''Imagination Express'' is an

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

series of

interactive storybook An interactive storybook (or CD-ROM storybook,) is a children's story packaged with animated graphics, sound or other interactive elements (e.g., word pronunciation). Such stories are usually published as software on CD-ROMs. They have also been ...

generator video games developed by

Edmark Edmark Corporation (or simply Edmark) was a publisher of educational print materials and an educational software developer in Redmond, Washington. They developed software for Microsoft Windows and MacOS in several languages and sold it in over a d ...

, and announced on November 14, 1994. The titles in the series include ''Destination: Castle'' (November 15, 1994)'', Destination: Neighborhood'' (November 15, 1994), ''Destination: Rain Forest'' (May 5, 1995)'', Destination: Ocean, Destination: Pyramids, and Destination: Time Trip, USA.''

Development

At the launch of the product line, Edmark CEO Sally Narodick commented that "kids love to tell stories", noting the creations that playtesters of the series had already made. A perspective-based piece of technology was added to the game; dubbed "auto-sizing", it meant that the size of an object changed as it was moved by the player toward the foreground or background.

Gameplay

The games, which are targeted at children aged 6–12, transport players to learning destinations around the globe, and "inspire them to create interactive on-screen stories and beautiful printed books". The games aim to encourage

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and imagination skills. The games included background information, such as the "Destination: Rain Forest's Rain Forest Fact Book". Players can add text, music, and their own narration.

Commercial performance

''Destination: Rain Forest'' was the 5th most popular title in the education category sold across 11 Software Etc. stores in the Washington area in the week ending June 10, 1995.

Critical reception

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' deemed the series "high-quality eduware" as well as "clever...mathematics teaching software". The newspaper said the series contained "some of the best software in years to help kids learn how to create stories". Computer Shopper wrote that ''Destination: Ocean'' was less effective than it could be because it separated the education and entertainment portions of the game rather than seamlessly integrating them; meanwhile Daily News said ''Destination: Ocean'' "provides such a balance".

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

thought ''Destination: Rain Forest'' was a "high-class creativity program". Computers in Libraries praised the series for "provid nga host of tools and interactive methods for children to learn how to write their own stories", rather than passively absorbing the work of developers.

PC Mag ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

described ''Destination: Rain Forest'' as a "creativity tool". School Library Journal noted that recorded sounds could take up a considerable amount of space on a contemporary computer's harddrive. According to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', the series is "award-winning". ''Destination: Rain Forest'' won a Newsweek Editor's Choice Awards for best children's software in 1995. That same year, Imagination Express received the Silver Award for Best Elementary Education Program for Children at the NewMedia INVISION Awards ceremony. The series won one of the four awards at the 1995-1995 Software Awards; Technology & Learning wrote that the series was "sophisticated" and "smart".

References

{{Edmark Games Houghton Mifflin Harcourt franchises Children's educational video games Video game franchises introduced in 1994 Classic Mac OS games Video games developed in the United States Windows games