MindGym is a surreal game about creative thinking. It was produced as a CD-ROM in 1996 by London-based Melrose Film Productions and NoHo Digital and published by Macmillan (UK), Simon & Schuster (US) and Ravensburger (Germany).

Development

A client-driven project, Mindgym was conceived and produced by Adam Gee, while working at video training company Melrose to create an "interactive training product that would teach corporate middle-management about the value of ‘creative thinking’". He approached NoHo with the idea as the company had the capacity to make games Tim Wright of NoHo designed the project with a specific vision to utilise the talents of Rob Bevan as art director, Adam Gee as producer and script editor, Jason Loader as 3d animator and comedian, and Nigel Harris as sound designer. After a script and demo were created, NoHo teamed up with Macmillan, having proven that the concept could be funnier, bigger, and have a broader appeal.

Reception

Critical reception

The project has been categorised as "a personality test", "an interactive experience", "comedy self help disk", and "a game". It has been likened to comedic surreal video games such as '' You Don’t Know Jack'' and '' Starship Titanic.'' Sacha Cohen of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' compared the surreal and silly game to the work of

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

and

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ism, while describing the personal trainer as a cross between the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

and Richard Simmons, ultimately questioning what the makers of the program were thinking when they designed it.

Awards and nominations

''MindGym'' won the very first BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award in the Comedy category. The award was presented in February 1998 by

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

. The other nominations were

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

' '' Starship Titanic'' and '' You Don't Know Jack''.Bafta plugs into interactive awards
from

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

news ''MindGym'' was awarded Millennium Product status by the UK's

Design Council The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom Charitable trust, charity incorporated by royal charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instr ...

. ''MindGym'' was a runner-up for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

''s 1999 "Puzzle/Classics Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to '' Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mindgym 1996 video games BAFTA winners (video games) Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games Windows-only games