Producer: Turtle Software
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Author: P W Rogers
Age Group: 6-12

This Quilled adventure for children is based on the Jack and the Beanstalk story. At the start the player is told: 'You have been, an idle, lazy boy and your mother was very reluctant to entrust you with so important a task'. The task is to sell off the family cow, which you have to do before you can progress in the adventure. The game is purely textual, and some of the location descriptions are guile lengthy and atmospheric:

'You are inside a dimly lit rent filled with curious bottles and tics. Suddenly there is a bright flash and a very tall, thin man appears from out of nowhere. He bows low and then proceeds to examine your cow most carefully. After a few seconds he spins round declaring that it is the finest he has ever seen.

'I must have it!' he cries, 'No matter what the cost.'

With a wave of his hand he produces a handful of lustrous glowing pearls worth, he tells you, a king's ransom. He offers there to you in exchange for your cow.

Will you accept his offer?

Occasionally, however, these descriptions scroll up rather quickly before you have had lime to read and absorb all the information (a press ENTER to continue feature would have been useful) although you can press R to have the location redescribed. Jack faces some interesting problems on his travels, and meets or confronts a varied selection of monsters and giants.

Although the age group is specified as 6-12, both Colin and I felt the game would be too easy for many 12 year olds, and that the content would probably not be sophisticated enough for children older than about 9 years Jack in Magicland has a number of features which make is particularly useful for young children: on occasion certain words on the screen are highlighted as a guide to the course of action the player should take; the notes also include the solution to the game which is invaluable for parents and teachers - I wish more publishers of educational adventures were prepared to take this step.

In the absence of screen graphics, an attractive booklet of black and white illustrations by Erica Leonard comes with the game, and children might enjoy colouring them in. It is also possible to obtain a free map of Magicland from Turtle.

I can see that this program would have enormous potential in primary schools, and a few ideas for related activities are included in the notes. To sum up, this is one of the best adventures for young children that I have come across. The author, being a teacher himself, obviously realises exactly how adventures like this can be used in the classroom to spark off all kinds of learning activities.

COMMENTS

Control Keys: directions can be shortened to N S E W U D, otherwise normal subject-verb input
Keyboard Play: good
Graphics: none on-screen, but there is an accompanying booklet of illustrations

By the time you read this the new government scheme to provide additional educational software support for schools should be well under way. This scheme will make new programs or the equivalent money available to schools, the differing procedures dependent upon the individual Education Authorities.

If you are the teacher responsible for purchasing new software then unfortunately the age old problem of suitability still exists. If you are lucky enough to have access to a Teachers' Centre with a software library for reference then the problem is not so bad. Often however, word of mouth recommendation or impartial reviews are the only means by which it is possible to be sure of obtaining the right program for your needs.

CLASSROOM ADVENTURES

I personally must admit a particular preference for adventures within the classroom. It is possible, with a certain amount of guidance from the teacher, or even parent if these are used at home, to extend an adventure program into the basis for a whole curriculum topic.

Jack in Magicland has been available for some time now and is the first in a trilogy of adventures for children aged 6-12. All have been written by a Primary School teacher and compiled with The Quill, the adventure writing aid by Gilsoft.

On first impressions there is nothing spectacular to make you leap with anticipation, no loading screen and only a block graphic title page. However, the delights await within.

The first adventure is based upon the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and is text only. I tried this with several groups of 9-10 year olds and they found no difficulty with the readability of the text although it would probably be rather heavy going for the average 6 year old.

The story begins with the pupil taking the part of a very lazy Jack, reluctantly entrusted to go and sell the last remaining item of value, the family cow. Once accomplished the adventurer proper begins.

As with all adventures each location is described for the player and a response is then expected. What makes this adventure so real are the very atmospheric descriptions. The children loved them and were in no way disappointed by the lack of graphics. Indeed this is a plus point in that they can go away and recreate their own impressions of the locations and the characters which they meet. Despite the fact that there are no pictures the interest is maintained by the text and by careful use of colour in paper and ink which go someway to adding to the scene description.

