• Pix To Pix Game

Kid Pix

A screenshot of the Kid Pix 1.0 about screen. Above: the Kid Pix Studio Deluxe icon.
Original author(s)	Craig Hickman
Developer(s)	Craig Hickman (1989-1998) Brøderbund (1991-1998, 2000) Presage Software (1995-1999) ImageBuilder Software (1995-1999) Riverdeep (2000-2004) The Learning Company (1999, 2004) Software MacKiev (2000, 2004-present)
Initial release	1989; 31 years ago
Stable release	Kid Pix 5: The S.T.E.A.M. Edition (Mac OS, Windows, iOS) / September 2018; 1 year ago
Operating system	Classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS, FM Towns[1], iOS
Type	Bitmap graphics editor
License	Proprietary
Website	www.mackiev.com/kidpix/index.html

Kid Pix is a bitmap drawing program aimed at children. Originally created by Craig Hickman, it was first released for the Macintosh in 1989 and subsequently published in 1991 by Brøderbund. Hickman was inspired to create Kid Pix after watching his son Ben struggle with MacPaint, and thus the main idea behind its development was to create a drawing program that would be very simple to use.^[2]

The application is now developed by Software MacKiev, who had been involved in development of the Macintosh version of Kid Pix Deluxe 3 and has been the sole developer of the Kid Pix series since the initial release of Kid Pix Deluxe 3X prior to acquiring the brand from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in October 2011.

History[edit]

Craig Hickman was studying photography at Evergreen State College in 1972 with the aim of taking a career in fine art photography when he encountered a friend entering code into a teletype in the college's terminal room. This impressed upon Hickman a desire to learn how to program.^[2] After leaving college he continued to write programs for his own education, and by 1988 owned an Apple Macintosh and had begun distributing software in the public domain.^[2]

While using MacPaint that year, his then-3-year-old son expressed a desire to use the application. Hickman noted how quickly he adapted to the use of the mouse and keyboard, but also that he inadvertently activated pop-up menus and other user interface elements. It was this experience that encouraged Hickman to write a simple paint program for his son to use; he also decided to make this freely available.^[2]

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The Color Macintosh was released before Hickman's first launch of his program, which he had named Kid Pix. Encouraged by a friend to sell his software rather than give it away, Hickman began working on a commercial enhanced version of the original monochromeKid Pix freeware release, called Kid Pix Professional, which would retail for US$25. An advertisement for Kid Pix Professional was bundled with Kid Pix when he released it in November 1989. By June 1990 Kid Pix Professional had been released, and Hickman estimates that around 100 copies were sold in total.^[2]

Hickman sent a copy of the application to Broderbund Software in the Summer of 1990 on the encouragement of friends, and having been given details for a contact within the company. He did not anticipate the application being adopted, but received a call within a week indicating that Broderbund would like to publish it. Broderbund's release of Kid Pix was demonstrated during the MacWorld keynote in 1991 and Kid Pix 1.0 was released in March 1991 to very positive feedback. By this point Broderbund had also begun developing a version of Kid Pix for MS-DOS. Kid Pix 1.0 received several industry awards, including the 1991 MacUser Eddi for best Children's Program, the 1991 Software Publishers Association Awards for Best User Interface in a New Program and Best Early Learning Program, and the MacWorld World-Class award for Best Education Program.^[2]

The latest Mac and Windows versions of the product were developed by the current owner and publisher of Kid Pix, Software MacKiev, who had been involved in development of the Macintosh version of Kid Pix Deluxe 3 and has been the sole developer of the Kid Pix series since the initial release of Kid Pix Deluxe 3X prior to acquiring the brand from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in October 2011. Hickman had no involvement with the development of Kid Pix from 1998 until late 2011 when he began consulting with Software MacKiev on the development of future editions.

Timeline[edit]

