Review of the game Zoombini Island Odyssey created by TERC
Rating: 
SOURCE: game screenshot, used for review purposes
Game Overview
Zoombini Island Odyssey is a puzzle-solving single-player PC game designed to help children (aged 8 and above) learn mathematical concepts drawn from set theory and logic. The player takes on the role of hero or problem solver in the fantasy world of the Zoombinis and the Zerbles. Zoombinis are little blue creatures that once inhabited Zoombini Island until it was invaded by the Bloats. Zerbles are orange creatures that form an integral part of the Life Cycle of the island along with the caterpillars that become moths that pollenate the fruit trees that the zerbles eat.
Above from left to right: A zoombini, a zerble, a moth and a caterpillar (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
The player’s job is to help the Zoombinis bring Zoombini Island back from the brink of ecological devastation after the evil Bloats used up all of the island’s resources and left it in ecological ruins.
The player begins by recruiting Zoombinis from a neighbouring island to help him/her in his/her quest to rescue the island. The recruited Zoombinis heroically sail from their home island to Zoombini Island. Each Zoombini brings with them a caterpillar that will be used to restart the Circle of Life on Zoombini Island. The player then helps the recruited Zoombinis solve 7 different puzzles that help restore the island to its former glory. After the player has helped these 12 Zoombinis solve the puzzles , the player must go back and recruit 12 more Zoombinis. The puzzles gradually become more complex once the Zoombinis have successfuly completed them. The game finishes once 240 Zoombini recruits have completed their mission and restored Zoombini Island back to its once pristine state.
Pictured Above: A picture of the flourishing Zoombini Island after it has been rescued from ecological disaster. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Game Play
Following a short cut-scene , the gameplay begins.
Task 1. Starting the Adventure
The first task that the player has to do is recruit 12 Zoombinis. The player can create 12 Zoombinis using the Zoombini generator pictured below or they can have the Zoombinis generated randomly. In this section there is no puzzle to solve, it is a mechanism used to help tell the story and gives the player a chance to customise the game characters.
Pictured Above: The Zoombini generator allows you to customise the look of the Zoombinis that will journey to Zoombini Island. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Once this has been completed, a short cut-scene shows the 12 Zoombinis sailing to Zoombini island, each carrying a pink caterpillar on their head.
Pictured Above: All of the Zoombinis travel to Zoombini island carrying a pink caterpillar on their head. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Task 2. The Catapult
Once the 12 Zoombinis arrive at Zoombini Island the player’s first task is to catapult each of the 12 Zoombinis onto the island. The catapult is pictured below. There are two items that can be loaded into the catapult’s chute: mud balls and boulders. Only the boulders are heavy enough to catapult the Zoombinis over the cliffs onto the island. There are exactly the same number of boulders as zoombinis, this makes boulders a very precious commodity – the player does not want to waste them. Whilst the mud balls will not catapult the zoombinis to the island, they can be used to test the mechanism of the catapult machine. Each time the player comes back to the catapult, the mechanism of the catapult machine is different so the player can use trial-and-error with the mud bricks to determine the sequencing required to catapult the Zoombinis onto the Island.
Pictured Above: The players first task is to catapult each of the 12 Zoombinis onto the island. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
As with each of the puzzles, there are three layers of complexity: Not so hard, Oh so Hard and Very Very Hard. Once the player has achieved success at the easier level, the player can progress to the next level of difficulty.
Task 3. The Wall
Once the Zoombinis have been catapulted onto the island, the next challenge they face is “The Wall”. On the other side of the wall is a big tree – the tree that the caterpillars can munch on. Once the caterpillars have munched on the tree, they will be able to go into a cocoon to emerge as moths thus re-establishing the Circle of Life on the Island. In order to get the caterpillars to the tree, however, the player must “break the code” and place each heiroglyph block inthe appropriate position on the wall (see picture below).
Pictured above: A heiroglyph block can be dragged from the bottom of the screen onto the wall. If all four heiroglyphs match the code being used, a Zoombini gets to go through the door. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
This puzzle requires the player to recognise patterns and form and test hypotheses. The player only gets a limited number of incorrect goes before the wall crumbles and locks the door on you. When this happens, the player must come back and have another go. The next time they come back the symbol mappings will be different.
