[typing] [piano music]
I don't know about you but sometimes I find it beneficial
to step outside of my comfort zone and try something I'm absolutely unfamiliar with.
Like today's LGR Edutainment Month entry, The American Girls Premiere,
developed and published by The Learning Company in 1997 for Mac and Windows PCs.
While I'm plenty familiar with The Learning Company,
I had no idea what the American Girls property was about
until I started making this video.
And it turns out that – in the U.S., at least –
they're a pretty beloved franchise of 18-inch dolls
introduced in 1986 by the Pleasant Company.
Their appeal seems to be that each American Girl
has a unique and detailed backstory based in a specific time period,
often accompanied by play sets, books and movies
that show their own specific point of view
somewhere in American history.
So, what is American Girls Premiere, then?
Well, according to the packaging, it lets you create and produce your own plays.
I mean, that doesn't exactly seem related
to anything I've read about the American Girls series
but sure, why not?
Although, looking at the feature list and screenshots,
it bears a striking similarity to another title I have from MECC
called Opening Night.
But surely The Learning Company wouldn't go for a straight ripoff
with the reputation of the American Girls on the line, would they?
And besides, look at all the effort they put into this collector's keepsake tin.
Inside, you get the program on two compact discs,
a substantial instruction manual,
registration cards,
a sample play script titled "Actions Speak Louder Than Words,"
and it doesn't stop there.
Underneath here, you get a starter's kit for The American Girls Club,
with yet another beefy handbook, complete with a gift wrapped membership card,
and the premiere issue of American Girls News.
And... none of this stuff means anything to me whatsoever,
but dang it if I don't appreciate when a piece of software goes all out
with a bunch of extra goodies like this.
Apparently, it even came with a baseball cap originally.
But all I got was this plastic bag.
It does not function as an effective cap.
The American Girls Premiere begins by premiering the girly American cast members.
Kirsten, Felicity, Addy, Molly and Samantha.
While I have zero connection to any of these myself,
I can imagine for a fan of them back then that it must have been pretty exciting
to see previously non-interactive characters that you know and love
come alive onscreen like this.
But just like that, it unceremoniously drops you onto a menu
with no introduction or explanation of any kind.
A little odd for a kids edutainment title.
Sure, you got the manual to explain things, but it's pretty dense
and it's not the most enjoyable thing to go through.
Turns out there's a separate program on the first disc
that provides the tutorial in video form,
with a gal who's rather intense in her explanations.
GIRL: Did you know that props are the objects used during a play?
Props help to dress the stage set.
Mmm...
just like these flowers.
LGR: It's useful stuff,
so why they didn't include some reference to this on the first screen of the main program
is anyone's guess.
Speaking of confusion, a cursory glance at this tutorial sequence
has confirmed my suspicions from earlier.
American Girls Premiere isn't just similar to MECC's Opening Night,
it's the exact same freakin' thing!
Just who did they think they were trying to fool with this?
Well... no one, it turns out.
Let's talk about Softkey for a moment.
Softkey was a huge software company in the '90s,
infamous for publishing a ton of shovelware crap.
Under the leadership of one Kevin O'Leary,
this monstrosity of a company snatched up
just about every major piece of your edutainment childhood.
From Brøderbund to Creative Wonders
to MECC to TLC.
By 1995, both MECC and TLC were finally living under the same corporate roof.
And in a bid to maximize profits while minimizing overhead,
they started mashing up old code with new IPs.
One such product was American Girls Premiere,
whipped up in 1997 by TLC from the still-warm corpse
of MECC's Opening Night program from 1995.
It was the same engine with a few improvements and a new coat of paint,
but that's about it.
However, this coat of paint was not to be underestimated,
due to both the strong American Girls brand
and the fact that it was a computer program aimed at a younger female audience.
In '97, this was still a rather under-appreciated market.
And Premiere quickly achieved the highest monthly dollar-in-units sales
of any single product in the history of The Learning Company to date.
By July of 1998, news outlets were reporting
that 20.3% of the entire girl games market
was claimed by American Girls Premiere alone.
So while it may have had the skeleton of a two-year-old program,
this was an incredibly successful product for the time,
second only to Mattel's Barbie Games.
No wonder Mattel snagged the American Girls brand just a year later.
Because why settle for having most of the money when you can have ALL the money?
Anyway, back to the program itself,
which is a box on interactive digital doodads
with no clear objectives.
And the idea is to take the role of director, script writer, set dresser and so on
to create your own stage production.
Like this.
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE: Sometimes, I have a sudden urge to fart on this chair.
[fart sound]
[orchestral fanfare]
LGR: And did I mention this makes use of a wonky text-to-speech system?
Because it does and it's glorious.
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE: What the dick?
GRAVELLY COMPUTER VOICE: I am from Pittsburgh.
MALE COMPUTER VOICE: Come any closer I will throw a pinball at you.
And walk away slowly.
[thrilling orchestral music]
LGR: Ah... never underestimate the power of immaturity
and easily exploitable systems.
But no, seriously, American Girls Premiere is also a fascinating industry case study
in relation to both the rise of video games aimed at girls
and how an underperforming product was repackaged
to make a fortune with improved marketing.
It just also happens to be one of the most inappropriately amusing dick joke simulators around.
[ominous orchestral music]
DEEP MALE COMPUTER VOICE: It turns out that I lack a human penis.
Taaaaa.
[jazzy music]
LGR: Alright, enough of that. So here's how it works.
You start by choosing a time period and start with a blank scene.
And from here you can drop in hundreds of pre-made backgrounds,
objects, characters, lighting setups, sound effects and music.
Each character is an actor filmed in front of a blue screen
and then digitized and plopped into the game, Mortal Kombat-style.
There are a ton of animations, actions and costumes for each character,
and most are filmed at eight different angles,
so there's a ton of footage to choose from here.
And, of course, inputing dialogue is as simple as typing it in,
with the option to leave it silent,
record your own with a microphone,
or use one of three customizable text-to-speech voices.
MALE BRITISH VOICE: All the world is a stage.
VERY DEEP MALE BRITISH VOICE: All the world is a stage.
VERY DEEP FEMALE VOICE: All the world is a stage.
LGR: [laughs]
I don't know what algorithm or synthesis method they were using here,
but it is delightfully odd and unsettling.
I kinda love it.
Yet even without any weird dialogue at all,
American Girls Premiere is a pretty neat little program.
It lets players get creative in a very open-ended way.
And I imagine it's a treat for fans of the franchise,
making it much more appealing to a certain audience
than the somewhat generic Opening Night that it was based on.
At the same time, I do question its "educational" properties somewhat.
I guess you could argue that it teaches history to a degree
since each girl is based in a particular time period.
But seeing as their stories are completely player customizable,
that disappears in no time.
At best, I would say that this introduces a young audience
to the concepts of theater: directing, scripting,
and how a stage production comes together.
Maybe not so much the theory behind it
but rather the broad terms and creative processes involved.
American Girls Premiere encourages brainstorming,
planning, experimentation and execution
in a way that I would have really enjoyed when I was a kid.
And you know, I still do even now.
FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE: Fresh oats...
Fresh oats...
[dramatic music]
[thud]
[jazzy music]
MALE COMPUTER VOICE: And if you enjoyed this episode of LGR,
why not check out some of my others or stick around
for new episodes every Monday and Friday?
Thank you for watching.