Mijn naam is Haas is an educational interactive computer graphic that we, 6 students from the Utrecht School of Arts & Utrecht University, developed for children. In 2008 we got nominated for the Europrix Multimedia Top Talent Awards in Graz.
MNIH follows the journey of a young male hare who suffers from amnesia – the only thing he remembers is his name: Haas. He begins his journey and has no idea of what he is searching for in what seems an almost endless but wonderful world. Told piece by piece over seven levels, the user guides the hare through the story by experimenting with the mouse and ‘drawing’ solutions for his problems – for example, making a path to walk on, or a ladder to climb a steep hill. During his journey, Haas meets many animals with specific problems that resemble learning components. The difficulty of the problems that Haas faces depends on the skills of the child.
Mijn naam is Haas has an intuitive interface which helps children to quickly tune in to the story and their role. Interactivity and computer graphics add an immersive dimension to the basic story that compellingly engages the target audience. The game asks children to test their inventiveness and rewards them by linking their progress with the progression in the story. Mijn naam is Haas is successfully being used to improve the language skills of children for whom Dutch is a second language.