Are You OKay? Video

Twine: HTML, CSS and Java Script.

Twine: Conditions, Datamaps and Dynamic Links.

So far I’ve learnt the basics of navigating through Twine. How to create new passages, how to record the amount of times the passage is visited, how to send a player back and forth through the game, how to display a text only once and how to create an inventory.

“Caravan” Final Demo and Commentary

Game Play Demo

Here’s our initial Game Play demo:

Our First Paper Prototype

This is our initial idea of how the game’s going to work before we start developing the demo in Unity. Some of the issues we came across were how the player moves through the map with the Art Style we’ve chosen, and how the dungeon works. Luckily we made this paper prototype first so that we could iron our the creases in our ideas before further development.

The “Caravan” Project

For our first game stream assignment, ‘Oolook Games’ gave us a brief for a game design they would like us to present to them in groups. We were provided with a story line, character and main concept that we could develop and produce. The game was to be centered around financial learning.

I was the Artist and project manager for this group assignment, and I learnt so much. Mostly it was to do with really understanding what your client wants, I know now from this experience how to shape my art to fit the brief. As a team I think we did great with time management, and we came up with a clear developed idea.

Here’s a Link to Our Group Blog where we put all our ideas;

http://caravandesign.tumblr.com/

Foundations of Programming: Fundamentals with Simon Allardice

http://www.lynda.com/Developer-Programming-Foundations-tutorials/Using-exercise-files/83603/90428-4.html

I decided to take this course as it can help my understanding in the fundamentals of code so that when taking other courses about mobile apps, i’m more inclined to know what’s going on.

This course taught me about Statements, Variables, Functions and Conditions which are present in every developing software.

To help me understand this the course taught me a few simple JavaScript codes using html webpage format:

Formal Abstract Design Tools by Doug Church

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131764/formal_abstract_design_tools.php

Reading the article from my understanding Formal Abstract Design Tools (FADT) is an idea of creating a tool/language used by game players, designers and developers to understand the fundamental aspects of the game more formally. It’l help designers identify what the game is about, what goals/vision you have for the game and what is fun about it instantly, and in a way that is better understood by other people.

I like this idea because It helps designers pick apart their ideas, innovations and mistakes and put them into a form that is easier to understand so that the designer can learn and benefit from them. The article suggests that a ‘precise vocabulary’ can improve the understanding of game creation. Using these tools can help designers shape your game.

Exploring MIT App Inventor

Exploring MIT App Inventor is a tutorial within Lydia.com’s Simple Android Development Tools Course by Michael Lehman.

This course taught us how to use the webpage and app MIT App Inventor 2 to create mobile apps for androids with a simplified version of coding.

This version represented the code in what they called ‘blocks’ which explains in words and shapes where certain control, logic, math, text, lists, colours, variables and procedures fit in within coding your buttons, texts and sound etc. There was also a design page and a emulator available to make the process easier to understand and so you can see results quickly.

This tutorial gave me a great amount of understanding towards code as it visually broke down the basic formulas to broaden my understanding of the structure of code.

The Origins Of Serious Games Reading

This article covers where the term ‘serious games’ comes from in a very detailed and well researched way. It explains that the term was created as a way to label these types of games so they can sell, and be defined by what they are – which is meant for a purpose other than entertainment. In saying that it also points out that serious games, although it wasn’t a classified type of game yet, it had still been around since the beginning of game and play. Which I agree completely, in a sense many people see serious games at educational or games that are meant for more entertainment – in which almost all games have that to an extent. There are real world skills that we learn from almost all games – to experiment, explore, discover, problem solve and be creative. The term ‘serious games’ doesn’t only mean that only those games can teach you something or bring you more than education. It’s more a category of games that specifically is designed for another purpose other than entertainment – that its main goal is something else. Some of those focuses have been recorded in this article as education, healthcare, defence, art & culture, religion, corporate training, advertising. A question that brought up the need for the term ‘serious games’ “To illustrate a scientific research study, to train professionals and to broadcast a message: Were video games solely meant for entertainment?” 

Serious Games Introduction

In the wise words of Wikipedia, “Serious games are simulations of real-world events or processes designed for the purpose of solving a problem. Although serious games can be entertaining, their main purpose is to train or educate users, though it may have other purposes, such as marketing or advertisement.”

Which I think sums it up pretty nicely. It’s basically games that are made for a purpose other than just to entertain.

Serious Games – Benefits And Techniques To Education In Games

Having education in games can benefit society enormously, and it should be easy seeing as instinct to play is hardwired into us. We instinctively play to learn. The question is how do we create a game that can combine education and fun without modern society being bored with it. We need games that can tap into our instinct to play to learn so we can enjoy learning.

In games we strive to pick ourselves up when we fall – and we need that in education. In education we need to duplicate that rapid feedback cycle that allows students to focus on fixing their mistakes and conquering the fear of failure. Yes games in education can make a subject more engaging, but also it can encourage students to take risks that lead to discovery, remove the fear of failure and prepare to innovate for the future. Games should be designed, are most of the time designed to encourage us to Experiment, Explore, Discover and Love Learning. We only need to notice and channel it so we can benefit from it.