plav@cup.portal.com (Rick M Plavnicky) (08/07/89)
This is a request for information regarding software for children.
I've got a 5 year old niece who visits fairly frequently, and just
LOVES to play with the Amiga when she does. While she finds DPaint
entertaining (asks for it by name, even when visiting other households
that are equipped with computers), my wife and I have been looking for
other titles that she might like.
Unfortuantely, the local dealers don't appear to have much of a
selection. Yesterday, at a store we don't usually go to, we found
"Puzzle Storybook" and "Dinosaur Discovery Kit", both from First Btye.
Looking at the packaging (neither was available for demo), the latter
title seemed more interesting. They were each around $35-40, though,
and that's a bit steep for something unknown and unseen.
So, does anyone out there in net.land have opinions about either of
the programs I've mentioned? Other programs, maybe? What do YOUR
kids like?
This can't be such a common topic on the net, so please use mail to
respond. I'll summarize later if there's enough interest. Thanks!
Rick Plavnicky
{...}!sun!cup.portal.com!plav plav@cup.portal.com
"I've got a bunch of bananas, and a bottle of bleach..."UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (08/07/89)
I fooled with Designasaurus for a half hour or so. It seems fairly
well done. You can assemble a dino from spare parts and print it out.
The "game" involves leading a dino through 5 eras, eating appropriate food,
avoiding being eaten, and trying not to starve. It is a very simple minded
simulation. Ther "eras" are more or less populated with appropriate
plants and terrain, and the educational part is that the kids learn what
plants and terrain go together, I guess.
My experience with kids playing with my Amiga (I have two, 5 and 8, and
they have lots of friends) is that as an adult I always over estimate
their skill. Designasaurus seemed really dumb *to me*. But I bet that
little kids would like it.
Lastly, My kids have two Unicorn products, Kinderware and Math Wizard.
They seem to like both of them pretty much.
leedwl10@uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) (08/08/89)
In article <89219.124243UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >I fooled with Designasaurus for a half hour or so. It seems fairly >well done. You can assemble a dino from spare parts and print it out. > >The "game" involves leading a dino through 5 eras, eating appropriate food, >avoiding being eaten, and trying not to starve. It is a very simple minded >simulation. Ther "eras" are more or less populated with appropriate >plants and terrain, and the educational part is that the kids learn what >plants and terrain go together, I guess. > >My experience with kids playing with my Amiga (I have two, 5 and 8, and >they have lots of friends) is that as an adult I always over estimate >their skill. Designasaurus seemed really dumb *to me*. But I bet that >little kids would like it. > >Lastly, My kids have two Unicorn products, Kinderware and Math Wizard. >They seem to like both of them pretty much. > > lee My expirences with Designasaurus: We bought the C64 version, as it was $20,00 cheaper than the Amiga version, at the time. Besides, it keeps the kids off of my amiga! :-) My son is 8 years old. He got tired of the game portion on the program very quickly. Now, all he does is design dinosaurs. The only problem with the design program is that the kids want to print out the dinosaurs, and I only have one printer and it's usually hooked up to the amiga. He hasn't played the game (as far as I know) in over a month. If you have the time to spend with the child, I highly recomend the "Where in the _____ (USA, World, Europe) is Carmen SanDiego". My eight year old loves it. He is definately not old enough to play by himself, but with an adult, he does great (His parents are learning a thing or two in the process also!). -- "What is another word | Dave Lowrey | [The opinions expressed MAY be for 'Thesaurus'?" | Amdahl Corp. | those of the author and are not | Houston, Texas | necessarily those of his Steven Wright | amdahl!dwl10 | employer] (`nuff said!)
rap@peck.ardent.com (Rob Peck) (08/08/89)
Re software for kids, I saw MYPAINT being demo-ed on a couple of occasions. It is a very simplistic paint program but as I recall also has some audio cues built into it. I dont know who the publisher is, but it really seems pretty neat. If I was a kid, I'd have liked it. Hmmm, is this the second or the third childhood? Rob Peck
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (08/09/89)
In article <55dm02TP485701@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>, dwl10@uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) says: > >In article <89219.124243UH2@PSUVM> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >>I fooled with Designasaurus for a half hour or so. It seems fairly >>well done. You can assemble a dino from spare parts and print it out. >> >>The "game" involves leading a dino through 5 eras, eating appropriate food, >>avoiding being eaten, and trying not to starve. It is a very simple minded >> lee > Stuff ommitted... >If you have the time to spend with the child, I highly recomend >the "Where in the _____ (USA, World, Europe) is Carmen SanDiego". > >My eight year old loves it. He is definately not old enough to play by >himself, but with an adult, he does great (His parents are learning >a thing or two in the process also!). I didn't say so in my first description of Designasaurus, but as it turned out, I purchased Where in the World is Carmen San Diego for my eight year old instead. lee
swan@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US (Joel Swan) (08/09/89)
Interesting that someone just brought this subject up. I had
spent a few days last week asking various dealers the same question-
what is some good educational software out there? They all said,
"I don't know. People buy this stuff and never tell me how good it is."
