Teaching and Gameplay Tips for Bongo Loves the Bible CD
from Sunday Software, www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo
 

Additional notes and updated tech files may be found at www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/bongotech.htm
This page was updated March 2009.
 

 

What is Bongo Loves the Bible?

Bongo is a suite of 3D games featuring an orangutan named Bongo. One of the games... Bongo Knows the Bible, is a four level Bible proficiency exam (though you don't want to use that phrase with the kids!). It was designed for grades 3 and up. But I've used it with much younger kids. They just need extra help running the controls and reading the game text.

In all of the games, Bongo must figure out "where to go" and "how to get there." Thus the maps in this outline will come in very handy for the adult teacher pretending to be a videogamer. Bongo can run, jump, and sling bananas. In the cave, the bananas actually can light his path.

Gameplay in Bongo isn't supposed to be easy. That would take all the fun out of it. Preview the game with your students sometime before a lesson. Let them learn how to run the controls. Practice shooting bananas at plants and jumping over the lava pits and canyons. THEN use it for a lesson. One of the great benefits to Bongo being a challenging game, is your student will want to go back and play it over and over again AFTER the lesson. I know, pinch me.

Basic Game Play:

Bongo travels the landscape slinging bananas at the Bongo-eating plants and troublesome Sid the Mummy on his way to find treasure. He must find the treasure at the end of each game, collect bonus points from it, then the player can type in their name and print a certificate. To open the treasure he must find a key somewhere in the landscape. They are rather obvious... we didn't want the game to take a long time. In the Cave game Bongo must also find bread and a lamp to get gates to open. In the "Bongo Knows" Bible Jungle quiz game, Bongo must find and correctly answer all 20 questions in the level before the treasure chest will open. So it's a good idea to keep on answering til you get it right. When the Treasure Chest opens, it spews gems and bananas. Start collecting these "bonus point" items and soon the game will congratulate you and take you to the scoreboard.

Best Advice to Teachers:   Completely read this Guide. Print the Maps and Student Poster as navigational helps. Have older students help you learn how to play.  Learn how to beat those Bad-Boy Jungle Plants. Let students learn basic game play BEFORE using the game in a classroom situation.

BEATING THE BAD BOY JUNGLE PLANTS 1. Do not rush right up to them. They are designed to "activate" when Bongo comes within a certain distance to them. 2. Walk toward them using your forward arrow key until Bongo gets close enough to trigger their response. Then, press your BACK arrow key while you press your left mouse arrow to sling bananas and smoosh the plants. 3. IF they trap you -you will get a scripture verse to encourage you. Click the scripture verse to make it disappear and then run away from the plants as you restart your turn. Some plants can be outrun or run around. Others can only be smooshed with bananas to get around them. If Bongo is too far away from the plant, the bananas will have no effect. You can "steer" the bananas using your mouse, while you shoot them at the plants. Bongo Fun: Try jumping on top of stopped plants then don’t touch the mouse or keyboard for 5 seconds. The game will begin to spin. It takes about 3 bananas to smoosh a plant. Same for Sid, though some plants and some Sid the Mummies seem a little more difficult. One of the biggest mistakes is assuming the plants can't come get you while you answer a question. They can, and often do. Each plant, however, has a defined location it can move around in. Best advice: sling bananas! Make sure you have the version 1.2 UPDATE installed. One of the updates was to make it easier to get away from the plants after they have eaten you. You know you have Version 1.2 if when you press the 'S' key during the game a Save/Load game feature appears.

Game Menu Options:

Set level of Difficulty to Easy or Hard. Easy gives Bongo more lives and makes the jumping easier. Setting the game to "easy" may slightly reduce score.

Note that the "easy" or "hard" settings are SAVED settings. The next time you turn on the computer, and Bongo, the settings will be the same as the last time you played. If you have players of different age/skill levels using Bongo, always check the Easy/Hard options before starting.

