Today is our final day together! We coded, we shared, we played.
Have a great rest of the summer everyone!
Happy Coding!
Note: Starting August 1, 2014, email me at [email protected] (the [email protected] will not be viable).
Today is our final day together! We coded, we shared, we played.
Have a great rest of the summer everyone! Happy Coding! Note: Starting August 1, 2014, email me at [email protected] (the [email protected] will not be viable).
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Today we shared our games with a whole new audience of players -- the students taking the SimCity urban planning course down the hall from us. They got to try out our games and we got to try out their city designs!
Today was a day to put final touches on our games and polish them up to share with students from other courses tomorrow and Friday.
Looking ahead and beyond this course, students were introduced to and encouraged to explore resources for learning other languages and game creation platforms.
If you like... ...Interactive fiction and Inform7, try Twine. ...Gamestar Mechanic, try Construct 2 or RPG Maker (both PC only, trials are free). ...SCRATCH, try AppInventor (also by MIT), Blockly (by Google), Stencyl, or Unity3D. ...Arduino, try Khan Academy's Javascript** tutorials or Processing. **ScriptCraft, the Minecraft mod making utility Jon mentioned uses Javascript. Here's the article listing free game development software that I shared in class today. Students finalized their final projects and updated their portfolios. They also created 'ads' highlighting the best aspects of their games to encourage fellow students and visitors to play them.
Now that we know a few different languages and have studied game design, it's time to create a final project!
The students chose between Inform7, SCRATCH, and Arduino and designed and coded an original game. At the end of the week, the morning class shared their work with visiting elementary and high school teachers from Korea. After learning how to code our player to 'move around' the Meggy Jr board, we added the challenge of a maze with a goal at the end. Everyone got a chance to design and code their own maze as well as what would happen when the player reached the goal!
Today, we continued coding for the Meggy Jr's and in honor of the 4th, checked out different ways of programming fireworks using SCRATCH.
Time to try out a new language! This week we started coding with the Arduino programming language. The Arduino language is implemented in C/C++ and is related to Processing language, which is based on Java. C++ is used to develop both systems and application software, high-performance server and client applications as well as games! Java is often listed as one of the most in-demand programming languages. Java is used to code software for applications, web-based content, and games! We are using the Arduino language to program games for the handheld device Meggy Jr RGB. After playing a couple games on the Meggy Jr's, our first challenge was to simply make a light blink. A blinking light is the 'Hello World!' of electronics! Then we wrote programs to have the Meggy Jr display our initials or a pattern or image. Today we welcomed Jason and Jon from DevLeague! Two great guys who program for a living. We had so many questions for them! After an awesome talk story session, they stayed and tried our games! Mahalo Jason & Jon!
Thank you for showing us your video of the games you made. Your games were cool. -Jenny K. XD Thank you for visiting. I really enjoyed hearing and seeing your work. I thought the gum test was funny and different from other strategies. -Ethan Thank you for teaching us about what is a good code language to use! I will definitely try haXe and JavaScript. -Bradley Thank you for coming to our classroom! I will make sure I will try to play the game ‘To the Moon’.-Christine Thank you for telling us ways to debug our programs. The rubber duck was an interesting technique.-Bennet Thank you for telling us what the gum test was. I had a great time. -Nicole Thank you for visiting our classroom. You helped me realize that you should never give up, just take your time and then you will finish the project and be proud of it.- Kimberly Thank you for coming to our classroom. I really enjoyed hearing about other type of languages that I have never heard of, but now I am planning to go further into learning other languages and creating a lot more games. -Megan Thank you for coming to our classroom. I really enjoyed your games.-Tyler Thanks for coming! You’re really inspiring!- Kawai Thank you coming to our class! I thought it was fun to have you there, and I enjoyed learning from you. I liked the idea of the gum beta testing because it was an interesting theory.- Jonah Thank you for coming to our class. I really enjoy the game Polyn because now my sister can play that. It seems really fun being a coder. Thanks again,Hayden Thank you for coming and telling us about how you work!! That piece of advice about taking a break is working (I am doing it right now!!). Thanks again!!! Lura Thank you so much for coming and telling us the different strategies, they have really helped me a lot in coding my game.-Michael Thank you for testing my games and for teaching us how to make better games.-Jared Thank you for telling us about different code and websites that might help us make our own websites and games.-Lucas Thanks for telling us about haXe! Julian Thank you for coming and telling us what you guys do and some tips.~Jason Thank you for visiting our classroom. Thanks for sharing about the gum test. Even though I shouldn’t tell my beta testers hints about my game, I do it anyway. :( But since I know about the gum test, I won’t anymore! Also, your games are awesome! (The rubber ducky trick is great!) ~Makena :D Thank you for for coming to our class and teaching us about how we can apply coding to a real life situation.-Brycen Thank you for showing us your games. It was awesome! Thanks for also showing us Javascript!-Rylan Thank you for teaching us about javascript and about what you do.-Cole Nagata Thank you for devoting your time to talk to us. I will be using the ducky test in the near future - Corey Thank you for teaching/showing us really cool games. -michael Thank you for showing us the DevLeague Junior courses, maybe I’ll try the course. Thank you for teaching us about game and web designing. Thank you for coming to our classroom. I learned a lot about video games, and how to make them. Thank you for teaching us all about coding. It was really fun. I really liked the rubber duck thing.-Steven Thank you for coming to us and teaching us programming and games that you made it was fun to learn stuff William C Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to come and talk to us about coding :D! I wish you guys the best!!!!!!! -Skyler Thank you for coming to our classroom and talking to us about video games. Games can be used for so many different things like teaching toddlers about cooperation, to getting engaged, or just for entertainment. -Alyssa Thank you for showing some of the games that you made. I think you have inspired me to become a video game designer when I grow up. I will try to learn how to use all of the game program languages.-Mila. Thank you for showing us what some different coding languages are and what they can do. Javascript looks like it is the most used; thank you for showing us what you have made and some different entertainment types and some coding.-Michael. Thank you so much for coming here and telling us about what it's like being a programmer. I loved the way you guys talked story instead of just answering questions, and learned a lot. I will be exploring all of the things you mentioned (such as HAXE). Have a nice day! - Bobby Thanks for inspiring the kids and answering so many of their questions. Your examples and stories reinforce the importance and usefulness of the skills and processes the students have been learning and practicing. Thanks also for sharing the gum test and rubber ducky debugging techniques. Your visit has inspired the students. They are seeing coding and game design as more than just a course, but skills they can use in life and even have as a career. MAHALO! ~ Mary |