Add Keyboard Control

Already done the controls, along with sprinting. I just need add the obstacles. The obstacles will be tricky as when you touch them, they will need to put you in a fixed position, but not as to trap you.

Move with Game Loop

I almost always put my code in the "onEnterFrame" part. In my hidden objects game, the only code outside was code to preset the game. So in this case, I already had the moving part in the code along with a sprinting move. I started an obstacle, but the "_root" code has a bug that I'm having trouble with. Other than that, I'm fine.

Program first action

Since I've been here since last year, my coding experience is alright, so I went straight to programming the character once I finished it. I got the standard character movements in, so it moves left, right, up, and down, but to add to that, I added a "sprint", where you hold down shift along with any other key. The type of code I used was:

if(Key.isDown(Key.[Any Arrow Key])){
character._x -= [Number]
}

and the sprinting aspect adds more to that number, so it would be like this in the end:

if(Key.isDown(Key.LEFT)){
character._x -= 6
}
if(Key.isDown(Key.SHIFT) and Key.isDown(Key.LEFT)){
character._x -= 10
}

So, this allows the character to move left and sprint left. I also added the code to make the character spin left or right whenever you go that way.

character._xscale = -100

Makes the character look the opposite way than where it is currently facing.

Create Movie Clip

The character, BOT, is a nanobot tasked in finding and catching an corrupt nanobot. The corrupt nanobot was originally a top secret nanobot, but it was corrupted and is going to fall in the hands that others don't want it in. BOT was made to stop and capture the corrupt nanobot, but at their sheer size, they also need to battle with the atoms, which have become obstacles to them.

Paper Prototype

For my paper prototype, my idea was pretty solid, so it didn't solve any problems, as they are imaginary. The only thing that the paper prototype helped with was giving a visual concept, but I'm not one to trace. I find that more time consuming.

Plan Game Scene

My vision for my game is where you are a nanobot tasked with finding and capturing an infected nanobot. You will navigate through atoms and molecules as you are at the atomic level, and the enemy will try to stop you by creating obstacles out of the atoms, such as forming mixtures that you must split, or making you form mixtures to cross a path. It will also lay laser mines that slowly degrade health, and bombs that do splash, and more damage depending on your location relative to it. What excites me is the fact of chasing a small robot through atoms and forming and splitting mixtures, and so I can attempt to teach the topic better.

Choose Learning Topic 2

I'm using the similar topic from my last game, Missing Matter, except it is going to fit in the genre of an action game. I'm am going to use this game as a better way of teaching my topic of matter, as in my old game, I didn't get to my game topic exactly, and my goal here is to teach it better.

Present Hidden Objects Game

My game is called Missing Matter, and it is about collecting matter lost around a laboratory setting. The big idea is teaching people that you need to put specific pieces of elements and compounds to form a mixture, not just plop things in and hope for the best. It's like making a cake; put the tight ingredients in, and you'll get a delicious treat. Pour mud in an bowl and you'll have... well. The research I did was finding out that atoms can not be viewed with a regular magnifying glass, you have to view it with a magnifying glass viewing the atomic scale. My idea changed from being a game teaching the difference between atoms, molecules, mixtures, compounds, elements and what not to teaching how to make a mixture and avoid collecting wrong ingredients. My next steps for my game are improving design, making it more smooth, and going back to my original learning goal.

Play to Learn 2

I didn't learn much from these games, but the story, learning content, and animations and drawings. What I did see was that I can use multiple character choices, so you can either have more health or more speed. This can interact with players in a good way as they can be what suits them better.

Adding Game Ingredients

Most of my problems with the game ingredients were the cause of other ones. My win screen originally showed up every time you collected one object, no matter what. I looked at the hidden score to try to fix the problem, but only "score" showed up. I got that fixed, and then I tried again and found out that the object still added to the score even after it was found. That is really what troubled me with my extra game ingredients.

Scoring in my Game

My game is not using score this time to tell you how well you are doing. Scroll over an incorrect object and you immediate lose. The scoring this time will be used as the way to win, but the objectives list will tell you how well you are doing and guides the player. Once you scroll over and object that is correct, the hidden timer will go up, and when you get a specific "score", notified by the objectives list as what you have gotten, you win. The only real problem I came upon was making the score. I had so much trouble , but when I got help, the game had a bug where even when the object was gone, you still got points. I edited that and finally got the game to work.

Hidden Objects Blog

To code my hidden objects was no big deal, but I changed my way of collecting them. Instead of clicking on the objects, which would be hard since I hid the mouse, you just need to scroll over them with "The Particle Collector". How it works is you must "equip" it, then look around the room at the now visible atoms. Scroll over them in order to win.

What I plan to code next is the objectives board. I don't want to go to the scoreboard since you won't be collecting every atom on the screen. It would be an unnecessary feature, so completing the objectives in order and without collecting anything else allows you to win.

Draw Background

Drawing in Flash is easier since I last used it, as I understand the tools better, but I still have trouble in general with drawing on the computer. On paper, I can draw a car without any trouble, while on the computer, even with filler tools, tracer tools, and other stuff, it still takes a while. My background is not that bad as compared to my last year's hidden object's background look. Boy, was that annoying to make.

