Kid Pix Studio Deluxe

Kid Pix Studio Deluxe contains tools for creating arts and crafts, animation, and multimedia slide shows. Many of the activities are fun, allowing kids to create endless artworks using the dozens of painting and animation tools available. Unfortunately, the enjoyment factor is tempered by the baffling lack of needed documentation, as there is no manual, either in printed or online form.

Help features are also missing, leaving it entirely up to the player to figure out how each activity works, which can lead to frustration in several areas. This version, as part of the educational compilation, is advertised as being complete, so if the original stand-alone version did contain required documentation, it has been eliminated from this edition.

A good example of lack of documentation hurting the game can be seen in Digital Puppets, where dozens of silly characters make different body movements and facial expressions when various keys are pressed. The movements can be recorded, creating a mini puppet show. With no manual to explain what each keystroke does, experimentation with the various keys becomes a must, forcing the player to determine not only what the keys do, but also memorize them or manually write them down. Some players may decide this is too difficult and simply quit.

Despite this, Kid Pix Studio Deluxe is a good introduction to graphic design and multimedia presentation. There's enough material included to allow kids to create and be entertained for hours, both in front of and away from the computer.