History Carmen Sandiego

1 history

1.1 background (1983–1985)
1.2 brøderbund era (1985–1998)
1.3 learning company era (1998-present)

history

background (1983–1985)

the original game idea started in 1983 broderbund programmer dane bigham, wanting take idea of text adventure games colossal cave adventure create menu-driven interface played on apple ii computer. initial work done broderbund s rubber room artists, gene portwood , lauren elliott, creating game player chase down various crooks. broderbund co-founder gary carlston suggested changing concept focused on geography, anticipating shipping copies of world almanac let players research clues , find right answers geography questions.

as bigham not thrilled direction, focused more on interface, , carlston hired david siefkin write game s story. siefkin came idea of player tracking down numerous criminals, , developed several criminal personas, including carmen sandiego. other staff found name mysterious , exotic, in addition being female character use attract younger women game. siefkin s script, expanded out idea of criminal organization v.i.l.e. - villains’ international league of evil – , acme detective agency – acme joking considered initialism company makes . core gameplay established, having player acme recruit chase down underlings within v.i.l.e., following geography-based clues complete search, , working ranks in acme until tasked go after carmen herself. game proved successful, unexpected educational market, became staple in many classrooms.

brøderbund era (1985–1998)

think problem geography, far many things, presented dry , dull , boring people must have found way. don t think has ... don t use word educational anywhere on of our products. term translates boring in kidspeak. prefer explorational .

during 1980s , 1990s, broderbund followed first carmen sandiego video game u.s.a., europe, time, america s past, space, , junior detective, reboots of world, u.s.a., , great chase through time, , released word detective , math detective. first 7 games of franchise each awarded 1 or more spa excellence in software awards, particularly educational effort. carmen sandiego games comprised 25% of brøderbund s total revenue in 1992, behind print shop. 1997, carmen sandiego games had been translated 3 different languages, , on 5 million copies had been sold schools , homes worldwide.

carmen sandiego appeared in 3 television shows during era. world game show broadcast on pbs between 1991 , 1996 , won 6 daytime emmy awards , peabody award. world followed time, later aired until cancellation in 1998 because of geography-based premise had run course . acknowledged time subject can more subjective geography, show hoped tackle challenging material japanese american internment camps during world war ii in straightforward , educational way. earth animated series broadcast on fox between 1994 , 1999. in 1996, president bill clinton stated: when met co-leaders of san marino @ olympics, knew because of carmen sandiego .

the learning company era (1998-present)

after brøderbund purchased learning company in 1998, learning company apparently sought redesign series. company assessed brand stagnating, thought easier revive established brand start new one. under learning company, series seems take premise more , uses character-based humor. since learning company has created 2 carmen sandiego games, 1 of no longer sold, change evident through marketing , brøderbund products learning company has chosen continue sell.

the first title released learning company thinkquick challenge, quiz game similar tonality word detective , math detective, included reappearance of chase devineaux. new structure of time apparently learning company s liking since new version of world, titled treasures of knowledge, similar. learning company decided return series original focus on geography, discontinuing word detective, math detective, , thinkquick challenge.

in 2004, bam! entertainment released secret of stolen drums on gamecube, xbox, , playstation 2. far game of franchise use real-time 3d computer graphics, although many previous games had used pre-rendered 3d graphics. action game , while geographical facts included, learning them not necessary complete game. although learning company evidently licensed use of series of own characters treasures of knowledge, game not distributed or sold under learning company name. upcoming netflix series called carmen sandiego scheduled air in 2019.