Set sound and music levels. These controls allow you to balance game sound effects and game music to your needs.

TIP: Having trouble seeing around Bongo or judging your jump correctly? Move your mouse up and down. This changes the player's "point of view" around Bongo. This is very handy for many aspects of the game.

Onscreen Icons:

At the top of each screen you will see the "number of lives" Bongo has in the game. Each "life" consists of X number of hearts. He loses a heart when he is eaten by a plant, or falls into the lava, etc. In the "Hard" mode, Bongo gets fewer lives and jumping is a little more challenging.

Introducing Bongo to Your Class:

We strongly recommend using this program with plenty of time to spare. Like any game program, new players will need time to get used to the game features and style of play. If you are using Bongo in a teaching setting, we recommend introducing Bongo to your students PRIOR TO the classtime in which you want to teach with Bongo.

Each of the games in Bongo is designed to be accomplished in under 40 minutes -depending on the age, skills and knowledge of your students. Older players with good game/keyboard skills can get through a Bongo game in 20 minutes. It really depends on how familiar, how old, and which game the students are playing.

If you the teacher are not a "computer gamer" we recommend that you get someone who IS to help you. Unlike other multimedia Christian software in which the content is easily accessible, Bongo's content is designed INTO a game which must be played right.

TIP for Adult Teachers: If you're not a "computer gamer" have a teenager learn the Bongo game and then SHOW YOU how to play it. It's always easier to learn a game like Bongo by watching someone else. This tip also works for YOUNGER CHILDREN --have older players show them the way around Bongo's Jungle and Cave. First and Second graders won't be able to play Bongo very well the first time through. But most of them will catch on.

Important Certificate Printing Tips:

At the end of each game players can print out a fun certificate of completion. Here are some very important notes about this function:

• Prior to playing the game, you should select "how big" you want the color certificate to print. We have provided 3 options: 1x is very small. 2x is larger. "Full" is full page. The final size may depend on your printer's settings.
• We have included certificates in the DOCUMENTS FOLDER on the CD and in c:\bongo on your computer. You can open these, edit them and print them out as you please. This is especially handy way of creating certificates if you need multiple copies of a certificate for multiple players using one computer.
• The "Enter Name" function at the END of each game is only for determining the name to place on the High Score screen. That name will not print out on the certificate.

Questions, Errors or Odd Behavior You May Experience

1. When you start the program you get an "missing export" or "unable to create dll" error message. This means your DirectX files on your system are out of date. Open the folder on the Bongo CD named "DirectX" and install the latest version onto your system. (These are files provided by Microsoft to interface with game programs. They are backwards compatible and will not negatively affect previous games you may have installed).

2. Bongo hesitates when trying to move forward or jump, or when landing on a gem or encountering an object. Your videoram is low or you might have a slow keyboard response time (typical on laptops, for example). When the game engine first starts up, there is a white box which contains system info. The game engine detects your card and available videoram. If you have below 10 mb of videoram, Bongo may hesitate at places in the game while your system plays catch up. This is made worse by a slow processor or low system RAM. Solutions: upgrade your videocard or add more ram to your system. Make sure you are running Bongo in 16 bit "high color" and not 32 bit "true color." The 32 bit display eats more videoram.

3. You don't see the creature animations in the Cave (in Bongo NEEDS the Bible). The most likely reason is that you have Window XP's " Service Pack 1" release. For some inexplicable reason, Microsoft left out the popular "Indeo video compression code" from XP SP1, which, of course, our game videos were created with. If you have Bongo v1.1 then get the Bongo CD and open the Indeo Folder on the CD and installed the Indeo codec. If you have v1.0 ...go to our BongoTech page and download it. The first and third release of XP corrected this omission.

