My Big Happy Family (Team)

My team is awesome. It makes me happy.

I'm the Artist.
Stephen and Chris are programmers/flashers (term?)

I will flesh this out later...

Imagining Our Game

WHO are you designing your game for? (Include the player's age, abilities, and prior knowledge of your topic.)
WHAT will your game teach the player about your topic? (Be specific!)
WHERE does your game happen?
Describe the world you will design for your game.
How will this setting add to the learning experience?
HOW does your game world teach the player about your topic?
What happens in the world that helps the player learn?
How does the player use what they learned to make something happen in the game?
WHY is a game a better way of understanding your topic than a quiz?

Who: Seeing as this game touches on geometry and trig stuff, it's intended audience is probably high schoolers. They'd have to know some math, and know basic computer use.

What: Angles and plane measurements.

Where: On a computer?! You mean the game? On a plane. I was actually thinking it'd be funny to make the stick figure traverse lined paper.

How: Can't play a computer game without a computer. As for the game, it'd make it feel more like a math assignment, so maybe they'd take it more seriously. Or...maybe it'd just tick players off...

Why: This game is interactive, so hopefully they'll be able to "get into it" more. Or something...

Globaloria Progress...which is naught

So on Tuesday we had guests. They yelled at me and called me bad names. Then my abusive uncle from florida showed up, and pushed me down a flight of stairs, yelling curse words all the while. I then cried as the ambulance drove me to a hospital with a vulgar name, and was operated on by a 52 year old retired clown named Persimmons. I think he insulted my game idea too.

Lolz...

Okay...so that didn't all happen....

My uncle pushed me down an elevator shaft, not a flight of stairs.

LOLZ...AGAIN!

Okay, so the guests had some good criticism and I think we have a much more definite grasp on our game. Except for Chris. He hasn't said much in months since we attempted to add a division by zero mechanism to our prototype in flash. Now, all he does is praise some fish guy called KI-THOO-LOO or something. Or maybe it was Ol' Gregg. I can't remember. We're planning on a type of platformer with geometry puzzles.

I don't feel like being serious...

LATER!

I'm A Player!

I do play video games in my spare time. A lot. In fact, I probably play an excessive amount of them. It's an unhealthy addiction, really.

As for what I play...well, as I said, I play a lot. A lot of different genres too. I mostly play RPGs. Action games are pretty cool too, and I don't mind an old-school side scroller. I'll play a FPS with friends, but they're really not my thing, and I hate most racing games. I used to like music games, like Guitar Hero, but they got out of hand so I haven't bought any of the new ones recently.

Square Enix is my favorite video game company, so I play the Final Fantasy series, the Kingdom Hearts series, the Mana series and The World Ends With You a lot. Besides the fact they make the best some of the best RPGs ever, I'm mostly just a huge fanboy tool... :(

Oh well!

Choosing a Topic

So..I'm pretty much finished with the Choosing a Topic project. Non Euclidian Geometry seems to be the agreed upon topic within our group, so it seems we'll all be devoured by Cthulu. Oh well...it's at least an interesting way to die...

LOL

Anyway, as for the genre, we ain't sure. Maybe a puzzle game, maybe an action-ey game, maybe a combo. But what we do know is...
NO QUIZ GAMES!

Too easy to make, and not fun enough to play.

O' Hail the Great Old Ones!

We're in the midst of the Choosing a Topic part of the project. We'll be doing a STEM type game, so I'm trying to convince my potential group that we should make a game about non euclidean geometry. Not for educational purposes though, but so we can make an obscene amount of H.P. Lovecraft novel references. O' Hail Cthulu!

Roflcopter.

Genres

Personally, I'd love to do some sort of action/platformer game. Not just because I did it last year, but it seems effective, and it's more challenging/fun to make. Quiz games might teach you, but they're boring as heck. Simulators can be fun, but many people don't have the patience, or they get so wrapped up in the gameplay they forget the overall message (the classes reaction to 3rd World Farmer seems to support this theory of mine). An action-esque game provides a fun experience, and if you find a clever way to work learning the material into the mechanics, you've got gold.

