Maria Burns Ortiz

Here’s one of the things that separate successful startups from people who have good ideas: Execution. In other words, it’s easy to be a “big picture” visionary, it’s doing the million little details that is the hard part. We met on our AzTech Games series earlier this week. Going over […]

Startup Success: Why Little Details Matter As Much As Big ...

February 17, 2017 in 7GenGames / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Start-up Diaries / Women in Tech by Maria Burns Ortiz

Yesterday, we said something. And as we promised, today, we’re doing something. We currently have a list of 35 schools that have asked for our donated classroom licenses (these are Title I schools). This is on top of the donated school licenses we have already provided to schools and afterschool […]

Doing What We Can: Buy One/Gift One, Donate One/Gift Two

February 10, 2017 in 7GenGames by Maria Burns Ortiz

Eventually, you have to say something. At 7 Generation Games, we’ve decided today is that day. We – like so many others in education – watched the news with great disappointment as someone with no experience in public education was selected by the thinnest of margins to lead the Department […]

For Kids Who Don’t Have a Choice and Kids Who ...

February 9, 2017 in 7GenGames / Start-up Diaries / Women in Tech by Maria Burns Ortiz

“Beyond this door lies the Mayan jungle.” These are the words that greet players of our game AzTech Games as they find their characters transported back in time. They felt especially fitting today as AnnMaria and I found ourselves quite literally in the middle of that very same jungle today. We were heading […]

The Belize Chronicles: Always Stop at the Zoo

January 25, 2017 in Start-up Diaries / Uncategorized by Maria Burns Ortiz

I’m not going to lie. My kids spend more time on their iPads than I would like to admit. We have “rules” around when they can and can’t be used, but let’s just say sometimes the enforcer of those rules needs to write a work email or cook (OK, microwave) […]

Learning From My Kids Learning on Their iPads

January 18, 2017 in Educational Games / Parenting Like I Know What I'm Doing by Maria Burns Ortiz

Dennis on a computer — I was doing an interview for an upcoming article about women and the challenges they face when it comes to getting funding, when the interviewer mentioned how investors, VCs and all around tech startup folks love to throw around the word “rock star.” They want to invest in “rock star” […]

We Are Rock Stars

January 9, 2017 in 7GenGames / Start-up Diaries / Women in Tech by Maria Burns Ortiz

Eric and Emilia at Ben & Jerry — Four years ago this week, AnnMaria, Dennis and I were on vacation in Vermont, when AnnMaria told us she wanted to found a company creating educational video games that taught math and she wanted us to join her. Now, this wasn’t completely out of the blue. She had received a […]

A Look Back At Our Beginning As 2017 Begins

January 9, 2017 in 7GenGames by Maria Burns Ortiz

We’re kicking 2017 off in a big way – rolling out to a whole new platform. We told you it was coming, and Making Camp is now available for Android! To all of you who said, “I’d love to get one of your games, but I have an Android,” this […]

Making Camp Is Now Available for Android Tablets!

January 3, 2017 in 7GenGames / Educational Games by Maria Burns Ortiz

It’s here. Fish Lake is officially available to buy on Steam! Thanks to every who supported us in getting this game Greenlit!

We’re Live on Steam! Get Fish Lake Now!

December 16, 2016 in Uncategorized by Maria Burns Ortiz

In gaming, they talk a lot about the communities – the overall gaming community, the Steam community (get us on Steam today!), a game-specific community. Education is the same way – the homeschool community, the charter school community, smaller PTA-type communities. One of the great things about these kinds of communities is the way […]

The Value of Community

December 16, 2016 in Founders Corner by Maria Burns Ortiz

There are very few events that I would have left town for the week of our STEAM release, but having attended in 2015, I knew the Ed Games Expo warranted being one of the exceptions. So here I am flying back home after 36 hours in DC that saw me get […]

What a Difference a Year Makes! Ed Games Expo 2016

December 15, 2016 in 7GenGames / Start-up Diaries by Maria Burns Ortiz

We’ve been blogging about it and blogging about it and blogging about it. Now it we’re unveiling it. 7 Generation Games presents the new and improved Fish Lake! Watch out for poisonous snakes! Make your way down the rapids. Find enough food for your village’s survival. Figure out “what’s fair.” […]

Welcome to Fish Lake Version 2.0!

December 12, 2016 in 7GenGames / Educational Games by Maria Burns Ortiz

Games That Make You Smarter