the cutting room mirror

Big Thinkers! Kindergarten

Big Thinkers! Kindergarten teaches kindergarten subjects with two teenagers who are way too quirky and happy-go-lively for their own good. Apparently in their world it's perfectly okay to decorate your house like a kindergarten classroom when you're as old as them. Oh yeah, they also own a swing set and a sandbox. You'd think they'd use their ability to transform into anything possible to good use, but instead they insist that teaching kids is the proper way to go about them.

Most people tend to forget this series due to being little more than a less-memorable version of JumpStart.

Unused Text#

Subtitles#

Most Humongous games have inaccessible subtitles, and this one is no exception. They can be activated by adding TextOn=1 to hegames.ini, or by using ScummVM's built-in subtitle feature.

Debug Output#

Also like most Humongous games, this one has a substantial amount of debug console output. The easiest way to view it is to run the game in ScummVM and set the debug level to 0 or higher.

Debug Mode#

This game has a set of standard debugging features shared with many other Humongous games.

SmartStars Room#

I'll fake my way through this just like I did in high school!

Warping to room 2 (which is used for the interface) brings up this room for testing SmartStars. Clicking a button on the top row gives three SmartStars of that color. None of the buttons on the bottom row work, except for the SuperStar button. Pressing "go back" returns the player to the previous room.

Unused Room Select Debug#

Warping to room 3 brings up this screen. It appears to be a room debug screen, near identical in appearance to the one found in Spy Fox in Dry Cereal. Oddly enough, this room only provides access to the sign-in screen rather than all the rooms in the game, as clicking on any of the boxes will take the player there, including the empty ones. This screen spans three page colors (green, red, and blue) of boxes for a total of 48.

Debug Options#

Adding SputmDebug=82597 to the hegames.ini configuration file enables a few keyboard shortcuts allowing control over various aspects of the game.

  • Ctrl + E - Brings up a series of dialog boxes that prompt for an internal variable number, give its current value, and optionally allow it to be changed.
  • Ctrl + F - Enables "fast mode", causing everything except sound playback to run as fast as the hardware will allow.
  • Ctrl + G - Prompts for a room number to warp to.
  • Ctrl + O - Prompts for the number of an object to place in the inventory.

Unused Graphics#

Graphic

Notes

A color version of the star cursor. The game always uses a black-and-white one, even outside of Windows 3.1. Of note is that the cursor used in the Macintosh version is different from this one as well, using a similar yellow shade as the other cursors.

The Junior Adventure logo, widely used across Humongous' other games.

Unused Sounds#

Sound

Notes

The traditional Humongous logo sound. This game uses a different fanfare instead.

The Junior Adventure logo's corresponding sound.

Leftover Pajama Sam Save Selection Screen#

BigThinkersKindergartenRoom29.png

The save select screen from Pajama Sam In "No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside" can be accessed by warping to room 29. The first save file is always named "???". Attempting to load a save file crashes the game. The slow piano instrument from "Music Makers" plays here.

References#


  1. Humongous Entertainment Delivers the First Educational Series With Personality; Ben and Becky Brightly™ Star in the New Big Thinkers!™ Series - News Releases - Humongous Entertainment website (archived)↩︎