''Starflyers'' is an edutainment

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

franchise created in 2002 by Riverdeep under their The Learning Company label. The franchise consists of two games, ''Starflyers Royal Jewel Rescue'' and ''Starflyers Alien Space Chase''.

Concept

Plot

Katherine Diane Cadell (a girl with attitude) fantasizes herself and her best friend Ajay as intergalactic heroes Katie Cadet and Super Spinner AJ respectively teamed up with an alien dog named Io and a space robot named Klanker. Their missions consist of fighting against the evil Vexar (their neighborhood bully Victor Wexlar in reality). In "Starflyers Royal Jewel Rescue", Katie Cadet is on a search for Princess Popcorn's missing jewels, in real life searching for her mother's scattered jewels. In "Starflyers Alien Space Chase", Katie Cadet is tasked with rescuing the galaxy's missing ambassadors kidnapped by Vexar, actually the class pets that were let loose in the school by Victor Wexlar. She is the galaxy's most famous star pilot. She uses a vehicle (known as the "SnoozeCruiser") to transport her team to various parts of the universe.

Gameplay

Both games have a mixture of arcade and adventure elements in them. In each game, the player is required to play 8 arcade-style minigames. The minigames have three adjustable levels of difficulty. To progress in the games, the player will also need to collect a currency called Galaxy Seeds. The game interface includes a control menu for storing tools and items found until the player finds the right place to use them. There are also printable activities available.

Design

Development

''Starflyers'' had been in the planning stage since 1998. According to the teaser made around 1999 or 2000, the trailer was released under the working title ''Katie Cadet''. Following an agreement with

Immersion Corporation Immersion Corporation is an Aventura, Florida based developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, also known as haptic technology. Immersion Corporation has been accused of being a patent troll. Founded in 1993 by Louis Barry Rosenberg (sc ...

, the Touchsense Technology was implemented in both games for easier use of the mouse. When Riverdeep acquired The Learning Company in September 2001, they marketed the games under TLC's name. Along with ''Carmen Sandiego'', ''ClueFinders'', and ''Reader Rabbit'', the ''Starflyers'' games were licensed to the KidsEdge Website in 2002 where they were available to play among 170 games and activities.

Art

Managing artist Fred Dinada designed the Katie Cadet in 2001. Some of his artwork was salvaged from concepts that were not used in his previous project '' Reader Rabbit Preschool: Sparkle Star Rescue''. Additional artwork was added by Cat & Dog Productions, Igloo Animations, and Tim Nelson. Some lineart was worked on by Gerald Broas who used a 2B pencil to hand draw the backgrounds and characters on 12 field animation paper. Animations and background were worked on by Fred Dianda. To allow all the content to fit on CD, all digitised images had to been converted from True colors to

256 colors 8-bit color graphics are a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file, so that each pixel is represented by 8 bits (1 byte). The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at any one time is 256 or 28. Color ...

and simplicity was applied to reduce quality loss. The animation was produced and led by Eileen Gay.

Educational goals

The ''Starflyers'' games consist of a good mix of arcade and puzzle games without any pressuring time limit to enhance players' critical thinking and problem solving, memory sequencing and creavity skills as well as developing eye-hand coordination for mastering basic computer skills.

Reception

Critical Reception

PC Magazine ''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 ...

gave "Royal Jewel Rescue" 4 out of 5 stars, marking it as an Excellent game. A few months later that same magazine gave both games combined 5 out 5 stars, marking them as Outstanding and an Editor's Choice.

Awards and nominations

, - , 2002 , ''Star Flyers: Royal Jewel Rescue'' , Parents' Choice Gold Award , , - , 2002 , ''Starflyers Alien Space Chase'' , Parents' Choice Gold Award , , - , 2002 , ''Star Flyers: Royal Jewel Rescue'' , Award of Excellence , , - , 2002 , ''Starflyers Alien Space Chase'' , Award of Excellence ,

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=-group/starflyers-series, name=''Starflyers'' series 2002 video games Classic Mac OS games Children's educational video games Windows games The Learning Company games Video game franchises introduced in 2002 Video games developed in the United States Video games set in outer space