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Guts ‘n’ Bolts | Game

Categories:

  • Role
    Executive Producer
  • Company
    BrainPOP (Lego Group)
  • Skills
    Instructional Design, Game Design, Project Management
  • Year
    2010-2015

Project Overview

Guts and Bolts is an interactive educational game developed for K–12 students to help them explore and understand human body systems in a fun, hands-on way. Players take on the role of Moby the robot, the beloved mascot from BrainPOP, as they build a robotic version of his best friend, Tim, by assembling internal systems like a cyborg. As students connect organs and biological functions, they gain a deeper understanding of how body systems interact—reinforcing STEM concepts through immersive gameplay.

The game was developed in collaboration with The Learning Games Network and reflects BrainPOP’s mission to make complex science topics accessible, engaging, and educational. The project was designed to support learning standards in life sciences and human biology, while also promoting problem-solving and critical thinking skills through interactive learning.
Guts and Bolts game

Process

As Executive Producer at BrainPOP, I created over 200 short animated on various topics that are taught in school. I led the full development and production lifecycle for Guts and Bolts, managing creative direction, instructional design alignment, and technical execution. Working closely with our game design team and external collaborators at MIT and The Learning Games Network, I oversaw the creation of an intuitive gameplay experience that stayed true to educational goals while maximizing student engagement.

One of the major challenges we faced was the need for performance optimization, as the game featured a high volume of simultaneous animations. Another complex design task was building an intelligent path-planning system, which allowed players to connect pipes—representing biological systems—without obstructing critical animations or overlapping body parts. This demanded a carefully balanced approach to scientific accuracy, visual clarity, and playability.

The game was designed to be played alone or in groups and we created printable pages that could be collected in a Lab Book so that students share them with teachers or so that they can keep track of notes and progress.

Moby's Notebook

This game was designed to complement the animated movies on:  Appendix, Cells, Digestive System, Endocrine System, Lymphatic System, Respiratory System, Skeleton, Urinary System. Here is a game play walkthrough created by a teacher.

Project Outcome

Guts and Bolts quickly became one of the most popular science games on BrainPOP’s GameUp platform, widely praised by educators for its effective integration of STEM content and interactive learning mechanics. The game was successfully used in classrooms across the country to reinforce curriculum standards related to anatomy and physiology, while also promoting critical thinking and spatial reasoning.

This project demonstrates my ability to lead cross-disciplinary teams, apply instructional design principles to game-based learning, and solve technical and creative challenges that come with developing high-impact digital learning tools. It remains a highlight of my time at BrainPOP and a powerful example of how game-based learning can make science both meaningful, memorable and fun for students.

Next Project

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