Storybook Weaver Deluxe: More Text-To-Speech Mayhem
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- An LGR retrospective on the 1994 educational software program from MECC! Weave your own books of stories, fill the pages with sounds and colorful graphics, and read them aloud with a dreadful TTS algorithm.
● Consider supporting LGR on Patreon:
/ lazygamereviews
● Social links:
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
● Music credits:
Qualms of Conscience 2, The Ballroom Dance
www.epidemicsou...
Actually, I would rather see more "Giant Space Spider" stories by LGR.
Moo-A-HaHa
THIS. You're leaving money on the table, Clint!
Lol. Love it when text to speech voices botch words.
Man, you can't begin to understand the nostalgia burst this video just gave me. I remember getting this being 7 or 8. This is the software which I used to write my first stories. I fucking LOVED this. And I had totally forgotten how much I loved it.
Me too. Just the theme song alone brought me back.
The theme hit me hard, I think I was 3 or 4 when I played the hell out of this
Whoa whoa whoa...someone actually registered a game?
All of those 1990 DLC mannnn
I did register Screamer 2 with the local distributor in my country. Never heard back from them.
🤣🤣🤣
"It talks" It's trying to TELL us something but it's hard to SAY
I remember having this on my Apple Macintosh IIci. It taught me what the word "dusk" meant because you could choose the time of day for the scene between dawn, day, and dusk. I don't know why but I'll always remember that.
"May it ride eternal, all shiny and chrome" made me giggle.
LGR Stories 11/10, would Storybook again.
Witness thee
Witnessed.
MEDIOCRE!
I witnessed
You are seriously hitting all of the edutainment software we had growing up. I forgot about Storybook Weaver til I saw the upload, but then the nostalgia hit me. Ahhh memories. :)
The shock! The suspense! I can't wait to see the next episode of "Effin' Space Spiders", only on LGR.
Fun fact
The store names at 4:35 literally translate to "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly"
6:00 I swear, Vinny went back in time to sabotage the damn thing. Now look what happened.
Crispy Toast I love your videos. Just wanted to say that.
I wrote a personal ad for a computer in this program. The text-to-speech was hilarious!!
o wow nice
But did anyone answer it?
no :(
Haha...nom nom nom...the end!!
The text to speech capabilities are amazingly creepy. It gives the story an enjoyably strange quality.
2:17 "I hope at least one of you finds this information enlightening, because if not I'm just sitting here filming decades-old software alone at midnight and its sad"
Always fun to watch
Agreed
That Wood word play... it was OAK-ay
nice.
Oh it's you again! ^.=.^
ye :D
Felt a tad Wooden to me but I won't Willow on it as the rest is Beech-ing good.
I'm just gonna birch myself right over here and watch the chaos unfold.
Ahhh man I spent hours on this as a young 'un. I also remember me and my friend being yelled at by my mum when she caught us making it swear. That's as rebellious as I got.
>I'm just sitting here filming decades old software alone at midnight and it's sad.
But that's what we love you for!
FRESH OATS (9:38)
*THUD*
*SNOOOOOOORRRRRRTTT*
[Having a seizure while playing a Roland synthesizer]
Clearly LGR is Out Of Touch with modern times.
Who would eat fresh oats nowadays? A Maneater and nobody else!
*BROTHER, PLEASE. I REQUIRE YOUR OATS.*
You should do a video of Kid Pix Studio, that was my childhood
XxNorthxX OH FUCK YEAH! Kid Pix was my jam!
I used to play the shit out of that when i was 5
OutOfTheShadows Same, i remember spending hours in elementary school playing it
'Whine-d', lolz (a lot of artists who create Emergency Alert System mock ups have the same issue with their chosen TTS voice mispronouncing words.)
In all due honesty, one could make the same kind of presentation that Storybook Weaver does with a few image tools, Windows Movie Maker, and Balabolka (a TTS reader/recorder tool), all of which are free to grab.
Even still, another excellent video on the edutainment topic, and definitely one full of laughs, and great jokes. Woodgrain...WOOOOOOODGRAIN...bass...lolz
I command you to make a story where the computer just ominously reads "FRESH OATS... FRESH OATS..." while a picture of a black void and unsettling horse inches closer and closer with each page. Kind of like a creepypasta but actually kind of contextually terrifying.
OH, MY HEART. I looooved Storybook Weaver. Young Me spent way too many hours putting together the perfect scenes.
