Isaac Wirth

Portfolio

Screen Reader Update: Pup Pup Boogie

I led production on a live update that made “Pup Pup Boogie” screen reader accessible, which was a significant achievement since none of Noggin’s HTML5 games were screen reader accessible previously.

As a producer, I designed the language the screen reader used, as well as the information it conveyed to the user. I communicated this design flow to our vendor, and what a successful product would look like once complete. I then worked closely with our vendor to determine the best technical solution for implementing screen reader functionality into “Pup Pup Boogie”. I also played a crucial role in facilitating communication between our accessibility audit vendors and developers to ensure that we met our project’s accessibility goals in timely fashion. I performed QA checks individually at each milestone delivery to ensure that the screen reader functionality was being implemented properly, and efficiently as well.

Throughout the project, I also taught my coworkers about the importance of accessibility technology and advocated for more accessible games within our ecosystem. This project is now complete, and is the first and only game on Noggin to be functional with a screen reader activated. Our developers that we partnered with for this project were able to take the tools that they created for this project and apply it to their internal engine, and will be able to create more screen reader functional games quickly and efficiently in the future due to this project as well.

Literacy Activities: Ready Set Repair

I designed 3 types of literacy activities to be used in Blaze and the Monster Machines: Ready Set Repair. To make sure that the activities were age-appropriate for preschoolers, I worked closely with Noggin’s learning team to create literacy questions that were both engaging and challenging. Specifically, we targeted three curricular areas: Letter Identification, Initial Letter Sounds, and Blends.

To bring these activities to life, I identified a set number of assets from Blaze and the Monster Machines that we could use for each activity, while making sure to stay within certain technological limits. Overall, I’m really happy with how the project turned out, and I hope that the literacy activities we created will be fun and educational for young children.

Live Update: ABC Farm

As a co-producer, I was responsible for managing the vendors’ project milestones and deliveries, as well as internal Noggin feedback deliveries. One of the key features that we added to the game were lowercase letters and numbers. To make it easy for children to differentiate between lowercase letters that look similar to uppercase letters, I designed a UI system that would clearly indicate the difference between them

Math Activities: Brilliant Math Builder

I worked closely with a senior producer to design four different types of math activities that would be both fun and educational for preschoolers. In order to ensure that the math questions we created were age-appropriate, I collaborated with Noggin’s learning team to come up with engaging questions that would challenge and motivate young learners.

Specifically, we targeted four different curricular areas: Venn Diagrams, Patterns, Sorting, and Matching. To create these activities, I also developed a library of assets from Blaze and the Monster Machines that we could use for each activity, while managing our resources wisely.