4. Bongo's "Point of view is looking down or too far up."  Move your mouse, it can adjust angle of Bongo's view.

Bongo Needs the Bible (Cave)

A larger copy of the "Cave" map can be printed from http://www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/cavemap-new.jpg

This game is designed to teach important metaphors for and about "The Word."  For example: God's Word is like bread, like a lamp. Sin is like darkness, and the Word guides you along right paths." After going through the game it would be fun to have a discussion about what the individual game elements means. Key elements are: the darkness, the pitfalls, the bread, the lamp, faith/hope/love landing pads, the obstacles/rocks, the Isaiah labyrinth, the Jesus room.

Once you find the Lamp (at location 2 on the map), the Cave brightens up, ...because the Word guides us. The Cave of the Lamp is found at the end of the narrow path that is found by crossing the Faith/Hope/Love lava pit.

To "win" the game you must find your way to Jesus, and when you do, he leaves behind the final key which opens a gate that leads to the outside and a waterfall where you can collect reward points from the Treasure Chest. After collecting rewards for a bit, the game congratulates you and you can enter your name. While you're in the room with Jesus, notice the Bible story told on the wall murals.

How to Win the Game: First read the main sign which gives you a clue about what you're doing and educates about the metaphor of light we are working with in this game. Then go 'round or across the main lavapit, and find the bread of life in an area located behind a gate. Then go to the other side of the pit and find the lamp (down past the faith/hope/love pit). Once you have the lamp the main gate across from the main pit will open. Come back to the main area, go through the gate and follow the path. Avoid being crushed by the rocks (follow them and jump over the crevices), find your way through Isaiah's Labyrinth to learn about the light of the world. Then continue moving forward until you find Jesus who will leave you with a key to get out. Collect gems and bananas from the treasure chest by the waterfall and you've won.

Note: the lava pits are NOT intended to be metaphors for hell. They are simply colorful dangerous pitfalls from which Bongo can be repeatedly rescued.

The beginning areas of the Cave are meant to be rather DARK. Bongo must find the Lamp to illumine the rest of his journey.

If the Cave is too dark - wait until you find the lamp, it will light Bongo's way. However, if you determine that the Cave is still too dark and you're having trouble finding your way around the first lava pit and adjacent tunnels, press the 'G' key on your keyboard and adjust the "gamma/brightness" of your display. Press your G key a second time to remove the gamma/brightness display toggle. There are two different types of monitor "grills." Those with an aperture grill (Sony, Viewsonic to name two) will experience a darker cave. Ideally, you want the first lava pit area to be very dark. Why? Because you are looking for the LAMP of God. When you find it, it will brighten your path. If you have the brightness/gamma turned up too high, you won't enjoy the lamp of God.

Gates won't open --that's because you must do certain things in order. Get the bread, get the lamp, then proceed out the passageway at the end of the pit where the words Micah 2 are found.S

GAME SECRET: Click your left mouse button to sling bananas into the darkness. The bananas will light up the path as they fly.

Jumping from Faith, Hope and Love... It's all about timing, direction and how long you hold the CTRL key.

Lost in the Isaiah Labyrinth? You are trying to cruise through corridors and those green "word pills" in order. The verse was given to you on the sign at the entrance to the Labyrinth. When you get them all in order, you should find the Light of God. Then the labyrinth will begin to quake and you need to run out.

Rocks keep crushing me -yeah, they're tough. You want to run behind the rolling rocks in the direction they are rolling, then jump over the broken bridges to the other side. When you click your mouse to try again you better be moving out of the way or you'll use another Bongo life. If you keep getting crushed, run immediately to the side when you left click your mouse to get rid of the scripture pop up. Always run in the direction the rocks are going. Just run after them, not in front of them! If you stay right up against the side, the rocks will pass you by. (This is also true for the Bongo Books of the Bible "Canyon" game.)

Secret Bible Story:  Look carefully at the large murals in the room where Jesus can be found. They tell Jesus' story of the houses built on sand/rock. This might be a good place to stop and discuss the relationship between Jesus and the Word, the light and The Light.

