Rising Star Award for Kathleen Smart

Bravo and congratulations to Kathleen Smart on being awarded the

Rising Star Award in the Australian Game Developer Awards.

Find our more at Joy Everafter Stories.

The Rising Star Award is for people who have made significant contributions to the Australian Games Industry in the past 1 – 5 years. They have become invaluable members to the community and show immense talent in their field.

As Kathleen Smart says:

I make digital storybooks for children which feature diverse characters and are accessible to deaf or blind players. They are designed to increase children's empathy for strangers.

What wonderful recognition for a brilliant initiative!

launch of voiced storybook by Kathy Smart

Congratulations to author Kathy Smart on the launch of

Frog’s Princess

A Digital App for 8-10 year olds illustrated by Christy Butt (2D characters) and Riley Hanlin (3D backgrounds) and published by Joy Everafter Stories.

Frog's Princess is a movie-length middle-grade Medieval fantasy about the Frog Prince. In this voiced storybook, with music, movement, sound effects and visual effects, you can customise your characters and design your heroes' personalities by choosing what they say.

Published without ads or in-game purchases, Frog's Princess is available on Steam, the Apple App Store, and the Google Play Store for $3 in Australia, and will be rolled out to other countries gradually.

The launch party was held on Zoom. You can watch it on YouTube. Frog's Princess was launched in North America on 4 April 2021. Other country launches will be in May, June and July.

What a novel way of presenting a novel!

New digital app for Kathy Smart

Congratulations to Kathy Smart on the publication of

Frog’s Princess

a fully voiced Frog's Princess is a fully voiced click-through 2D Medieval adventure story for 8-10 year olds which takes 2 hours on a first play-through and has hours of alternate dialogue to explore, published by Joy Everafter Stories

It is accessible to players with vision or hearing impairment, features diverse heroes and is supported by educational material.

Frog's Princess was published on the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Steam PC Store on 9 December 2020, for Australian readers only, and will be available in other countries in early 2021.

What a bold and exciting new venture!