Tuneland

Tuneland
The US cover artwork for Tuneland
Developer(s) 7th Level
Platform(s) PC
Release 1994 (1994)
Genre(s) Children's
Adventure

Tuneland is a musical children's computer game, produced in 1993 by a division of 7th Level, Kids' World Entertainment. The cartoon video game follows the character Little Howie, who is voiced by the television personality Howie Mandel on an adventure around Old McDonald's Farm.

Tuneland was followed by the Lil' Howie series: Lil' Howie's Great Word Adventure, Lil' Howie's Great Math Adventure, and Lil' Howie's Great Reading Adventure. The series has won 36 awards.

The game

The eight locations in the game are the barnyard, the farmhouse, the barn, the pond, grandma's house, the train station, the mountain, and the valley.[1]

Songs

The game contains around 40 songs, which are primarily nursery rhymes. These include "Old MacDonald", "Turkey in the Straw, "Three Blind Mice", "I'm a Little Teapot", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Bingo". The CD can also be used as an audio disk or with the built in Jukebox to listen to the songs featured in the game.[2]

Musicians

Tuneland's cast features a large number of musicians including the Doobie Brothers' Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on guitars. Jon Anderson from Yes provides some vocals and Scott Page of Supertramp performs on the soundtrack for the game.

Voice cast

German Voice Cast

  • Kai Taschner as Howie
  • Tonio von der Meden as Digibot
  • Thomas Wersche as Stinky
  • Joyce Bakels as Sarah

Tuneland has never been completely localized in German. Only the follow-ups e.g. Howie' s Great Math Adventure etc.. have been fully localized with German voice talents.

Characters

  • Lil' Howie, is the yellow bear who can make adventures.
  • Stinky, is the skunk and Howie's best friend.
  • Digibot, a robot who can travel adventure.
  • Sarah, is the yellow bear and Howie's sister.

Reception

In April 1994 Computer Gaming World said that Tuneland was "a wholly captivating experience for both children and their parents"[3] The magazine in May 1994 said that the game "uses traditional animation techniques and a lot of creative humor" to teach songs and rhymes "children would normally have to learn from Barney".[4]

Tuneland received various awards including World Class Award for Children's CD-ROM Game from PC World, and an Award in Excellence from the Film Advisory Board.[5] In 1994 it was also featured in the Top 10 Best Kids Products of the Year from Entertainment Weekly and the Top 100 CD-ROMs from PC Magazine.[6][7]

A screenshot of the opening location of the game, also showing Little Howie.

References

  1. ↑ "Tuneland". University of Alabama in Huntsville. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  2. ↑ "Tuneland". Atari Magazines. July 1994. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  3. ↑ "Invasion Of The Data Stashers". Computer Gaming World. April 1994. pp. 20–42.
  4. ↑ "Taking A Peek". Computer Gaming World. May 1994. pp. 174–180.
  5. ↑ "Tuneland". Film Advisory Board. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  6. ↑ "Tuneland". CD Access. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  7. ↑ "Tuneland triumphs: interactive children's CD-ROM recognized by film, parent and computer organizations and publications - SEVL". Business Wire. 1994-11-29. Retrieved 2008-06-10.


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