The American Girls Premiere is an educative computer game developed and published by The Learning Company for American Girl. The game allows players to create theater productions that feature characters from the American Girls History collection, along with scenes and other unique elements for each girl's time period.
This is the first installment of the American Girl series , and so far the only one to be released on Mac OS; the next personal computer title in the series was released for Windows. The American Girls Premiere followed by The American Girls: Dress Designer , a software toy released by Mattel Interactive in 1999.
Video The American Girls Premiere
Gameplay
Built on the previous MECC game The Opening Night , The American Girls Premiere allows the creation and direction of a unique stage play starring the Historical Character, from Felicity Merriman, representing the American Revolution, to Molly McIntire, the daughter of an army doctor during World War II, along with the supporting characters of each girl's story arc.
After selecting a character, the player is presented with the stage that the play is made or presented, utilizing the drag-and-drop interface to add actors, props, lighting and other elements to the scene. Sprite digitization taken from actors and live props from the American Girl's history collection is used throughout the game, ÃÆ' la - Mortal Kombat . Each character has their own clothing collection based on the historical era of their story, eg. long dresses and skirts for Felicity or argyle sweaters and blouses for Molly, along with scenarios of their respective time periods. Players can also add dialogue in their production, either through voice recording, or using the built-in text-to-speech feature. The game develops the skills of storytelling and writing, and is open, allowing players to create theatrical productions in their own leisure time, although the choice of characters, props and limited settings can present creative constraints for some players.
In addition to the main game, bonus content such as tutorial and sampler apps called Directed Guides are included for players to get acquainted with the game mechanism and user interface, along with behind-the- scenes seen on production as well as historical facts and comments about American history and culture, and backstories for each character.
Maps The American Girls Premiere
Development
This game marks the Company's exciting debut - the creators of the American Girls franchise - into the digital software space. Linda Ehrmann, vice president of internet business strategy consulting firm, Gray Interactive, said that video games have the potential of entering a relatively untapped market, commenting that in the interactive media room, "girls are largely ignored."
Games can be purchased from major software retailers or ordered directly from The Learning Company or American Girl.
Release
A "Special Edition Collector's Set" of the title is double the price, and next to the CD-ROM, it comes with: "keepsake, one year club membership, club handbook, membership card, baseball cap and six bi-monthly editions of newspaper club ".
The update for the subtitle game 2nd Edition was released in 1998, adding Josefina Montoya to the list was in line with the doll's debut. The 2nd Edition release is a self-contained expansion pack containing characters and scenes from the first release, and does not require a copy of the original game to play. The above-mentioned Collector's set is then updated to include Josefina's special content from 2nd Edition, even though it does not have American Girls Club membership kit.
Reception
Critical reception
The American Girls Premiere released to most of the positive receptions, with praise awarded for providing children "creative outlets"; but some reviewers criticized the user interface for intimidation and complications. The children's review website SuperKids noted that "Those who choose to spend time with the program are happy with their creations," Lisa Karen Savignano from AllGame also noted a steep learning curve and a limited selection of scenarios and props for making the production stage, but gave the American Girls Premiere a very positive review, stating "I think every girl will be entertained by this and may start them on the road to create not just drama, but their own story and art," Kevin Mukhar of Computer Shopper thinks the game will provide hours of play for young girls ages 7-12 who love the American Girl franchise. A reviewer from The Wisconsin State Journal praised the game for being "historically accurate", easy to use, and providing players with "unlimited creativity". The Buffalo News commented that the title would not appeal to "boredom" or "easy frustration," but it would thrill players willing to invest time and energy. The Capital Times praised the artwork as "rich and detailed", and noted that the interface was easy to use. Playthings think of it as a "winner". Clint Basinger of Lazy Game Reviews also criticizes Premiere's equiere with Opening Night and what he sees as a limited educational value, but praises his appeal to fans the American Girls franchise, calling it "a neat little program" and an "exciting industrial case study" on video games aimed at girls and repackaging existing products to drive sales through the use of licensed properties.
Many reviewers noted that The American Girls Premiere is a prime example of a video game targeted at women's demographics. Deborah Porterfield of the Chicago Sun-Times described the title as "for girls" and "girl-oriented". Buffallo's news suggests that the game "is at the top of the girls' wish list." Citing this title as an example, The Boston Globe reviewer Joann Muller states that while the video game industry is beginning to make commercially successful titles of interest to women's demographics, rushing game targeting directly to girls can "perpetuate gender stereotypes" and "[not] teaching any valuable women about computers". Buffalo News thinks this game is the first "female software" from The Learning Company, a company that has built its catalog of "gender neutral education software." Rocky Mountain News reports that Revue Children's Software gives the title "temporary endorsement" as it offers "women's turns" for traditional video game genres such as adventure.
Sales
In December 1997, the game "reached the highest monthly dollar and single unit sales of any product" in the history of The Learning Company until then. In March 1998, The Boston Globe said the girls category of the video game market "exploded" with titles like Barbie Fashion Designer (by Mattel), The American Girls Premiere, Let's Talk About Me , (by Simon & Schuster Interactive) and Rockett's New School (by Moon Purple). In July 1998, The Buffalo News reported that The Learning Company has captured 20.3% of the video game market of girls with this video game.
Accolades
The game was nominated for the 1998 Interactive Achievement Award for Computer Innovation, and won the Gold Award from the Selected Parent Foundation. The game also won the Mom's Choice Software award for Fall 1997, and the 1998 selection in the Great American Interactive Software Library for Kids List.
Legacy
In the same vein as Moonbase Alpha , The American Girls Premiere has earned the following cult due to the use of text-to-speech systems by Lernout & amp; Hauspie, which according to most players is very interesting. Adding unintentional humor is the lack of collision detection and other quirks in game engines that allow characters to perform unusual moves, leading to a number of parody machinima clips on YouTube and other video sharing platforms.
References
External links
- The American Girls Premiere on MobyGames
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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