We’re Playlunch Games!
It’s nice to meet you! We are an independent children’s game developer and education technology company based in Melbourne, Australia, founded by
Wil Monte & Sarah Mercer.
Our design principles
Through decades of experience we have developed design principals that we believe best serve children in a digital context. Children deserve products of the highest quality, designed thoughtfully and recognising that they are digital natives. These principals inform everything we do.
Design with children in mind
- Consider the different skills, abilities, preferences and interests a child might have
- Balance a child’s desire to age-up with their actual cognitive ability
- Test with children, value their input and implement their ideas
Encourage exploring and experimenting
- Make it possible for children to choose different paths and try out ideas
- Provide clear feedback, and encourage trying when things feel difficult
- Allow the game to adapt as a child’s skills and capabilities evolve
Encourage children to play together safely
- Encourage collaboration over competition
- Make it safe to collaborate, create and share with peers
- Consider how the design can foster and model positive behaviours
Help balance digital time with the rest of life
- Build in breathing spaces and natural breaks in play
- Make it easy for families to set limits
- Design the game for children, design the system for the whole family
Minimise kids’ data collection and keep it safe
- Don’t collect or store unnecessary data from children, or monetise their data
- Don’t permit children to provide identifiable data about themselves
- Give families clarity about what data is collected and why
Support learning through play!
- Use humour, joy and positivity to keep kids engaged with learning
- Focus on motivating kids to try new things and ‘have a go’
- Align games with real-world experiences to encourage transfer of learning
Our founders
Sarah and Wil have worked together for over a decade. Together they have led some of Australia's largest educational and awareness-raising game projects, including The Polyglots for the Australian Federal Department of Education and the global phenomenon Dumb Ways to Die 2, which hit #1 in 86 countries. They also created the award-winning Our Special Island in Tonga, using digital play to promote healthy eating and cultural pride.
Their games have reached over 150 million players worldwide.
Now, Wil and Sarah are again combining their experience and passion to create world-class educational games for children and families around the globe.
Our executive leadership
Wil Monte
Co-founder & CEO
18 years creative-technology leadership. Founder & MD of mobile game-based learning specialists, Millipede, acquired by AKQA (WPP)
Sarah Mercer
Co-founder & Chief Design Officer
20 years of learning game design, educational content development, elearning, digital production and user experience design.
Wayne Simmons
Technical Director
30 years of game and software development. Co-founder of ThatGame, acquired by IR Gurus.
Bill Lang
Executive Chair
Over 30 years of business leadership. Entrepreneur, business educator, coach, director of Small Business Australia
Let’s chat!
Fill out the form below, or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!
13/397 Smith Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Australia
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we work, throughout Australia.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.