Eco: East Africa

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Eco: East Africa
Eco East Africa cover.jpg
Developer(s) Viridis Corporation
Publisher(s) IVI Publishing
Platform(s) Windows
Release1995
Genre(s) Business simulation
Mode(s) Single-player

Eco: East Africa is a business simulation video game developed by American studio Viridis Corporation and published by IVI Publishing for Windows in 1995.

Contents

Gameplay

Eco: East Africa is a game in which the player is a conservation officer who has been hired to revive a failing African game park. [1] [2]

Development

Eco: East Africa was developed by Viridis Corporation. Based in Los Angeles, the company focused support on the Phillips CD-i before branching out into PC games in 1994. [3] [4] The project manager for Eco: East Africa was Jesyca Durchin, who started in the entertainment industry in 1991 working as a production assistant to filmmaker Tim Burton. [5] [6] Durchin stated that she began with Viridis when they were working on a CD-i game about recovering the RMS Titanic and then switched to a simulation set in Africa. She recalled, "I was hired on to be an assistant, but the producer didn’t really know how to organize and produce. He was a really good programmer and technologist. And so, we kind of switched roles, and I ended up spending about a year and a half producing a simulation. Which is actually one of the hardest things to do in software, period. Which was my first CD-ROM. And it was a mess" [6]

Eco: East Africa was one of five titles announced in a distribution agreement with IVI Publishing. [4] [7] Durchin claimed that she was under immense pressure from IVI to complete the game ahead of the holiday season. [6] By April 1995, the publisher pulled out of its contract with Viridis leading to massive layoffs for the latter company. [4] Viridis ultimately folded due to lack of income leaving Durchin and her team unpaid for six weeks following the game's release. [6] Eco: East Africa features music from the Nigerian Talking Drum Ensemble. [2]

Reception

Next Generation rated the game two stars out of five, and stated that "Exploring your park is kind of entertaining, but only for a very short while. Hey, once you've seen one pack of hyenas feasting on a carcass or an elephant loping across the screen, you've pretty much seen them all. And you'll be way too tied down with administrative duties to do much sight-seeing anyway." [1] Computer Game Review 's Tasos Kaiafas called the game "not very educational, interesting or fun." [8]

The game received the "Four Star Award of Excellence" from Home PC Magazine. [5] [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Next Generation staff (September 1995). "Finals". Next Generation . No. 9. Imagine Media. p. 94. ISSN   1078-9693.
  2. 1 2 Spiwak, Marc (November 1995). "Multimedia Watch" (PDF). Popular Electronics . Vol. 12, no. 11. Ziff Davis. pp. 23–4. ISSN   0032-4485. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 9, 2024.
  3. ↑ Wynne, Stuart (February 1995). "Feature: Virtual Vegas". 3DO Magazine. No. 2. Paragon Publishing. p. 19. ISSN   1355-9621.
  4. 1 2 3 "Food Dude (Unreleased, Philips CD-i)". Nintendo Player. Archived from the original on January 15, 2025. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Jesyca Durchin Schnepp". Nena Media. Archived from the original on January 23, 2025. Retrieved April 6, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Simon, Sara; Kocurek, Carly A.; Mirghaderi, Leilasadat (December 2022). "Building Digital Dream Houses: An Interview with Jesyca Durchin". ROMchip. Archived from the original on March 4, 2025. Retrieved April 6, 2025.
  7. ↑ Electronic Games staff (December 1994). "Cutting The Deals That Matter: Distri-Deals". Electronic Games . Vol. 3, no. 3. Decker Publishing. p. 20. ISSN   0730-6687.
  8. 1 2 Perry, Kevin; Chapman, Ted; Kaiafas, Tasos (June 1995). "Reviews: Taking a Walk on the Wild Side Could Get You Killed By Poachers". Computer Game Review . No. 47. Sendai Publishing. pp. 70–1. ISSN   1062-113X.
  9. ↑ Howie, Lisa M. (August 1995). "Reviews: Eco: East Africa". PC Gamer . No. 15. Future plc. p. 105. ISSN   1080-4471.
  10. ↑ Scherpenborg, Jennifer (July 1995). "Become One With Nature By Experiencing IVI Ecological Simulation". Dimension-3. No. 3. Dimension Publishing. pp. 66–7.
  11. ↑ Grech, Christine (August 1995). "Simulation Games: Eco East Africa". Electronic Entertainment . No. 20. International Data Group. p. 65. ISSN   1074-1356.
  12. ↑ Worley, Joyce (July 1995). "Edutainment: ECO East Africa". Electronic Games . Vol. 3, no. 7. Decker Publishing. p. 91. ISSN   0730-6687.
  13. ↑ Home PC staff (December 1995). "The Best of 1995". Home PC Magazine. Vol. 2, no. 12. CMP Publications Inc. p. 159. ISSN   0888-8507.
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