Game Review: Cosmic Blobs
Rate This Article
What Parents Should Know
As kids experiment with how to manipulate and combine shapes
to create the 3-D objects they imagine, they also explore
visual design that parallels what professional engineers and
artists do in the real world.
Common Sense Media Review
Cosmic Blobs is a 3D graphics program that is
as intriguing as its title makes it sound. Kids poke, pull,
squeeze, and mold globs of virtual clay into whatever shapes
they can imagine and then animate their creations.
The software launches into the Modeling Zone, a workspace that resembles a wacky chemistry lab. Kids interact with the program by clicking on beakers and buttons that frame the workspace. Because the buttons are animated, kids can figure out most of them by trial and error. For children who like a more systematic approach, the program includes seven video tutorials.
Kids start by choosing a basic shape of clay from a collection of jars at the bottom of the screen. Then, they shape the blob using a variety of tools. Simple ones let children poke and pull their virtual clay, and the curve drawing tools open whole new ways of manipulating this virtual clay. By drawing a line, curve, or squiggle next to the clay, kids can push or pull the blob using the line they have created as a tool.
Rotating objects in 3-D is also very easy in this environment and necessary when trying to combine two or more blobs. What appears to be connected from a 2-D vantage point, may not be when rotated on a 3-D axis.
Kids can paint and add textures or decals to their blobs. When they finish a creation, they move it to the animation lab to program it with 10 possible actions including walking, dancing, and hopping.
Cosmic Blobs easy-to-use interface allows kids to jump right into creating 3-D objects. As kids experiment with how to manipulate and combine shapes to create the objects they imagine, they also explore visual design that parallels what professional engineers and artists do in the real world.
Kids can download a two-day free version at www.CosmicBlobs.com.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
