Project Injini

Beginning, Middle and End – A Project Completed

Anna — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:21:16 +0000

Very few fans of our apps know the story of how the project began and who was behind the scenes making magic happen. Three years ago, NCSoft, as part of their corporate social responsibility program, supported Project Injini in response to the question: “What impact can game designers make in the lives of children with special needs?”

In collaboration with educators, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, and early interventionists, the team at Project Injini created Injini Child Development Game Suite, My First AAC and Write My Name. Each application was designed to meet the highest gaming industry standards as well as earn the approval and support of special education teachers and other specialists that work on behalf of children with special needs.

This work could not have happened without the expertise of our game designers, skill of our developers, personal passion from our collaborators in education, and the inspiration children with special needs give us all.

Did we answer the challenge put before us three years ago? Yes! It has been a worthwhile journey and now our project is complete. Even though our project has concluded, the games your children have quickly grown to love to play will still be available through the App Store. Injini Child Development Game Suite, My First AAC and Write My Name will continue on.

Thank you so much for your support! We are grateful for this experience and the opportunity to play and learn with your children.

Team Project Injini

Introducing Write My Name

Anna — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:13:56 +0000

In the same tradition as Injini Child Development Game Suite and My First AAC, Project Injini was inspired to create Write My Name to help children with special needs practice emerging writing skills in a fun and playful way. In addition to learning how to write letters and common sight words, children now have the opportunity to make this activity especially personal by learning how to write their own name. What could be more meaningful and motivating than writing your name?

Parents and teachers can create up to 36 custom nametags. In addition to your child’s own name, you can include family member’s names, too. Maybe add the name of a favorite stuffed animal or pet. You can even include phrases, such as “I Love You.” Collaborate with your child and ask them what they want to learn to write and see where their imagination takes them.

Creating a nametag is an easy four-step process.

Upload a picture
Type the name or phrase
Record
Publish the nametag

Yay! Let’s play!

Learn more

Demo Video

Happy New Year!

Anna — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:59:37 +0000

Thanks to all the teachers, parents, therapists and especially the children with special needs for making 2011 memorable for all of us at Project Injini. We look forward to playing with you in 2012. Happy New Year!

New Game In Toy Box! Injini Letters!

Anna — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:42:52 +0000

It’s here! The latest Injini Child Development Game Suite update just hit the App Store this weekend and included is a new game called Injini Letters!

When we launched Injini this summer, the feedback we received was very positive. Still, special education teachers and speech and language pathologists wanted a fun way to introduce pre-academic concepts of letters and phonics within the Injini toy box. Injini Letters offers a way for children to practice visual discrimination and introduces concepts of letter and phonemic awareness as part of the suite of Injini learning games for the iPad.

Here are a few screen shots to wet your appetite.

Included in the update is a new feature located in our options screen. Now users can select uppercase or lowercase letters for the sight words included in Injini Puzzles, Tracing, and Balloons.

Watch a demo of Injini Letters and the new feature included in the latest Injini update!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Anna — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:56:51 +0000

We are definitely in the holiday spirit at Project Injini and we have a few surprises to help celebrate. Starting with a hefty 40% discount off Injini Child Development Game Suite for the REST OF THE YEAR! At $29.99 you can purchase Injini for your family or gift it to your child’s teacher and therapist. It’s the gift that keeps on giving because with future updates, new games will be included in the toy box.

Speaking of new games…be sure to like us on Facebook so you can catch a sneak preview of our new game coming soon. Ho ho ho!

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING!

“Impressive design and an exceptional play experience for special needs and typical kids alike.”

Editor’s Choice Award – Children’s Technology Review

“Injini has really taken care to make sure that this is not a ‘yay, everyone wins no matter what’ kind of game, but a real learning game.”

Cool Mom Tech

“This is one of the most thought-out and comprehensive apps that we have seen.”

Technology in (Spl) Education

“It’s a wonderful iPad app with learning games that were originally developed for children with special needs. We’ve been trying them out and I think they’re fantastic for all toddlers, preschoolers and Kindergarteners. From playing Injini it’s obvious that a great deal of time and thought went into the app’s development. The game developers actually worked with parents, educators and special needs experts and their influence definitely shows through. This is an app that has children in mind.”

iPhone Mom

Injini Holiday Contest

Anna — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:35:12 +0000

To celebrate the holidays, we’re running a contest for a chance to win a copy of Injini. Here’s how to play.

Follow these simple steps to enter to win.