Well, I bouth a couple titles from various software developers and
here are a couple reactions
1. THE DISCOVERY SERIES- trash. I could have done better (in fact
some people had) on a PET 2001. This text only series of "tests"
is one, hard to understand their directions and two, boring as
all get-out. Kids would rather stare at a TV that is unplugged
than sit any "play" this junk.
2. TALKING NOTEBOOK SERIES - (I had Mathtalk) OK Good graphics and
good concept. Parents or teachers can make up tests. The problem
here is that the program was VERY slow and sluggish. I don't think
they used Amy's normal intuition. It looked like a cheap port from
an IBM PC or such.
3. WHERE IN *** *** IS CARMEN SANDIEGO - (I've got "THE WORLD" version)
Very well done for the most part. The "game" uses the World Alamanac
as an educational source (although a set of Encyclopedias may do better)
as the player tries to track down a spy who has stolen some country's
treasure. Graphics are OK (again, pretty much a port) and sound is
OK. (It did bother me though that they hardly ever mix sound and
animation on the screen at the same time. Maybe they were to used
to some "other" computers where all you can do is one or the other.
While the places of geography is somewhat limited, you do learn
quite a bit about each one. The strongest point for this educational
games is its stronmg attraction to kids. I could not tear my
5-10 year old nieces and nephews away from it once they started.
BTW- it is totally mouse driven and easy to learn.
I do plan to get "Where in the USA is C.S." and "When in the World
is C.S." for the kids. This is the only package I've used that
I will consider buying another in the series.
That's all I've used so far.
BTW- have you seen "Super Hang-On" by Activision? It is a Motorcycle race
on the order of "Out Run," only this thing is FABULOUS!!!
I have never seen such beautiful scenery that passes you by while you
speed through the country side, desert, city, etc. It is VERY playable
and yet challenging. (they did invert the mouse/joystick option. When it
says joystick, it means mouse) If you like arcade games, check this one out.
The sound effects are minimal, but you have your choice of 5 or 6 tunes
to play while racing. It really surprised me how good this one is.
--
- Joel E. Swan
[ swan@jolnet.UUCP <> PLINK ID: Amiga*joel ]
[ "Amigas.... for the rest of us." <> CI$ : 74746,3240 ]
[ "...peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:8 ]ST402248%BROWNVM.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (F. Scott Porter) (08/11/89)
In the August issue of AmigaWorld (almost always garbage, but once in a
while ...) there is an article on software for kids. They don't say much in
depth but they do give a brief description of a bunch of software. They even
give some recommendations and (I can't believe they did this) warnings against
some software. (I have never seen AmigaWorld stick their neck out before).
Anyway, I hope this helps.
--Scott. (ST402248@BROWNVM.bitnet)
(Brown Univ. doesn't care whether I live or die, much less what I think)plav@cup.portal.com (Rick M Plavnicky) (08/21/89)
In article <21076@cup.portal.com> I wrote: > This is a request for information regarding software for children. > [...] Thank you all for your responses, they were much appreciated. There wasn't much call (two people) for a public summary, so there's none included in this posting. One individual has offered to "start a mailing list of folks who have young children and would like to hear what others are doing with the Amiga in conjunction with their children." This can be contacted as: Tom Morrison morrison@ge-dab.GE.COM ...!mcnc!ge-dab.GE.COM!morrison I've taken the liberty of forwarding the responses I've gotten to my posting to him, along with a short list of interested folks with which he can begin. If you wrote me email, then chances are you'll be soon hearing from Tom. If you're still curious about the responses I've gotten on the topic then please email me with your request. Briefly, it seems as though there isn't an overwhelming amount of *really* *good* 'kidsware' to be had, leading me to think that there's a good buck to be made somewhere. Most respondents who mentioned it indicated that they often over- or under-estimate the abilities/needs/desires of children. Kids like a wide variety of stuff, as one person put it, "Hack is popular too :-)" Whatever software your kids find entertaining, though, should be backed up and kept separate from your everyday stuff. Accidents happen, and that can go a long way toward maintaining your peace of mind. So simple and effective, so often overlooked. Again, thanks everyone! [Aside to Steve Steir (apple!frog!cpoint!steve), please email me with an alternate address - the mailer here can't seem to find you.] Rick Plavnicky {...}!sun!cup.portal.com!plav "I've got a bunch of bananas and a bottle of bleach..."