Alpha Build

Alpha Build is an educational game for children ages 4 - 8. Developed by Childware, versions were released for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM PC. In the game players control Perry the penguin who has the goal of building a city by filling trucks with letters.

The game screen in Alpha Build consists a line of four trucks at the bottom of the screen with a letter machine and ladder at the top. Players need to guide Perry up the ladder to pick up the next letter; once a letter is acquired, Perry needs to drop it in a chute with the matching letter so it lands in the correct truck. Once all four trucks are filled, they drive off to partially build the city. To complete a city takes three truck loads; the first visit builds the frame, the second visit builds the surfaces, and finally on the last visit the city is painted.

The game includes 8 different levels of play. On the easiest levels, letters are presented in the correct order and simply need to be matched to the correct truck. More difficult levels may have letters in the wrong order and players need to move the conveyer belt until the letter they need is available. Some of the more difficult levels also use words instead of single letters or may have the cute labels hidden so players need to figure out which truck to drop a letter into.