Natur entdecken (Discovering nature)

Facts

Publisher: Terzio, Germany
Target Group: 4+
Price: 15 Euro
Distribution: CD-ROM
Type of game: Infotainment

Story

This product is an infotainment programme and hence it does not have a real story. It has four chapters about ladybirds, trees, birds and frogs. Every chapter contains about 10 screens, which present the life and behaviour of these animals / the characteristics of the plant. The appearance of this programme is very similar to a children’s textbook.

Elements of the game

The actual chapters contain a description of the animal or plant. For example, the chapter about the frog starts with a presentation of its habitat, and then explains the anatomy of the frog, its way to move, its food and enemies. Afterwards the user gets information about pairing and the development of polliwogs. The chapter concludes with presentation of several other amphibians. Every screen is composed of animations, text and spoken words as well as an interactive element (e.g. a finding- or matching-game).

Every chapter contains also three simple games about the animal or plant such as a puzzle, a quiz or an arcade game. Another component are illustrations (coloured or black/white for painting in) of the animals or habitats for printing-out and a lexicon with continuative and interesting information.

How biodiversity is presented

Aim of the game is the objective information about animals and plants, their behaviour and build-up. The user has to have more intrinsic interest in this subject to have fun with this product than it is necessary for an edutainment game. On the other hand this software communicates much more detailed knowledge than a game. Although this CD doesn’t broach the issue of ecological destruction, it would be easy to integrate this topic in software like this.

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