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01 January 2003
Posted in
Des Dev
| Tim Tripp |
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Websites
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Is there a sequel to Bears? |
NZ Macguide Issue 7
It began as an exercise to learn how to create multimedia on a computer; it has produced some stunning animated graphics, and has won awards for a Christchurch illustrator and web designer. We are talking about Tim Tripp and his CD-Rom Bears, known to many parents and grandparents of young children. Tim's CD has picked up awards from Tuanz in New Zealand, through to Omni Intermedia - in Kentucky, in the US - for educational content as much as for design.
The raves have come particularly from teachers, with an Auckland educationalist even labelling it the best educational software he had ever seen. But Tim, its sole creator, did not intend it to be educational software. He did not involve teachers or parents in its development, just his nephews and a number of other children. "I was doing what I like doing. The main criterion was, did kids actually want to play it? I never considered it being educational software."
There are no levels, progress reports or achievement certificates - Tim finds these grotesque. "Bears is far more subtle. It's a lot more engaging. Each child will come away with something different, whether it is music or art or just discovering a new concept. Your child is not instructed on where to go or what to do. They are free to go wherever they like."
And they do, wandering from room to room of an old house that forms the structure of the CD, sometimes helped along by the two bears, Ted and Floppy, with their refreshingly Kiwi voices. Users can change the season outside the room, click on objects to animate them, come across a group of bears playing musical instruments, a low-flying helicopter or a panda on skateboard.
Mona Lisa, and other famous paintings in the study, introduce children to the world of art, while photographs in the room with the orchestra take children to places around the world.
At the time Tim started Bears he was living in an old timber-lined villa in Spreydon, Christchurch. This house features, with several changes, as the house at the heart of the CD-Rom. It wasn't originally intended that way. The CD was going to be a simple story similar to those in Living Books' storybooks, produced by BrØderbund. Allison's Birthday is still there, but it is just one of the many puzzles, games and mazes waiting to be discovered. Tim's wife, Allison, makes real (as against virtual) teddy bears, so their house is full of them, and it is no surprise they populate the CD as well.
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| The artwork on Bears 1 was created in Painter |
Send in the clones
Bears was produced on an Apple clone, a Powerwave, using programs such as Macromedia Director, Sound Edit and Peak. The sequel is being worked up on a G4, alongside other tasks, in shared office space overlooking the park-like setting of the Avon River.
Tim began as a traditional book illustrator, a stint which included his own graphical novel Dragon Slayer, using pen, ink, paint and paper. He says these days it is hard to tell the difference between traditional art and digital art, thanks to programs such as Painter.
Now he does it all on the computer - and he prefers it that way. The computer is cleaner. "I don't have to wear a mask to do my airbrushing, and I don't have coloured lips from licking my sable brush to keep the point," Tim writes on his website, at www.ttdesign.com.
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| Out of the house and into the park with more art and music. Here, Bears 2 (Art in the Park) is being put together with Macromedia Director |
Also on the website are pictures to download and colour in, calendars, wallpaper for the computer desktop, and online puzzles and games. Support material on the website gives parents and grandparents ideas on how to involve a year-old toddler, too young to handle a mouse, while another link gives teachers ideas on ways to make the most of the software in the classroom to stimulate the imagination.
First in line for any sequel to Bears will be Matthew, Tim's three-year-old son. He wasn't around when dad made the first Bears CD.
As well as creating educational software, Tim imports and distributes educational board games through the name Pixelpark. Magazine readers may also be familiar with his cartoons, as he has published these in Grapevine and overseas business publications.
Bears can be purchased through Apple resellers, and through Pixelpark.
© Parkside Media 2003
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