Loved playing the Mac version of this game at school in first grade. I remember particularly liking the fact that the backgrounds were customizable halves. Years later I had American Girls Premiere. My sister and I made some pretty weird text-to-speech plays with that one. You could also record your own voices.
Thank you, this was my favourite thing to mess around with in the computer lab when I was in elementary school. I wish I had a computer with Windows XP.
Nevermind, downloading a "legit" copy of VMware right now.
Virtualbox does just as nicely. You're probably gonna have a time activating XP, though.
Man... this game is one of my earliest memories using a PC. I've been writing fiction as long as I can remember, and it's likely largely due to this game.
Thanks for the throwback, Clint!
You would've been a great writer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
GENTLEMEN. BEHOLD...
CORN!
FOOLS! I'M RICH NOW!
I played that game to the absolute death growing up, creating stories every single day. Didn't matter that it was limited, my imagination took hold and I had a blast. And even now, at age 26, I still write every single day; it's my greatest passion! Loved Storybook Weaver, as well as Imagination Express Destination Castle.
Man, I love when you review things I used as a kid. My girlfriend went to the dentist recently and told me they used the NO2, "nostalgia", I didn't correct her.
I remember I used to write stories on Storybook Weaver, back when I started writing books when I was eleven. Funny thing is, I haven't been on that game in a long time; I still have a few old stories from it. I'm glad you did a video about it, giving me the nostalgia on my first written stories.
HAHAHAHA That spanish was certainly something. It doesn't even follow the spanish phonetics! Why would you put a spanish story in the presets if you are not gonna build in a proper reader for it?
CONFUNDIEDO
COS QUILLAS
PIN I ATE A
Actually, there is a Spanish setting in Preferences, so when you close the program and open it up, it has a Spanish-speaking voice.
Sounds like a corrupted Peggy Hill.
We used My Own Stories when I was in elementary school. I remember all the fantasy clip art. In fact, I was so enamored of making beautiful pictures and backgrounds that I never did get around to writing a story like the other kids. I always wondered what program it was and now you've solved the mystery for me!
I remember playing the demo of this game. It came on a Club Kidsoft CD with our first computer; an AIO Compaq. Actually I still have the computer and the CD. I'll have to try them out at some point.
Nostalgia overload is real and I'm living it. This was one of my first pc game experiences and I... Uh... I Need a moment.
I used to edit the sprite of the sports car into a space ship... The memories have yet to cease!
This game gives me a weird blend of nostalgia and vague uneasiness. I don’t know why, but this game always gave me the creeps when I played it at my grandma’s house. I think it was the overly cheery MIDI music that then cut to silence when you actually started making a story. Combine that with some of the monster sprites, and 6 year old me had my first encounter with the emotional uncanny valley. I appreciate the tools it offers, but to this day, I can’t hear that theme song without feeling a little twinge of that old fear.
I wrote a children's book for my college class in 2002 using Storybook Weaver! It was my favorite program.
Clint you can make a video aboit a rock. I will look at it regardless. Awesome job. Hi from Berlin Germany
The Goodwill rock?
How about the usb rock?
Any rock is fine.
@for8bitgamers that sounds like a song I WANT TO HEAR THAT clint!!!
Mew-a-hey-ha!
This is one of the first edutainment games I played on windows as a kid at school! I just used it for making wacky pictures and that was so much fun at the time. Thanks for taking me back in time!
LOL space spider. Also, reference to the FRESH OATS joke :)
EFFING space spiders! Get it right!
I remember endlessly playing with the 3D Movie Maker (1995) software that came with our computer back in the day. It was a kids' toy, but it had all kinds of 3D animations, and you could record your own dialog with a microphone. We made huge ten-minute long productions that took three days to animate.
For the first time ever with an edutainment title on this channel, I HAD THIS
Ran on my family's old Windows 98 TIME PC (in the UK), I still have one of the printed "books" from it somewhere
Thank you SO much for this video! This brings me back to fond memories of creating a warped version of The Three Little Pigs in my middle school's computer lab. I tried to figure out the name of it since. And wouldn't you know it, a youtube channel that I follow ends up showcasing it. Thanks again!
This is great! I remember using a similar program in the early 2000's in school. Had a lot of fun with that program too, whatever it was!
My primary school had a similar program too
I would've loved the crap outta this when I was little. I'm actually kinda mad I didn't know about it back then.
I've been following LGR for quite some time, but I'm just now discovering this video. When I was in 3rd grade, we had computer class, and "Storybook Weaver Deluxe" was one of the games we played. The version I remember playing had a different MECC opening at the start, a different background on the title screen, and a completely different menu design that was in 2D. I wonder if the version I played was 1.0 and the one demonstrated here is 1.1.
