German game about digging and geometry, 1995-99, probably Windows
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 1:44 pm
Hi,
I've posted about this game twice on Tip of my Joystick before, but no one has been able to help me, so I figured I could try here too. It was probably a full-screen Windows game rather than DOS, but it's most definitely old (Windows 95 days).
The game was in German (not sure if translated or natively) and it ostensibly had to do with geometry (edutainment game?). From what I remember, you played as a character that had a simple design (red pyramid with a face and limbs?), and were tasked with digging up objects (possibly machine parts?) on a top-down-ish 2D map (cartoony with outlines). You had to use the mouse with geometry tools like a ruler and drawing compass (Zirkel) to find them/designate dig spots, but I'm not sure how it worked exactly. The game was hard to understand, and I never figured out how to start digging.
What's most unique is that you could send letters to a professor-type character (similar to your own character in appearance) and get a response back. You had to type up your message manually and the response was actually based on what you wrote, because I remember he would tell you when he couldn't understand you. I think there was also an animation of a mail van driving across the screen to deliver letters.
I don't remember where I got the game from, or if there was anything more to it. It didn't have a dedicated CD, so likely a shareware/freeware thing possibly from a collection or early internet. It gives me vibes of an early Macromedia game, but not at all sure.
--
For reference, my clearest memories are the "letters" I wrote, which confirm several aspects of the game:
"Wie buddel ich?" - "How do I dig" in a form that the character didn't understand, and the response told me he didn't.
"Wie grabe ich die [Maschinenteile] aus, die unter der Erde liegen?" - "How do I dig up the [machine parts] that are buried underground". Frustratingly, I'm not sure about "machine parts", but I remember the rest clearly, so definitely digging something up as the goal of the game.
--
TL;DR: Use geometry tools to find/dig up objects, and type up & send letters to get a response back.
Any help would be appreciated. I know for a fact this game existed and it's driving me crazy how impossible it is to find.
I've posted about this game twice on Tip of my Joystick before, but no one has been able to help me, so I figured I could try here too. It was probably a full-screen Windows game rather than DOS, but it's most definitely old (Windows 95 days).
The game was in German (not sure if translated or natively) and it ostensibly had to do with geometry (edutainment game?). From what I remember, you played as a character that had a simple design (red pyramid with a face and limbs?), and were tasked with digging up objects (possibly machine parts?) on a top-down-ish 2D map (cartoony with outlines). You had to use the mouse with geometry tools like a ruler and drawing compass (Zirkel) to find them/designate dig spots, but I'm not sure how it worked exactly. The game was hard to understand, and I never figured out how to start digging.
What's most unique is that you could send letters to a professor-type character (similar to your own character in appearance) and get a response back. You had to type up your message manually and the response was actually based on what you wrote, because I remember he would tell you when he couldn't understand you. I think there was also an animation of a mail van driving across the screen to deliver letters.
I don't remember where I got the game from, or if there was anything more to it. It didn't have a dedicated CD, so likely a shareware/freeware thing possibly from a collection or early internet. It gives me vibes of an early Macromedia game, but not at all sure.
--
For reference, my clearest memories are the "letters" I wrote, which confirm several aspects of the game:
"Wie buddel ich?" - "How do I dig" in a form that the character didn't understand, and the response told me he didn't.
"Wie grabe ich die [Maschinenteile] aus, die unter der Erde liegen?" - "How do I dig up the [machine parts] that are buried underground". Frustratingly, I'm not sure about "machine parts", but I remember the rest clearly, so definitely digging something up as the goal of the game.
--
TL;DR: Use geometry tools to find/dig up objects, and type up & send letters to get a response back.
Any help would be appreciated. I know for a fact this game existed and it's driving me crazy how impossible it is to find.