Ark Encounter Kids Games

The Ark Encounter museum needed a refresh of several online games featured on its kid-friendly website. As the lead developer on this project, I handled the front-end development and JavaScript integration for each game module. While I was responsible for most of the technical execution, the project was a true team effort. I coordinated with the design team to ensure visual consistency and worked alongside senior developers, creative team members, and account experts who provided helpful direction on structure and scalability.

Each game (crossword, drawing, maze, and word search) was integrated into WordPress in a way that ensured smooth performance. I implemented a modular JavaScript structure that only ran game-specific code when needed, preventing unnecessary scripts from slowing down the site. For example:

if (document.querySelectorAll('.your-class-name').length > 0) {
  // The element exists, run your code here
}

This code checks whether an element with a specific class exists on the page before executing any game logic. By using this conditional approach, I ensured that only the necessary scripts were loaded and run, avoiding performance issues and keeping the overall site efficient and lightweight.

This project gave me a great opportunity to deepen my understanding of layout systems. I used CSS Grid to structure the game modules, which allowed for consistent alignment and spacing across all screen sizes. It quickly became a tool I now rely on in many of my front-end builds.

This project highlighted the importance of scalability and performance in interactive content, and it gave me the chance to apply creative problem solving to a playful, user-focused experience.