Mavis Beacon Keyboarding Kidz
Mavis Beacon is a popular typing program and brand wholly owned by Brøderbund, one of Encore’s business units. Since 1987, Mavis Beacon has taught millions of people to type. Today, her name MEANS touch-typing.
When our Sponge Bob Square Pants Typing license ended and was not renewed, we scrambled to find a new brand to fill that channel. After a failed pitch to Fox for The Simpsons, I suggested we create our own original content and leverage one of our existing brands – Mavis Beacon. So I pitched Mavis Beacon Keyboarding Kidz to the marketing team. My concept was simple: take Mavis, make her a cool “tween” and render her in 2D to appeal to that age group.
We made the game for PC , Mac and Downloadable/Online. We also made a single Facebook game called Movie Mayhem., which is another project.
My concept sketch on the left. My goal was to have you, fresh edgy characters that kids could relate to in dynamic, action-oriented poses. I worked with illustrator Carlos Lerms to create young Mavis and her sidekick Dex. as you can from the comps, the direction I have him was to soften her look, she was initially too harsh.
One of the challenges was creating a new voice over without breaking the bank. For that I looked to audio designer Mark Greenfield. He had developed the voices of the kids on South Park – re pitching them to make them sound like children – and not chipmunks. Mark did an amazing job converting some 5,000 strings of “Adult Mavis” voice over, helping to create our new “Young Mavis” persona. We brought in sound-alike voice talent for the cut scenes and additional voice over.
