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Game designer melds memories of Broomfield park with iPad app [Broomfield Enterprise, Colo.](Broomfield Enterprise (CO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 24--When Tina Ziemek was a kid, she had to a place where she could let loose, be creative and just play. It was more than just the playground down the street. It was her kingdom and sanctuary. Ziemek, a video game designer, has since grown up and moved away from her childhood home just off Miramonte Boulevard. She's taken her fond memories of her childhood playground and melded them into a new iPad game called Miramonte Park. When complete, Miramonte Park will be an educational game for the iPad that invites young players ages 3 to 5 to explore a make-believe park filled with games, challenges and learning puzzles. The game is a prototype right now, but Ziemek's game company, Last of Five, on Nov. 1 will launch an Indiegogo campaign to raise $55,000 to get the game into kids' hands within about six months. Ziemek hopes to make the Miramonte Park app a balance of fun, structured learning games, while also creating digital space for children to play on their own without having to follow specific rules. Letting kids explore a virtual world on their own is a great way to build self-esteem and get kids learning critical thinking skills while they play, she said. "The market is full of what we call 'sugary' games that underestimate what kids can do," she said via phone from her home in Utah. "This (game) is meant to give them some room, and give them the freedom to play on their own terms." The Miramonte Park game features a colorful playground where kids can visit pieces of playground equipment to play learning games and complete challenges. Some of the games have specific objectives, but other features are more free-form entertainment, she said. The park theme is heavily inspired by the real-life Miramonte Park, a place where Ziemek spent hours as a kid. At the real-life Miramonte Park, Ziemek and her friends could make up games that opened their imaginations. With the freedom and space to make their own entertainment, her unstructured playtime helped her become a more independent and creative person, she said. To get the most out of her Miramonte Park prototype, Ziemek dug through research journals to learn how unstructured play affects young children's independence and critical-thinking skills. She also sought out inspiration from other real-world parks, such as an "adventure playground" in California, a place where there isn't typical plastic playground equipment, but instead features unstructured design and movable objects kids can use to build their own forts and play games. Broomfield is considering building its own adventure playground near McKay Lake, where kids would play on structures, such as boulders, logs and other materials found in nature. The plan is still in early stages and has not yet been approved. Last of Five also hired an education consultant, J Dianne Brederson, who said the game's combination of educational and entertainment aspects was a selling point for her. Brederson, a professor at Prescott College in Arizona and a mother of two young children, said she got on board with the Miramonte Park game because Ziemek was so adamant about balancing unstructured play, educational elements and real-life play. "My children are 5 and 7, and are limited to 20 minutes of iPad time a week," she said. "When I look for apps for them to use, I look for some kind of learning element that's also fun." Brederson said her children do well with "sandbox" games, which is a video game industry term for a game that doesn't follow a linear storyline, but has an open structure where players can choose between a variety of activities, tasks or missions within the game's environment. The Miramonte Park game "is beautiful and eye-pleasing, and there's a strong element of choice. That helps children learn to be self-directed learners," Brederson said. Ziemek's new iPad game might take place in the digital world, but the Miramonte Park game aims to inspire creative outdoor play, too. Several facets of the game include prompts for children and their parents to get away from the screen and go outside to do activities together, such as build a terrarium in a mason jar or find their own real-life park where they can run and play. Ziemek's interest in computer game design for children started when she did research on cognition and games for children and adults at both the School of Mines and University of Utah, where she got her Ph.D. in computer science. Before starting Last of Five, she worked in the video game industry for four years. In that time, she worked at a start-up with SimCity game designer Will Wright. The open-ended SimCity games -- which allow players to build their own towns, fly a helicopter or create characters that interact in a virtual world -- have the type of flexibility and creativity Ziemek wanted to include in her game. "I just wanted to create something that was organic, another option for kids and parents," she said. ___ (c)2014 the Broomfield Enterprise (Broomfield, Colo.) Visit the Broomfield Enterprise (Broomfield, Colo.) at www.broomfieldenterprise.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |