In the CD-ROM era there were a few brilliant titles that we referred to often for inspiration and illustration. The lush worlds of Myst (Cyan, 1994) and Puppet Motel (Voyager, 1994) relied on beautiful graphics. Sound was integral to the experiences, but the visuals came first.
When Jellyvision’s You Don't Know Jack came out the next year our minds were a little bit blown. You Don't Know Jack is an irreverent trivia game that makes you feel like you are part of a taping of a live game show. The simple type heavy graphics were smart and snappy, tailored to the limitations of the early pcs. The bigger revelation was how immersive sound, story and great writing can be. Much of YDKJ works with your eyes closed. To people who grew up with radio drama this would seem obvious, and we assumed some of those people were on the Jellyvision team.
For the next few years, when speaking to students at Sheridan College or OCAD, I would take along YDKJ and make the following proclamation: “Three of you are going to play this computer game and the rest are going to watch. And you will all be entertained.” In a post Guitar Hero big screen world it’s common to gather and watch people play games, but in the 1990s this was a great demonstration.
After a short game of YDKJ a room would be full of energy and we’d talk about what makes great interactive digital media.
Over the years Jellyvision has kept the game alive on the web, and has adapted its multiple-choice-made-fun approach to training applications. There was even an effort to make it into a real TV show. This January they are launching a new version for all the various game platforms, getting it into the family game room where it belongs.
(The link for Puppet Motel above links to a pretty good and short video demonstrating and describing features of the original CD-ROM experience, created by Laurie Anderson and artist-programmer Hsin-Chien Huang. There are no better descriptions online and not even a Wikipedia stub. It’s hard to guess how many, if any, Puppet Motel discs are anywhere near a computer that will run the software. More on this later.)