Anyway, I freaking LOVED this game. I never did use any of the story writing or object editing features. I just liked playing around with the different backgrounds, mixing and matching different the different backgrounds and selecting the different objects. I could make some pretty hilarious illustrations. lol
Oh, and apparently, you CAN import images. I didn't know about this when I was a kid, as I never delved that far into the game, but Cathode Ray Dude [CRD] did a review on this, and he opened a Story Starter on how to use Storybook Weaver Deluxe, and it explains that if you have a scanner or other digital art, you can paste in images. The images are limited to 256 colors, though.
Damn that text to speech was funny as hell.
LGR needs an award for his amazing writing skills. I remember something similar to this from my childhood, except it was even more limited.
Great job as usual LGR!
Clint please cover Amazon Trail for the love of all that is antiquated. So. Much. Nostalgia.
8:35 Ah, the Substitute Spanish Teacher Peggy Hill DLC voice pack.
I lived with my grandmother when I was a kid in '99. She was a graphic designer, and had just upgraded her computer and set up a little desk for me with her old computer right beside hers. I have a lot of good memories of coming home from school and going to work beside her using this program (I even wore a little tie)... That midi music brought back memories haha
Woah, holy crap. I've been looking for the name of this thing for a while, spent countless hours on this. Came straight back to me with that name!
Edit: Oh man that opening MIDI!
I am twenty and we used this software constantly in my elementary school. This was the weirdest flashback, but a pretty great one. Thanks for the great video!
Text to speech stuff was always fun because the voices always sounded sincere and serious no matter what goofy or stupid stuff I would type in. There was some site that let you choose from different voices and then download a mp3 of the text to speech you created. I had so much fun creating skits.
Ah, _Storybook Weaver_ ... this shit was my childhood! :D
5:03 Also, how is it that the mole in this software looks infinitely more mole-like than the mole from _Strawinsky and the Mysterious House_ ?
C O S Q U I L L A S
Capuchino Sofia M E C C
"coscuilas"
Dangit LGR, I wanted to ready the wood story! Now you know what an upcoming video has to be. :)
I do remember this, though. I had it on an old PC years ago. It was quite fun but barely got to use it. >.>;;
I remember having this as a kid, but I never used it to write stories as intended, instead putting a bunch of characters on the screen and dragging them around like action figures and just playing the story in my head
Talk about things I had forgotten from my early childhood, geez. For some reason that name is like the only thing I remember about it, too :O
You kill me. I love your channel. Great stuff.
"EFFING SPACE SPIDER, FOOLS! I'M RICH NOW MUAHAHAA!"
Art.
Random fact: at 4:34 the buildings have Italian names on top of them, "il Buono" as "the Good one", "il Bruto" as "The brute", and, as the most unsettling of them all, "Il male" as "Evilness". Not a good marketing strategy if you ask me. (it's probably a cameo of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", but no it's really poorly translated if it is the case)
Great vid as always btw ♥️
I used to play this game for hours on end! I recreated the first four rings and fighters and trunks from the Rocky films lol
Hey! So I'm a 1996 baby, but I'm not from the US - pcs only got really big in my country around the early 2000s. I remember that I actually played this or something very similar to this for my first grade informatics class, like in 2002! Tbh that was in hindsight pretty educational. I mean, I know kids now adays are born phone in hand, but it was a really fun way to encourage creativity and reading/writing skills.
Ps: I might add I was very stereotypical and 6 year old me and my best friend wrote a story about pink princesses and puppies. #noregrets 😉
Omg, completely forgot about this software until seeing this video. Thanks!
Maaan, that robotic lady's voice sounds like it's gurgling the bits and bytes that make up the words, LOL.
My elementary school had this installed on its computers. I only ever made one incomplete story on it, but I still remember it to this day. It was called "Brave Lad," and was heavily inspired by Zelda. As primitive as it may have been, the possibilities really fueled my imagination, and got me thinking about making my own stories and games, which is something I do to this day.
Also to people who are wondering what speech engine is used, it's the IBM Viavoice engine for 16 bit windows. I was able to confirm this as Kid Pix Studio Deluxe uses this under Windows 3.1
EDIT (7/24/2024): It's not ViaVoice/IBM-TTS. It was actually First Byte's ProVoice/Monologue engine.
I've been searching for this program for YEARS. I used to play it all the time in middle school. For some reason, I thought it was called DreamWeaver. I literally asked Roses to cover it like a week ago. Good timing and great video as usual!
