Questions and answers

Every project gets a fixed quote after a free 20-minute call, and it only changes if you change what you're asking for. The quote comes in writing, and nothing is owed unless you say yes to it. Putting your kid into one of our sports games is the smallest job; a new sport, or a whole arcade like Ziggy Games, takes more.

We plan a Player Edition for one to two weeks from our call to your kid's link, a Team Edition for two to four weeks, a new sport for three to six weeks, and an arcade world for six weeks or more, built in stages. You get a playable link early and see it change after every round of feedback.

Most of the time goes to your kid, not the code. Our engine is already built, so the weeks go to drawing your kid until they say it's them, waiting for your thumbs-up at each step, building your rules, and play-testing rounds that fit around school and practice.

A deposit to start and the balance at launch. The exact split is in the quote you sign, so there are no surprises about when money is due.

You own everything we make just for you: your kid's character, your places, your team's names and colors, and any art drawn for your game. Our game engine and our cast of paper kids stay ours, and your written agreement licenses them to you for your game. It spells all of this out before you pay anything.

We host it and keep it running, at an unlisted link on the web, so only the people you share it with will find it. It can live on your own domain instead. Whatever hosting and later updates cost is written into your quote before we start, so there's no surprise bill, and you can always take the files and host the game yourself. Ziggy Games is a public site at ziggy.games because the family chose that.

Play-testing is built into every project, so the changes your kid asks for during the build are part of the job, not extras. Anything that grows the game past the quote, like another sport or more levels, we price before we build it.

Nothing moves on without your okay. You approve your kid's paper-kid card before we build, you play an early link and tell us what to change, and you approve the finished game before it goes live. If something isn't right at any of those points, we change it. That's what the play-test rounds are for.

Kids always do. Play-testing is built into every project, so changes during the build are part of the job. After launch we can add levels, players or a whole new sport as a follow-on project.

It makes a good one. A Player Edition opens on any screen the kid already has, so it suits a birthday or a holiday, and we'll plan the timeline around the date when we quote.

Pets are some of our favorite characters. Pam, a black pug, watches Soccer Kids from the sideline on her leash and plays Ziggy one on one in the Sports Arena. Send us photos and we'll draw yours.

Yes. We can draw a field, a park or a school campus into the game, working from public maps. A real place never comes with an address, and you decide which places appear and whether they're named.

Never in the game. Everything is drawn. You can send photos so we get the hair, the glasses or the favorite cleats right, and we use them only for that.

Your own club, school or league logo, yes, with their OK. A pro or college team's logo, no: those belong to the league, so a game for a fan uses the team's colors and a mascot we draw instead.

Sports are what we do best, because a sports game teaches rules a kid can take onto a real field, and every game in our lineup is one. If your kid dreams up something else, tell us about it on the call.

A web browser. Our games run on iPads and other tablets, Chromebooks, phones and laptops, with touch controls on screens and keyboard controls on computers. There is nothing to install and no account to make.

No. There are no ads, no in-app purchases and no chat with strangers in anything we build for kids, and the games we make for you stay that way.

Kids never make an account or type in an email. The Player Builder asks a grown-up for a first name, an email and, if you like, a phone number, plus the player you design: a nickname, their look, an age range, the sport and the touches you pick. We use it only to plan your game and reply to you. Like most sites, we also keep the page, IP address and browser a message came from, to stop spam. The privacy policy has the details.

Yes, and it's one of the best uses. We build in your program's format and rules, like four a side, no goalies or a build-out line, in your colors and with your players' nicknames, plus a Learn mode where a coach voice explains each rule. Every family on the roster opens the same link.

Yes. A game can teach the rules of a sport a PE class is starting, or carry a camp's teams and colors. We scope those projects the same way, with a call first and a fixed quote.

Yes. Players never make an account or type in personal information, there are no ads and no chat, and our games don't collect student records. One link works on Chromebooks, iPads and laptops.

Yes. We send a fixed quote you can attach to a purchase order, a W-9 for your vendor file and an invoice to your school, league or booster club. If your district has its own student data privacy agreement, send it with your request and we'll review it.

Every game plays with touch or a keyboard and has an Easy level for new players. Soccer Kids' Learn mode slows play to 80% speed and puts each instruction on screen as well as saying it. If a player needs something specific, like playing without sound, tell us on the call and we'll talk through what's possible.