Interwebz Safety

These kids today and their iSpace and their MyPods! Don't know nothin' 'bout interwebz safety! No worries though. I'll be teachin ya! Ya see, ya can't be postin' your personal infomashun online! Bad people will find you, and then do bad things ter ya!

So...poor english rant aside, I was being serious...to a small degree. The internet is acessed by everyone. EVERYONE! The good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly (take me, for example!). Posting personal information that identifies you too much isn't a smart thing to post. Just because every high school reject and their mom has a facebook page with their house address, credit card number, and social security information posted, it doesn't mean it's smart. Social websites can be good, but more often than not people post WAY TOO much information about themselves. Those bad people I mentioned before? Yeah, they can find you. That's the extreme. More commonly, they'll use your information to steal even more precious information, so just let your imagination run wild there. Credit card theft, identity theft, hacking, etc. Get the picture?

Be smart online. Your personal information is for family and close friends, not everyone.

That's all.

I'M BACK!

I did Globaloria last year, and I'm back to do it again! I like how the game was coming along last year but, sadly, we couldn't finish. I'm hoping this year the game is even better AND finished in time. Lolz...

It Seems We've Reached The End

I apologize for my lack of blog updates, but the weeks before our presentation were getting a bit stressful and short on time.

As for our presentation, I think we did really well. They all seemed to really like it. Though our game wasn't 100% done, I'm proud of what we could get done.

Anyways, though Globaloria's done for thsi year, hopefully I can get back in next year. I want to finish up First ink, as well as make a new game. Perhaps not a civics one.

This is Z3ch L0v3, signing off.

Comments

Comment 1
School: Oak Glen High School
Team: DSG
Student/Team Member: Gingie/ VLRoss
Game: Unknown
Comment:
"^ I Agree. This game sounds like it could be really cool. Can't wait to play!"

Comment 2
School: Sandy River middle School
Team: Smarties
Student/Team Member: Angel
Game: The Messengers
Comment:
"It seems that you're working hard! As long as you keep working this hard, you're ganme will be great!

Oh, and I know little about the Secretary of War's real job, so I could definitely learn something from this game!"

That's it for my blog prompt.

Later!

GRAWR!

GAWD! Flash is tough! Which is exactly why I handed it all over to Randy. He claimed he wanted to be the programmer, so why should I deny him?! HA!

LATER!

Working hard...or hardly working?

I haven't written a blog post in forever. Geez. I've been too busy working on the paper prototype, which we'll probably film today during class or after school. It came out pretty good, save for the enemies appearances. I doodled them up relatively quickly, seeing as they didn't need to be ridiculously detailed for a prototype.

I'm hoping to be a computer media/designer/thingy when I get out of college (preferably for video games), so I constantly ponder the processes required to create a game. Maybe not as much when I play video games, seeing as I space out, but at other times...yeah. The initial design process doesn't seem that different from what I expected, but I can't say a whole lot about the actual game making process yet. I expect making a flash game won't be that hard, but making a REAL computer game would be A LOT harder.

Oh, and that wasn't really something I thought of saying on my own. That was an assignment.

LATER!

Back In The Saddle!

Aerosmith song reference...heh...

Anywho...

It's been over a week since I've worked on our paper prototype, and it's almost nice to be back to work. On the game that is. All my other school work can go burn. It's also nice to be able to see friends again, but only being able to see some friends in school is like finding a $100 in a toilet. A used toilet. An awesome find in a not-so-awesome place.

So, that's it for now.

Later!

p.s. I bolded "the game" because you LOST!! Haha!

Paper Prototype

Worst kind of game. Ever. The animation is low quality, the gameplay is crap, and the story is ridiculous. Furthermore, having to flip the pages is such bull! You can't even assign hotkeys for that action!

Lawl. Anyways, I just thought I'd write something about our work. We're working on our paper prototype right now, and it's coming along alright. We're doing it all on photoshop, that way we can just print it out, and still use the photoshop documents in our actual game. Two birds, one stone.