As with the other challenges, there are three levels of difficulty. Each level a little harder than the one before. A screenshot of the hardest level is shown below.
Pictured Above: The Very Very Hard level in the Wall challenge. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
The additional challenges that the most difficult level presents include:
- the blocks have three symbols on them instead of four thus making it harder to identify patterns
- not all of the heiroglyphs on the wall will be matched (i.e. if all the of the blocks are placed correctly on the wall, there will be gaps)
- there is less feedback given when the player puts a block in the wrong place – in the first level of difficulty, blocks have lights on them that indicate how many of the heiroglyphs match the symbols on the block
- a player can only make two errors before the wall will crumble
- some blocks have more than valid spot where they can be placed. However there is an optimal position for each block. If the optimal position is not chosen, then this will stop another block from being able to find its position on the wall.
Task 4. The Planetarium
The caterpillars have now formed cocoons. The cocoons are in the crystal shaped like a pyramid shown at the bottom of the screen (see picture below).
Pictured Above: The cocoons are hidden away in the crystal shaped like a pyramid at the bottom of the screen. The player has to use the coins provided to place the sun and the earth in the appropriate positions to match the time displayed on the clock at the top of the screen. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Pictured Above: The help screen provides players with additional details to help them solve the puzzle. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
If the player solves the puzzle completely, moths will hatch from the cocoons and they will be released from the crystal. If the player solves the problem, partially, only some of the moths will be released. The player can come back and have another go to release the rest of the moths.
The player solves the puzzle by matching the time shown on the clock at the top, middle of the screen with the time indicated by the sun’s position in the sky on the right hand side of the screen and the position of the earth relative to the sun on the left hand side of the screen. To move the sun and the earth, coins are dragged from the bottom of the screen and placed in the appropriate slot.
The game provides both auditory and visual feedback as the sun and the planet moves.
This challenge requires players to use their spatial reasoning, encourages them to form and test hypotheses and also requires the players to be able to read the time and do some basic addition.
There are three levels to this challenge. The hardest level introduces the idea of cycles of the moon. Not only does the player have to position the sun, moon and earth at the appropriate time but also at the appropriate time in the month (pictured below).
Pictured above: This is a screenshot of the Very Very Hard level of the planetarium. In this screenshot, the player has successfully lined the earth up at the right time and date. A moth can be seen flying from the crystal, ready to participate in the next phase of the game. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Task 5. The Greenhouse
The fifth task takes place inside a greenhouse. The moths (on the left hand side of the screen), must travel across the field of snozzleberry plants in order to pollenate the seedlings on the right hand side of the screen. Each moth only likes a certain sort of plant. Some moths like plants of a particular colour, others like plants that have a particular sort of flower and others like plants with a certain number of leaves. The type of plant the moth likes is indicated on their back. The player has to find the appropriate path across the field for for each of the moths so that they can pollenate the seedlings.
Pictured Above: In this screenshot, the blue moth, the yellow moth and the red moth is making their way across the field of plants to pollenate the seedlings on the other side of the screen. The other moths are waiting on the left for the player to direct them to their path. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
The more difficult levels introduce new types of plants and new colours of plants. They also make the puzzle harder by giving the player a “magic swapping wand” that can be used to swap the position of plants (as indicated in the picture below). The “magic swapping wand” can only be used a limited number of times before it disappears. This encourages the player to try to use it in an economical way.
Pictured Above: The “magic swapping wand” is used by the player to create a clear path for the moths across the field to the seedlings. It must be used thoughtfully and economically as, if it is used too many times, it will disappear. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
The Very Very Hard level introduces beetles. Just like the moths, beetles only like plants of particular characteristics. The beetles are trying to cross the field from top to bottom. If a beetle cannot find a plant that has the appropriate characteristics that it will not budge from the plant it is on. A moth will not cross the path of a beetle, therefore the beetles can block the moths (as shown below).
Pictured Above: If the beetles cannot find a clear path down the field of plants, they will be forced to stand still and can block the moths from progressing. Looks like the “magic swapping wand” needs to get to work! (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Task 6. The Garden
Once the moths have pollenated the seedlings, the seedlings are ready to be planted in Arno’s garden.
