The story of how the Happy Atoms project came to be, the many adventures we have had during development, and plans to take it to launch!

1. Happy Atoms is supported in part by the Institute of
Education Sciences, US Department of Education through
SBIR contract ED-IES-15-C-0025
@jesseschell

3. Targeting Player Transformation
➔ Main Users: Middle and high school students
➔ Secondary Users:
◆ Ages 7-12
◆ College Students
➔ Primary Market: Home
➔ Secondary Market: Schools
➔ Tertiary Market: Desk Toys

8. Gilbert N. Lewis
(my hero)

16. Jam Week!

21. Happy Atoms is supported in part by the Institute
of Education Sciences, US Department of
Education through SBIR contract ED-IES-15-C-0025

22. Got the Grant – New Experiments!
➔ Silicone Rubber Experiments!
➔ 3D Printing Experiments!
➔ Retractable String Experiments!
➔ Vision Experiments!
➔ Sensor Experiments!
➔ Lighting Experiments!

23. ➔ Past prototypes & research support
Research
SBIR Phase I Grant
Awarded
Usability/Feasibility
Studies Completed
Prototype Development
& Iteration
2014

25. Desperately Seeking Experts…
Yotam (Chemistry Degree!) Brooke (PhD and stuff!)

26. Science is the belief in
the ignorance of experts.
–Richard Feynman

27. Gilbert N. Lewis
(my hero)

37. Present Onwards
2015
Usability/Feasibility Study
w/ New Prototypes
RCT to Assess
Learning Impacts Holiday Release
Industrial Design/
Manufacturing
Further App Development &
Model Manufacturing
2016
now

38. Ten Lessons Learned
1. If it bothers you, it might bother others.
2. The purpose of models is to give insight.
3. Respect fiddling fingers!
4. Specialized AI is powerful and magical.
5. People want magical interfaces.
6. Empty space lets you advance.
7. You don’t need to be an expert – you just need to be interested.
8. Be patient.
9. Let your reach exceed your grasp.
10. Kids can understand anything if it taught well.

39. I can think of nothing that
an audience won’t
understand. The only
problem is to interest
them; once they are
interested, they
understand anything in
the world. –Orson Welles

41. Thanks!
Jesse Schell
jesse@schellgames.com
@jesseschell
Sign up today at happyatoms.com!
Slides?
jesseschell.com