Just Grandma and Me

Just Grandma and Me
Developer: Brøderbund Publishers: Brøderbund, Random House Platforms: Mac OS Classic, Windows Released in US: 1992 This game has unused cinematics. This game has revisional differences.

Just Grandma and Me is the first in the line of the successful Living Books games, based on a Little Critter book. The game was popular enough to warrant an updated version that added a few minigames and a higher resolution.

Unused Cutscenes

These two previews are only found in v1.1 (see below for details). Alongside the Ruff's Bone preview, there are also previews for Arthur's Birthday and Harry and the Haunted House. The only way these can be accessed is by editing the outline file.

They are saved as PREV02.MAC and PREV03.MAC on the Macintosh version, and PREV02.IBM and PREV03.IBM on the Windows version.

Revisional Differences

v1.1

The original version of the game went through two releases: one before the partnership with Random House, the other after the partnership began. Internally, the first release is v1.0 and the second is v1.1. This version only had a few minor updates compared to v2.0.

Cutscenes

v1.0	v1.1

The company logo underwent a revision with a remixed theme and the removal of the six-note scale. "Broderbund's" was replaced with "A Random House/Broderbund Company".

v1.0	v1.1

The original release contained a preview for Arthur's Teacher Trouble. One interesting thing to note is that the voice used for Mr. Ratburn in this preview is the one used for the principal in the final game. This was replaced with a Ruff's Bone preview in v1.1.

Other

• The demo version of v1.0 bizarrely included the preview and credits. The v1.1 demo removed this.
• Bizarrely, the v1.1 demo version got an engine upgrade, but the full game did not. This means absolutely nothing on the Mac side (it lacks fading altogether), but the PC demo now includes faster fading between screens and the running man cursor.
• v1.0 predates the hybrid format, so the Mac and PC versions were shipped on separate discs. v1.1 put them on the same disc.

v2.0

In 1996, the game was given a major overhaul and refresh, to bring it a bit more in line with the later games in the series. This version is internally known as v2.0.

General

• The resolution was bumped up from 512x384 to 640x480. The space of each page has increased as a result and quite a few more click points were added to take advantage of the new room.
• Japanese was removed as a language choice, now with French and German taking its place. Furthermore, the Spanish voice track in this game is completely new over the prior versions, and uses the Castilian dialect instead of Latin thus leading to a few grammatical differences across the two versions.
• A new sandcastle minigame, "Play in the Sand", was added in light of the series including minigames at this point.
• While it was possible to change the language while the book was read previously using the 1, 2, and 3 keys, this version now adds pop-up UI elements that makes it possible to do it using only the mouse. Furthermore, even using the keys in the prior release would require the page to re-load, while this version can do it on the fly. Note that the keys can still be used too.
• There is a new "sticker" minigame on each page where you can put pieces of the page in place.
• The first version did not have a recurring element on each page as would become tradition in the series. v2.0 updates it and brings it in line with that by including Little Critter's grasshopper friend somewhere on each page.

Main Menu

v1.0 and v1.1	v2.0

v2.0 replaced the Japanese language option with ones for French and German, along with adding a minigame button for "Play in the Sand". Icons were added for the language, Options, and Quit buttons.

Minor Changes

• The Living Books logo was updated to the then-current version.
• Unlike v1.0 and v1.1, the engine version used here can play more than one sound at a time. This also means ambient noises run even while a click point animation is playing.
• An option was added to automatically skip page intros, instead of having to use Alt-Enter to do so.