Opening Night (video game) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Opening Night |
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Cover art
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| Developer(s) | MECC |
| Publisher(s) | MECC |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Education/simulation |
Opening Night is a fun computer game from 1995. It's an education/simulation game made by a company called MECC. They worked with The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis to create it. This game was designed for kids aged 10 and older.
Contents
Create Your Own Plays!
In Opening Night, you get to be a theatre director! You can create, direct, and even perform mystery plays. The game features actors from The Children's Theatre Company. They even wear cool period costumes from different times in history.
To make your play, you can choose from:
- 40 different actors
- 100 unique stage sets
- 300 interesting props
You can also add special touches like lighting, music, and sound effects. To pick an item, you first choose its category. Then, you select the item you want. Just click on it to place it right onto your stage!
This game was made to help students use their creativity. It lets you write scripts and design plays. It's a great way to use your imagination and learn about theatre.
How the Game Works
A special timer in the game helps you make sure actions happen at the right time. There's also a recorder to capture all the action in your play.
The game uses Text-to-speech technology. This means you can type what your characters say, and the game will speak it out loud! If a word sounds funny, the game encourages you to type it the way it sounds. This helps the computer say it correctly. The dialogue can appear as subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Or, you can hear the characters speak their lines.
Making the Game
The actors you see in Opening Night were real people! They were filmed or photographed. Then, their images were turned into digital characters for the game. This was similar to how characters were made for the fighting game Mortal Kombat.
Behind the Scenes Expansion
In 1995, a bonus pack called Opening Night Behind the Scenes was released. It worked on Windows 3.1 and Macintosh computers. This expansion was also made with The Children's Theatre Company and published by MECC.
This special disk showed players how the game was made. It also explained how a real theatre works! You could watch interviews with theatre experts from The Children's Theatre Company. There was even a glossary to look up theatre words. The CD also included Quicktime videos. These videos gave tours of different parts of a theatre.
Game Release
Dale LaFrenz, who was the president of MECC, hoped Opening Night would be ready for the 1995 holiday season. Other games like MayaQuest and Math Munchers Deluxe were also planned for release around that time.
Opening Night was quite popular! It was the 73rd best-selling game during the November–December 1995 holiday season.
See also
- The American Girls Premiere, another computer game about theatre that used a similar game engine.
