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Prisma Software
29 St. James Avenue,
Upton,Chester, Cheshire, CH2 1NB
01244326244
Paul Harthen
Graphic Artist, Game Designer, Programmer for Prisma Software
januari 1989 – augustus 1995 (6 jaar 8 maanden)Chester, Verenigd Koninkrijk
Artist, designer and programmer of various educational games on the C64, Amiga, Atari ST and PC computers. Titles included: Paint Pot II, Pepe's Garden, Jumble Up, Shopping Basket, Which Where What, Alvin's Puzzles, Blobs.
ZZAP! 64 JANUARY 1992 • NUMBER 80
Can learning to read
and count be fun?
HELEN REIDY finds out
with two brand-new
educational series.
PLAY AND LEARN
At first sight. Prisma's Play And Leam
series looks tike one of the most innovative
pieces of educational software since
Database first had the bright idea of putting
Teddy badges into the Fun School boxes.
The thing that sets this package apart from
the usual gimmickry is its well-thought-out
approach and serious attempt at actually
teaching your child about words.
• Is the prof, thick or not? Only Phil can
doing rubbish so farl
Prof Plays A New Game is the first
instalment in this tour-pan: series. For your
£15.32, you get an audio cassette, two
computer cassettes and live little story
books whose vocabulary matches the
different skill levels in the games. No Teddy
badge, bu! who cares?
Ai this point it's probably a good idea to
get some sticky labels, draw arrows on
them and glue them onto the keys which
have been designated as left, right, up and
down.
So far. so good; but what do you do with
it all?
introduction
The rather ingenious idea behind the
paokage is that, to start with, you plug the
to the computer armed with — In our
— the trusty old Fisher-Price cassette
border and set everything going. The
computet loads up, with luck, and off you
go. A child's voice on the tape (aka Patricia
Hayes the actress, according to the blurb)
tells you how everything works, what the
keyboard looks like and how to move Prof
around.
All this kept my four-year-old well-
occupied, pressing the spacebar on the
musical signal and looking at the words as
they came up on screen, whilst at the same
time listening to the explanatory voice-over.
It may all be very clever, but it's a pity
that the reading game that comes along too
hasn't had the same degree of time
lavished on it. In the sophisticated world of
the child, surely the Prisma team could
have come up with something a teensy bit
more appealing than the grid-and- 1 adders
format? All our little fat red Prof manages to
do is puff up and down his ladder, matching
■ words to your command!
Wow!
Plus points, however,
are that the skill levels
are well graduated and
cursor control Is nice and
simple — one press
doesn't send Prof skating
too energetically across
the screen!
Third part
The latest bit of the Play
And Leam series is Part
3 (where's Part 2?, we
ask ourselves). Released
m July this year, it
continues in a similar
vein. Prof Makes
Sentences contains just
a cassette tape though — no
accompanying reading matter with this one.
The most memorable part of the package
is the snow scene, whfch you get as a
reward. Most of the reward sequences are
pretty yawn-making, but this one Is a musfi
Watch the boy disappear when the
snowball is thrown at him,
Scry offer ma
Prisma use a purely 'look and say'
vocabulary throughout the series. The story
books themselves tend to be a bit
pedestrian, but once again, well ordered.
The big exception to this would have to be
Book A. which isn't so much a story as a
thinly-veiled piece of indoctn nation, with
'gems such as: I like the computer game
with the little red man' and even 'if we play
the new game we can learn to read'.
Presumably the tots repeat this one over
and over, parrot-fashion, and then duly
decide, and he's
order a copy of Part 2 of the Prof series
from Father Christmas!
The books are well illustrated, but only in
black and white — for some reason you
only graduate to full colour in Book 5. My
one main quarrel with the approach is the
decision after 'thorough testing in hundreds
of schools' to abandon capital letters at the
beginnings of sentences. This, according to
the company, is at the suggestion of
hundreds of primary teachers who consider
that it 'confuses the children'. Oh, yeah?
