Serious Game Classification

The Discoverers is a multimedia interactive CD with mini-games, based on a IMAX documentary about historical figures that achieved great advances in science. The film itself is based on a book by the Pulitzer winner Daniel Boorstin, and it is included in its entirety on the CD. It can be played from the main screen, with a series of buttons at the bottom to skip forwards or backwards or to access the other portions of the program. Clicking the movie frame on key moments brings up a separate screen, showing a related entry about the subject.

The exploration screen shows a large picture with a timeline underneath at the right side, and a box with scrolling text at the bottom-left. A world globe appears inside a window, that can be rotated with the surrounding arrow buttons and clicked to go to another topic by region. The timeline has a slider that can be moved to change the subject by historical dates. There are voice overs for all the text.

There are two guessing games, where the objective is to click on the correct picture for a scientist or explorer. On the "mis-discovery" game, the player moves inside a crudely rendered 3D maze with the mouse, bumping into blocky sprites to bring up a text window with a statement. There are three facts per level, and one of them is a scientific blunder made by ancient people, philosophers or explorers. At the end of each labyrinth, the goal is to choose one of the three exits marked A, B, C corresponding to the incorrect assumption. [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : PC (Dos)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/discoverers/