Bongo Knows the Bible (Jungle)

There are four levels of questions from which to choose. The game landscape is the same for all four levels. It is recommended that ALL students begin with the Beginner level before trying harder levels. "Difficulty" setting increases the speed of the Bongo-eating plants and points scored, and not the difficulty of the questions.

You must find and correctly answer all 20 questions per level before you can open the treasure chest. The key to the treasure chest only appears when "Squeaky the dolphin appears -after you have run past his area. Where will you find squeaky after you have answered all the questions? By the waterfall. Check the map here >

A list of all 80 Questions can be found at www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/questions.htm
The ANSwers which correspond to all 80 questions listed at bongo/questions.htm can be found in the ANS folder which installed with Bongo from the CD to c:\bongo\ans  Open the question level files using Windows Notepad and print them out.

A larger version of the map at the right can be printed from www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/newbongomap.jpg

Question Box punches me for no reason ---sorry about that, a couple of them are feisty. If you answer them wrong, they will punch you for good reason.

Can't find key to treasure chest -look for Squeaky the dolphin. Where? In the waterfall of course. But he won't appear until after some areas are explored. He will spit out a key which bounces in the creek.

Can't open chest with key --- there's a question somewhere you haven't answered. Gotta answer them ALL. As long as the "no key" circle appears on the screen, it means there are still questions to find and answer correctly.

A Bongo Secret: In the jungle run down the stream to the middle bridge and jump up to grab a foothold on the tiny slanted ledge going up to the bridge. This shortcut is only possible in the Easy Mode of version 1.2.

I can see landscape areas that Bongo doesn't seem to be able to enter... and...
Can't travel down the stream to other areas. Well you can't, we placed invisible barriers in some areas of the game to contain the game field or keep students from bypassing game items.

Crossing W-O-R-D Canyon. You must jump on the correct letters. In version 1.2 this made made to be a little bit easier.

Scoring: This part of the game awards points for scrolls and bananas picked up. It also scores students based on the number of right versus WRONG answer selections made. A higher score will be achieved if you don't get questions wrong. Higher points are also awarded for harder DIFFICULTY. The objects flying out of the Treasure Chest also add to the score and finish the game.

Bongo's Books of the Bible (Canyons)

Select either Old or New Testament books to play. Students must jump Bongo on the correct books of the Bible to cross the canyons. They'll come to a treasure chest at the end and need to chase/collect bonus points to finish. Students will see the correct order of books when they contact scrolls (the book's name floats up). So if they are unfamiliar with the order prior to playing the game they should move slowly through each scroll. The books are grouped in their traditional groupings. There are Title Signs for each grouping on the walls of each canyon. We have paired a number of the minor prophets. Level of DIFFICULTY adjusts Bongo's jumping capabilities and speed of Bongo-eating plants. "Hard" rewards more points too.

Rocks keep crushing me -yeah, they're tough. You can move Bongo against the wall to let the rocks roll on by. Run in the direction the rocks are rolling to get to the canyons. When you get to the edge of the canyon, there's always a platform at the left or right when you come to the edge of the cliff at the end of the trail where the rocks are rolling after you.  When you get out on the platform, look to see if the first book you need to jump on is there. If it's on the other side (meaning you should have jumped onto the other starting platform) jump back onto the path, avoid the rock, and jump onto the correct platform.

Getting knocked off platforms when I jump -if those crows are near the platform you are jumping from or to, they can get you. Time your jumps.

I jump on "Revelations" but it flips me into the canyon -look more closely, it is spelled wrong. Jump on the correct spelling of Revelation. Don't let some of the other book platforms fool you. We purposely made a couple of them look like they are correct, but if you read closely, they are not!

Plant keeps eating me --they're hungry. As SOON as you left click your mouse to try again, move your arrow keys to get away from them! It takes 3 bananas to drop a plant. You can try running around them too. They are faster in the "hard" mode. TIP: Get all the bananas you can at the beginning of the game. Scoring: Points are awarded for scrolls and bananas picked up. Points are awarded for how many right versus wrong jumps Bongo makes. Points awarded for catching flying objects coming out of the Treasure Chest.