I remember a friend of mine had this on their old Windows 3.1 rig, as well. My brother and I wrote a couple of stories about a racing horse named "Horsey-Poo." We got more enjoyment out of the musical samples than the text-to-speech engine, though.
I LOVED Storybook Weaver! Every computer class, whether in school or summer camp, had a copy. Surprisingly, they were usually on a Mac. Between this, Amazon Trail and Dr. Quandary, my childhood was set.
Oh man! I spent countless hours in elementary school playing this game (though the original version, not the Deluxe one), usually just plopping down pictures of Robin Hood and Baba Yaga in an endless struggle amid a forest backdrop.
Seeing this again was great! Awesome video, as always!
Omg the nostalgia! When the music played I was suddenly 9 years old again, making up silly stories with my brother. We've still got a couple we printed out, and my grandpa used this software to illustrate the stories he made up for us as kids. Thank you for covering it.
In 2003 my school was still using story book weaver
Same!
Thank you for this video Clint. As a long time viewer, this was my number 1 nostalgic thing for you to analyze.
I remember playing this in the computer lab in school back in the day writing letters to pen pals lol.
With the giant space spider... That story took a serious left turn!!! Your vids are dripping in nostalgia, with a humor not far from tea time. Love it all!!!! Didn’t skip any ads on this video!
IT TALKS!
*IT TALKS!*
Stranger *I T T A L K S*
This thing was my childhood. Fun fact about the pre-Deluxe version: If you dragged any of the art bits sliiiightly off-screen, there was a high chance your computer would crash and you'd have to reboot it. Yay! But dammit, I cried from nostalgia watching this. I wish I could mess with it again.
This was a big hit of nostalgia. I forgot what it looked like, but instantly remembered every screen.
They had this on the computers in my elementary school. Begged my parents to get it for me so I could craft more incredible stories at home! lmao
Clint, your voice is so soothing, been a fan for years. I'm so pumped its Edutainment month!
I remember last playing this in from 2007, my grandfather had a windows 95 up and working as his main computer. I would play this nonstop xD
I found your channel randomly about 6 months ago and honestly had no real interest in old technology. Since then I've watched all your videos and have a whole new interest. Basically, thank you for making such interesting and informative content! You're awesome!
When I was like 6 and we got our first PC along with Doom, Duke3D, ROTT, GTA1 and all the good shit, my mom had a "responsible parent period" where she banned me from playing all the games except educational titles like this one. As if that would have even mattered when you had already seen almost everything these games had to offer. Well no problem, I played the shit out of this for awhile until the ban was forgotten, LOL.
You just said "I don't have a copy of My Own Stories". Guess what's the name of the software that you're gonna get from viewers next month in at least 3 copies?
Is it funny that LGR videos are probably the highest video quality content I watch? Really excellent quality:)
An edutainmet video with a side of oddware
I just acquired a Compaq Armada M700 and am loading Win 98SE back onto it. I've been gathering the early Jumpstart programs on CD-Rom and cannot wait to introduce my kids to them. Thanks for the Goodwill encouragement and all the reminders of what made my childhood fun!
I remember this was on the bargain shelf in the late nineties in some UK store. Version I got only had a jewel case and the interface looked better.
God thank you so much for covering this program. I ADORED it back in the day. I still have the way that the text to speech pronounced certain words burned into my brain.
Not one "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do" or other such HAL 9000 joke in any of these text-to-speech videos. You have an admirable amount of self-restraint.
I literally watch every video you post since I found your channel over a year ago. I always look forward to the next one
Can we have an update on the space spider story please? I need to know what happens next.
Storybook Weaver was one of those games we had in school, that we used for some class projects we did in elementary school. It was like PowerPoint for elementary school students!
I remember this thing from when my school upgraded to Windows PCs.
You should make an entirely fictional episode of Thrifts using only scenes and props from this game. That would be terribly brilliant.
Oh cap, I totally had that as a kid and totally forgot about it until now. wow
hilarious! as a native spanish speaker from Mexico (aka Piñataland) I found the creepy robot lady's phrase to be the most perfect and amazing line ever spoken in my colorful language. great job, LGR!!!
90's RenPy, huh?
I used to love playing this in elementary school. we used to use it to tell stories and make pictures to go with them. fun stuff!
I used to own Story Book Weaver Deluxe back in the day. I used to play it all the. time. I miss it actually
The speech synthesizer reading about a black void of unending nothingness gave me the heeby jeebys