Later!

My Awesome Story and Friday's Assignment

Okay, so I didn't write a blog post yesterday. But, I have a good excuse! You see over the weekend I was sitting at home playing Blazblue while my parents were out shopping with my little brother when I heard a loud noise. I looked outside to see multiple large helicopters carrying giant robots flying towards my house. I knew at once it was because they wanted to steal my team's game idea. So, I ran upstairs and reached behind the bookshelf to press the emergency transformation button I hid from my parents. As I had installed, the logs of my house intricately unfolded and disassembled, only to reassemble as a giant robot of my very own. I then proceeded to take place in an epic robot fight. Unfortunately, before I could win (I SWEAR I WAS WINNING), my house ran out of battery power and turned back into a house. It was then that the other robots advanced upon my house, to finish me off. But, I wasn't done yet! I then revealed my lazer sword ('cuz calling it a lightsaber would be copyright infringement) and finished off the robots. I then went back inside and played more Blazblue, as the helicopters retreated.

What, ya don't beleive me? Yeah...you're right to. I lied. I wish something cool like that would happen... X(

Anyways...I've still got an assignment from last friday to do. So, here's my review of another team's game.

Team: SHAUNDYE! Game: We Shall Rebuild
Though the game doesn't quite look finished yet, it seems to have potential. A Role Playing/Strategy game which teaches the player(s) the responsibility the government has in rebuilding their land after a natural disaster seems like a rather cool idea. Each decision seems to impact the simulated community in some way. As long as this team is able to produce realistic simulations from the player's choices, this game has the potential for awesomeness.

Assignment: Review Another Idea (Kinda)

Uhh...my actual assignment was to critique another team's game idea. However, every time I click another team's wikis page lin, it won't work. Only the blog links work. It's probably just my computer. Anyways, I'm going to try and piece together something out of the blog posts of certain teams, and try to write on that instead. When Mrs. Singleton comes back on Monday, I'll see if she can help me with this computer and do the REAL project then.

So...here it is:
From what I can get from it, the Messengers looks like it will be a pretty good game. Not a lot of people know the importance of the President's cabinet. Many don't know that the President's decisions are affected greatly by the wisdom of his peers. If they can present this information well enough, the game will be an excellent learning experience.

Web-Ex Conference

So...it was only over the phone, but we did it. I was expecting a lot more criticism. Actually, to be honest, I was expecting a NO. Oh, and by "we", I meant Calvin and myself. Randy skipped. He shall be punished severely once he returns from his self-imposed exile. ROFL.

Glad they didn't use a webcam though. I was relatively nervous, and it showed. Oh, and Calvin and I would've looked kinda goofy, seeing as we just kind of tried to get the other to do all the talking.

Okay...so I'm most guilty of that.

Web-Ex Conference Prep.

We're preparing for the web-ex conference! I guess we gotta talk to Globaloria people...or something. I dunno. We've got to make our game sound super awesome! Or else! Or else, what? Exactly!

Just Another Manic Monday!

Just another...lame song reference.

I'm sorry. I deserve whatever I get for that.

Anyways...we're set on the name First Ink, and we're starting to design the game, or at least idea wise. Will post more later.

Game Ideas

We're brainstorming names for our game right now, seeing as we already have an idea. A random doodle I produced in history class gave Randy (The Muffin Man) the idea, and we've been going from there. Speaking of the doodle, I should throw it up on here, shouldn't I? Anyways, it's a really "hardcore" looking bill. It's got scars and tears, fingerless gloves, combat boots, and of course an eyepatch. He's also got a headband, which is pretty Solid Snake (MGS video game series) or Rambo, so he's even more awesome. He'll use a quill and "fight" his way through the House, Senate, and finally the President himself, trying to reach his goal of getting passed. I add quotations to fight, seeing as it can't have real blood, gore, or intense violence. We'll settle for cartoony violence and Batman style "POWS!". To actually claim the game is educational, we'll add fun facts at the bottom or something that explain why our bill is going through congress. The game's main intention, beside entertainment, is to show all the processes and people involved in passing a bill.

