Wednesday, December 12, 2007

EUROPRIX Multimedia Top Talent Award 2008 (5)

Category: Interactive Computer Graphics

In the category Interactive Computer Graphics Visually explosive contents are expected, transforming reality and seducing users into virtual worlds of cyber world narratives. In this category 22 entries from 11 countries were received. The jury selected:
- Kayakpaddling.net
- Mijn Naam is Haas
- The Secret Forest.
The entry Kayakpaddling.net was the winner in the category.

Title: Kayak Paddling
Producer: Niko Hakkarainen (Finland)
URL: www.kayakpaddling.net
KayakPaddling.net offers fully animated interactive tutorials for open water paddlers. Traditional learning materials only use text and still images to describe exact body movements in paddling. This slows considerably any learning progress. This website speeds up learning by introducing step-by-step lessons which fully visualise everything from how to get into a kayak and how to paddle in safety to how one can perform successfully an Eskimo roll. KayakPaddling.net also irons out the bugs that can disrupt the e-learning experience. The website is completely scalable so it can be used with monitors of varying sizes. The image quality is automatically selected according to the processor speed. Users can easily flip back to the previous pages by using the browser’s back-button without interruption. All instructions can be printed out on a separate html-page.

This project is a fantastic example of how to develop high quality multimedia resources for teaching sports. As an interactive presentation of a difficult sporting activity, it succeeds on many levels. Design-wise, its presentation is great. It has even sociological and anthropological significance. Finally, its impressive e-learning potential combines an understanding of cognitive psychology and clever computer engineering. KayakPaddling.net breaks down the communication barriers that hinder understanding by linking human-human and human-computer language

Title: Mijn Naam is Haas
Producer: Sanneke Prins, Thijs C. Aarts, Judith Bardoel, Douwe-Sjoerd Boschman, David Hartono, Berend Weij (The Netherlands)
URL: www.mijnnaamishaas.nl
Mijn naam is Haas follows the journey of a young male hare who suffers from amnesia - the only thing he remembers is his name: Haas. He begins his journey and has no idea of what he is searching for in what seems an almost endless but wonderful world. Told piece by piece over seven levels, the user guides the hare through the story by experimenting with the mouse and ‘drawing’ solutions for his problems – for example, making a path to walk on, or a ladder to climb a steep hill. During his journey, Haas meets many animals with specific problems that resemble learning components. The difficulty of the problems that Haas faces depends on the skills of the child.

Mijn naam is Haas has an intuitive interface which helps children to quickly tune in to the story and their role. Interactivity and computer graphics add an immersive dimension to the basic story that compellingly engages the target audience. The game asks children to test their inventiveness and rewards them by linking their progress with the progression in the story. Mijn naam is Haas is successfully being used to improve the language skills of children for whom Dutch is a second language.

Title: The Secret Forest
Producer: Otto Ritter, Judit ERdelyi, Zoltan Fritz, Levente Szucs, Nikios Mandrei, Mate Nagy, Rita Domonyi, Orsolya Sipos, Elmore Forat, Attila Szabo, Peter Erdelyi (Hungary)
Media Format: DVD
Mixing the wondrous world of a fairy tale with the narrative urgency of a crime story, The Secret Forest takes the user into an enchanted world that has been horribly disturbed. The gardens of the forest are ruined and the user has to help the story’s hero, the Little Count, solve the mystery by visiting all the inhabitants of the forest. Through intuitive navigation, the users simply point and click on the various delightfully animated characters and objects that they encounter to progress. The Secret Forest proves that much can be achieved with flash techniques, standard animation software and a small production team.

There is a shortage of new high-quality interactive fairy tails on the market. The Secret Forest helps to fill this gap brilliantly. While the interactive narrative offers far from total control over the story, the users do feel the sense that they are part of an imaginative realm. In this respect, the interactivity is pitched well and at the right level for a younger audience. This captivating interactive animation can be recommended to any parent or grandparent looking for reliable entertainment for their child.

Blog Posting Number: 948

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