JIM COURSEY
COMPOSITION, SOUND, & INTERACTIVE DESIGN
Interactive Design
LeapFrog's LeapReader Reading and Writing System
Project: Interactive electronic pen, 2013
Role: Platform sound designer, UI and logo sound designer, audio system architect, firmware liaison.
Notes: LeapFrog enhanced their popular Tag Reader, rebranding it as LeapReader. Several features were added, requiring UI updates. But while most other core functions stayed the same, the internal hardware is entirely different and the audio system required a radical rethinking.
LeapFrog's Tag Reading System
Project: Interactive electronic pen, 2008
Role: Platform sound designer, UI and logo sound designer, tools and firmware liaison.
Notes: Lead development of platform audio UI and software standards. Oversaw implementation of audio standards across software development.
Tag Reading System has sold millions of units across four continents, with hundreds of software titles developed using the same tools and standards. Millions of children hear my sounds whenever they turn on a Tag.
BlueMountain.com "Serve It Up"
Project: Video game / e-greeting card, 2001
Role: Flash programmer, game designer, sound designer, composer.
Description: Blue Mountain was experimenting with simple video games. In this game, a monkey serves ice cream to demanding children. Beyond audio design, I co-designed the game, did all the Flash coding, and tuned the speed/difficulty level.
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, the game was a surprise viral hit amongst Taiwanese teenagers several years after publication.
The game is still playable at the site, but note that it plays much faster in 2015 than it did in 2001.
LeapFrog "Sofia the First: The Buttercup Way"
Project: Tag / LeapReader Book, 2014
Role: Story Writer, Audio Lead, Composer, Sound Designer.
Description: Aside from my usual audio duties, I wrote the text for the book, which was an adaptation of an episode of Sofia the First. This was one of two books I wrote for LeapFrog.