Touch Games 2
by Gerry Kennedy
For PC Compatible computers running MS Windows 95 or 98
Touch Games 2 from Brilliant ComputingTouch Games 2 has been designed for users who are learning to use or master their touch window or touch membrane monitor. It can also be used with a mouse, trackball joystick or switch (i.e. connected into a switch adapted mouse). Touch Games 2 has a number of large, colourful targets that appear onscreen. Users must hit anywhere on the screen (thus cause and affect) or hit accurately and purposefully on a target. The animation and sound files accommodate younger children, but it can be successfully introduced and used with older students or to adults who have an intellectual disability. The graphics and drawings definitely cater to younger children.
The program is easy to install and run. It creates an icon in your start menu in the Brilliant folder. You simply locate the Touch Games 2 icon or double click on a shortcut on the computer 'desktop'. In this manner, a student can start the program independently of an adult, parent teacher or carer. The graphics and animations are quite simple in design and are suitable for younger children. The 'figure ground' is excellent, with plain backgrounds and clearly drawn target pictures.
Touch Games 2 has six fun and entertaining activities. You press 'A' for adult settings and 'Q' to quit an activity. Children using a touch window cannot 'escape' from the activity!
See and Sort: In this activity, you have a sub menu with four choices. You have a picture of a boy, a dog a house or a face. The aim of the exercise is to correctly place (or click/touch) a target spot, positioned in five areas on the graphic. When all five images are correctly 'hit' the finished picture animates with an appropriate flourish of music. This is an ideal activity for introducing mouse skills and in controlled movement and clicking. It also provides an opportunity for users to touch a target with control and some precision. The targets are approximated and are quite large in size.
Brian's Bus: In this activity, the user must drag (by clicking and holding the left mouse or trackball button), or more directly by simply touching the bus and dragging it with a finger or stylus, along a road to a target. The road can be straight, bendy or very bendy! When the bus successfully reaches its destination, the busload of children cheer and wave. Ideal for learning how to drag an object, and introduce left to right concepts for pre-reading.
Magic Painting: This is a simple yet entertaining colouring-in activity. You can set 1, 2 4 or 8 areas into which random colours flood to fill a black outline of a drawing. When you choose one colour, it becomes merely a cause-and-effect activity with instant gratification. If you select eight areas, the activity takes longer to complete and you can promote multiple presses/switching as well as developing counting skills and prediction (e.g. where will it colour next? What colour will it be? Etc.) As you press your switch, click your mouse or touch the screen, a colour fills a picture and a 'splotch' type sound is heard. When the drawing is completed a pleasant flourish is music is played. The screen pauses for about 10 seconds, and then another screen appears, readies to colour in.
Buzz Off: This is quite a dynamic activity. A number of bugs including grasshoppers that fly, worms that crawl off in a wiggling motion (left to right), spiders that climb up and butterflies that flutter off screen when they are touched (using a touch window) or clicked on (using a pointing device). The bugs are quite large in size and are viewed on a plain white background. The animation is not too fast and the sounds are appropriate and suit the activity. The action of the bugs can be used for language. The bugs' movements can be used for visual stimulation.
Wake Up: In this fifth and final activity, you can choose to click (or touch) the animal as the target, or click or touch anywhere. The activity options require two presses. One to 'wake up' the animal, and another to move it off the screen. It includes a worm in an apple, a sleeping cat, a hedgehog who is hiding, a tortoise in its shell etc. Once again, the graphics are colourful and would appeal to a range of users. This activity could be used as a cause-and-effect exercise or for recognition and naming of animals. Also useful for simple visual stimulation (especially the animated movements which are slow and deliberate).
NOTE: Touch Games 1 and Touch Funfair are no longer available from Spectronics for touch windows, both created by Brilliant Software.