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San Francisco-based Living Books forges a new settlement on the high-tech frontier.
By Ellen Adams
With their high powered multimedia computers, sophisticated CD software, video and sound capture devices and storyboards, the creative team at Living Books doesn't really look like the pioneers so often depicted in history books. But pioneers is what they are. These are pioneers in the art of interactive storytelling, says George Consagra, executive producer of Ruff's Bone, a Living Books multimedia software title. These pioneers rely on high-tech multimedia gadgets rather than antiquated items like the hand ax or the horse-drawn Conestoga wagon.
"We are pioneering interactive storytelling. While there are similarities in CD-ROM production to film production, the CD-ROM medium presents a multitude of new possibilities that really inspired our creative team," Consagra says.
Living Books is the children's multimedia market company formed in 1994 by Random House, Inc. and Broderbund Software. Ruff's Bone is the vision of Clio-award-winning videographer and author Eli Noyes, head of (Colossal) Pictures. The comedic title tells the tale of Ruff, an enterprising pup which takes kids of all ages on a capricious journey in search of his bone.
Unlike many companies in kid's software publishing, Living Books was created with a strong, in-house foundation of experience in each element of the business, from creation to production and marketing, says Kimberly Dempster, Living Books' public relations manager.
Noyes, who served as creative director and principal on the Ruff's Bone project, says he was inspired by another Broderbund title, Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer, which first hit store shelves in 1992. "When I saw that," he says, "I realized CD-ROM was the perfect modern-day medium for all my previous experience creating children's projects."
Just Grandma and Me, based on Mayer's best-selling children's book of the same name, represented the Broderbund company's initial attempt to "erase the line between learning and playing," says John Baker, Broderbund's vice president of product development for educational and entertainment products.
Ruff's Bone builds on that idea, as well. Consagra says that the CD-based publishing effort is vastly different from paper publishing projects. During the Ruff project, he says, "We learned that interactive storytelling is more like film production. With the director, Eli, as the hub, valuable contributions are made by the supporting roles."
"All of us took cracks at the words and gags," Consagra says. "Eli would draw the layouts for the different worlds and then we'd ask questions like, "What happens if he touches the rocks?" Or, "what should the moon say when you touch it?"
Ruff's Bone functions two ways, both as a traditional storybook, with linear progression from beginning to end, or as a more comparmentalized experience where children can pause to investigate the various worlds of Ruff, which include a jungle, a cave, outer space and the depths of the ocean.
The title is indicative of Living Books' other products, which include Marc Brown's Arthur's Teacher Trouble, an adaptation of Aesop's classic The Tortoise and the Hare and a book of poetry by Jack Prelutsky, The New Kid on the Block. The latest release from Living Books is The Berenstain Bears Get in A Fight, by the married writing team of Stan and Jan Berenstain.
Jeffrey Schon, chief executive officer and president of Living Books, says he's extremely proud of the product line which is setting a standard for excellence in the children's software industry. "Now people can stop speculating about what the future holds for animation and software" he says.
Living Books
Ellen Adams is a freelance writer in Thornwood, New York. Her articles have appeared in Computer Gaming World, Emmy Magazine, Electronic Musician and others.
Copyright © 1995 Ellen Adams for InfoMedia. All rights reserved worldwide.
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