As for the name, we're going to attempt to make a parody of an action movie. Suggested examples are: Sign Bill vol. 1 (Kill Bill vol. 1) or First Ink (First Blood).

TEAM...ASSEMBLE!!!

On monday we were assigned our teams. I'm on a team with Calvin and Randy. Calvin's a pretty cool dude, and Randy's my best friend, so I don't see any teamwork problems occuring. We're all also pretty good at this computer stuff, so this will be easy (I hope...).

On Tuesday, we agreed to call ourselves TH3 MUFF1NAT0R5. This is a combination of all our names. The muffin aspect is from Randy's Muffin Man, the "-ator" is from Calvin's Calvinator, and it is in 733t Speak due to my name. We've also started on the logo. It is a half robotic muffin (in reference to the Terminator movies) and has a matrix style background. I'll post it on my wiki later.

Choosing a Topic

So...I'm thinking of making a civics function game. It will describe the processes it takes to ratify a bill, while including some "fun facts" combined into a more "action-y" genre. To research civics games, I played PIRATES OF THE PREAMBLE and American Symbols Game. Links below:
http://www.texaslre.org/PiratePreamble/pirates_game.html
http://www.texaslre.org/asymbols/symbolsgameintro.html

Pirates was okay, but the fact you had to restart after missing a question was a drag. Symbols was really good, though how many times are they going to use the Liberty Bell as an answer?

Anyways, I'm hoping my game will come out awesome, and am psyched for this project!

Intro to Flash

I know I haven't updated my blog in a while. Last thursday and friday were snow days, and monday and tuesday I was preoccupied with our guest. He was teaching us some basic Flash stuff. It was actually pretty cool, and ten times easier than C++. I'm hoping to get good with Flash fast, so I can make good games on my own, without having to download files off Globaloria or be shown how to do it (not that I don't appreciate it).

Late Game Reviews

I apologize for the delay, and I present my game reviews from a week ago:

Review 1-Professional
Darfur is Dying
http://www.darfurisdying.com/
* The game teaches you about the troubles Darfurians are going through and how it's like to live in a Darfur village. The designer seems to want to teach potential players about the suffering of those people, through a fun half fast paced action, half strategy sim game.
* It looks nice, that's for sure.
* Pretty good, but moving around the village was a pain.
* Improving the village movement would make this game much more enjoyable.
* Well...I'd love to learn how to do all of it, but specifically, the character selection and the sim thing.

Review 2-User Made
Super Toaster
http://www.myglife.org/usa/wv/resources/en/play/Educational/supertoaster
* You're supposed to learn about alternative energy, but all I got was jumping trees, Frogger style street crossing, and the lack of a supposed toaster (save for the game menu)
* The graphics were okay. Can't complain seeing as the user had only limited resources.
* The gameplay was semi-good, but it changed more than once mid game.
* 1.) Keep the same gameplay throughout. Consistency is gold. The constant change was annoying.
2.) What's with the toaster? Was it even present in the game?
* Not much specifically. I guess the movement and object interaction (like how the cars hit the tree caused game over)

This review won't make a whole lot of sense unless you know the outline we were supposed to use for the project. To see the outline, check the globaloria website.

Blog Customization - Blog List

Today we added a blog list. It was relatively easy, and I only hit one "road bump". We've had snow days forever now, so I've got some catching up to do. I'll add my Globaloria critques to my next post (class is almost over, cursed 2 hour delays).

Just Another Day

Alright, so I got nothing important done in my wiki today, but that's because we had a guest speaker. She had some cool stuff to show off, so it wasn't a waste I guess. Hopefully I'll accomplish something worth writing tomorrow.

NEW BLOG HERE!

I just made this blog, and I don't know what to write, so...I'm jus' gonna wing it.

This project seems like it's gonna be pretty cool. I keep screwing up editing my wiki, but I expected some error. The blog, however, is relatively easy.

As for my potential game, I'd like to make...a good one. I don't want to end up as one of those bad examples teachers use to show kids what NOT to do.