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CM . . .
. Volume X Number 1 . . . . September 5, 2003
excerpt:
Click & Create with Mia: A Complete Creativity Studio is the latest gem from Kutoka featuring the irrepressible little mouse. Players can choose from five different "creativity sections" in this "studio": Projects, Draw, Paint, Shapes, and Multimedia. In Mia's previous adventures, activities were woven into an overarching storyline and followed a prescriptive order; they were also arranged according to four levels of difficulty. This CD-ROM differs from the earlier games in that here the player moves through the activities arbitrarily, and the activities become as simple or complex as the artist's imagination and the tools themselves allow. To set up Click & Create, the user selects either a full or a partial installation to the computer hard drive of choice. If one's computer can accommodate it, a complete installation is more convenient than a partial because a partial installation will require the player to access the CD-ROM drive from time to time, which may decelerate play. Click & Create also requires that QuickTime be installed. Mia is both Windows and Macintosh compatible. The installation, itself, takes only the click of a button and a few short minutes to complete. Once the program loads, it launches an introductory animated short wherein Mia "re creates" Scary Spider by daubing on him a round, red nose and pasting on ears; then it is the player's turn to have some fun. Initially, a player must click on an album and then the start button in order to arrive at a screen depicting the five creativity sections. By clicking on the corresponding icon, a player may enter the Projects (a scissors and ruler icon), Draw (slate and pencil), Paint (paintbrush), Shapes (circle, triangle, quadrilaterals), or Multimedia (filmstrip) section. A player's first time visit to a section prompts Mia for a tutorial, delivered at a rapid pace. Fortunately, players have commands at their disposal to repeat or bypass instructions, as they desire. A "help" feature which reveals the functions of on screen buttons is also just a click away. The instruction booklet, an insert to the CD ROM, offers additional assistance in the form of a grid that indicates the importability of artwork from section to section. Strictly speaking, the inclusion of jokes (more accurately, riddles) are probably unnecessary. Nevertheless, like "Easter eggs" in other games, they are delightful little "extras." They provide the sort of innocuous drollery which makes adults roll their eyes and shake their heads, but which sends children into peals of laughter. The jokes also link creative expression with levity, perhaps in an attempt to dispel the myth of the "brooding artist." The creativity sections themselves are ambitious in their scope. The Projects section allows children to print a wide range of stationery (e.g., letterhead, envelopes, signs) and crafts (e.g., pinwheel, mobile, 3D house), aided by templates and clip art. Such projects may require adults to oversee cutting and pasting; adults will also want to ensure that a spare color ink cartridge is close at hand. The Draw section allows young artists to sketch freehand or to follow step by step patterns. In the Shapes section, the player can construct images out of combinations of shapes in a variety of shades. For Multimedia creations, a player selects background pictures, characters to populate those backgrounds, and the music to which characters dance. Items created in the Multimedia section will not retain their special dynamic properties if they are imported into other sections. In particular, the Paint section demonstrates the great lengths to which the CD-ROM's designers are willing to go to achieve verisimilitude. Here the player may paint original pictures or pictures pre designed, as in a coloring book. The budding artist works with tools that simulate the textures of pencil, chalk, marker, paintbrush, paint bucket (for a fill), stamp wheel, and spray paint. These tools exhibit characteristics of their real life counterparts: for instance, the "marker" glides on darkly and then rapidly fades into the "page" just as real markers do. The amount of pressure with which one depresses the mouse button and the duration of the click affect the density of the color issuing from the "spray paint" or "chalk." By means of a sliding button, the artist controls the narrowness or width of any tool's color application on the "canvas." Characterized by an abundance of choices within choices, this "creativity studio" in no way lacks variety. What it does seem to lack, however, is a bit of fine tuning. Certain functions, of course, are common to all five sections, such as the abilities to drag and drop, rotate, and resize objects, to undo and redo actions, and to save artwork by taking a snapshot of it with a click of the camera icon. Yet there are many idiosyncrasies which only become evident through trial and error. First of all, the album concept is never satisfactorily explained. Contrary to what the developers may think, it is not self explanatory, but rather raises the following questions: Is there a limit to how many snapshots one album can hold? Should each player choose a different album? Why are albums named with numbers and not words? Additionally, although it is not documented, a limit exists regarding the amount of undos and redos one can undertake in Paint. Apart from that hindrance, it takes a great deal of patient tinkering to color some of the smaller white areas, for the paint bucket fill is finicky, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve thin pencil lines of color while one's fine motor skills are hampered by the use of a mouse. In a similar vein, despite the help of Draw's auto correction feature, drawing lines, curves, and freehand objects takes much practice. Then, too, the thumbnails in the Projects section contain text that is too small to preview; yet when one drags one's choice onto the workspace to see it large, a dialogue box interjects the message, "Just a moment, please," causing a further delay. One last nit picky detail concerns the arrows used to scroll through choices. Conventionally, in MS Windows programs at least, clicking on the arrow pointing to the right moves the page to the left. The concept is reversed here, for a truly disorienting effect. Consequently, this reviewer advises adults to play through the game with younger children (especially preschoolers and kindergarteners) until they demonstrate a degree of confidence in navigating between and within sections. Beyond its shortcomings, this CD-ROM possesses many redeeming virtues. The quality of graphics and sound effects, for one, is exceptional. Click & Create will also, like the Mia adventures that preceded it, occupy inquisitive young hands and minds for hours at a time: it offers an interactive alternative to watching videos and movies, a popular yet passive pastime for children. It encourages experimentation with colors, shapes, and formats, as well as with making connections between media. Finally, rather than touting the usual analytical and statistical applications of computers, Click & Create promotes the use of computers for creative leisure and, by extension, vocational pursuits. Further details about Mia products including the new Mia's Language Adventure: The Kidnap Caper are available at www.kutoka.com. Recommended. Julie Chychota is a Winnipeg, MB, freelance writer.
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