Making Games For Young Children Is a Challenge All Its Own

An interview with the developers of the popular (and very good) Sago Mini series, which are aimed at kids around preschool age.

Much of what is targeted at children on phones and tablets feels like a trap.

“Free” is never free, and often, it’s an exercise in waiting until the parent becomes tired of a child asking for help with the obnoxious and never-ending ads, until they buckle and pay for a “free trial.” That “free trial,” of course, is something they’re going to forget about later. But not before the “free trial” quietly becomes $9.99 per month.

It’s comforting, then, when you can find a game/experience/whatever that feels safe, respectful. It’s a huge reason I profiled the developers behind the Toca games—specifically, Toca Life: World. The Sago Mini games have a similar vibe, which explains why there’s a bundle where you can get access to experiences made by both companies.

Back in April, Sago Mini Trips+ was added to Apple Arcade. “Sago Mini” is part of a larger collection of apps targeted at kids in their preschool age. Their motto, as described on their website, is finding a way to “discover endless ways to explore, create, and learn with apps and printables that let your child's curiosity take the lead.”

I love the “printables” aspect of this, btw. In researching this story, I learned they have a weekly newsletter with new drawings to print and color. It’s a delight to open, and a nice recondition that as much as our children are going increasingly digital, there remains value in having worlds of the physical and digital have meaningful crossover.

In Sago Mini Trips+, kids pick between four modes of travel—plane, car, train, boat—and go on a journey. Much like Toca Life: World, much of the fun is tapping the screen and seeing what the creators have tucked away in the world. What if I tap this? What if I tap that? Oh, I wonder if I can drag that there. Often, something cool happens.

The “+” part comes from its presence on Apple Arcade. In recent years, Apple Arcade has been publishing “+” versions of existing games and experiences in the App Store, with the Apple Arcade version removing in-app purchases, ads, or subscriptions.

Recently, I chatted with Vanessa Logan, who’s worked around children’s apps for more than a decade now, and is a currently a production manager at Sago Mini. Not every person who works on kids software has kids, but Vanessa has two daughters.

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Crossplay: Making engaging games—or experiences, as you call them—for children is a challenge. Is the goal entertainment? Education? Distraction? A little of all three? How would you describe Sago Mini’s goals?

Vanessa Logan: At Sago Mini, our main goal is to bring joy to kids. It’s always what guides our decision-making when we’re developing new content. Our team is full of kids at heart who connect with their inner child to create fun and giggle-inducing experiences that kids can relate to. (Don’t be surprised to find some potty humour or nonsensical magical beings in our apps for some added surprise and delight!) We work hard to get to know our audience and love having kids in the office for playtesting or pitching new app ideas.

We’ve always believed that play is inherently educational. In the games we make, we’re always looking for engaging ways to foster creativity and storytelling. While we’re not necessarily making education the main goal of each product we create, we do keep in mind that kids this age are sponges – and creating apps that support their development and foster that natural curiosity is a top priority for us. Overall, we love to share (with anyone who will listen) just how developmentally important play is!

Finally, with many parents on our team (myself included), we’re no strangers to handing our kids devices to pass the time on a long flight or waiting for a doctor’s appointment. Even though it’s not a focus when we’re developing our apps, we know firsthand how valuable this can be! Much of our content is open-ended play – perfect for picking up a quick play session when it comes in handy.

Prior to making your own experiences for children, what was your impression of what was being offered to children? What pain points did you see for children and parents?

Logan: The majority of early touchscreen content for kids was fairly passive. We saw a lot of video content or waiting for sequences to play out, rather than engaging kids with interactive play. We viewed this as an opportunity to lean into the novel touch interaction. For young kids, it presented an interface that was much more intuitive than a mouse or controller, creating a new world of gameplay possibilities. One aspect of design that we’re always mindful of is how much and how often kids are touching the screen. We want them to be driving the experience forward, not just sitting back and observing.

Another pain point we noticed was the amount of instruction present in kids’ apps—both before you could get started and during gameplay. Written instruction means parental help is often needed, and voiced instruction means passive listening and pauses in the play. None of which are ideal!

Our goal is to design intuitive scaffolding so that kids can open the app and get started independently—no help required. We want parents to be able to hand over the device and have the kids take it from there. As a result, kids also gain a sense of ownership being able to play and master the game on their own.

You focus on the ages of 2 through 5, aimed at the preschool age. What’s so important about that age, knowing how many kids that age are using devices?

Logan: We know that for kids in this age range, Sago Mini may be one of their first experiences with digital gaming. Parents often feel a lot of guilt about screen time, so we aim to make products that parents feel good about putting in front of their children.

Another thing we keep in mind when designing for preschoolers is to keep the content relatable to them. We draw on those experiences they’re having in the real world—whether it’s going on a road trip or a family outing to the grocery store. Then, we look to add a Sago Mini twist to it, including playful moments and interactions like farting unicorns or pickle milkshakes.

We also look to be as inclusive as possible in all of our content, whether it’s allowing children to create their own diverse Sago Mini characters or highlighting multicultural holidays. Kids in this age range are just starting to learn about the world around them, and we want to represent as much diversity as possible.

What is the balance between the idea of “entertainment” and “education”? What have you learned over the years of building these apps to balance the two ideas?

Logan: We’ve always been firm believers in play-based learning. While the majority of our apps are perceived as entertainment, we design them to encourage exploration and experimentation. While the educational aspect isn’t always obvious right off the bat, we frequently see kids in playtesting creating their own narratives, using their imagination, and learning about the world around them through pretend play. Pretend play is a play pattern that persists through most of our apps. There are many studied benefits of pretend play in early childhood development and exploring that in the digital space often offers a lot more flexibility than in the real world.

Four years ago we released Sago Mini School, an app designed for preschoolers to learn academic and life skills through play. Sago Mini School features more traditional preschool learning content, but always with plenty of surprising and delightful moments kids love. We build activities around topics that kids are naturally curious about and let their curiosity lead their way through the app. The process involves consulting with educators throughout development but never losing sight of putting fun first. Through lots of playtesting and feedback, we adjust many factors like difficulty, scaffolded leveling, or the silly factor to find that sweet spot between playful and educational.

While this doesn’t apply to the Apple Arcade version specifically, you mention one of the features for Sago Mini is “no in-app purchases or 3rd-party ads.” You’ve hit on one of my great irritation points, as a parent. Why was this important to you?

Logan: We spend a lot of time and effort designing experiences to be as intuitive as possible for tiny hands to explore on their own. Once kids are inside our apps, we want them to spend some time there and have fun. As I mentioned before, their joy is our main goal! And let’s face it—no one likes having playtime interrupted. We want them to own that play experience, master it, be proud of what they accomplished, and show it off—all while playing in a safe and secure environment. We know that’s the way to gain trust with parents. They know if they hand over a Sago Mini app, it is a safe space for their kid to play while they cook dinner or do the dishes.

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

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Also:

• Despite my youngest being the target audience, she told me this was “for babies.” However, she has a habit of using that as an explanation for not liking things, and later, I did find her poking around at the app and having a good time.

• Please share your favorite decent apps for kids below. I’m always looking for more, and while Apple Arcade has some, we often burn through them fast.

• This isn’t about the game, but I’m writing this in an airplane while away from my kids, and I just wanna say I miss my kids! Looking forward to being home. Ironically, I’m writing this in advance, and will be with my kids when it’s live.