THE PROCESS

I wanted the app to have a character where children can play as, something that would allow them to move around. In the end, a penguin is chosen, since that seems like a cute and friendly animal.

For the quizzes, rather than simply showing the number of lives at the top of the screen, I wanted to have some sort of illustration instead. So a few enemies were created, the first being a fox. When the player gives a wrong answer, the fox will move closer to the penguin, and eventually pounce on the penguin if all lives have been used.

To make the level select more immersive, some trees can be shaken when the penguin moves past it. Sounds of birds are also played randomly during the game, making it feel like the player is in the forest and close to nature.

RELEASING A NEW UPDATE

After testing the initial release, the app felt too boring. There was no motivation for players to continue playing the next quiz. If the players kept playing, they can unlock new pets, but that is too far down the road and is not obvious enough.

To fix this, a new update was released. In the new update, players will be rewarded with an item for each quiz completed. When enough items are collected, they will unlock a new pet which will follow them around. To keep them motivated, the items currently being collected are always displayed at the top of the screen.

PENGUIN STORIES

To promote the app, a series of stories about the penguin's life is created, as shown in the video below.