Overview

After the Storm is an educational, narrative-driven game developed by Classroom, Inc. and designed by FableVision to engage students in literacy, leadership, and decision-making through immersive storytelling. The game places learners in the role of a youth journalist navigating community rebuilding after a devastating hurricane, encouraging critical thinking, reading comprehension, and empathy. By blending engaging narrative choices with real-world problem solving, After the Storm has become a standout example of how games can be used to teach authentic 21st-century skills.

The game’s success has been well documented. In a large-scale evaluation, students who played After the Storm achieved reading gains 160% higher than national averages, while teachers reported significant boosts in student motivation, persistence, and confidence. These findings are detailed in the official After the Storm Evaluation Report (Classroom, Inc., 2015) , which highlights both academic growth and positive behavioral outcomes across participating schools. The report reinforces the game’s proven ability to merge entertainment and education into measurable literacy improvement.

What Blackburn Labs Did

Blackburn Labs partnered with FableVision to bring these outcomes to life through robust engineering and data systems. Our team built the teacher dashboard and educator reporting tools, providing real-time visibility into student performance and class-level progress. We also contributed to many in-gamer student-facing features, such as progress tracking and authentication workflows, ensuring seamless user experiences and reliable data synchronization. These contributions helped make After the Storm not just a powerful learning tool, but also a technically sound, scalable platform for educators nationwide.