Adventure Rock
| Adventure Rock | |
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Adventure Rock Logo
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| Developer(s) |
BBC Larian Studios, through Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep |
| Publisher(s) | BBC and Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep |
| Distributor(s) | CBBC and Ketnet |
| Engine | Meqon Game Dynamics |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Release |
5 September 2007 (Trial Phase 1 - 1,000 participants) |
| Genre(s) |
First-person adventure Educational |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
5 September 2007 (Trial Phase 1 - 1,000 participants)
8 January 2008 (Trial Phase 2 10,000 participants)
Adventure Rock (previously known as CBBC World) was a virtual online world for children based on Ketnetkick, and created by the BBC in association with Ketnet, owned and operated by the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT), Flanders' public broadcaster. The game was originally aimed at the Belgian market, but was redeveloped for a UK audience of children aged between 6-12 years old. The emphasis on the system was on safety and responsibility, with no chatrooms or the financial aspects available in other online worlds such as Linden Lab's Second Life.
Controller of CBBC Richard Deverell said:
[Adventure Rock] is a good example of the way we need to go. The thing that interests me is that children are at the vanguard. And that is where we are taking Children's BBC.
Adventure Rock was shut down in 2009 due to lack of popularity, updates and repairs.
Adventure Rock consists of a large virtual world which players explore using customised avatars. They are accompanied by Cody, a floating robot who guides and helps the player.
The game starts with a tutorial in which Cody teaches the player how to control the avatar. Following that, the player is 'dropped' onto Adventure Rock, and is free to explore. There are a number of continuous tasks to do, such as collecting the hundreds of cog-shaped tokens, or pages torn from a book, the purpose of which was still unknown at the time of the game's closure. In doing these, the player gains points. There are also a number of different 'studios', including an art studio, a music studio and an animation studio, in which the player can create their own animations etc. which can then be submitted to CBBC.
There are a number of areas which were closed off, such as a roller coaster. Some of these were released over time but the game was taken down with many areas still locked.
The game was based around a story narrated on the Adventure Rock website. The story section of the website states that:
A short while ago a strange rift appeared on the CBBC website leading to an unknown world. A decision was made to send in two of our hosts to study the strange world. This is the report they sent back from a world that holds more questions than answers...
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Wikipedia