Secret Writer's Society

Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by 99V

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: Art/Creativity, Language Arts
Price: $29.99

PC version requires:
486/100MHZ, 8MB RAM, 5MB hard drive, 2xCD-ROM

Mac version requires:
68040., 7.1, 8MB RAM, 5MB HD, 2x CD-ROM

Description:

The ability to express ideas clearly and logically is a skill that is becoming increasingly important in our technology driven society, and sadly enough, one that many people lack. There are several writing/creativity programs in the educational market, but none that teach the basics of good writing--until now! Secret Writer's Society, from Panasonic Interactive Media, introduces the young writer to the five-step writing process that is used in many schools.

Secret Writer's Society begins with 6 training levels that reinforce writing skills with games and songs, then it is on to level 7, where the new member must choose a secret mission and follow the 5-step writing plan to finish and publish the mission. The training levels focus on punctuation, capitalization, spelling, complete sentences, paragraphs, editing, and planning. You must score 100 points in each level before moving on to the next one and the points count down as you play, somewhat like a timer. If you run out of points, then it starts over with a new game. It is easy to accumulate points, however, if you are fast.

The games are fun, especially the Internet Room where the player is presented with a main idea and asked to pick out the best sentence to continue the main idea, and also the Shrax Machine, where you must put the sentences in the correct order. In Level 7, the Secret Mission Room, you must choose a mission and then follow the steps to complete it. In the Planning area the mission statement is read again, then the player must make a list of all the things that answer the questions: why, what, how, when and where. Then it is on to the the Drafting area where the first draft is written, using the sentences from the planning list. In the Revising section, you can cut and paste your sentences to move them around and also have them read back to you. After Editing, it is time to Present! Here is here you can change the font, colors, size of text, and bold and italicise you handiwork before sending it to the headquarters, or if you have a modem, email it to your friends and publish it to the Secret Writer's Society web site. There are also 2 additional areas that are really cool, a refridgerator where you can makeyour own word magnets and hear them read aloud, and a diary that you can use to write your thoughts and only you can access!

  • Publish your story on the web!
  • Hear your words read aloud
  • Use the same 5-step writing process schools use
  • Send your mission in secret code to your friends

    Technical Aspects:

    Secret Writer's Society installed automaticaly under Windows 95. There was some kind of bug in the Shrax Machine Room, however, that kept putting up a "script error" message window, but you could click the continue button on the message box and keep playing.

    Report and Conclusions:

    This game came VERY close to getting a Gold Award from me; however, I just couldn't award it because of a couple of minor flaws. There was so much that was good here: the fun games, the essential writing skills, having your words and sentences read aloud (we made some up some very funny nonsence, just to see what they would sound like!) your own diary, and I especially liked the use of basic computer editing skills such as cutting and pasting your work into a different format, and changing the font and color of your presentation. Nevertheless, there were still problems. In each of the 6 training level games, there was basically a timer set up in the guise of points given for each game. If you couldn't finish in the set amount of time, you were made to start over. I find this unforgivable in a game that sets itself up to teach, then punishes a child for lack of speed in decision making. My daughter kept watching the timer instead of thinking, then would become frantic as the time ran out. Another problem I had was the fact that if you went back to play more of the games, the same activities would keep popping up along with the new ones. It would have been better with lots more gameplay. What a shame! Secret Writer's Society is a unique way to teach writing skills, too bad they didn't go the extra mile to make it truly great.