Now if you're going to try and avoid
bewildering the children, surely the
keyboard presents a more serious
problem? You know, the small fact that
computer keyboards tend to be in those
confusing capitals. Can we assume that
keyboard overlays are the next thing for
Santa's shopping list?
The content may all be solidly
educational, but both packages suffer from
a definite dearth of dynamism in the
programming — they just don't catch the
child's imagination enough to keep them
coming back for more. Once they'd found
out that what Prof did wasn't particularly
mind-blowing, my tot went off and picked up
something else to do.
And. when you're paying this much for a
program, staying power is definitely one of
the requisites. Pity. Nice try, though.
PLAY AND LEARN Series
Part 1 Prol Plays a New Game' —
£15.32 cassette
Part 3: Prot Maker, Sentences
C13.27 cassette
Prisma Software, 29 SI James
Avenue. Upton Heath, Chester SH2
1NB.
Amigaformat issue 14 1990
Given the Amiga’s capabilities, though, it has to be said that it wouldn't be at all difficult for another company to write a much better program. It’s debatable whether any rival company is really that fussed.
PROF PLAYS A NEW GAME Prisma Software £29.99 This is part one of the “Play and Read” series. It has a modest goal - to teach a child a simple vocabulary of 63 words. The way it goes about this task is a bit complicated, so I hope you’re sitting comfortably... First off, you have to get the pupil to listen to the included audio tape.
This was recorded by Patricia Hayes in a very twee little-girl voice and was found to be dangerously tedious to adults.
However it does introduce the ideas of reading very well to a non-literate child.
Then there’s a game of five sections that is played on the Amiga.
All that's required is to guide a little red man around a few boxes onscreen, using a joystick and or the keyboard. He has to match words, which means running up to it, pressing the spacebar, and then finding the duplicate which is somewhere else on the screen. And pressing the spacebar again to make contact.
The Amiga tells the player just what this strange word sounds like.
This is the crux of the program, it’s what the game is all about. Believe it or not, the object of the whole exercise is to get children to read books.
Once each game section is complete, whoever played the game should know all the words used in the relevant picture book which are all included in the box. The first three PROF PLAYS A NEW GAME RIGHT: The actual game is a process of matching up words.
The entries should front are Prisma Software with
their reach us by September 17th and P ay and Read - Learn to
Read with don't forget to include your name, Prof series. On
the preceding pages address and phone number on the you'll find
a review of Part One, Prof postcard.
Plays a New Game, and here you have the chance to win the next In the QUESTIONS series - Prof Makes Sentences. 1. How many books are included in Prof Makes Sentences introduces Prof Plays a New Game?
To children the art of creative writing, a) 2 where Prof the cartoon character is b) 4 on hand to help and give a few c) 5 surprises along the way. Children may not run straight off and start penning 2. How many words will children be Shakespearean sonnets but they will able to read after completing Prof have discovered that writing sen- Plays a New Game?
Tences can be fun. A) 50 There are 20 first prizes of Prof b) 63 Makes Sentences and for 50 runners- c) 62 up a £5 discount off the purchase of it. All you have to do to enter is 3. Which famous actress reads the answer the three questions below story on the cassette?
About Prof Plays a New Game - all the a) Patricia Hayes answers to which can be found in the b) Meryl Streep review on the preceding pages. C) Thora Hird RULES Employees of Future Publishing and Iphsma Software are not allowed to enter. The judges' decision is final. No correspondence will bantered into.
HOW TO ENTER Write the answers to the following three questions and on the back of a postcard or stuck-down-envelope and send it to: Prof Comp, Amiga iifiiiitii
Produced Atari titles:
Kids' Academy - Alvin's Puzzles
Prisma Software
1992
United Kingdom
Education - Introductory
Low
ST / STe
Kids' Academy - Shipping Basket
Prisma Software
1992
United Kingdom
Education - Mathematics
Low
ST / STe
Play and Read - Learn to Read with Prof Level I
Prisma Software
1989
United Kingdom
Education - Reading
Low
ST
Which? Where? What?