• 1990 - Kid Pix Professional is released at a price of $25 with sound, color, the mixer tool, more stamps and bilingual menus in English and Spanish
• Brøderbund offers to publish Kid Pix
• March 1991 - Kid Pix 1.0 is released with impressive sales and reviews
• 1992 - Kid Pix Companion adds new features and QuickTime movies
• 1993 - Kid Cuts, a derivative of Kid Pix that allows for creation of special projects, is released
• 1994 - Kid Pix 2 distributes both Kid Pix and the Companion together
• 1994 - Kid Pix Fun Pack adds new stamps and hidden pictures
• 1995 - Kid Pix Studio is released by Brøderbund
• 1998 - Kid Pix Studio Deluxe is released by Brøderbund (re-released in 1999 after Brøderbund was sold to The Learning Company)
• 2000 - Kid Pix Deluxe 3 is released by Broderbund/Riverdeep
• 2004 - Kid Pix Deluxe 4 is released by The Learning Company/Riverdeep (re-released on DVD-ROM in 2008 after The Learning Company was sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• 2004 - Kid Pix Deluxe 3X (Mac OS X Edition 1.0) is released by Software MacKiev
• 2006 - Kid Pix Deluxe 3X (Mac OS X Edition 1.1) by Software MacKiev adds iPod movies export and enhanced integration with iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, applications from the Apple's iLife application suite.
• 2008 - Kid Pix Deluxe 3X (Mac OS X Edition 1.2.3) by Software MacKiev fixes compatibility with a new version of QuickTime and adds compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard'
• 2010 - Kid Pix Deluxe 3D (Mac OS X Edition 2.0) by Software MacKiev is a major upgrade, with path animation, 3D characters, movie backgrounds, and video narration
• 2011 - Kid Pix Deluxe 3D (Windows Edition) is released by Software MacKiev
• 2018 - Kid Pix 5: The S.T.E.A.M. Edition is released by Software MacKiev

Kid Pix 2[edit]

Kid Pix 2 added new features to the original. These features were originally available in an add-on known as Kid Pix Companion.

'SlideShow' is a program allowing the creation of a slide show of Kid Pix images with transitions and custom recorded sounds. By setting the time delay between slides to the lowest possible setting animations can be created using multiple Kid Pix images acting as each of the frames of animation.

The 'Wacky TV' allows the user to watch video clips in common media formats such as *.mov or *.avi. The picture can then be distorted using various buttons. The CD came with various sample clips to watch. If a movie contained sound, there was also an option to speed up the audio by 50%, or play it in reverse.

Kid Pix Studio[edit]

Kid Pix Studio offered a complement of programs to the original Kid Pix. It opened up the ability for children to create not only static images but animated creations as well.

SlideShow was extended to allow the use of any Kid Pix, Moopie, Stampimator and Digital Puppet files in the slide show.

'Moopies' is very similar to the standard Kid Pix program except with a reduced canvas size and the ability to add several animated rubber stamps and wacky brush items. Music and sounds can also be chosen to play in the background of the 'moopie.'

'Stampimator' is again similar to the standard Kid Pix program and 'Moopies', except the animated rubber stamps can be dragged across the canvas recording a path which they would then repetitively follow.

Pix To Pix Game

Several pre-made computer puppets are provided in this program. The user can animate them like a real puppet including choosing facial expressions by hitting various keys on the keyboard. Sound and music, and a background can be added to go along with the movement of the puppet.

The 'Moopies,' 'Digital Puppets,' 'Stampimator' and 'Slideshow' creations can be saved as a standalone executable that enables them to be viewed by others regardless of them owning a copy of Kid Pix Studio. 'Slideshows' also have the added possibility of being exported to a video file, although this functionality is limited to slide shows that contain only Kid Pix drawings.

The 'Wacky TV' feature allowed users to watch movies and animations made in Moopies, and Slideshow, and even any movies the user may have on their computer. Several buttons are available for use in this feature, which allows users to watch the movies in several different ways, like in reverse or flipped screen. This was also available on the previous version of Kid Pix.

A later version, titled Kid Pix Studio Deluxe, featured an updated picker screen and allowed editing text items after they have been placed down, which was not possible in prior versions of Kid Pix. It was also possible in this version to have the computer read the text aloud, and, exclusive to the Macintosh version, add some music to play in the background during a SlideShow.

Kid Pix Deluxe 3[edit]

Kid Pix received a significant makeover with Kid Pix Deluxe 3. It was updated with a new 3D looking interface and new sound effects which makes it almost unrecognizable from the older versions. The only surviving new feature inherited from Kid Pix Studio was the SlideShow. This is possibly because the others were rendered unnecessary with the addition of clip art pictures and animations to the basic Kid Pix program.

Added tools include:

• Background, to select a premade background from a large library.
• Static Clip Art, a large library of premade static clip art.
• Animated Clip Art.
• Sound Tool, used to select sounds for the image from the provided library or to record your own.
• Play Button, upon being clicked, the animated clip art on the page would animate, the selected sound (if any) would begin to play and text typed would be spoken by the selected voice.

