ClueFinders: Приключения юных детективов

Children's educational software series

The ClueFinders is an educational software series aimed at children aged 8–12 that features a group of mystery solving teenagers. The series was created by The Learning Company (formerly SoftKey) as a counterpart to their Reader Rabbit series for older, elementary aged students. The series has received praise for its balance of education and entertainment, resulting in numerous awards.

The ClueFinders was conceived as a spiritual successor to the Reader Rabbit series. The first ClueFinders title, The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures: The Mystery of Mathra, was released in 1997, and The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures was released in 1998. The Learning Company used their new game as the prototype for Internet Applet technology, which allowed users to download supplementary activities from the ClueFinders website. The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures was also the first game to include the A. D. A. P. T. technology, which allowed teachers and parents to monitor the player's progress and included auto adjustable levels based on the player's abilities. In 1997, The Learning Company was acquired by Mattel for $3.7 billion. The following year, Mattel sold off their "The Learning Company" assets to Gores Technology Group. In 2000, Mattel Interactive hired professional writers Jill Gorey and Barbara Herndon to design a concept for a TV series, but the franchise never made its way to television. The ClueFinders Reading Adventures was discontinued in 2000. ClueFinders held a writing competition in 2001. Sponsored by The Learning Company, the competition was open to 3rd 6th grade classrooms in the United States. The winning essay, a new adventure for the ClueFinders crew, won its writer an iMac.

In 2001, Riverdeep acquired many of The Learning Company's properties from Gores Technology Group by selling $40 million in stock. Carmen Sandiego, ClueFinders, and Reader Rabbit were then licensed to the KidsEdge Website in 2002, where they were available to play among 170 games and activities. In 2003, The ClueFinders' Reading Adventures was reconfigured to run on Windows XP. The 2004 RCN InterACTION service allowed parents to stream over 35 games in series such as Carmen Sandiego, Clifford the Big Red Dog and ClueFinders over a broadband connection. Compilations of multiple previously released titles were added, such as ClueFinders Adventure Pack and ClueFinders Triple Pack. These bundle often include a single ClueFinders title (often "The ClueFinders Reading Adventures") along with other games (but mostly The Learning Company games), such as "Adventure Workshop" or "After School Clubhouse". In addition, the 3rd–6th grade titles were re released on the iOS platform on December 19, 2010. As of 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (the successor of Riverdeep) is offering the ClueFinders brand as a licensing opportunity on its website.

Development of the games' backstory took 16 months. The developers used a character grid to aid their writing, which contained information such as "their flaws, their fears, how they met, where they grew up, and their likely reactions to certain situations". The player can choose to play the adventure mode or to play the game's activities outside the adventure in "practice mode". Choosing to play the adventure will lead to a follow up sequence, which further establishes the premise as well as the overall goal of the game. The bulk of each game involves traveling between different screens in a predetermined area that has various educational activities. The user will have to play these games to advance. Usually, each area will have one activity that needs to be completed to advance, but which can only be played by collecting items from all the other activities in the area. In all of the games except for The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures, the ClueFinders are split into two teams at the start. A portable red videophone allows the two teams to make contact with each other and clicking on the phone provides the user with game hints from the other team. The other team will typically either be serving as backup, looking for clues or else be captured and in need of rescue. Games have different activities divided among different areas, each with their skill and goal. The games contain a number of parodies of and allusions to popular culture and other topics. In The ClueFinders: Mystery Mansion Arcade, the activities are not as educationally based as the previous games but more arcade oriented. The mini games consist of an obstacle course, category matching, a maze game, and a pinball game. In The ClueFinders Math Adventures, the game is set up similar to Clue in that the central goal of each round is to identify three variables—who stole the treasure, which treasure they took, and where they hid it—based on clues. Clues are acquired from playing games and helping the villagers with their work. Using the acquired clues, the player can limit the number of possibilities until, with enough clues, only one remains. When 24 treasures are restored, the game is won.

During the gameplay, 2D computer graphics are used in the style of hand drawn animated cartoons with animations that use thick outlines and solid colors on two dimensional backgrounds. For this reason, the series is often described as imitating the look of a Saturday morning cartoon, Scooby Doo being repeatedly cited by reviewers. Cutscenes, however, use pre rendered 3D graphics.

Computer Shopper and SuperKids described 3rd Grade Adventures as the educational equivalent of the Indiana Jones trilogy. Kiplinger's Personal Finance thought 4th Grade Adventures "works hard for its players' enjoyment". Discovery Education wrote that 5th Grade Adventures "seamlessly combines fun and learning". SuperKids praised the "cartoon quality animation and an alluring storyline" of Math Adventures and the Cluedo inspired gameplay. 01Net asserted that in terms of 5th Grade Adventures, the activities take precedence over the merely incidental storyline. In 2001, the site described the series' graphics as "very colorful" and "truly seductive" but three years later the site decided they were outdated. Asbury Park Press noted that Reading Adventures, like Carmen Sandiego Word Detective, "placed reading games in the middle of mysteries". Exploring Values Through Literature, Multimedia, and Literacy Events highlighted the series for its multicultural and balanced cast in which the nonwhite characters have equal status to the white character, noting that Leslie and Santiago are the main sources of knowledge, but also noted that there were no examples of software with the primary character being non white. Meanwhile, The Boston Herald commented that the series had "come a long way"; the paper suggested that the decision to include a Caucasian (Joni), Asian (Owen), Black (Leslie), and Latino (Santiago) in its main cast smelt of interference from the California School Board standard. The paper praised the series' "television quality animation, broad educational focus and lively situations", though thought the early games were uneven in difficulty. Working Mother thought the series offered a "painless way for kids to hone their skills". The Cincinnati Enquirer recommended the "strong" series to gamers who were unable to locate the then soon to be discontinued title The Sims: Livin' Large, and said "there is a lot to like" about entries in the series, such as the closed captioning of later titles. One piece of research used the game as a "tool for assessing how children worked on computers in social interactions and influence acceptance by peers in classroom interactions". The Times Shepperton felt 4th Grade did a "nice job of integrating the learning activities into an engaging adventure". Battle Creek Enquirer and The Tennessean felt 4th Grade'''s strong sense of mystery encouraged players to learn academia. Arizona Republic felt Search and Solve would intrigue children due to having the right mix of "scariness and intrigue".4th Grade received positive reviews. All Game Guide gave the game four out five stars, writing that "the cut scenes successfully build excitement, providing an incentive for completing the entire game [though there is no] real reason to play a second time Gameplay is simple with an easy to use click or click and drag mouse control scheme, and the lack of a written manual is overcome with full explanations of all activities within the game The game seems a delightful mix of adventure and learning". Game Vortex rated the game 80/100, saying that "Clue Finders 4th Grade Adventure: Puzzle of the Pyramid is a typical edutainment game that teaches your child the ins and outs of what he or she needs to know to make it through the fourth grade". 7Wolf Magazine rated the game 70/100. Reading Adventures gave mixed reviews. Although they said that teacher reviewers were especially impressed with the reading comprehension section", they felt that "too many of the [activities] require fast twitch gaming ability in addition to knowledge of the subject matter". Of the kids appeal, the review stated that "the activities themselves, however, are inconsistent. While some are novel and quite educational others are tired repeats of games seen many times over in many other programs". It concluded by saying that "this likable Clue Finders'' adventure provides an entertaining way for kids to practice their reading and language skills. Students who need significant help with their reading skills would do better with a more academically oriented title, and those who are not adept gamers may become frustrated with some of the activities".