I think I may have mentioned in my original post that I wanted Beanstalk Games to be a family-friendly website. Talking about that vision with some of the other people here at Brighter Minds, I came up with a representation of my feelings of what Beanstalk Games should be. Mom sitting at the computer with a child in her lap, looking for games to play. Not just games for her, or games for the child, but games for them both.

Gamezebo did a review of our Bob the Builder: Can-Do Zoo program and I found this on their forum:

Click Here to see the Gamezebo forum post

The line “my son is always wanting to play ‘my games’” is what caught my eye. I’ve always been an avid computer game player and when my kids were younger they would watch me play and sometimes want to sit in my lap and click the mouse or push the keys on the keyboard. They wanted to help me, and play with me. When kids see mom and dad having fun they want to be included. Fun together is what Beanstalk Games is about.

A lot of the games on Beanstalk are appropriate for parents and kids. Diner Dash is a great example of that kind of game. It can be enjoyed by anyone from 8 years old to 80 years old. Some games are only appropriate for younger children. Our Bob the Builder Can-Do Zoo is a good example of that. A 4 year old might love it, but after the age of 6 or 7 it’s not really going to work for most kids. Some games like Hidden Secrets contain references to violence and other subjects that would not be appropriate for kids. Though it’s a great game, it may not be appropriate for anyone under 15 or so.

What I want from Beanstalk games is a place where you can go and find the games that are appropriate for you or your children. I want to Beanstalk Games to provide you with not just game descriptions, but with reviews from other parents just like you. Where you can read about what games those other parents liked or didn’t like. Read about what games the kids enjoyed and how old they were when they played them. I want to give you a place to go where you can get the information you need to help you choose the best games for you to try, both for your interests and for your child’s interests and abilities. The information you need to be able to choose age and content appropriate games for your kids, and the best games for you to enjoy on your own time.

My fear is that every time we show the website to anyone, they see all the fairy tale characters and automatically think that it’s a web site for kids.

It’s not.

This website is for us all, Mom (or dad, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather) with young child in their lap or older child standing next to them. We need to adjust the look of Beanstalk Games to better convey that message to you, our audience.

So, we put a bit too much kid into the design and now the challenge is to trim away at the kid and leave in all of the fun. We have a few ideas on how to do it - but we would love your input, too! Please feel free to let us know about your initial impressions of Beanstalk Games, and how you think we might be able to grow and improve. Stop by from time to time to watch as we implement changes and let us know what you think.

As always, any and all input is appreciated and encouraged

Yours Truly,

The Mean Giant
MeanGiant (at) BeanStalkGames (dot) com

I know it’s not grammatically correct but let me tell you why it FEELS right to say it.

First let me tell you our vision for Beanstalk games.  We want to create a website where families can go to find and talk about the latest computer games.  A community where people can try games and let the other people of that community know what they liked and what they didn’t like about the games they play.  But computer games are not just for adults.  Kids are people too!  So we want Beanstalk Games to be a place where you can download and try games with your children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews.  Where you can take a look at what other parents have to say about the games their kids have tried - what they liked, what they didn’t like, and why.

We’ve put a lot of time and effort into making Beanstalk Games what it is right now.  But this is just the rough outline of what we want it to be. It’s still a living creature, growing and evolving. We have big plans for the reviews of games available to you. Professional reviews, reviews from parents, even reviews from kids! We are going to have fun contests and prizes for our community to encourage you to help as we continue to GROW.

It’s a community website and we want to hear from YOU in our community.  We have a vision for what we want Beanstalk Games to be as it grows up but we welcome and heartily encourage you to be a part of the process.  Rants, raves, praises and suggestions.  We want it all so that we can make Beanstalk Games the best that it can be.  Please help us make the right choices for our website and we’ll share everything we can about our progress with you. Remember what Beanstalk Games looks like now, on Day One, and let’s see where we can take it together…

Growing is an important theme for us at Beanstalk Games.  You’ll see little Jack and Jill climbing our ever-growing beanstalk.  You’ll be a part of our growing community.  The list of available games for you to play will continue to grow. And the games we make for children will help them grow up with the right values, and a love for computer games of course!

Beanstalk is our project, our baby, our child.  That’s what I mean when I say ‘Who is Beanstalk Games?’  It’s more than just a website to us and we hope it will feel that way to you as well in time.

So please feel free to comment on this blog, post your reviews on any of our games, or contact us at: gamesforkidstoo (at) brightermindsmedia (dot) com

Please sign up here (Click here to Register with Beanstalk Games) and come grow with us. We’ll send you all the latest news, special offers, and sneak peek games and information before anyone else.

Thanks for listening - and enjoy the Beanstalk!

Yours Truly,

The Mean Giant