Software:Zaark and the Night Team

From HandWiki
Zaark and the Night Team
Developer(s)EduConcept
Publisher(s)Maxis
Platform(s)Windows
Release1995
Genre(s)Educational, Adventure

Zaark and the Night Team is a 1995 series of two multimedia educational CD-ROMs subtitled: The Quest for Patterns and The Search for Symbols.[1][2][3][4] It was developed by EduConcept and published by Maxis as part of their brand Software Toys For Kids.[5]

Critical reception

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that the title was a "neat idea" that effectively incorporated information from different subjects.[6] Obscuritory felt it was one of Maxis' "less-renowned and harder-to-explain" titles.[7] Children's Software Revue deemed it "a program were going to need to spend some time with to fully understand".[8] The Washington Post wrote "good intentions are lost to a miscalculation of young attention spans".[9] The Jerusalem Post felt it was "intelligent and entertaining".[10]

Legacy

Documents about this series are currently being held at the Computer History Museum.[11] The game was discussed as part of SimEverything: Lessons in Curious Game Design from Maxis, panel about the history and philosophy of Maxis presented at the 2017 MAGFest.[7]

It was included in the Power to the Little People Collection alongside Sim Town and Widget Workshop.[12]

See also

References

  1. Buckleitner, Warren (September 1995) (in en). School Tools - The best software to boost your child's learning. Working Mother Media. https://books.google.com/books?id=r5Glppyo5bEC&dq=%22Zaark+and+the+Night+Team%22&pg=PA75. 
  2. Maxis Electronic Entertainment Expo, May 1995, Summary of Products; The Software Toys Catalog; News releases | 102710196 | Computer History Museum. Maxis. 1995. https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102710196. Retrieved 2019-09-05. 
  3. (in en) Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Trademarks. U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office. 1996. https://books.google.com/books?id=NxTRAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22zaark%22+%22EduConcept%22&pg=RA1-PA331. 
  4. Keizer, Gregg (1996). The Family PC guide to homework. Internet Archive. New York : Hyperion & Family PC. ISBN 978-0-7868-8206-9. http://archive.org/details/familypcguidetoh0000keiz. 
  5. Media, Working Mother (September 1995) (in en). Working Mother. Working Mother Media. https://books.google.com/books?id=r5Glppyo5bEC&dq=%22zaark%22+%22maxis%22&pg=PA75. 
  6. "Work masquerading as play" (in en). The Sydney Morning Herald: p. 43. August 8, 1995. http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/120337877/. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Blog | The Obscuritory - Page 5" (in en-US). https://obscuritory.com/category/blog/page/5/. 
  8. (in en) Children's Software Revue. Active Learning Associates. 1993. https://books.google.com/books?id=QgYIAQAAMAAJ&q=%22zaark%22+%22maxis%22. 
  9. "IF YOU CAN'T DO . . .". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/technology/1995/09/27/if-you-cant-do/01bba25d-50df-4dfb-9ce9-4c0af91c5231/. 
  10. "The Jerusalem Post, 1996, Israel, English : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". https://archive.org/details/TheJerusalemPost1996IsraelEnglish/Jan%2021%201996%2C%20The%20Jerusalem%20Post%2C%20%2319179%2C%20Israel%20%28en%29/mode/2up?q=maxis. 
  11. Maxis Electronic Entertainment Expo, May 1995, Summary of Products; The Software Toys Catalog; News releases. Maxis. 1995. https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102710196. 
  12. Dennis Publishing (May 1997). PC Zone - Issue 50 (May 1997). http://archive.org/details/PCZONE050.