Kid Pix Deluxe 4[edit]

Kid Pix Deluxe 4 was released in 2004 and saw several improvements over Kid Pix Deluxe 3, including an updated interface whose layout is more faithful to the original Kid Pix (thus causing the canvas to be larger), the Text tool having a WYSIWYG font menu, the Idea Machine being accessible from the user interface instead of simply from the program's menu, a leaner and more organized Background library, a bilingual Undo Guy that can yap out both English and Spanish phrases, and video tutorials on how to use the program and each of its individual tools. For Macintosh users, this was the first version of Kid Pix to be compatible with Mac OS X, the last version to be compatible with the 'Classic' Mac OS (in this case, Mac OS 8 and 9), and the only version to utilize Apple's CarbonAPI.

Kid Pix Deluxe 3X[edit]

A new version of Kid Pix Deluxe 3, which was initially released in 2004, featured Mac OS X compatibility, increased canvas size and integration with applications from the Apple's iLife application suite, such as iMovie, iTunes, iPhoto and GarageBand. Also, it features export of Kid Pix projects to iPod video format, giving kids a head start in creating their own podcasts. Further, the exploding screen eraser from the previous Kid Pix Deluxe 3 Edition was replaced with a fire hose, which was less destructive and noisy.

Kid Pix Deluxe 3D[edit]

A significant upgrade from Kid Pix Deluxe 3X, the 3D edition was published for the Mac by Software MacKiev in October 2010 and for Windows in October 2011. While retaining the features of the previous '3X' edition, Kid Pix Deluxe 3D emphasizes digital storytelling with video narration and export to YouTube. The '3D' part of the name comes from the newly added 3D animations and backgrounds, and an export to 3D feature that creates anaglyph video images that can be viewed using red/blue 3D glasses (included in the package).

Kid Pix 5: The S.T.E.A.M. Edition[edit]

Kid Pix 5: The S.T.E.A.M. Edition is an upgrade of Kid Pix Deluxe 3D released for Mac, Windows, and iPad by Software MacKiev in 2018.

Features[edit]

The canvas occupies most of the available screen face, and the entire canvas is visible at all times. The drawing tools available to the user are placed in a column of buttons down the left edge of the screen. Instead of using menus to access the different options that each tool has, they are displayed in a row of icons along the bottom of the screen. Selecting a new tool presents a new set of options, such as different styles for the Wacky Brush. The color palette is situated below the list of tools and consists of a collection of colored squares for each of the available colors. Files with the KPX extension can be converted to the more accessible PCX format by renaming the extension.

Here are the drawing tools used in Kid Pix:

• Pencil Tool, the tool that draws free lines onto the picture. Six line thicknesses are provided.
• Line Tool, used to create perfectly straight lines. Like the Pencil Tool, six line thicknesses are provided.
• Paint Bucket, used to fill an area with a solid color or pattern.
• Square Tool, used to create perfect square or rectangular shapes. By changing the line thickness in the line tool you could change the thickness of the square.
• Circle Tool, similar to the Square Tool. It is used to create perfect circles, and the thickness can be changed using the line tool.

Kid Pix includes a selection of tools that go beyond drawing simple lines and shapes. These include:

• Wacky Brush, contains an array of options to paint various effects onto the image, such as a line of dripping paint, a line of shapes or a random leafless tree.
• Mixer Tool, provides various options to affect the entire image with distortion, blurring and fading effects. Starting from Kid Pix Deluxe 3, an example of the effects would be shown on a butterfly.
• Rubber Stamps, a collection of small icons that can be added to the picture in a way similar to the use of clip art. The original stamps were taken from the Apple Computer font Cairo. From Kid Pix Professional onwards the size of the stamp on the canvas could be enlarged. Eventually transformed into 8-Bit like images that could be edited by the user.

Selection and erasing tools include:

• Erasing Tools, these provide several different ways to erase various parts, or all, of your drawing. For example, the popular stick of dynamite would cause the entire image to explode in alternating black and white concentric circles.
• Moving Truck, allows various parts of the image to be selected and moved around the canvas. There are different shapes and sizes that the selections can be, such as circles or rectangles.
• Dye Tool, used to pick out colors already used somewhere in the canvas.

Text tools include:

• Text tool, includes 'rubber stamps' of the letters of the alphabet which speak the name of the letter when selected.
• Typing tool, includes basic abilities to add text to the image in different fonts and various sizes.

Other tools include:

• Sound tool, allows you to record your own sounds to add to your pictures (e.g. little pug noises, with a bark at the end).
• The 'Undo Guy' acts as a standard undo button, undoing the last change made to the image. When clicked, the Undo Guy says comical phrases in different voices. Starting with Kid Pix Deluxe 3D, the Undo Guy could undo and redo several times, but in all versions of Kid Pix prior to that version, the Undo Guy could only undo and redo once.
• The 'Pick a Draw Me' addition (located under the 'Goodies' Section) gives you three random phrases for a drawing idea. Each phrase is said by a different person to inspire the user to draw something unconventional. This feature was absent in Kid Pix Deluxe 3 and all versions that succeeded it.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'FM Towns ROM Archive'. KidPix FM Towns ROM.
2. ^ ^abcdefHickman, Craig. 'Kid Pix - The Early Years'. Dry Reading. Retrieved 22 April 2019.

