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Do you think app development is a piece of cake? It seems that there's an app for everything these days, so it must be easy, right?

Maybe it is for simple apps like 'Yo', but if you're making a high-quality original kids game app—and you have no idea how to code—it's hard to see your idea become reality.

Why is it so hard? Firstly, finding a talented developer, with excellent communication skills and professionalism costs time to find, then thousands to employ.

This is just one of many challenges that Canberra self-funded start-up Flame Learning encountered when bringing to life their 'Preschool Kids Math' game over the span of two years.

 

Flame Learning is a business partnership between Bronwen Mackenzie and Adrienne Gross who are both Canberra locals working full-time in the instructional design space. After the many disappointing experiences trying to find quality educational apps to suit her then 4-year old-son, Bronwen wondered what if...?

What if a game app could teach new skills in an easy to use and fun way? What if an app could have original graphics and music? What if her son could engage with familiar characters and work towards a realistic educational goal?

 

Putting these thoughts to friend and colleague Adrienne, the idea for Flame Learning was ignited.

But Adrienne, ever the dog fanatic, had one rule: the game must contain puppies!

That's how Poochi the pug, Sheppie the German Shepherd and Rhubarb the Shetland Sheepdog came to life, guided by adult Husky Shadow the pups discover adventures in their puppy playground.

"What's really satisfying for me as a mother and as co-creator of this app is the true joy I see when my son traces the numbers. Even as he gets better at the tracing, he still loves to choose a different puppy and hear their cute growls and barks as they go about their adventures," Bronwen explains while her son sits with concentration punctuated by excited giggles during the rewards screens of Preschool Kids Math.

 

Bronnie familyphoto

Initially intended as a suite of six games, the duo had to revise their plan down to just publishing one.

"First we hired a business from an online freelance site, and they were OK, but the code wasn't accepted by Google Play. Plus it was really hard to communicate our vision due to the language barrier."

Even when engaging a developer from the USA at a much higher rate, the duo was disappointed by his lack of work ethic and output.

"Fortunately the agency admitted that he failed us, and engaged a top-notch developer at no further cost to us. We couldn't be happier with Davor; he is responsive, professional and passionate about his work."

Now, after almost two years of hard work, they are in the marketing phase—and both of them are introverts.

"I don't like to pester people, but we really believe Preschool Kids Math is a quality product," Adrienne explains. "So now is the time to really sell it. When we first launched, we must have received at least one email every couple of days from app marketers who promised everything under the sun—for a price. So far we haven't engaged them, and are starting first with the local Canberra community."

 

So, was all the time and effort worth it?

Certainly from monetary point of view, the duo are currently running a loss, but they still have plans for the future, both with investing time and money into marketing Preschool Kids Math and then to apply their instructional design skills to Virtual Reality gaming, which Adrienne believes is a less saturated market.

"We really believe in the quality of our app. We engaged with an awesome Canberra-based graphic artist (Ruwandi Perera) as well as an internationally renowned vocalist (Trish Delaney-Brown) to create the music and do the voice over. We now need to put our effort into marketing our product."

"We've also learned to be more business savvy when hiring—and firing developers. And we can take the skills we've learned and apply them to our current and future plans."

 

And do they have any advice to others thinking they have an app idea?

"Make sure you've done your research: it really must be unique, or you need to have some serious marketing chops. And be prepared that things will go wrong along the way—you need to stay focused on the end result."

 

You can buy the educational game for 3-6 year olds 'Preschool Kids Math' from Google Play and iTunes.

Visit www.flamelearning.com.au for links to the stores.