There is a new learning game for 7 through 12-year-old children. It comes to you from Southpeak Interactive. The game was developed by Illumina Productions in association with Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, Harvard University's Project Zero and Stanford's Program for International and Cross Cultural Education. With credentials like this, you might think that the game would be both fun and educational. Well, you would be right on target. This new game is called Imagynasium.
There are three main areas in this game. The areas are Jingle Jungle, Downtown and The Curio Shop. Each area has fun and educational activities. The main screen for the program is the Skyscape. From here you get to go to any area of the program.
You have five hosts for Imagynasium. Roxie is your all-around host and helps out when needed. Riff is a musician and helps out in the Jingle Jungle. Frida hangs out Downtown and puts together great collages. Mondo is in charge of the Curio Shop and is the resident storyteller. And finally there's Spike. He is in charge of all the technical junk that goes on in the program. Jonathan Winters and Glenn Close provide the voices for all of the characters.
When you go Downtown, there is an opportunity to create collages. Use some stuff you might have grabbed along the way or whatever's handy. Add movement and sounds to the collage. Then you can see the collage in action.
The Curio Shop allows you to write stories. Add backgrounds to your story pages. You can add sounds to the story as well. Set up the page so that the text fits the picture. Or maybe not. It's up to you to write the story.
Jingle Jungle is just the coolest, man. Here is where you get to create great music to jam by. There are all kinds of music segments and sound effects that you can use. Drag a sound to the Soundboard and put others with it to create a song.
Each section has a game in it. In Jingle Jungle the game is called Manhole Madness. Drop the right Smilophones in the right holes to win the game. Downtown has a puzzle game called Humpty Dumpty. Unscramble the puzzle pieces and put them back together in the original order. The Curio Shop has a game called Pix-O-Fax-O-Matic. You write a storyline based on random pictures that pop up on the screen.
If you get lost somewhere in the program, there is help. Each section has A Brain Booster that guides through working in that section. There is also a project notes area that you can write in and refer back to at any time. The Info Station is also a good place to look for help. It has information about everything in Imagynasium.
Can't get enough of this fun stuff? Go to the Take Out Stand. Here you'll find all kinds of projects to do away from the computer. Print out a project and just do your stuff.
The system requirements for Imagynasium aren't too steep. You'll need a Pentium 133 or better PC. Windows 95.98 is needed and about 16 MB of RAM. You've got to have a 4x CD-ROM drive and a 16-bit sound card. At least 30 MB of free hard drive space is needed as well. And it would help to have a printer (a color printer would be nice) to print out project stuff.
Imagynasium is a fun and entertaining way to learn about art, music and storytelling.
For more fun and exciting games, check out the Southpeak Interactive web site at www.southpeak.com.