This is really where it all began for me, as far as computer art/animation goes. I was thrilled to have the opportunity, in the mid 90’s, to create interactive scenes for a CD-ROM: Fisher-Price Dream Dollhouse. The Dollhouse had a secret “mouse world.” Each room in the Dollhouse provided access to a different scene featuring a gang of mice that I designed, animated, composed and performed music for, and some of whom I voiced (the male mice).

The animations are triggered when the user clicks on the characters and buttons on the screen. Unfortunately this video, which I found on YouTube, doesn’t show the cursor.  You can find other scenes on YouTube if you look — there’s a circus, a wedding, a pool, an ice cream factory, and a mouse band.

In retrospect the project’s limitations were fairly extreme. I did all the artwork using a mouse, no WACOM tablet in sight. 8-bit graphics meant the color palette was limited. The sluggishly slow processors of the day meant only one thing could happen on screen at a time, at a very low frame rate. Still, I loved that project.