Prisma Software
1992
United Kingdom
Education - Miscellaneous
Low
ST / STe
Upton,Chester, Cheshire, CH2 1NB
01244326244
Paul Harthen
Graphic Artist, Game Designer, Programmer for Prisma Software
januari 1989 – augustus 1995 (6 jaar 8 maanden)Chester, Verenigd Koninkrijk
Artist, designer and programmer of various educational games on the C64, Amiga, Atari ST and PC computers. Titles included: Paint Pot II, Pepe's Garden, Jumble Up, Shopping Basket, Which Where What, Alvin's Puzzles, Blobs.
ZZAP! 64 JANUARY 1992 • NUMBER 80
Can learning to read
and count be fun?
HELEN REIDY finds out
with two brand-new
educational series.
PLAY AND LEARN
At first sight. Prisma's Play And Leam
series looks tike one of the most innovative
pieces of educational software since
Database first had the bright idea of putting
Teddy badges into the Fun School boxes.
The thing that sets this package apart from
the usual gimmickry is its well-thought-out
approach and serious attempt at actually
teaching your child about words.
• Is the prof, thick or not? Only Phil can
doing rubbish so farl
Prof Plays A New Game is the first
instalment in this tour-pan: series. For your
£15.32, you get an audio cassette, two
computer cassettes and live little story
books whose vocabulary matches the
different skill levels in the games. No Teddy
badge, bu! who cares?
Ai this point it's probably a good idea to
get some sticky labels, draw arrows on
them and glue them onto the keys which
have been designated as left, right, up and
down.
So far. so good; but what do you do with
it all?
introduction
The rather ingenious idea behind the
paokage is that, to start with, you plug the
to the computer armed with — In our
— the trusty old Fisher-Price cassette
border and set everything going. The
computet loads up, with luck, and off you
go. A child's voice on the tape (aka Patricia
Hayes the actress, according to the blurb)
tells you how everything works, what the
keyboard looks like and how to move Prof
around.
All this kept my four-year-old well-
occupied, pressing the spacebar on the
musical signal and looking at the words as
they came up on screen, whilst at the same
time listening to the explanatory voice-over.
It may all be very clever, but it's a pity
that the reading game that comes along too
hasn't had the same degree of time
lavished on it. In the sophisticated world of
the child, surely the Prisma team could
have come up with something a teensy bit
more appealing than the grid-and- 1 adders
format? All our little fat red Prof manages to
do is puff up and down his ladder, matching
■ words to your command!
Wow!
Plus points, however,
are that the skill levels
are well graduated and
cursor control Is nice and
simple — one press
doesn't send Prof skating
too energetically across
the screen!
Third part
The latest bit of the Play
And Leam series is Part
3 (where's Part 2?, we
ask ourselves). Released
m July this year, it
continues in a similar
vein. Prof Makes
Sentences contains just
a cassette tape though — no
accompanying reading matter with this one.
The most memorable part of the package
is the snow scene, whfch you get as a
reward. Most of the reward sequences are
pretty yawn-making, but this one Is a musfi
Watch the boy disappear when the
snowball is thrown at him,
Scry offer ma
Prisma use a purely 'look and say'
vocabulary throughout the series. The story
books themselves tend to be a bit
pedestrian, but once again, well ordered.
The big exception to this would have to be
Book A. which isn't so much a story as a
thinly-veiled piece of indoctn nation, with
'gems such as: I like the computer game
with the little red man' and even 'if we play
the new game we can learn to read'.
Presumably the tots repeat this one over
and over, parrot-fashion, and then duly
decide, and he's
order a copy of Part 2 of the Prof series
from Father Christmas!
The books are well illustrated, but only in
black and white — for some reason you
only graduate to full colour in Book 5. My
one main quarrel with the approach is the
decision after 'thorough testing in hundreds
of schools' to abandon capital letters at the
beginnings of sentences. This, according to
the company, is at the suggestion of
hundreds of primary teachers who consider
that it 'confuses the children'. Oh, yeah?