Bongo's Bible Background

Watch out! Sid and the Surf Mummies are out in force ...along with the Bongo-eatin' Plants. You'll need bunches of bananas. You must find the 7 "Study Panels" (and hopefully read and discuss them, -many have questions). Once you've found all the panels, you must answer all ten questions, then you can go to the treasure chest to begin collecting rewards. Your score is higher when you collect more scripture scrolls, don't get eaten, and the more times you answer the question right the FIRST time. The AGE level of this particular game is 4th grade and up, but optimally 6th and up.

You can view/print a copy of the CONTENT found on the panels from www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/bongobackground.pdf   The last page of that pdf also includes a list of all the optional discussion questions found in each panel.

I have provided you with a "blank" book/panel on the CD which you can copy and then edit in your own version of Bible background, should you find something not to your liking. Edit using any paint program, such as Windows Paint. Do not change the color, size or filename of the panel or it may not function properly in the game. If you make a mistake, reinstall the graphic from your CD.

Making Changes to the QUESTIONS in Bongo Knows the Bible

Open up the question bitmap you'd like to change using a paint program, such as Photoshop Elements, or Windows Paint. The file is found in the c:\bongo folder on your harddrive. You must save it with the same filename, same format and same dimensions. If it doesn't work you can always reload the game from the CD. The question bitmaps are found in a Question folder located in the "Sprites" folder in the Bongo directory. jubeq1.bmp stands for "jungle beginner question 1." (Jungle was the original name of this game's level.) Warning: changing other graphics can cause engine errors and game play malfunctions. If you mess up, just reinstall the program from the CD.

Note: there are four answer files in the folder named "ANS" which was created during installation of Bongo at c:\bongo. These must only be edited with Notepad (Windows text editor). These determine which answer the game things is right for each question.  The answer number corresponds to the numbered questions found at www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/questions.htm  If you are editing the question bitmaps, you don't have to change the ANSwer file unless you change the location (a,b,c,d) of the correct answer.

Changing the High Score Screens

There are five editable SCORE files in the main Bongo folder on your harddrive. Open them with Window Notepad only to make changes or delete scores. You must carefully make the changes or the spacing will get out of whack. Spacing is critical. The files are as follows.... jbegin = Beginner level scores in the Bongo Knows the Bible jungle quiz game. jstudent, jscholar, jsuper follow. rold.scr is the Old Testament books score. rnew.scr is the New. If you mess up this file, reload it from the CD.

Secret Stuff?

Sorry...there are no secret passageways, codes, panels, shortcuts or whatever in Bongo (except for the one mentioned in the Jungle game by the bridge).  It is fun to see what Bongo can jump up and perch on. Can you get him to ride Sid the Surf Mummy? ...or a plant? He can!

Curriculum and Resources for Teaching About the Bible

Here are two of the best resources for teaching a course to children "about the Bible."

1. Phyllis Wezeman's Bible Basics curriculum, available through Educational Ministries/Church Educator. http://www.educationalministries.com  Phyllis' work is more of a full curriculum with extensive lesson plans and activities.

2. Barbara Bruce's Teaching Children Bible Basics, available from Abingdon the United Methodist publisher. http://www.abingdonpress.com. Barbara's materials feature some very nice Bible posters and games.

Bongo Decor

Quite a few churches have been decorating their labs for Bongo use. Inflatable bananas, monkeys, grass skirting are all found very inexpensive on the web. Start with Oriental Trading Co. Also check our SUMMER LAB IDEAS webpage for pictures and updated Bongo suggestions. www.sundaysoftware.com/summer.htm

One of the winners of a contest we held hooked up two keyboards to one computer so four students could all work on Bongo together, one group steering while the other group flung bananas.

Copyright 2003-08, Sunday Software. All rights reserved.