The American Girls Premiere facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The American Girls Premiere |
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Cover art for the 2nd Edition release.
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| Developer(s) | The Learning Company |
| Publisher(s) | The Learning Company |
| Series | American Girl |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Mac OS |
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| Genre(s) | Educational |
The American Girls Premiere is a fun computer game made by The Learning Company for American Girl. In this game, you get to create your very own plays! You use characters from the American Girl Historical collection. You can also add scenes and items that fit each girl's time period.
This game was the first in the American Girl series. It was also the only one released for Mac OS. Later games in the series were only for Windows computers. After The American Girls Premiere, a game called The American Girls: Dress Designer came out in 1999. It was a simple design game based on paper dolls.
How to Play the Game
The American Girls Premiere lets you make and direct unique stage plays. It's built on an older game called Opening Night. You can use the Historical Characters, like Felicity Merriman from the time of the American Revolution. You can also use Molly McIntire, whose dad was a doctor during World War II. Each girl also has supporting characters from her stories.
First, you pick a character. Then, you see a stage where you can build your play. You use a "drag-and-drop" system to add actors, props, and lights. The characters and props in the game look like real people and items. This is because they were made from photos of live actors and real American Girl items. Each character has different outfits from their historical time. For example, Felicity wears long gowns, and Molly wears argyle sweaters. You can also add what the characters say. You can record your own voice or use the game's built-in text-to-speech feature.
This game helps you learn about storytelling and writing. You can create any play you imagine! However, there are only a certain number of characters, props, and settings. This might limit your ideas a little.
The game also comes with extra content. There's a tutorial to help you learn how to play. There's also a Director's Guide. This guide shows you how the game was made. It also shares historical facts about American history and culture. Plus, you can learn more about each character's background.
Making the Game
This game was the first time Pleasant Company – the company that created American Girl – made a computer game. Linda Ehrmann, an expert in online business, said the game had great potential. She noted that girls were often ignored in the world of computer games.
You could buy the game in stores that sold software. You could also order it directly from The Learning Company or American Girl.
Game Releases
There was a "Special Edition Collector's Set" of the game. It cost twice as much as the regular game. Besides the game CD-ROM, it came with a special tin box. It also included a one-year club membership, a handbook, a membership card, a baseball cap, and six issues of the club newspaper.
An updated version of the game, called 2nd Edition, came out in 1998. This version added Josefina Montoya to the characters. The 2nd Edition was a complete new game. It had all the characters and scenes from the first game. You did not need the original game to play it. The Collector's Set was later updated to include Josefina's content from the 2nd Edition. However, this updated set did not include the American Girls Club membership kit.
| Features | Original release | 2nd Edition | Special Edition Collector's Set (1st Edition) | Special Edition Collector's Set (2nd Edition) | ||
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| The game |  |
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| Exclusive packaging |  |
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(collector's case) |
(collector's case) |
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| In-game content | ||||||
| Josefina Montoya content pack | |
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| Physical content | ||||||
| Club membership | |
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| Handbook | |
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| Membership card | |
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| Newsletter | |
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| Baseball cap | |
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| Trading cards | |
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Game's Lasting Impact
Like the game Moonbase Alpha, The American Girls Premiere has become very popular with a special group of fans. This is partly because of its text-to-speech system. Many players find the computer voices funny. Also, the game sometimes has funny glitches. For example, characters might move in unusual ways. This has led to many funny videos called machinima clips on YouTube and other sites.
