Bright Star Technology, Inc. was founded by Elon Gasper and Nedra Goedert during the early 1980s and was a key player in multimedia technology. Well-known titles from Bright Star include HyperAnimation, Alphabet Blocks, and the Talking Tutors series. Bright Star was acquired by Sierra On-Line in 1992, and was a cornerstone of Sierra's educational games department.

Prior to starting the company, Gasper was teaching computer science at California Institute of Technology while trying to teach his daughter how to read. He became inspired by the lip-synchronization positions charts used in Disney animation. This inspired him to create animated tutors whose mouths moved realistically to humans. This continued to Early Math, which follows the curriculum from the National Association of Teachers of Mathematics.

A.J.'s World was developed by Sierra's subsidiaries Coktel Vision and Bright Star Technology.