Orly's Draw-a-Story
Orly's Draw-A-Story is a story creator for children of age 5-11, but has been created in a style which will entertain an audience of any age. Orly is a young Jamaican girl who guides you through the different stories letting you know when and where to draw the next character the story needs. Orly and her Rasta-frog, Lancelot (Ribbit Man!), show you how to draw imaginative pictures and then as you watch, they join in the story.Looked at simply, Orly's Draw-A-Story is a drawing package. And on that level, it works brilliantly, offering 256 different paint colours (which animate every time you change colour) along with rubbers, different coloured pencils and a lot of textures which can be used. You can either draw your own pictures, or adapt ones supplied. The drawing area also includes NEW and UNDO, two characters that talk to each other and the user, and also interact with the characters being drawn.
There is a high level of humour in this package as the characters respond to actions you make. Certain colours evoke certain responses from Orly or the character being drawn. At this point I must recommend that if you meet the Sea monster, paint her in the leopard skin material . She just loves it. She does. Oh yes. On the same adventure, if you poke all the bugs off their ship with the pencil, they get a cannon and fire it at the screen. The unexpected humorous responses really make this a captivating product.
You can even create your own stories and characters if you get bored with the ones supplied. Personally I didn't, and I spent quite a long time playing with it. If you want to buy a child something educational but fun enough to keep them entertained, you can't go wrong with this.
If you get stuck, don't be afraid to use the Help. It is one of the best we have seen (Man).
Check out the Broderbund Software website.