Multimedia Partners

The Virtual Seed

This is an interactive CD-ROM, designed to teach school children about plants in a fun and creative way. The centrepiece is the Blooming Bean, a virtual adaptation of the time-honoured experiment of growing a bean in a jar over the course of a number of weeks. The Blooming Bean allows students to grow their own virtual bean over a ninety day period. Students must care for the plant, keeping it watered and free from bugs and pests. Students can observe their plant by rotating it 360 degrees, monitor the temperature at which it is kept, and can document its progress by measuring and photographing it.

The CD-ROM also includes the Sunflower Challenge, a fast-paced arcade game. The objective is to grow three sunflowers as high as possible, by keeping them watered and free from birds and slugs. In addition, the CD-ROM contains a themed, image-rich mini-encyclopaedia, called Plant-o-paedia and a sliding puzzle game.

Pollution Patrol

I developed this touch screen interactive game for the Twilight Zone at The Deep in Hull, the world’s only Submarium. Pollution Patrol educates visitors about the dangers and consequences of polluting our seas and oceans. The interactive is presented as an animated cartoon. Visitors must assist Jill McClean in catching Dirty Dan, a despicable character who is polluting the seas. Once Dan has been found, an animated sequence shows him polluting the seas in a number of different ways and the impact that pollution has on the local marine life. Jill discusses the effect his actions have and how visitors can help to make things better. Finally, the visitor gets to pass sentence on Dan, before seeing his punishment on the front page of the newspapers.

Vikings!

Developed jointly with another programmer, this interactive CD-ROM runs on both PC and Apple Mac. The interactive is an overhauled and updated version of the famous The World of the Vikings laser disc, created originally by the National Museum of Denmark and the York Archaeological Trust. Based on the research of over fifty museums, it contains a database-driven, themed catalogue of all things Viking, including images, video and audio.

Ferens the Gallery Cat

This touch screen interactive was developed in 2000 for a new childrens gallery at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull. Hosted and narrated by Ferens the cat, the interactive lets children have fun while learning about many different aspects of art. Using a clever combination of images, video and interactive games, the need for text is greatly reduced, making it really fun and accessible for children, while still being educational. Ferens the Gallery Cat brings together art styles, framing, sculpture, painting and drawing, colours and pigments, and conservation and restoration.