Madeline (video game series)
Madeline is a series of educational point-and-click adventure video games which were developed during the mid-1990s for Windows and Mac systems. The games are an extension of the Madeline series of children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans, which describe the adventures of a young French girl. The video-game series was produced concurrently with a TV series of the same name, with characters and voice actors from the show.
In each game, Madeline guides the player through educational mini-games. Activities include reading comprehension, mathematics, problem-solving, basic French and Spanish vocabulary, and cultural studies. Each game focuses on a different subject. Although the series is set primarily in Madeline's boarding school in Paris, some games are set in other European countries.
The series was conceived by Creative Wonders president Greg Bestick and developed by Vortex Media Arts. It aimed to provide educational material to preschool and early-elementary-grade girls with a recognizable, appealing character. Educators, parents, and children were consulted during the series' development. The first game, Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show: A Learning Journey, was released in the fall of 1995 to coincide with the premiere of The New Adventures of Madeline animated television series. The series has eight games and two compilations.
The games were published by Creative Wonders, The Learning Company and Mattel Interactive. They were developed in association with DIC Entertainment, which held the rights to the game and the TV series. Creative Wonders and the Learning Company conducted several promotional campaigns for the games. The series was commercially successful, with individual games frequently appearing on lists of best-selling games. It was generally well received by critics for its focus on education and its animation style. In 1998, Creative Wonders was purchased by The Learning Company, and in 1999 the series was discontinued when Creative Wonders was dissolved and demand lessened for children's point and click games.
Titles
Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show: A Learning Journey was the first game in the series. Its release was scheduled to promote the American ABC TV animated series, The New Adventures of Madeline. Set in Paris, the game follows Madeline as she organizes a puppet show to raise money to help her neighbor avoid eviction by his greedy landlord. In the second game, Madeline Thinking Games, Madeline invites the player to explore the rooms and gardens of her boarding school with educational minigames. This was followed by Madeline European Adventures, in which Madeline tracks down a man who stole a genie's magic lamp and travels to Zermatt, Venice and Istanbul. Madeline Classroom Companion: 1st and 2nd Grade was part of the Madeline Classroom Companion series, with games designed for children aged four to eight. The story follows Madeline on a tour of her Paris neighborhood. Madeline Thinking Games Deluxe was a combination of Madeline Thinking Games and Madeline European Adventures. Madeline Rainy Day Activities, the sixth game, is set in Madeline's Catholic boarding school in Paris and follows her as she busies herself during rainy weather.Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Reading is also set in the boarding school, where Madeline guides the player through activities encouraging reading comprehension. From Madeline's imaginary magic attic, the player could travel to a carnival in Venice and visit Egyptian pyramids. The game was later re-released as Madeline: 1st and 2nd Grade Reading Deluxe. Madeline Classroom Companion: Preschool and Kindergarten was part of the Madeline Classroom Companion series of games for four- to eight-year-olds. Similar to Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade, it follows Madeline on a tour of her neighborhood with a variety of activities.
Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Math, the final game in the series, was released as a two-CD-ROM set on July 12, 1999. The discs were also sold separately as Madeline 1st Grade Math and Madeline 2nd Grade Math. Set in the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, Madeline guides the player through nine works of art. Each is given a Madeline-related name change; the Mona Lisa is reimagined as Mona Clavel after Miss Clavel, the headmistress of Madeline's school. The paintings help teach addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The game was released for the 60th anniversary of the 1939 publication of Madeline.
Overview
Gameplay
The games have a point and click interface, which players use to navigate through screens, interact with characters and manipulate objects to complete tasks and overcome obstacles at a comfortable speed. The series' gameplay has been compared to other edutainment games, such as Big Thinkers, Fisher-Price video games, JumpStart and Reader Rabbit. The games contain minigames about reading comprehension, mathematics, problem-solving and cultural studies. They have a simple, straightforward design. The interface varied during the series; Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show and Madeline's European Adventures were designed to look like interactive storybook adventure games, and Madeline Thinking Games was designed as a series of in-game activities. Madeline European Adventures requires players to search each screen in first person, similar to Myst.The minigames' subjects vary; in Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Reading, reading comprehension and spelling are taught by completing crossword puzzles, arranging words in alphabetical order and finding synonyms and antonyms for words. Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Math focuses on building math knowledge; Madeline coaches the player through 55 activities covering a two-year mathematics curriculum, including lessons on "logic, time, money skills, sequencing, fractions, geometry, estimation, and patterns".