External links[edit]

Before digital downloads, finding the best Mac games wasn’t always easy.

They were out there, but the Mac section of the computer game stores (they used to have those) seemed to stock nothing but “Mario Teaches Typing,” and the games that included Mac and Windows versions would inevitably be scattered around the “PC” sections of the store.

As such, compiling a list of the best classic Mac games is pretty tough.

That didn’t stop us from doing it. And because we want you to actually play these games, we made sure you can still buy them all in either their original form or as enhanced editions (not remakes). It also means some of our favorite old Mac games—such as Myth, Red Baron, and Fallout—didn’t make the list.

By the way, if you want to stay on top of all the latest Mac games updates, retro or modern, make sure you check out Pure Mac.

The 10 Best old games for Mac: Revisiting the classics

When this turn-based fantasy RPG from Spiderweb Software arrived in 2000 it already looked and played like throwbacks to RPGs of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. But it did so in the best ways possible.

Avernum is an underground prison, and of course, your adventure begins when you’re exiled there from the surface world, known as the Empire. But Avernum isn’t simply a prison; an entire culture exists in this subterranean world, presenting you with myriad options on what to do next. With numerous quests, spells, and party members to customize and control, Avernum unfolds with the freedom of pencil and paper adventures.

Avernum: The Complete Saga gives you a ridiculous amount of content and a cohesive story arc that’s tremendously satisfying. The graphics are rudimentary, but Avernum is very satisfying if you can overlook that.

Another name synonymous with Mac gaming back in the ‘90s was Ambrosia Software. You simply didn’t know a Mac user who didn’t have at least one Ambrosia game on her PowerPC.

Perhaps their most fondly remembered title is EV Nova, the third game in the Escape Velocity series. A space exploration and combat game, EV Nova is set amongst warring factions scattered throughout the Milky Way. Consider it Divergent amongst the stars, as you will select your faction then find your role in it.

Gameplay involves jumping between star systems to accept and execute missions, upgrade your ship, and wreck havoc. There are six major storylines and plenty of branching missions, and how you get involved is up to you. That leads to plenty of replay options.

It’s still easy to get overwhelmed by EV Nova despite its age, but Ambrosia offers plenty of resources at the company’s website.

Our second sci-fi first-person shooter to make the list finds you waking from cryostasis to a ship full of unknown aliens, a screwed up AI, and your now zombified companions. Fair enough. We’ve been through this before, so pick up the weapons and health packs and have at it, right?

Wrong. System Shock 2 doesn’t give you a lot of weapons or health packs. Rather, it gives you an RPG-like system of upgrades that forces you to use strategy, stealth, and the environment to survive.

What really separates System Shock 2 from its peers is the ship itself. It’s creepy and oppressive, and you’ll be more afraid of what could be around the corner than what actually is. Story elements are revealed through logs left by the crew, limiting your knowledge of what’s going on in a manner that reinforces how alone you are.

Another game produced by Peter Molyneux, Syndicate Plus is a real-time tactical action game in which you lead a team of cyborg mercenaries in the “problem-solving” department of the Syndicate.

When you hear the term “cyborg” you just know there are going to be plenty of customization options via augmentations. You will use these to create a team that moves through futuristic locations to achieve your employer’s objectives.

Although there’s plenty to address between missions, it’s the execution of those missions that is most fun. The citizens and their belongings (cars, for example) are there to suit your purposes, should you need them. Your radar tells you where you need to go, but the direct route isn’t always best. If you need some extra help you can “persuade” the people around to help get the job done.

Best of all, the music and sound effects were incredibly effective for the time. The music that suddenly kicks in when you’re spotted will follow me for the rest of my life.

I gave up on the Star Wars movies about 25 minutes into Return of the Jedi, and I’ve never been able to get back into it. I still quite enjoy the games, however, and my all time favorite is 1994’s TIE Fighter from LucasArts.

This is because of the excellent story that drives the mission-based flight-sim combat, because of the smooth graphics, and because it was the first time I got to serve the Empire. The missions are what you’d expect from any competent flight sim, asking you to engage in dogfights, take down freighters, protect your own vessels, etc. But because you’re now facing off against the whiney Rebellion, there’s a certain evil glee that goes along with it.