Above: Now that the seedlings have been pollenated, they are ready to be planted in Arno’s (bottom-right of picture) garden. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Arno is very particular about which seedlings can be planted in which hole. Only plants that share a common trait can be planted in the same hole. The player must use trial and error to figure out where the plants go. The player only has a certain limited number of tries before sundown – which is when the garden closes.
Above: In this example, only plants that have the same neck shape can go in the same hole. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
As with all of the puzzles, there are three levels of difficulty. A screenshot of The Very Very Hard level is shown below. Notice that the holes are arranged in four separate plots of land.In this level, only plants with three traits in common can share a hole and plants that share a common characteristic will share a row, column or plot.
Above: In the Very Very Hard level of the Garden challenge there four separate plots of land. Only plants that share three traits can share a hole. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Above: In the completed example above, plants that have the same leaf shape share a plot. Plants in the same row in each plot are the same colour and plants in the same column in each plot have the same type of neck. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
To complete this task before the sun goes down, the player has to sort and group the plants, formulate and test hypotheses and arrange the plants into a multi-dimensional array.
Task 7. The Corral
Once the seedlings have been planted in the garden, it is time to take some snozzleberry fruit to feed to the Zerbles. Each of the snozzleberry fruits can be defined by three characteristics: their colour, leafe shape and fruit shape. Each Zerble only likes to eat a fruit with a particular leafe shape, fruit shape and is a particular colour. The player must use the projector lights to figure out which combination of traits each zerble will eat. If the player feeds the Zerble the correct fruit, it leaves the corral and goes to the barn.
The three images below are screenshots from the Not So Hard level, the Oh So Hard level and the Very Very Hard level.
Above: In the Not So Hard level, the Zerbles will eat any snozzleberry fruit that has two particular traits in common. For example, the Zerble in the middle of the picture will eat purple fruits that have a clover-leaf. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Above: In the Oh So Hard level, the Zerbles will only eat snozzleberry fruits that have three particular traits in common. For example, the three Zerbles in the middle, bottom of the screen will only eat snozzleberry fruits that are blue, have the leaf structure shown on the left but aren’t shaped the same as the shape indicated at the top of the screen. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Above: In the Very Very Hard level, the Zerbles will still only eat snozzleberry fruits that have three particular traits in common. However, the projectors no longer tells the player which projector light is revealing what trait. The player has to compare the numbers of Zerbles in each section with the traits of the available fruits to figure out which Zerble eats what. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
To succeed in this level, players have to understand how to use the Venn diagrams created in the pictures above, collect evidence, observe and compare and formulate and test hypotheses.
Task 8. The Barn
The final challenge – and probably the hardest challenge – takes place in the barn. The Zerbles that you fed in the previous challenge are now in the barn and are ready to be paired together so that they can produce offspring when they are returned to their natural habitat. The spinning wheel at the top left of screen (see below) produces a set of characteristics that the offspring should have.
Above: The Not So Hard Level of the Barn challenge (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
The player must choose which pair of Zerbles will be most likely to produce that combination of offspring. In the Not Very Hard level, when a Zerble is are placed on the scales, the “x-ray stones” reveal which genes the Zerbles have. Once two Zerbles have been selected, the “gene pool” shows images of four baby Zerbles that would be produced as a result of this pairing. If the result matches the spinning wheel, then the two Zerbles leave the room and are taken to their natural habitat. If the player has too many unsuccessful goes at pairing the Zerbles, the water in the gene pool runs out. In the first two levels, the traits being examined are the type of legs the Zerble has: feet, wheels or legs. There is a rock-paper-scissors relationship bewteen the traits. Each trait is stronger than one trait but weaker than another trait.
Above: Information from the game’s help system on the relationship between the traits. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Above: The Oh So Hard level of the Barn challenge. In this level, the xray stones don’t work – the player has to figure out the mechanics of the results for themselves. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
Above: In the Very Very Hard level, the leg trait is no longer the subject of the comparison – it is the Zerble’s tails. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
What’s Next?
After a puzzle has been played once, if the player was unable to complete any puzzle in its entirety (for example, the player failed to get all of the zoombinis catapulted onto the island), the player can go back to it at any time to finish it off. Also, at any time, the player can go back to Zoombinis home to recruit more Zoombinis to help rescue Zoombini island. The game finishes when all 240 Zoombinis have done all they can to rescue the island.