Keyboard entries are simple, using NORTH, SOUTH, or the standard verb/noun statements such as GET SWORD, GIVE BOTTLE, or abbreviations. Some text is lit up to provide clues for the next action. At some points these represent the only course of action so it is wise to take heed of them!

The children I tried this with worked in groups and took great care in decision making, especially after their first attempt resulted in being sent to bed by Jack's mother for being foolish! It was encouraging to see the amount of discussion that took place, even from children who normally took little part in class activities. As the adventure proceeded it became harder and harder to get them away from it, they were delighted at every new location and puzzle!

Working through the adventure the children discovered many locations and puzzling situations. This gave plenty of opportunity for them to decide the necessary form of commands to give the computer. The brief duplicated Teachers' Notes suggest that the program will encourage reading and spelling techniques and this undoubtedly is the case, if only for the fact that the computer will not accept incorrect spellings!

Watching the children play this adventure it was possible to see many ideas which can be extended into other areas of the timetable and overall I felt that the program has a great deal of potential. Language work is just one area in which the possibilities are almost endless.

On the minus side are a few minor points. Lots of text to read on a single screen, and a few idiosyncrasies have crept into the storyline (in the giant's treasure room it is impossible to lift a reel of thread but you can carry a chest of treasure). Care needs to be taken too when using the REDESCRIBE option, this can occasionally put you back in a situation from which there is no way out!

For those who require graphics, Turtle will provide a photocopied booklet of delightfully amusing illustrations and a map.

The notes supplied provide all the answers for teachers without the time to go fully through it together with a few related ideas for further work. I feel that this is one area of the package that could have been more substantial for those who do not have the ideas flowing from their fingertips, but on the whole this, in my opinion, a worthwhile and value-for money program. And the verdict of the children? 'Great!'

PIRATES!

The third of the adventure trilogy. Jack and the Pirates moves away from a fairy story setting and puts Jack in the days of pirates and Long John Silver.

For me this does not have the same initial appeal or the amusing descriptions, but the further the children got into the storyline the more possibilities became apparent. The problems are more complex here and a map soon becomes essential. This is a worthwhile exercise in each of the adventures and again, can lead to a lot of follow-up work.

As well as looking out for themselves in this adventure it is also necessary for the players to take care of a certain character encountered at the start, he can help you out if you don't lose him.

As a basis for project work these adventures have been well structured and offer considerable potential. They do not contain a wealth of related suggestions and this might be an area for improvement in the future but, with a little thought and time they could be very valuable additions to your Spectrum educational library.

A FIRST CLASS ROMP

Theo Wood finds that educational software is a boon to teachers.

One feature which stands out when you look back on 1985 is the increasing sophistication of software in the learning field.

While previous years saw a mass of new software the quality was not necessarily good. There was a feeling that publishers were keen to jump on the bandwagon and produce software quickly for a perceived, rather than an actual, market.

Some of those programs were distinctly dull, but 1985 saw an increase in the games element and the fun/educational borderline became blurred.

PRESCHOOL LEARNING

For the pre-school and infant age group Romper Room from Beyond is another attempt at using the Spectrum for initial alphabet teaching. Romper Room is much more lively than previous programs of this type. It features a character called Max who illustrates each letter with an action. The screen picture above is one example.

On the first game, Watch the Letters, both capital and small letters are shown together with a small sentence to be read by the parent. Max then sets the word, such as dancing for D. That is much more fun than a static graphic of an object.

The three other games in the package, Press a Letter, Find a Letter, and Letter Quiz work from that basis. Letter Quiz is the hardest of the games, where the player has to observe Max's action, determine the initial letter, and then press the letter on the keyboard.

Education publisher Macmillan has produced games which follow on from the kind of skills learnt in Romper Room.

Tops and Tails and Castles and Clowns are designed with the help of Betty Root, who is the 1985 President of the United Kingdom Reading Association. Those games are involved with the recognition of initial sounds and Tops and Tails introduces sound blends. Both feature games and, interestingly, two people can play. That is really useful when you have two children squabbling over who should play with the computer.

