Software:Donald's Alphabet Chase

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Donald's Alphabet Chase
DOS Cover art
Developer(s)Westwood Associates
Publisher(s)Walt Disney Computer Software
Producer(s)Darlene Waddington
Designer(s)Darlene Waddington, Brett Sperry
Artist(s)Paul Johnson, Maurine Starkey
Composer(s)Mike Clarke, Dave Kelly
Platform(s)Apple II, Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, DOS, ZX Spectrum
Release1988
1990 (C64)[1]
1991 (Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum)
Genre(s)Educational
Mode(s)Single-player

Donald's Alphabet Chase is a 1988 educational video game developed by Westwood Associates and published by Walt Disney Computer Software. It was released on various home computers including the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS and ZX Spectrum. An Atari ST version was planned by Nathan Software but got no release.[2] The game was released in five different languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian and German.

Plot

The Alphabet pets have escaped from the toybox in Huey, Dewey, and Louie's bedroom and are roaming around Donald's house. It is up to Donald to catch them and bring them all together.[3]

Gameplay

The player helps Donald to catch runaway letters. The gameplay is pretty straightforward. In each room of his house, Donald will chase three, four or five letters. The player is required to press a letter on the keyboard which corresponds to the letter that Donald is trying to catch.

Educational goals

The game was designed on a low budget[4] with the ability to teach literacy at a basic level, letter recognition and simple keyboard typing skills as well as reinforcing knowledge on uppercase letters[5] and thus teaching them how to match letters of the alphabet with the letters on the keyboard.[6] The structure of the letters divided into five rooms allows children to understand and learns different letter groups.[7] Children can freely explore the game, while parents can guide them depending on their abilities.[8]

Reception

Critical reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
ComputistStarStarStar (Apple II)[9]
Amiga FormatStarStarStarStar (Amiga)[10]

A Computist reviewer gave the Apple II version 3 out of 5 stars, praising the game's animation and decent sound, but deeming it lacking in challenge.[9] Amiga Format gave the Amiga version 4 out of 5 stars, finding the animations hilarious to watch, but finding the use of uppercase letter limiting in teaching material.[10]

Commercial performance

The game along with Mickey's Runaway Zoo and Goofy's Railway Express sold around 400,000 copies in a year of their development.[11] The Amiga version was showcased at the 1990 Summer Consumer Electronics Show.[6] By April 1991, the Amiga version became one of the top 10 selling products in the UK.[12] By October 1991, the game was showcased at the annual Windhoek Show as part of Schoemans Office Systems.[13] Of the 25 computer Disney Software games around 1993, "Donald's Alphabet" chase was among the most successful.[14]

See also

  • List of Disney video games

References

  1. ↑ http://ready64.org/giochi/manuali/donalds_alphabet_chase/dolnald_alphabet_chase_floppy_disk.jpg [bare URL image file]
  2. ↑ Davison, John S. (August 1991). "ST File - Disney Software". New Atari User (Page 6 Publishing) (51): 51, 56. http://publicaciones.retromuseo.com:8123/Revistasv1/Page%206/page%206%20051.pdf. 
  3. ↑ Trivette, Don (September 24, 1991). "Early Learning Software". PC Magazine 10 (16): 496. https://books.google.com/books?id=6UNWdidjDmIC&pg=PP530. 
  4. ↑ http://svn.dridan.com/sandpit/QA/trecdata/datacollection/sjm/sjm_017 [bare URL plain text file]
  5. ↑ Jones, David (September 1991). "Can you count on Disney time?". ST Format (Future plc) (26): 124, 126, 128. http://www.atarimania.com/mags/pdf/atari-st-format-issue-026.pdf. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bjornsen, Harold R. (October 1990). "Disney on Disk". Run (IDG Communications) (80): 10. https://www.commodore.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/run_issue_80_1990_oct-www.commodore.ca.pdf. 
  7. ↑ "Learning with Mickey". Crash (Newsfield Publications) (85): 29. February 1991. https://archive.org/details/crash-magazine-85/page/n29. 
  8. ↑ "Circle Reader Service Number 342". Compute! (ABC Publishing) (85): G16–G17. May 1992. https://archive.org/details/1992-05-compute-magazine/page/n113. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "The Product Monitor". Computist (SoftKey Publishing) (78): 6. 1990. https://archive.org/details/computist-scan-78/page/n5. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Winstanley, Pat (May 1991). "Down with Skool". Amiga Format (Future Publishing) (22): 120. https://archive.org/details/amigaformat22/page/n119. 
  11. ↑ "Westwood Studios Profile". http://www.tsden.com/articles_wwhistory.htm. 
  12. ↑ "The April Charts from Centresoft". Zzap!64 (Newsfield) (72): 7. April 1991. https://archive.org/stream/zzap64-magazine-072/ZZap_64_Issue_072_1991_Apr#page/n5. 
  13. ↑ "Disney Software for Home Computers" (in en-US). The Namibian. October 8, 1991. https://www.namibian.com.na/archive_pdf_19851990/1991_TheNamibian/8%20October%201991.pdf. 
  14. ↑ Apodaca, Patrice (May 25, 1993). "World Is Small So Far for Disney Software" (in en-US). LA Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-25-fi-39510-story.html. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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