Software:Purble Place
| Purble Place | |
|---|---|
| File:64px 300px Screenshot of the Purble Place main menu on Windows 7 | |
| Developer(s) | Oberon Media |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Corporation |
| Producer(s) | Cara Ely |
| Programmer(s) |
|
| Platform(s) | |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Action, mysteries, puzzle, strategies |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Purble Place is a suite of three educational computer games[1] developed by Oberon Media that was included with all versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Development
Purble Place was developed in 2005 by Oberon Media, who were contracted by Microsoft to remake its inbuilt game suite for Windows Vista with an original children's title. Development took place under one year, complicated by requirements to meet Microsoft's security, political and accessibility standards for the operating system. Due to requirements not to use a third-party game engine, the development team hired college graduates to implement their "Flat Engine" into the game. The studio viewed development on the game as a minor project secondary to the creation of launch titles for the Xbox Live Arcade.[2] Purble Place was publicly introduced in the 2005 community technical preview of Windows Vista build 5219 in 2005, and packaged with Windows Vista in 2007.[3][4]
The game was produced by Cara Ely, and principally developed by Jane Jensen (lead developer), Brendan Walker, Dan Thompson, and Tam Armstrong.[2]
The game's aesthetic has been cited as an example of the Frutiger Aero style.[2]
Gameplay
The collection has a single home screen that offers three packs of games: Purble Pairs, Comfy Cakes and Purble Shop.[5]
Purble Pairs
Comfy Cakes
Comfy Cakes is a hand-eye coordination game, the goal being to fill orders in a bakery by assembling a cake to match a given cake specification on a mobile by controlling a conveyor belt that brings the cake to various stations. Elements of the cake include cake pan shapes (square, circular or heart-shaped), flavor of batter (strawberry, chocolate or vanilla), three cake layerings (red, green or white), optional icing (strawberry, chocolate or vanilla), and other decorations (for instance, sugar may be sprinkled on top of the cake, and in rarer cases, flames are applied to iced cakes to create a smooth glaze), and a rotate button in v0.4. If the cake does not match the specification on the television, the player is penalized, and the cake gets thrown away. If the player sends two or three incorrect orders, the game is over. After a certain number of correct orders are shipped in the box, the player wins the game, and the score is tabulated. The final score depends upon the number of cakes baked, the number of incorrect orders sent and the efficiency of the player. At higher levels the specifications become more complex and multiple cakes must be manufactured in parallel on a single conveyor belt. The player makes about five or six (or eight in v0.4) cakes in one of the difficulty levels. When the player does not get the features in the wax paper, the computer tells them the move is disallowed.
Purble Shop
Purble Shop is a code-breaker game. The computer decides the color of up to five features (topper (hair in version 0.4), eyes, nose, mouth and clothes) that are concealed from the player. The player can choose from an assortment of colors (red, purple, yellow, blue or green), and a color can be used once, several times or not used. The player then attempts to deduce or guess the right feature colors in a limited number of guesses (not available in beginner difficulty). There are three difficulty levels: Beginner with three features in three possible colors; 33 = 27 different possible solutions, Intermediate with 44 = 256 solutions, and Advanced with 55 = 3125 solutions. The beginner and intermediate levels are guessing games where after each move the computer tells the player which items were right, so there is little scope for deduction. At the advanced level the computer does not tell the player which specific items were right, reporting only the count of picks in the right color and position, and the count of picks in the right color but the wrong position. This level is similar to the colored peg game Mastermind, where success requires logical reasoning (although there is a small chance of succeeding through lucky guesses).
See also
References
- ↑ "Purble Place - Microsoft Windows Vista Games, Page 2". Windows.about.com. 2013-06-24. http://windows.about.com/od/multimediaentertainment/ig/Games-Included-with-MS-Vista/Purble-Place.htm.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lee, George Francis (21 May 2024). "Purble Place: the mystery behind gen Z’s favourite forgotten video game". https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/may/21/purble-place-the-mystery-behind-gen-zs-favourite-forgotten-video-game#img-4. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
- ↑ Clyman, John (13 September 2005). "Inside Windows Vista Build 5219". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1858140,00.asp.
- ↑ Paul Thurrott (2010-10-06). "Microsoft Windows Vista Build 5219 (Community Technical Preview 1) Review | Product Review content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows". Winsupersite.com. http://winsupersite.com/product-review/microsoft-windows-vista-build-5219-community-technical-preview-1-review.
- ↑ James Yu (July 24, 2006). "A Look at Windows Vista Installed Games, Page 3". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. http://www.gamespot.com/features/a-look-at-windows-vista-installed-games-6154558/?page=3.
External links
Navigation
 |  |
