Helen Fletcher discovers how technology-savvy children are driving the amusement sector forward and providing new opportunities for manufacturers

Technology-savvy children are getting younger and younger - growing up surrounded by iPods, mobile phones and home consoles. To children, technology isn’t scary - it makes things more accessible - however, as a rule, when it comes to computer games they are designed for children of an older age group.

Having a joystick, steering wheel and buttons incorporated into a game tends to exclude younger children, as they don’t have the hand eye coordination or the reactions required to play on these systems. This gap in the market is where a number of coin-op manufacturers are making opportunities for themselves and developing product using a touchscreen, specifically targeted at the technology-savvy toddler.

Touchscreens, as the amusement and gaming industry knows well, open up the number of possibilities to game designers and developing product specifically targeted at younger children is no different.

A touchscreen allows a more immediate connection between the child and the machine and according to Jonathan Smith of Primary Leisure, which introduced the Kid’s TV pod recently, it is instinctive for children to want to touch, particularly when they recognise something familiar, which is why the Kid’s TV pod currently features four well-known UK children’s licences.

"A touchscreen gives more flexibility to us as the pod designers," said Smith. "We are able to create an interactive menu of content that is suited to the specific client or market. Currently we use Rupert the Bear, Basil Brush, Postman Pat and Finley the Fire Engine but have more titles in the pipeline and others already lined up that are more suited to overseas markets.

"By using a touchscreen it doesn’t matter what content the pod is running - it is completely adaptable and if a client wants to run their own logo or cartoon character this is also possible."

Mike Black of Sound Leisure adds to this, telling InterGame: "When combined with good software design the touchscreen can be made to control practically any number of different games and in a wide variety of ways.

"On our standard playtouch software the 10 games are all very different, but can all be controlled simply using the touchscreen. So for one game it is used to simulate a paintbrush on a canvas, while on the next game it is used to match up pairs of cards. Without the touchscreen we would need several different sets of controls on each cabinet and this goes against the underlying principle of keeping the games as simple as possible."

Sound Leisure provides a wide range of interactive touchscreen games via its dedicated children’s play division SLKids.co.uk. It has a number of distinctive floor standing and wall mounted designs from traditional cabinets to wall mounted bubble screens. All of the interactive touchscreen games run on highly reliable fanless PCs with embedded operating systems and software.

For David Doyle of Redbox Entertainment it is important developers keep their audience in mind. He told InterGame: "What developers have to remember is the age of the child they are designing for. Too complex and some children, due to their age, will struggle to use it.

"When our product Fingabox was being developed and tested the two children that carried out the testing phase were two and four years of age. The boy aged two was able to do the colouring and drawing game and the four-year-old girl was doing the memory test game as well as the colouring and drawing. We have also found that children with special needs find that because it is a touchscreen interface, they are able to play and interact easily on the Fingabox."

According to Doyle, manufacturers are always looking for new games and ways of children interfacing with them. "You always have a joystick, buttons, steering wheel or gun because certain types of gamers are unable to get used to touchscreens but by designing and developing specific games that are more touchscreen-based and for a specific audience, they will begin to become common place."

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As well as being easy to use by younger children, there are other benefits to incorporating a touchscreen into an entertainment pod and for LAI Games it helps keep the footprint compact enough for locations with limited space, while the robust cabinet with no moving parts, makes the game very safe and operator friendly.

The touchscreen also allows for a non-cluttered play area as there are no buttons or joysticks and less likelihood of damage by over-enthusiastic children. And, for the operator, maintenance is simpler as the touchscreen only needs a wipe down.

LAI Games’ Little Masterpiece, winner of the recent AMOA Innovator award, is a fun edutainment touchscreen colouring game for children featuring a unique added feature of photo input and souvenir photographic quality print-out.

According to LAI, it is an ideal "no media tie-in" attraction for amusement and commercial locations and housed in a small footprint cabinet of 0.3sqm with a spacious bench. The touchscreen feature gives children the opportunity to select a fun picture from the 96 image gallery and then use one of the four colouring or drawing modes to produce their ‘little masterpiece’.

Safety has to be the number one priority with any machine, even more so when developing something that children will be using and Primary Leisure has gone as far as using special antibacterial paint on its Kid’s TV pod to minimise the transfer of germs from sticky fingers.

As far as the touchscreen technology goes it would appear that SAW technology is the most desirable for manufacturers to use, as it is robust and unable to be scratched. However, according to Redbox this isn’t always practical to use in unattended areas as they can easily stop working.

Instead, Redbox uses high capacitive touchscreens as they are glass fronted so don’t scratch or tear and will work with wet fingers and so on, making them ideal for children. For LAI it is also important that the touchscreen used is more responsive to the lighter touch and smaller fingers of children - the manufacturer also sources low radiation TFTs to minimise any risk to children from long-term use.

For Orga Control the size of the screen is also worth mentioning and it generally uses a 17ins over a 19ins. "The resistance of the screen is very important so we only use TFT monitors with a scratch-proof and break-proof glass surface. In most cases children play reasonably with the terminals but depending on the operational area it is possible for children to kick the screen or throw things at it."

Children, it would seem, are able to pick up the idea of a touchscreen from a very young age meaning the window of opportunity is opened to those in the amusement industry. However, as mentioned earlier by David Doyle, it is crucial they keep their audience in mind when developing content and according to Mario Dambauer, divisional director R&D for Funworld, the coin-op amusement sector must have a rethink in so far that the developed games are as easy to learn as possible and that they fit in with children’s skills, while supporting their concentration, creativity or memory but always in a pleasurable way.

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The importance of including an education element into the game is also high, as Dambauer explains: "The games should be of educational value but nevertheless should not lack amusement or fun. The most important thing is that they always keep the entertainment element and do not become too serious."

Smith of Primary Leisure agrees, telling InterGame: "We are developing a special educational pod in addition to our existing one. We think ‘edutainment’ is important - but obviously one of the big attractions of educational products is that parents like them as much as their children.

"Having said that, all of our products have an element of edutainment because the TV shows we feature are by their very nature built around a simple moral message. Parents and children alike know the brands and understand that it is positive entertainment."

Children’s touchscreen products have the added advantage of being suited to the majority of locations and for Sega’s Justin Burke (Sega is working with Primary Leisure) the areas most suitable include retail locations, bowling alleys, holiday parks and motorway services etc. "The Kid’s TV pod can also attract advertising opportunities on the outside screen creating a potential secondary income for the operator."

Michael Schwamm of Orga Control adds to this, telling InterGame: "Only five per cent of our terminals sold in 2009 were delivered with a coin acceptor. The market has changed from coin-operated to a service for clients and their children. The main market for these products nowadays is the retail market, health care, the hospitality industry and so on. Most of our customers want us to offer a fun service but with an educational element too."

As software development continues to become cheaper, quicker and more advanced through applications such as Flash and Flex, it is becoming relatively simple to put together a touchscreen game in a package such as the children’s edutainment pod.

For Sound Leisure’s Mike Black the industry is still seeing more and more rapid advances in computer hardware enabling reductions in both the cost and size of platforms required to run touchscreen games, meaning we will continue to see a continued use of touchscreens in terminals for children.

First published May 2010