I’m also impressed by TIE Fighter’s staying-power. The gameplay is every bit as intense (and difficult) as it was in the mid-90s, and the space combat graphics are still very cool to view. Just make sure you play it with a joystick. Trust me on this.

There was a time when Bungie Studios was the shining light of Mac gaming. With Mac-only (or at least Mac-first) games such as Myth and Oni, they were the one company that made Windows owners jealous of Mac gamers.

But then Microsoft bought them to claim Halo, and that shining light was snuffed out forever.

Mac gamers can still see what made Bungie so special by playing the Marathon Trilogy. This revolutionary series of sci-fi themed first-person shooters introduced features such as real-time voice chat and the ability to wield two weapons at once. The multiplayer options may not do you much good today, but the action and the story are every bit as entertaining as they were in the ’90s.

Honestly, Marathon would be higher on this list were it not for the steps required to grab it. The games are free, but you’ll need to install Aleph One (the free, open source continuation of Bungie’s Marathon 2 FPS game engine) to run them.

“But what if this was set in space?” is a valid question for every video game ever made…even games that are already set in space. That’s because space makes everything so much bigger and more imaginative. And the time this worked best was when Sid Meier took Civilization interstellar with Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

The turn-based strategy elements all remained. You choose from seven factions, then research an unexplored planet, build new technologies and customize your units, and conquer anything hostile (or friendly, if that suits you) to claim victory.

The fun thing about Alpha Centauri is that none of the factions are bad guys. No matter which you select, you feel like you’re doing the right thing when you conquer the others.

Still, why bother playing this when there are many modern alternatives available on the Mac? Because the only thing missing in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri are the flashy graphics. The writing, voice-acting, and depth of gameplay options are still among the best the genre has ever seen.

For our next game, we go all the way back to the ’80s with Bullfrog’s Populous from Peter Molyneux. If it’s not the first “god” game out there, it’s the first that made god gaming so gleefully fun.

In Populous, you’re given an isometric view of your world and tasked with manipulating this world to help your “followers” wipe out the enemy. More followers lead to more mana, more mana leads to more powers, and more powers mean earthquakes, volcanos, and all kinds of fun ways to punish the non-believers.

There are many similar games available now, most of which are much more involved and rewarding. So, why bother going back to 1989 for the original Populous? Because it’s still fun. It also contains a whopping 500 levels, and the rudimentary graphics create an odd connection with your followers. It’s more like developer and programs than God and subjects.

Those looking to relive the original adventure in this real-time fantasy RPG are in for a treat. The enhanced edition—released in April of this year—comes with the original version from 1999.

No matter which version you’ll play, you are the Nameless One. A name like that means life isn’t good, and the horrors of lives you can’t remember are coming back to haunt you. Worse, a floating skull named Morte is leading your adventure that will take you to the very depths of Hell.

The characters you can recruit in Planescape: Torment are highly non-traditional, including a crossbow-wielding cube and a haunted suit of armor. You’re free to change your class and alignment throughout the 50+ hour adventure, so you’re not stuck with one way of thinking as with most RPGs of this time.

Here’s a case where the enhanced edition of a game expertly accomplishes its goal; it reminds fans of why they loved the original while making the game accessible to modern gamers.

Why? To start, the remastered graphics lovingly reflect the look of the original, serving mainly to make them look sharp on today’s much larger monitors. The enhanced edition also adds four new characters you can simply ignore if you want to remain faithful to the original, and it builds Shadows of Amn and Throne of Baal right into the package. There’s now a multiplayer option, too.

The reason Baldur’s Gate II is so fondly remembered is because of the excellent story and well-balanced combat. As you’d expect from a Forgotten Realms-based game, you can play through as the good guy, the bad guy, or someone in between. Your actions affect how NPCs and members of your own party see you and will open and close quests and other options.

Good RPGs create worlds you don’t just want to play through, but live in. And in that regard, Baldur’s Gate II is one of the most successful of all time.

The thing about putting together a list of the best classic Mac games is that it’s constantly changing. More games become “classic” each year, but it’s more than that. Countless games bubble just under the surface, waiting to be rediscovered or to get their “enhanced” edition to lift them back into the consciousness of Mac gamers. And with the ease of digital distribution, don’t be surprised if we’re soon talking about more of our favorites.

In the meantime, can someone remind me why the Mac versions of Fallout and Fallout 2 disappeared again?

Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission (this is how we pay the bills). This commission comes at no additional cost to you.

Please understand that I only mention games because I believe they’re interesting, good, and/or fun. Never because I received a free copy or to earn a small commission.