Now, this is the way we ought to be testing our children:
Questionaut: A Point-and-Click Quiz Adventure by Amanita Design and the BBC
One of the most talented names in the casual gaming business, Amanita Design, creators of the delightful Samorost series, have just teamed up with the BBC to come up with this absolute gem of a game. It’s so cute, you won’t realize it is supposed to be educational... that is until you find yourself completely stumped on a math* question.
The questions are aimed at 11-year-olds, but that may not keep you from scratching your head a few times. Even finding the questions can be a little tricky. The game begins with two friends lazily lounging on a tiny pastoral planet. As you click around and explore, you’ll set off little chain reactions. One of these will lead to one of the friend’s hat being blown away. The other friend promptly chases after it in his hot air balloon. Now, this is where you come in. The little aeronaut needs enough hot air to keep the balloon lifting. As he reaches new levels, he’ll find himself stuck in different environments. The only way to move on is to catch the attention of the local residents. Once they notice the little guy, they’ll start asking a series of questions in areas we ought to all know: geometry, physics, English, biology, and much more. If you answer correctly, they’ll give the balloon a lift.
As with other games by Amanita Design, the biggest drawback on this game is that it does not continue forever. Alas, I suppose all great games must end, someday. Luckily, since the game seems to have a fairly large pool of questions, it is worth playing through more than once.
To read more, check out Psychotronic’s review at JayIsGames.
*--Actually, for me, the worst came when I reached the grammar level. I may be able to write, but the standard "Laws of Language Arts" eludes me.
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Thank you so much for posting about this game. It's delightful!
A wonderful educational tool. The module with the fellow shooting into the colors was a no-go though. Colorblind and logic-deficient means I failed to get it to start. :~(
trog, I hadn't thought about that. You'd think an educational game would be more accessible... I bet plenty of the students they are trying to reach are colorblind.
However, I think you should be able to get through it anyways. The pattern is based on order, not necessarily color. If you fill them in like that (the top satellite has 4 beams, so click 4 of the first color, the next satellite has 3 beams, so click 3 of the second color, and so on) you should be able to get through without trying to discern separate shades. It doesn't seem to matter which pattern the lights go in, only that there is the right amount of each.
I can't help you with the actual statistics questions, though... (well, I could, I kinda like stats, but...) Google might be helpful if you get stuck on any particular question.
I enjoyed playing. I had trouble getting the animals going but when I pulled the cat's tail, my dogs went wild!
Thanks for sharing; we need more things like this. That had to have taken a lot of hours to create!
Hmph. I'm pretty sure it's ok to look up the author before reading what she/he's written, old man.
Thanks for sharing