The American Girls Premiere facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The American Girls Premiere |
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Cover art for the 2nd Edition release.
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| Developer(s) | The Learning Company |
| Publisher(s) | The Learning Company |
| Series | American Girl |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Mac OS |
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| Genre(s) | Educational |
The American Girls Premiere is an educational computer game developed and published by The Learning Company for American Girl. The game allows players to create theatrical productions featuring characters from American Girl's Historical collection, along with scenes and other elements unique to each of the girls' respective time periods.
It is the first installment of the American Girl series, and so far the only one to date to be released on Mac OS; subsequent personal computer titles in the series were released for Windows. The American Girls Premiere was later followed by The American Girls: Dress Designer, a paper doll-based software toy released by Mattel Interactive in 1999.
Contents
Gameplay
Built upon the earlier MECC game Opening Night, The American Girls Premiere allows the creation and direction of unique stage plays starring the Historical Characters, from Felicity Merriman, representing the American Revolution, to Molly McIntire, daughter of an army doctor during World War II, alongside supporting characters from each of the girls' story arcs.
After selecting a character, players are presented with a stage to which plays are created or presented, utilizing a drag-and-drop interface to add actors, props, lighting and other elements to the scene. Digitized sprites taken from live actors and props from American Girl's historical collection are used throughout the game, à la-Mortal Kombat. Each of the characters have their own set of outfits based on the historical era their stories take place in, e.g. long gowns and petticoats for Felicity or argyle sweaters and blouses for Molly, along with scenarios from their respective time period. Players can also add dialogue in their productions, either through a voice recording, or using the built-in text-to-speech feature. The game develops skills in storytelling and writing, and is open-ended in nature, allowing the player to create theatrical productions as desired, though the limited selection of characters, props and settings may present creative constraints to some players.
In addition to the main game, bonus content such as a tutorial application and a sampler called the Director's Guide is included for players to get acquainted with the game's mechanics and user interface, along with a behind-the-scenes look on production as well as historical facts and commentary on American history and culture, and backstories for each of the characters.
Development
The game marked the debut of Pleasant Company – the creator of the American Girl franchise – into the digital software space. Linda Ehrmann, vice president of Internet business strategy consulting firm Grey Interactive, said that the video game had a due potential as it was entering a relatively untapped market, commenting that in the interactive media space, "girls are for the most part totally ignored".
The game could be bought from major software retailers or ordered directly from The Learning Company or American Girl.
Release
A "Special Edition Collector's Set" of the title was double the price, and in addition to the CD-ROM, it came with: "a keepsake tin, a one-year club membership, a club handbook, a membership card, a baseball cap and six bi-monthly issues of the club newspaper".
An update to the game subtitled 2nd Edition was released in 1998, adding Josefina Montoya to the roster in line with the doll's debut. The 2nd Edition release is a stand-alone expansion containing characters and scenes from the first release, and does not require a copy of the original game to play. The Collector's Set was later updated to include the Josefina-specific content from the 2nd Edition, though it is missing the American Girls Club membership kit.
| Features | Original release | 2nd Edition | Special Edition Collector's Set (1st Edition) | Special Edition Collector's Set (2nd Edition) | ||
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| The game |  |
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| Exclusive packaging |  |
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(collector's case) |
(collector's case) |
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| In-game content | ||||||
| Josefina Montoya content pack | |
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| Physical content | ||||||
| Club membership | |
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| Handbook | |
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| Membership card | |
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| Newsletter | |
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| Baseball cap | |
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| Trading cards | |
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Legacy
In a similar vein to Moonbase Alpha, The American Girls Premiere has gained a cult following due to its use of a text-to-speech system by Lernout & Hauspie, which most players find to be ironically appealing. Adding to the unintentional humor is the lack of collision detection and other quirks within the game engine allowing characters to perform unusual movements, which led to a number of parody and surrealist machinima clips on YouTube and other video sharing platforms.
