Grades 3 to 5

Quest, Seasons 1–3

Collapse, Glitch and Element: three seasons, a new world each year.

Role: Creative Director, writer, storyboard artist, voice director
Audience: Grades 3 to 5
Formats: Animated story, box sets, digital game
Episodes: Seven per season

The challenge

Hold a room of high-energy kids who get bored fast, in a classroom or a summer program, with an epic, larger-than-life story they can relate to and that still suits a school audience.

The solution

Season 1 had a small cast that wasn't tied to the teams kids played in. For Seasons 2 and 3 I gave every team its own captain character in the show, in the team's colors, so every team saw itself on screen and moving through the story. I took cues from the shows kids loved at home, leaned on witty, fresh dialogue and real danger and drama, and changed the setting and stakes completely each season.

The impact

Kids grew loyal to their teams and their captains. The stories and worlds are what set Quest apart as a school product, and engagement has always been its strongest selling point.

No AI usedCollapse, Glitch and Element were made before AI art tools were in common use.How I use AI

Season 1

Collapse

The first season of Quest: seven episodes, a robot called SAM and a school that changes as the story goes on.

1
The challenge
The first Quest season for grades 3 to 5 had to prove the idea in a real classroom: an animated story, a box of physical puzzles and a digital game, played in teams.
2
The solution
I wrote the scripts, storyboarded every episode, art directed the season's art, props and packaging, and designed the logo.
3
The impact
Collapse launched the franchise. The box system, the tribes and the in-world props it introduced carried through every season after it.

Key art and packaging

A slip case, seven episode boxes with illustrated windows and a teacher box.

Cast

The school kids, the company and the machines.

The Curator, a hooded cyborg — The Curator

Ditto, a white robot with a sash — Ditto

Episode and scene art

Scenes built for animation: the town, the forest, the snow camp, the vault and the server room.

The kids step back from a crackling blue portal

A hooded figure in goggles holds a glowing cube

A desert tribe camp with banners under red rocks

The vault door from inside, with its console

The physical game

Every box is packed with boards, cards, tokens and props. A small sample from this season:

The Collapse kit: boxes, cards, tokens and the digital game, spread out together

Hand-drawn security panel override manual — Security override manual

Codex spinner cipher wheel — Codex spinner

Episode 4 folder with a hideout scene — Episode 4 folder

Sarabella Falls hex map — Sarabella Falls map

Reputation board and tribe magnets — Reputation board

RCI memo with color-code instructions — RCI memo

Reputation tokens with a smiling face and an angry face — Reputation tokens

Food tokens shaped like red cans — Food tokens

Blue parts tokens with gears — Parts tokens

The World of Collapse

The map players explore in the digital game.

Collapse game map: a scorched rock field, a snowy ridge, the school town, a river and a pine forest

Season 2

Glitch

Players return to the simulated world from Season 1, only to find a glitch has made it unrecognizable.

1
The challenge
Season 2 was my first with full control of the plot. Six classroom teams played every episode, but the story followed one lead.
2
The solution
I gave each team its own lead character, wearing that team's color and logo, so every kid in the room had someone on screen. I wrote the scripts, storyboarded the episodes and directed the art and the voices.
3
The impact
The six-lead cast became the backbone of every season that followed.

Key art and packaging

Teal hex boxes with the season's art in the window. Episodes: Upload, Meteors, Rumors, Chased, Flight, Maze, Download.

Cast

Kids, creatures and machines drawn as full-body turnarounds in one style.

Scab, a toad brute with circuitry — Scab

SAM, overgrown with moss, with a face on the visor — SAM

Episode and scene art

Scene art from the season: the lightning tower, the cast at camp, the team captains and the lab.

The cast faces the lightning tower under a purple storm

The full cast around a campfire at night

Anton with his boar shield in a glowing jungle

A red-haired girl with cables in her hair, in a red-lit lab

The physical game

Every box is packed with boards, cards, tokens and props. A small sample from this season:

Season 2 challenge items — Challenge items

The World of Glitch

The map players explore in the digital game.

Glitch game map: violet ruins, a neon jungle, a lightning field and a mushroom forest

In motion

Flight of the Moonmoths, and Glumen, the dice game kids play against Sweat.

Flight of the Moonmoths, from GlitchA hero scene from Season 2. 0:44.

Season 3

Element

Season 3: seven episodes in a desert, with the most varied puzzles in the series.

1
The challenge
Season 3 had to top Glitch with a new world and the widest range of puzzles yet, on the same yearly schedule.
2
The solution
I wrote a desert story about compassion and leadership, art directed the season's art and game screens, and designed puzzle props that read like found objects.
3
The impact
Element became the season teachers and kids loved most.