Now if you're going to try and avoid
bewildering the children, surely the
keyboard presents a more serious
problem? You know, the small fact that
computer keyboards tend to be in those
confusing capitals. Can we assume that
keyboard overlays are the next thing for
Santa's shopping list?
The content may all be solidly
educational, but both packages suffer from
a definite dearth of dynamism in the
programming — they just don't catch the
child's imagination enough to keep them
coming back for more. Once they'd found
out that what Prof did wasn't particularly
mind-blowing, my tot went off and picked up
something else to do.
And. when you're paying this much for a
program, staying power is definitely one of
the requisites. Pity. Nice try, though.
PLAY AND LEARN Series
Part 1 Prol Plays a New Game' —
£15.32 cassette
Part 3: Prot Maker, Sentences
C13.27 cassette
Prisma Software, 29 SI James
Avenue. Upton Heath, Chester SH2
1NB.
Amigaformat issue 14 1990
Given the Amiga’s capabilities, though, it has to be said that it wouldn't be at all difficult for another company to write a much better program. It’s debatable whether any rival company is really that fussed.
PROF PLAYS A NEW GAME Prisma Software £29.99 This is part one of the “Play and Read” series. It has a modest goal - to teach a child a simple vocabulary of 63 words. The way it goes about this task is a bit complicated, so I hope you’re sitting comfortably... First off, you have to get the pupil to listen to the included audio tape.
This was recorded by Patricia Hayes in a very twee little-girl voice and was found to be dangerously tedious to adults.
However it does introduce the ideas of reading very well to a non-literate child.
Then there’s a game of five sections that is played on the Amiga.
All that's required is to guide a little red man around a few boxes onscreen, using a joystick and or the keyboard. He has to match words, which means running up to it, pressing the spacebar, and then finding the duplicate which is somewhere else on the screen. And pressing the spacebar again to make contact.
The Amiga tells the player just what this strange word sounds like.
This is the crux of the program, it’s what the game is all about. Believe it or not, the object of the whole exercise is to get children to read books.
Once each game section is complete, whoever played the game should know all the words used in the relevant picture book which are all included in the box. The first three PROF PLAYS A NEW GAME RIGHT: The actual game is a process of matching up words.
The entries should front are Prisma Software with
their reach us by September 17th and P ay and Read - Learn to
Read with don't forget to include your name, Prof series. On
the preceding pages address and phone number on the you'll find
a review of Part One, Prof postcard.
Plays a New Game, and here you have the chance to win the next In the QUESTIONS series - Prof Makes Sentences. 1. How many books are included in Prof Makes Sentences introduces Prof Plays a New Game?
To children the art of creative writing, a) 2 where Prof the cartoon character is b) 4 on hand to help and give a few c) 5 surprises along the way. Children may not run straight off and start penning 2. How many words will children be Shakespearean sonnets but they will able to read after completing Prof have discovered that writing sen- Plays a New Game?
Tences can be fun. A) 50 There are 20 first prizes of Prof b) 63 Makes Sentences and for 50 runners- c) 62 up a £5 discount off the purchase of it. All you have to do to enter is 3. Which famous actress reads the answer the three questions below story on the cassette?
About Prof Plays a New Game - all the a) Patricia Hayes answers to which can be found in the b) Meryl Streep review on the preceding pages. C) Thora Hird RULES Employees of Future Publishing and Iphsma Software are not allowed to enter. The judges' decision is final. No correspondence will bantered into.
HOW TO ENTER Write the answers to the following three questions and on the back of a postcard or stuck-down-envelope and send it to: Prof Comp, Amiga iifiiiitii
Produced Atari titles:
Kids' Academy - Alvin's Puzzles
Prisma Software
1992
United Kingdom
Education - Introductory
Low
ST / STe
Kids' Academy - Shipping Basket
Prisma Software
1992
United Kingdom
Education - Mathematics
Low
ST / STe
Play and Read - Learn to Read with Prof Level I
Prisma Software
1989
United Kingdom
Education - Reading
Low
ST
Which? Where? What?
Prisma Software
1992
United Kingdom
Education - Miscellaneous
Low
ST / STe