Basic French and Spanish vocabulary are taught throughout the series. In Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show: A Learning Journey players can click on objects to hear English, French and Spanish, and can review vocabulary by playing "Concentration". Madeline European Adventures contains 100 words in Spanish and French and information about European countries, flags, and culture through an interactive map and repeatable activities. The series' gameplay includes references to European culture and foreign languages.
In-game activities include dressing up Madeline's friends in a variety of outfits and creating postcards, masks, door signs and stickers. In Madeline Thinking Games Deluxe, the player can design Madeline's bedroom by changing its wallpaper, carpeting and furniture. Personalized graphics, printable activities and reward certificates are common to the games, and players can watch music videos in Madeline Thinking Games.
Madeline was targeted at younger players, with age recommendations varying by reviewers. The series was deemed appropriate for "even the youngest pre-readers" by one video-game reviewer; according to others, the series was best suited for kindergarten to second-grade players. A SuperKids reviewer suggested that young children might require adult assistance due to the games' complex skill requirements; although the series was appropriate for older players, the games were not sufficiently challenging. It is primarily a single-player series except for Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Math, which includes six multiplayer games with different levels of difficulty.
The games have several methods for tracking progress. Madeline is an in-game helper, providing encouragement and hints supporting the learning process through positive reinforcement; according to an Orlando Sentinel article, "the effervescent Madeline is there to offer frequent encouragement and reward correct answers". The games have a progress tracker to keep parents and educators informed of a player's performance, highlighting activities in which they excel or may need assistance. One feature recognizes skill mastery and increases difficulty automatically, but is not present in all the games. Some games, such as Madeline European Adventures, have a user guide with hints and a walkthrough to help a player who is stuck or quickly teach the gameplay to a parent. Several games allow the player to track their progress with printable cards, postcards, and games that players can play away from the computer.
Settings and characters
Most of the Madeline series is set in Madeline's boarding school or the surrounding neighborhood. The two exceptions are Madeline European Adventures and Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Math, set in the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay. Although Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Reading is set in the boarding school, Madeline and the player can also travel to Italy and Egypt from a magic attic. Throughout the series, Madeline is tasked with helping several characters reach their goals. The series includes original artwork for the backgrounds and full animation; Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show has 30 background scenes and over 10,000 frames of original animation. The TV series' theme song is heard at the beginning of each game. American author Annie Fox, who had co-created the edutainment Putt-Putt series, contributed to the development of the Madeline games.Madeline is a guide for the player throughout the minigames, and the series was cited as unique for its female protagonist. Madeline's dog Genevieve is featured in several games, supplying hints about how to complete an activity in Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Math and helping Madeline search for the genie's magic lamp in Madeline European Adventure. In Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade, Madeline helps Miss Clavel complete equations on an easel. Madeline's Spanish neighbor, Pepito, is featured in the "reading comprehension and problem solving" activity "Where's Pepito?" in Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade Reading.
Tracey-Lee Smyth voices Madeline in most of the video games, reprising her role in the television series. Christopher Plummer, who narrated six Madeline specials on HBO and the TV series Madeline and The New Adventures of Madeline, returned to narrate Madeline and the Magnificent Puppet Show: A Learning Journey and the later games. In other games, such as Madeline Thinking Games, Madeline is the narrator. Other voice actors from the television series also reprised their roles in the video game in which their character appeared. The voice actors recorded their dialogue at Koko Productions 8th Avenue Sound Studios in Vancouver and the Audio Department in New York.