plenty of fun with learning in the background. There are no wrong answers, time limits, or competition here. Children pick a number and spend as much time with it as they want to.
Thanks to the app, children can learn to count in five languages: English, Czech, Polish, Russian and Chinese.
The app is available in stores:
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playway.dardanele.CountWithLittleMole
App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/count-with-little-mole/id1165337944
Scope of work:
idea, specifying, graphic design, illustration, animation, sounding, programming, testing and bug fixing, launch.
