Mark Schlichting

Mark Schlichting (born March 17, 1948) is a publisher, author, and digital pioneer of children's multimedia and interactive design software. He is best known as the creator and subsequent Design and Art Director of Broderbund's Living Books series including the original 1994 Living Books PC game Harry and the Haunted House, one of the first lines of children's interactive book software on CD-ROM. Schlichting was Design and Art Director for Living Book's first interactive CD-ROM book adaptation, Mercer Mayer’s Just Grandma and Me, which was one of the first software titles accredited as a school textbook and used as a product demonstration by Apple CEO John Sculley.

Broderbund’s Living Books

Schlichting began working at Broderbund as a freelance animator, where he suggested his idea of creating interactive software based on existing children’s books with each illustrated page of the digital version of the book filled with clickable, interactive "hot spots". Under Schlighting's supervision, NoodleWorks Interactive has worked with children's learning and entertainment companies and projects such as LeapFrog, eScore - Learning Centers, Pearson Broadband (Educational Division, London), Fisher/Price, Snicker Interactive Toys, Serosity, Electronic Arts (EA), LBS Alchemy, and more.

In November 2011, Schlichting released Noodle Words, an iPad app for children where they may choose a word from a box and tap it to see animated bee characters act out the word's meaning.

Schlichting released a new nonfiction book in October 2016 on the psychology and art form of interactivity, titled Understanding Kids, Play, and Interactive Design: How to Create Games Children Love.