''Ribbon Hero'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Microsoft Office Labs. The game is available as a free download and serves to educate users of

Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Office 2007 (codenamed Office 12) is an office suite for Windows, developed and published by Microsoft. It was officially revealed on March 9, 2006 and was the 12th version of Microsoft Office. It was released to manufacturing on Novemb ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

how to use the

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

interface. It is followed by the sequel ''Ribbon Hero 2: Clippy's Second Chance''.

Gameplay

''Ribbon Hero'' appears on the Ribbon in the supported Microsoft Office programs. Once opened, it lists challenges in four sections: working with text, page design and layout, getting artistic, and quick points. Each challenge is designed to teach the user a feature of Microsoft Office, and opens an example document which the user must edit using that feature. Challenges can be played in any order, and give half the available points. The remaining points are earned by using the same feature later on (outside the game). The quick points section does not list challenges, only features which can be used outside the game to gain points.

Facebook integration

''Ribbon Hero'' integrates with

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, allowing users to compare scores with their friends, and to post achievements on their Facebook Wall. It is the first Office Labs project to include

integration.

''Ribbon Hero 2: Clippy's Second Chance''

Plot

Clippy, one of the Office Assistants which were included in Microsoft Office 97 through 2003, is looking for a part-time job and requires help with his resume. However, he enters a time machine and is taken to several different time periods. He travels to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

, the 1960s,

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period and the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

. In each time period, there are several tasks which must be completed before moving to the next period. These tasks include formatting documents, inserting graphs and pictures, and other common uses for Microsoft Office products.

References

External links

* 2010 video games Microsoft games Microsoft Office-related software Video games developed in the United States Windows games Windows-only games Single-player video games {{edu-videogame-stub