Yes, disasters happen when you misunderstand the relationship between Droid design and function, but suffering the consequences is a time-tested way to learn. Besides, it is a lot of fun to go back and change your Droid so it works the way you want it to. Success follows when you make the right choices, just as in real-life learning. Lucas suggests that this game is for the 10 and up age group. Links to the Internet expand the lessons on scientific principles.

Star Wars DroidWorksBR> [$39.95 or less]
Lucas Learning, Ltd.
P.O. Box 10067
San Rafael, CA 94912
415-444-8800

In Figure 1, we see a scene on the moon where terra forming has begun. This is a rather blatantly educational adventure, but everyone we have tested this on has become addicted to it. There are over 80 Star Wars plants and animals. Plus, later you can go into the lab and make other plants and animals if you think they will solve one of the many problems that come up.

	Figure 1. Star Wars Gungan Empire Episode 1 Terra-Forming Adventure.
Click on the thumbnail for full image. (61K)

We watched as a social studies teacher and an English teacher attacked the game together. Their edited comments follow:
* The game comes alive because of very good music, graphics, animations and the play system.
* The game is engaging while it achieves educational goals.
* In the beginner level, all of the creatures to be taken on the moon trip are selected for you. The action begins on the Gungan moon where you must create a balanced biosphere for the new Gungan colony.
* One decides to place plants and animals (and how many of each) by reading your behavior handbook. You use the mouse button repeatedly to place whatever you choose. There is some time pressure here because the animations begin immediately. Animals propagate, eat plants or eat each other. The plants grow, are eaten or wither, each according to its nature.
* The pressure comes not only from all the action on the moonscape, but you get constant advice, criticism or congratulations from "Boss Nass," the Gungan leader, and he get excessively demanding as the program progresses. He asks for more and more resources as the biosphere grows.
* Soon, one learns that the Gungans are a race that will quickly over-harvest the plants and animals until they are extinct. Not only do the carnivores, herbivores and plants compete on the moon, but you now have to worry about what the Gungans will do.
* This balancing act provides much of the educational value because it is difficult to impress students that the "laws of supply and demand" can mean the difference between success and failure.
* The unfortunate problem with the beginning level is that we never found a discernible way to reach an ultimate conclusion; instead, the moon simply reaches a balance that you have to monitor and maintain. It is a realistic state, but students often want complete closure.
* Much like the beginning level, the advanced level allows for many educational opportunities, but before the mission starts the player selects plants and animals for the biosphere. The player must choose carefully or else there is no way to balance the moon once you arrive. In addition, there are only a limited number of plants and animals that the player can take, just as in a real world adventure.
* There is a small quirk in this advanced part of the game because the player is allowed to create a new species. This can be a great deal of fun, but in theory, if you create a super-adaptive species, one can eliminate the challenge of the game. However, for a social studies teacher, this part of the program is fantastic because students are asked to create an appropriate species, thus showing proper management strategies. Students can learn global connections, population graphing, governance, production and distribution. Kudos to the designers of this advanced level. It is very well done, and exceptionally entertaining.
* The final level of the game is The Mission. While this section is very, very entertaining, it has less educational value. We would suggest that teachers ask students to initiate any of the built-in disasters (e.g., a moonquake) just to learn what would happen.

It is refreshing when a successful film series is used as the backdrop for an interactive educational experience that looks like a game.

Star Wars: Episode I-The Gungan Frontier
[$29.95 or less]
Lucas Learning, Ltd.
P.O. Box 10067
San Rafael, CA 94912
415-444-8800

	Figure 2. The Hijaak Capture Window is Full of Options.
Click on the thumbnail for full image. (7K)

When helping others with PC problems, we quickly find ourselves missing the capabilities of Hijaak.

We never worry about graphic file formats. It seems strange when others are stymied by the inability to convert, edit or captures pictures. A good example of this is the need to work with PhotoShop images or Web pages. How do people live without this utility?

Hijaak Pro 5.0
[$295.95 list, street price is less, the non-Pro version lists at $149.95]
IMSI
75 Rowland Way
Novato, CA 94945
415-878-4000
Recording in Your Home Audio Studio
Readers have submitted several questions about music software. It seems the most glaring problem people have is getting the PC sound card to process sounds through the "Line Input." This input accepts a 1/8" stereo phono-plug so you may have to buy an adapter.

The sound card is capable of converting analog sounds into a digital format for storage on your hard drive, but you must control the recording process with software such as Cakewalk's family of audio products. Some sound cards come with recording applets, but they are quite limited. Cakewalk and others have inexpensive versions of their professional products for those who don't need fancy effects or complex editing.

To start simply, just turn on the recording applet (SNDREC32.EXE) that comes with Windows and see if it is working. If not, open the Control Panel and in the Multimedia applet, you should select your sound card's input in the recording source window. If that seems okay, the problem is probably that the signal level you are sending into the card is not at a high enough level. The so-called "Line Level" outputs of tape recorders are usually way too low. We solved this problem at first by putting a Preamplifier into the circuit. We could then raise the signal by using the volume control and taking the output that is supposed to be connected to the amplifier.

More recently, we switched to a tape recorder (Tascam) that has control over the output signal. That is the simple (but expensive) way to go, especially since our output control knob has numbered settings. However, many other solutions are possible. For example, we had good luck using an old equalizer as a simple preamplifier. In any case, don't use a power amplifier! That has way too much voltage and current capabilities. It will fry your card. You only need about one volt of signal. Be sure to read the instructions for your sound card.

If you have any suggestions or questions, please contact us.