Masters of the Elements

Originally in Dutch, the game was later translated into English, German, Japanese, French and Italian. The game was voiced by Joost Prinsen and won a BAFTA Award in 1999 after its English-language release.

The recorded date of publication is 1997. It is associated with Netherlands. Recorded genres are puzzle video game and educational video game. It forms part of Dutch Computer Games Canon. It is recorded in the collection of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.

• Developer — IJsfontein Interactive Media • Publisher — Bombilla (Dutch) Van In (Belgium) VNU Interactive Tivola (English & German) Gallimard (French) • Platforms — * Classic Mac OS • Windows • Released — November 4, 1997 • Genre — Adventure • Modes — Single-player

The game was created by Jan Willem Huisman, Hayo Wagenaar, and Sander Hassing. The three developers at IJsfontein knew each other from the InterAction Design department of the Utrecht School of the Arts, where they designed the concept of the game. Wagenaar made all of the drawings, Hassing served as programmer, and Huisman organised the operation. They came up with the name "IJsfontein" during the development of this game, which was their first project; while other development companies had English names they wanted to choose something Dutch-sounding. The game's sound designer came up with "Ice fountain" because ice is static while a fountain is dynamic. While getting into large debt, the team was invited to the Cannes expo named Milia, where they set up a stall in a section for young talent. Interest from a Japanese publisher put them in a strong negotiating position with VNU Interactive; while it was standard for the publisher to get rights to the game, the developers refused. They felt the publisher was condescending from their comments that the world does not work the way they think it does. Upon signing a contract with the Chinese, they discovered VNU still expected the company to lose the copyright due to not meeting a deadline. The team entered into a 'double or nothing' negotiation, whereby failing to complete the titled by 6 October, it would result in heavy royalty regulations. The team ultimately presented a beta version to children at an Amsterdam primary school, after suffering through a panic-stricken September. The game was playtested by children from the top three groups of primary school; the developers noted the potential for the game to be popular with girls due to them finding solutions in a process-wise way, as opposed to boys who will click the screen 10,000 times until something happens. By 2016, 40 people would work at IJsfontein.

It was one of the first serious games ever to be developed. At the time, IJsfontein was the first Dutch studio to explicitly develop a game with an educational bend. The game attempts to bridge two opposing sides of the video gaming market by offering an experience that is both fun and educational.

In the Castle of Infinity, there are five masters that bring balance to the elements. When Master of Chance loses his cat, the balance of the elements is disturbed. It is up to the player to collect pages of the Garden of Chance story, which will then cause Master of Chance to reveal clues about the whereabouts of his cat. The game is puzzle based, with themes ranging from the natural world to physics to science.

Masters of the Elements is associated with Netherlands. Classified as a puzzle.