Geograficus

Geograficus is a 2003 educational adventure video game, developed by Ruske & Pühretmaier and published by Heureka-Klett (up until 2005) and BrainGame Publishing (from 2005 after acquiring H-K's edutainment catalogue). The game was originally released in Germany.

Geograficus
Developer(s)Braingame Publishing 
Publisher(s)Heureka-Klett-Softwareverlag 
Platform(s)Macintosh operating systems
Microsoft Windows 
ReleaseOctober 2003
Genre(s)Adventure, Educational

History

The game, along with a video game in the Willy Werkel series entitled Willy Werkel baut Raumschiffe, were used at Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus in a 2005 program entitled "Expedition Earth" which encourages children to learn about geography through the interactive media.[1]

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to that of video game Myst, in which players traverse through a series of static screens in a retro science-fiction setting.[2] The game aims to teach players about the Earth's physical geography and history of the Earth.[3]

The game has an internal interactive encyclopedia that contains scientific information and clues on how to complete the puzzles.[4]

Plot

The young protagonist Geo is tasked by the wise scientist Geograficus to locate the whereabouts of Balvin, a fire dragon who has gone missing.

Critical reception

Adventure Archiv questioned the choice to set an educational game in a fantasy world with dragons and magic, noting that the logic and physics of such worlds conflict with that of the real world thereby offering a confused message to players.[5] Angel Adventure thought the game was both captivating and beautiful,[6] while Kinderuni Darmstadt described it as interesting and logical.[7] Wissen.de gave the game a rating of 3/5 stars.[8] Macwelt thought the game's graphics or control did not live up to contemporary adventure games such as Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (2003) or Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (2003).[9][10] Lizzy Net wrote that the game made good use of its educational content and made it palatable.[11] In her article Computer games in geography lessons: Learning does not always mean memorizing and timpani, Christina Bulow concluded that the program would not make a good classroom companion due to the high time investment required and the inefficiency of its educational-content delivery.[12]

The game was awarded the 2004 Comenius Seal of Quality,[13] and the 2004 GIGA mouse award for best educational game.[14]

References
  1. "Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus | Projekt Expedition Erde". www.pfh-bundesallee.de. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  2. Pivec, M. (2006-03-02). Affective and Emotional Aspects of Human-Computer Interaction: Game-Based and Innovative Learning Approaches. IOS Press. ISBN 9781607501497.
  3. slydos. "Geograficus - Review english". www.adventure-archiv.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  4. "Geograficus [RUS] скачать бесплатно". rus-game.net. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  5. slydos. "Geograficus - Review english". www.adventure-archiv.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  6. "Geograficus Review". 2004-04-09. Archived from the original on 2004-04-09. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  7. "Lernadventure im Test: Geograficus - Das Abenteuerspiel aus der Welt der Geografie". kinderuni-darmstadt.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  8. Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Konradin Medien GmbH. "Geograficus | wissen.de". www.wissen.de. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  9. Hartmann, Thomas. "Rezension: Lernadventure 'Geograficus'". Macwelt. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  10. Hartmann, Thomas. "Schöne Bilder". Macwelt. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  11. "LizzyNet.de - Geograficus". www.lizzynet.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  12. "Computerspiele im Geographieunterricht | w.e.b.Square". 2013-05-05. Archived from the original on 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  13. https://www.presseportal.ch/de/pm/100000133/100476388
  14. "Beste Lernspiele für Kinder ab 12 Jahre (und andere Altersgruppen)". www.mediengewalt.de. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
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