Mr T Meets His Match by Good Housekeeping, deals with memory skills. The players have to pick out pairs of animals as they turn over cards on the screen. The one-player option allows Mr T to be a forgetful or clever computer opponent. At a higher level the animals on the cards change to geometric shapes.

The other game, Switcheroo, provides food for thought as the task is to change one animal into another in four moves. That can be done by changing the size, colour, or animal. Mr T Meets His Match is an interesting package which deals with non-verbal skills using entertaining graphics.

Paddington's Garden Game is a gentle arcade frolic in which Paddington has to go around the garden to find a pot of marmalade, catching butterflies as he goes. The butterflies are released at the end of the game.

Joystick control ensures easy use. The game is innocent enough for the younger age group for which it is designed. Paddington fans should enjoy it, while practising hand/eye coordination.

SIMPLE ARITHMETIC

While today's educational thinking encourages calculators for yesterday's burdensome tasks of long division and multiplication, elementary numeracy cannot be ignored. Several programs work on that problem and are so designed as to deal with varying skill levels from five to 11.

Mirrorsoft's Ancient Quests pack age has a game called The Count which provides practice of simple counting to more complicated sums such as division and multiplication. Moving around the castle you must solve the problems posed before reaching the library where the Count can be overcome.

The other game, King Tut's Treasure includes arcade action. You must move Professor Diggins around the screens, avoid the hazards and dig for the matching shapes, match a fraction with a decimal or fraction with a name.

Psion and ASK collaborated on two of the year's best programs which deal with numbers. Estimator Racer is another arcade classic in which you have to race around a track as fast as possible. The faster you go the more frequently you have to answer questions. The speed and level can be selected and depend on the type of car and player's control.

Estimator Racer is different from other similar programs in that it is not the correct answer which is needed but the one nearest to the answer. That skill is useful when using a calculator, and encourages quick thinking without the need for complete accuracy.

Number Painter is another program with the same pedigree. This time the aim is to reach the target number by painting out other numbers - such as +2, +3 - until the target is reached. Based on a platform and ladders game, and operating at a number of different skill levels, Number Painter is great fun and has enough action to appeal to players who are hooked on games.

ADVENTURES

Adventure games have proved popular and the format is selling well in adventure books with multiple choice options. Taking an active role in the development of the plot, young readers are encouraged to improve their reading skills.

Mirrorsoft's Phineas Frogg must be considered a classic of its type for eight to 10 year olds. A story book is provided to fill in the plot background before you start the game, and a multiple choice of action is shown on each screen. There are also several arcade games which have to be played to solve the mystery, which is to save the scientist Mole from the Secret Lair of the Terrible Hamsters - SLOTH for short.

Jack in Magiciand could be played by the same age group, or as with Phineas, with younger non-readers as an alternative to reading a story. Based on the old tale it too has options. As a text-only adventure it lacks some of the interest of Phineas, but that is compensated by using a more descriptive text.

SIMULATIONS

Simulations are one way of introducing a subject and practising skills. Weathermaster by Sinclair/Macmillan is one of my favourites. Using it you can play at being a weather forecaster.

Onscreen you see a picture of the British isles and the frontal systems moving over the chart. The aim of the game is to provide a correct forecast. That must be done for each region until the whole country has been covered. If you can do that you can become a weathermaster - no mean feat.

Oilstrike is another in the Science Horizons series from Sinclair/Macmillan. It is a simulation similar to Weathermaster but this time you have to survey and drill for oil. The secret is to find suitable oil-bearing strata before drilling, otherwise costs mount turning the operation into what could prove to be a fruitless exercise.

The success of sports simulations in the software charts proves their popularity. Two sports simulations which require more skill than usual are Yacht Race and Run For Gold, both from Hill MacGibbon.

Yacht Race is an introduction to the art of sailing and comes with a printed chart of the different courses. There are six levels of difficulty which allow the novice to learn by coping with steering the dinghy before moving on to trimming the sails and setting the balance.

