Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995

Published on 09/18/1995 All articles from this issue

How couple turned Silicon Valley blues into 'Darby, My Dalmatian'

printer friendly version

After Irv and Doreen Kalb were laid off from their high paying jobs they decided to start their own business. But it wasn't easy because they needed a steady income, especially since their baby was born in 1992.

Irv couldn't go back to work because every company he applied only offered him half his old salary and they decided she would stay home to care for the baby. So Irv decided to contract his computer programming services out of his house.

Then one day, Irv showed Doreen a well-known children's multimedia CD-ROM title. Doreen looked at it and said, "We could do that."

Doreen was a struggling children's book writer and Irv had always dreamed of the chance to develop his own software. With Doreen's persuasion, they combined their talents to begin a business venture they named "Furry Pants Productions."

Doreen wrote the story and Irv began doing the computer programming. Every free moment they had went into Furry Pants Productions. Their development was done on two networked Macintoshes.

The next step was to find a publisher. As soon as they had enough of the program completed for a demo, they began their search. Some publishers responded with interest. But when they performed their demo it was met with skepticism.

They were told it would take them dozens of people to develop a CD-ROM title and it did contain a well-known children's character and therefore wouldn't sell.

Near completion of the project, they had offers from five different publishers on the table. Ironically the publisher they chose, had seen a demo of their product in the early stages. He had told them he felt their project would require about four artists and five programmers working full-time, and take one year to complete. He told them to call him again if they finished it.

So Irv did. The publisher's response was, "Has it been a year already?" Irv told him "No, it's only been six months, with one very tired artist and one exhausted programmer working every night with lots of determination."

The result is "Darby, My Dalmatian," an interactive animated storybook on CD-ROM aimed at children ages 3-10. It's a story about a young boy named JJ, his Dalmatian, Darby, and his cat, Budgy. It includes their amusing Dalmatian and black-and-white cat who are life-long friends. The story itself gives tips on responsible pet ownership, and has 20 original songs.

Within the story, each of the 15 pages contain a hidden word challenge to help children spell and pronounce words. The non-violent games were developed with an element of randomness so that they are different every time. The CD covers math, grammar, problem solving, time, music, concentration, memory/recall, observation, and strategic. There is also a mini-encyclopedia with facts about animals and the environment.

Doreen and Irv admit it has taken lots of personal sacrifice to get their CD completed. But their CD has just been sold to Toys 'R' Us. Furry Pants Productions plans to make a sequel to "Darby, My Dalmatian."

"We've made quite a transition from the business world that we used to know. A few years ago we would never have imagined we could bring our child to a planning meeting with our publisher in Los Angeles. It would be hard to imagine sitting around a conference table with executives at IBM, while my child announces in the background, 'I'm pooping,' " Doreen said .

"Darby, My Dalmatian" CD-ROM for Macintosh and Windows is available at Toys 'R' Us and computer stores nationally. It can be purchased from the publisher by calling (800) 876-6679.