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World Notes· 7 min read

Tuckaway Harbor: Designing Characters with Heart

How we're creating memorable characters for our flagship world—from Captain Barnaby to the Harbor Helpers.

By Creative Team

#tuckaway-harbor#character-design#world-building

Tuckaway Harbor: Designing Characters with Heart

Creating characters for Tuckaway Harbor means balancing warmth, relatability, and cognitive growth opportunities. Every character needs to feel like a friend while supporting children's natural curiosity.

Our Character Design Principles

1. Distinct Personalities, Shared Values

Each character has their own quirks and strengths, but they all share core values: kindness, curiosity, and cooperation. Captain Barnaby might be organized and thoughtful, while Penny the Pelican is spontaneous and creative—but both celebrate helping others.

2. Cognitive Strength Anchors

We design each character to naturally demonstrate one of our four cognitive strengths:

  • Big-Picture Synthesis: Characters who connect ideas and see patterns
  • Narrative Imagination: Natural storytellers and empathetic listeners
  • Dynamic Reasoning: Problem-solvers who think through cause and effect
  • Material/Spatial Reasoning: Builders and tinkerers who love hands-on exploration

3. Emotional Authenticity

Our characters experience real emotions—excitement, disappointment, confusion, joy. We never shy away from showing characters working through challenges, because that's where the learning happens.

Meet the Harbor Helpers

Captain Barnaby - The lighthouse keeper who loves organizing and planning. He demonstrates big-picture thinking by helping everyone see how their individual efforts contribute to the whole harbor community.

Penny the Pelican - A delivery bird with boundless energy and creativity. She shows narrative imagination through her love of stories and her ability to see things from different perspectives.

Rusty the Crab - A thoughtful problem-solver who runs the harbor repair shop. He embodies dynamic reasoning, always thinking through "what happens if..." scenarios.

Marina the Otter - An inventor and builder who loves creating new tools and contraptions. She represents material/spatial reasoning with her hands-on approach to challenges.

What's Next

We're currently developing interaction patterns for each character—how they respond to questions, how they collaborate on tasks, and how they celebrate children's efforts. Stay tuned for a demo drop showing these characters in action!

Coming up: "Building the Harbor Map" - how we're designing the physical space of Tuckaway Harbor