Run For Gold similarly requires a learning curve to fully master the pace and steering of your two chosen runners. Setting the pace too high for your runners will quickly tire them out. The object of the game is to increase your fitness level in local meets, before moving on to reach Olympic standard.

The Spectrum is not noted for its musical capability but one program stands out which uses what little there is to the full. Music Typewriter, from Romantic Robot, enables you to print out a score on to a wide selection of printers and interfaces.

The product is a real aid to budding composers who are working with a musical instrument. You can ENTER the notes with the help of the keyboard overlay which is provided, and edit the tune bar by bar.

A substantial section dealing with setting key changes, rhythm or tempo, as well as right or left-hand play options, means that the package can cover a wide variety of musical styles. You cannot use chords, but that is a failing of the hardware.

MORE LOGO LOGIC

Sinclair's own version of Logo was a critical success in 1984 and provided Spectrum owners with the chance to experiment with a full implementation of the language. Two Logo lookalikes were released in 1985 which offer Logo facilities of Logo at a reduced price.

Spectrum Logo Graphics from Sigma deals purely with turtle graphics. Using a keyboard overlay the main commands can be ENTERed with single key stroke. Spacing between commands is added automatically. That may be of some help to younger children but the entry of commands will not deter most children. The big drawback with the program is, however, that routines cannot be SAVEd.

The second Logo program was Picture Logic, from Addison Wesley. The program is a reworking of Heather Govier and Malcolm Neave's earlier program Logo Challenge.

Picture Logic adopts the structured approach to turtle-type graphics. The book accompanying the software takes you through the first stages and beyond by a series of exercises, called challenges, with many hints and tips to help beginners. In neither of the two programs is there any list processing facility which can be found in the full Sinclair version. If, however, you want turtle graphics and want a structural approach Picture Logic is the best buy.

One package which is easy to use and provides access to the Spectrum's graphics capability is New Generation's Light Magic. The program allows you to draw onscreen, change brush size and generally play around with colour and pattern without any programming skills. A program such as that can give some insight into how a graphic system works as well as being instantly usable.

BOOKWARE

For 11 to 16 year olds the Century Communications book Maths Tutor for the Spectrum is to be recommended. It is not a revision package but a self-contained maths course in book form with a tape for a few pounds extra.

A maths course could well be very difficult to follow but author Robert Carter has brought a masterly use of language into play which ensures that the whole subject does not become too dry. The explanations in the book are oustandingly clear and simple, and use of the programs in the book reinforces understanding of the mathematical concepts required up to O Level.

Revision programs are the mainstay of the program lists for secondary school age. The best of those on the science side are the Pan/Hill MacGibbon packages, called Pan Course Tutors. They cover all the usual science subjects and come with a text book.

There are diagnostic tests at the beginning of the programs which help students to identify weak spots in their study course.

The student is then directed to a suitable module. The modules make extensive use of screen windows, with one for the explanation, one for a question and a third for hints.

Penguin has released more titles in its study range, which mostly cover English Literature. Those operate on database techniques which allow you to browse through and follow characters in a novel or play. As the study of English Literature is largely interpretive, and the space for text is extremely limited, it would seem that those and other, similar, packages offer little real advantage over revision notebooks.

WORLDLY WISE

A program for older students which does not concern revision is Worldwise, a study of nuclear weapons. It operates as a database as well as providing a basis for playing negotiation simulations. It is meant as a factual program and not, in itself, an opinion former.

The Richardson institute for Conflict and Peace Research, at Lancaster University, operates an update system for members of the user group WUG - Worldwise Users Group, membership £2.00. Extra copies and microdrive versions can be obtained through the group at a special price.

Programs such as Worldwise can be used to provide the basis for intelligent discussion in an area which is renowned for bias and emotion, frequently unsupported by hard facts.

All in all, 1985 has been a good year for educational software. As it becomes less easy to rely on simple rule and drill exercises, producers of software are showing imagination and wit in their programs. In doing so the packages are becoming more attractive to use and more fun to play.