Download Injini Lite
Rate Injini Lite and write an honest review in the App Store
Become a fan of our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter
Include your Facebook name or Twitter name in the review so we can include you in the drawing

Contest Rules

Entries must be made before Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at noon PT
FIVE Winners will be announced Thursday, December 15, 2011 by noon PT via Twitter (@ProjectInjini) and Project Injini FB page.

Every written review that includes a Facebook or Twitter name will be given a number starting from number 1. We will be using www.random.org to generate the winning numbers for the drawing.

Thank you in advance for entering and happy holidays from all of us at Project Injini!

Design Notes: Game Levels

Anna — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:37:35 +0000

Before a child walks, they first learn how to hold their head up, roll over, sit, crawl, stand, take steps with assistance and then finally walk independently. As this walking example demonstrates, there are a lot of steps (no pun intended) that happen before a child can walk. In between these milestones (roll, sit, crawl, walk) there are even more skills that a child needs to master before progressing to the next milestone. The developmental steps that a child takes to progress from one milestone to the other are a transferable concept to game design.

Project Injini’s game designers intuitively know that every player starts with their own personal skill set and that the game should provide just the right level of challenge to meet the needs of children with a wide range of abilities. Learning applications like Injini that include many levels enable children to be successful no matter their playing ability. Also, the adaptive design, where levels automatically increase based on the child’s successes, offers a way for children to play independently while maintaining that just-right challenge so that they keep learning.

Injini Child Development Game Suite features many levels of play within each game. For example in Puzzle, level 1 contains single-piece puzzles while level 9 contains nine-piece jigsaw-style puzzles. Pattern, Matching, Squares, Find It, Balloons, and Tracing all include between 8 and 10 levels.

Examples of Injini Puzzle Levels

Level 1 Level 2

Level 3 Level 4

Level 5 Level 6

Level 7 Level 8

With the range of levels in Injini games, children start playing at their most appropriate level and continue to play and learn, increasing the level of challenge as their skills and ability progress. Level advancement is automatic – after several consecutive successes the play will seamlessly move on to the next level. For Pattern, Matching, Squares, Find It, and Balloons level advancement occurs after 3 consecutive correct answers. For Puzzle and Tracing, the level increases after completing a set number of activities. More detailed descriptions of the levels and advancement rules are provided in the Injini Child Development Game Suite manual.

Progression of Difficulty in Injini Frog Game

Level 1 Level 2

Level 3 Level 4

Although less visible than the levels in other games, the Frog game and Farm mini-games Cats and Rabbits also feature automatically-adjusting levels. These work by increasing the challenge as the player’s skills increase. For example – the basic level of Frog will include only still butterflies. If the player begins catching those butterflies rather quickly, then a crawling ladybug or caterpillar will appear. Once the player is quickly catching the crawling bugs then flying butterflies appear. The level of challenge automatically adjusts in this way to provide an appropriate challenge for all.

Similarly, the Cats and Rabbits Farm mini-games, the animals come more quickly for more skilled players than for those playing at a slower pace.

We designed Injini with its many levels and adaptive logic so that every child can play at his or her just-right level. We have found that working at the right level facilitates successful mastery of skills and keeps children engaged and excited about learning with Injini. Our careful design in this area is an example of our commitment to developing the highest quality learning games.

Speaker Support Program

Anna — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:24:41 +0000

We want to support professionals speaking on topics such as early child development, AAC, iPad and children with special needs, innovative game design, and assistive and educational technology. If you will be speaking about one of these topics (or similar) at an upcoming event (conference, workshop, webinar…), we would love to support you by providing a free promo code for Injini or My First AAC to evaluate for your presentation.

Interested? Please fill out the form below. There are a limited number of free promo codes available but we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Thank you!

Every App Has A Back Story

Anna — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:34:11 +0000

We shared the design and development history of My First AAC with Technology in (Spl) Education. Find out how we decided to include animation for abstract and most commonly used words and phrases like “more” and “all done.”

Read article

More My First AAC Reviews

Anna — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 05:59:21 +0000

The reviews for My First AAC keep coming in. Check out what SNApps4Kids and TherapyApp411 have to say about our communication app for young children that have significant speech and language delays. Both review sites rely on speech and language pathologists (SLPs) to test and review My First AAC.

“My First AAC is a great application for children and parents just starting out with an AAC device.”

SNApps4Kids

Read the entire review and list of skills practiced

“This app is very kid-friendly, with highly iconic picture symbols and a realistic sounding voice for either a young boy or girl.”

TherapyApp411

Read why Kelli Donovan M.A., CCC-SLP recommends our app