Above: This map of Zoombini Island acts as an interface for the player to select the challenge they want to do next. (SOURCE: screenshots from game, used for review purposes)
What makes the game compelling?
Zoombini Island Odyssey is compelling because it:
- is initially challenging to work out the game requires the player to do. When the player starts a new challenge for the first time, it can be dificult to figure out what to do. Trial and error is necessary to understand what is required. The in-game help can also be used.
- allows for different approaches to be taken to the gameplay. At a macro-level, there are multiples paths to success. At a micro level, within most of the challenges there is more than one way to arrive at the solution.
- has a play-mode and a practice mode. The practice mode allows the player to play any challenge at any time. The results of the play in practice mode do not affect the narrative progress of the game.
- provides adequate in-game help that can be summoned when required. The in-game help is provided in both visual and auditory form – useful for young players who may not read well.
- encourages the player to use but not rely completely on trial and error. Many of the challenges require a trial and error approach be taken in the initial stages of the challenge. If the player fails to learn from the trials they conduct, the player will run out of the resources required to continue the challenge. If this happens, the player needs to complete the challenge again later. The next time they do the challenge, the player will have to use trial and error again to ascertain the patterns and rules being used in the new challenge.
- always provides appropriate auditory and visual feedback. For example, in the Greenhouse challenge, when the magic wand is picked up, the player’s cursor turns into the magic wand and a chime is heard. When the player clicks on flowers to swap using the wand, each flower lights up and a sound effect is played.
- has high quality 2d graphics, music and sound effects. The characters are cute and of a quality you would expect to find in a children’s cartoon and the voice actors have cartoon-like voices.
- provides the player with many opportunities to make meaningful decisions and solve problems that affect the outcome of the game.
- provides the player with uncertainty at a micro level but not at a macro level. At the macro level, the player knows that if they manage to work out all of the puzzles, they will “save” Zoombini Island. At a micro level, the player cannot be certain that they will be able to solve each of the challenges before the mechanisms designed to limit the amount of aimless guessing the player does (such as the sun going down or the magic wand running out of magic or the wall crumbling). The player does know, however, that they can always come back and have another go at the challenge.
- uses an in-game reward system. As the player releases more Zerbles into their natural habitat, each Zerble flocks to its natural biome (climatic region). The more Zerbles the player releases, the more Zerbles they can see enjoying the island’s natural habitat.
- continues to provide challenge throughout the game play. Even though the game requires much repetition of each of the eight puzzles, each time a puzzle is commenced, the puzzle has different parameters, therefore a new problem solving experience is embarked on. Also, the three different levels available in each puzzle continues to offer well-scaffolded challenge.
- scoffolds the learning. Players are not able to progress on to the harder levels of challenge until they have had success at the easier levels.
- gives just the right amount of penalty for not being able to complete a challenge. Players are always able to come back again to help the characters that they were unable to help earlier, however, each time they come back they have to solve a new puzzle based on the same premise as the last time they completed the puzzle. This approach limits the amount of aimless guessing that the player can do.
- provides emotional immersion for the player. An evaluation conducted of the first Zoombinis game in the series said that the players felt emotionally invested in the characters (Murray, Mokros & Rubin, 1999)
- uses the learning (in this case it is maths) as the game mechanism. The Maths is not an add-on to an otherwise ok game.
- provides the player with different play modes. The player can choose to play through the challenges in order or go into practice mode where they can choose to play any challenge at any skill level.
- uses the completion of challenges to drive the narrative forward.
- comes with a manual complete with information for parents and teachers on how to maximise the learning opportunities of the game and it provides information about what mathematical skills the child is learning when playing each section of the game.
- never makes the player feel like they have ended up in an irrecoverable position. The player can always go back again and take on the challenge another time.
Further suggestions
I think the game is excellent. I enjoyed playing it myself as did my nephew. I do think that the game could go one step further by allowing users to get further invested in the narrative of the game by giving provision for user-generated content and hosting a sharing site for teachers to share how they are using the game in the classroom.
Reference
Murray, M., Mokros, J. & Rubin, A. 1999. Where’s the Math in Computer Games? Terc. Accessed from
http://mathequity.terc.edu/gw/html/handsonarticle2.html on 16/9/2009
Tags: game review, serious games, zoombinis