Using Flash... Again

So I've started using Flash again. The same as always. I kind of want to use another language to make games but I can see some reason why we use Flash. That is what I feel about Flash this year.

For me, there are still plenty of challenging spots I've come across. I still have trouble with timers, magnifying glasses, and score boards. I can work with these by finding help, but it is still stuff I have trouble with. The easiest parts for me include moving objects with animations and code, drawing, making hit boxes, and some other stuff. This is what I find the most challenging and easiest.

Paper Prototype

Here is my Paper Prototype.It isn't the best but it works. The paper prototype is what can give and early visual to the game maker and the player. It gave me a feel for what the environment we will be in and what will be there. The video also shows how it should be played without the story implemented yet. Some problems the paper prototype solved for me are problems such as where props and hidden objects will be placed. It also solves my problem of what will the scene feel like and what it will influence.

Plan Game Scene

After choosing my topic, chemistry, I need to make a scene that matches with the topic. My vision for the game is that it will take place in a laboratory. The laboratory will be in a pristine shape where it is clean and spotless. The props will include shelves of science books, tables and counters with vials and strange science contraptions, and computers. The objects that I will hide will be objects that are a specific type of matter and decoys will include the wrong types of matter.

What excites me about this game is that the game scene matched the topic. The lab is a perfect place to find chemistry occurring. The other thing that excites me is the scenery. The scenery should influence players to look for stuff and admire the sights in the setting. Finally, the objects will cleverly blend in where they are in plain sight such as vials but you have to study them before clicking so you don't click the incorrect item.

Choose Learning Topic

I like the idea I chose because it forms a good theme for science. Matter is an important subject and I believe people must know about it. That is why my idea for a chemistry formed. The setting of a should match with the theme and it should be more of modern or futuristic theme to match with science. It also should explain through being fun that chemistry is important and isn't easy.

Play to Learn Part 1

I learned from the games I played for Play to Learn Part 1 about game design in a review like manner. Some game ingredients I had forgotten made me remember what a good idea they were. I did learn a new thing where I could use in an interesting way are when finding a thing, you are given a small message that says you are correct/incorrect and maybe a brief history or reason for your result.

I can use the new game ingredients in a game lots of ways. I could make a scoreboard with objectives and a message box that pops up telling you about your result and why. I could also use a timer, scoreboard, and text-boxes to guide you along. My last idea is having points on a scoreboard direct you along or help somehow in the game to boost your character's stats or abilities.

Course Overview

This year in Globaloria I am looking forward to making the team game. I want to make a fun educational game that involves science or mathematics to teach players about certain topics while they play a fun, interesting game. I also want to learn more about Flash so I can make an awesome game.  

Join the Community

Wiki help is what we are going to use to get help, but it isn't always reliable or understandable. We should talk to friends and classmates for help when Wiki Help is unclear. One way they can help you on projects is they can provide information or help with code. They can also guide you through the topics on the Globaloria Wiki. They can even show you errors in code and on your projects page.

I can help classmates on Globaloria by directing them through the lessons so they aren't stuck. I can look at their code and if it is clear to me, I can help them by showing them where their error is. Lastly, I can show them where to be an what to do when to do it so they don't get confused or left behind.

The Single Story

A single story is a single perspective, or view, of a topic. What it means by having a single story is that you only see one side of a topic, like a stereotype. For example: A single story about computer users is that they are nerds. That means that some people only think that computer users are stereotypical when in fact not all computer users are nerds.

A single story that I know of is that Matthew only codes. What is missing is that we don't know what else he does. Asking Matthew what he does may result in giving you another perspective. Solving single stories can be solved by asking for information about the topic from educated sources and studying about the topic.

Another single story I've heard of is that everyone who plays video games plays Minecraft. I learned that story partly by knowing lots of people who also play Minecraft. Later on, I met people who didn't play or disliked the game and that gave me a second perspective on everyone playing games.

A game can help users experience a game in many perspectives by showing all the ways a place can be viewed at. Playing a game with a castle may influence a medieval game style, but it's about time travel. It can show further into the by telling you the pros and cons of that topic. The game style influences the user in a way, but it should modify itself to provide a good, multiple perspective game.

Introduction to Globaloria

I am Dylan and this is my second year in Globaloria. I do feel like "Why did I join again" but I should make the best I can. Although this is my second year, I am looking forward to creating a fun, educational game to inspire the new Globaloria students. I hope that this blog should help and give the new Globaloria students feedback and ideas for them. I can also use this blog to show people how far you can go with Globaloria even with being limited to making Educational Games.

Game Concept

Our team's game concept is about space facts. We will treat it like a game to explore our solar system. Our goal is to teach players about the features of our solar system such as our sun, gas and rock planets, asteroids, and dwarf planets. We will teach them by giving facts and hints and then you use the information learned to solve questions. From my past games, I have learned not to put too much into my game. I also learned much about the coding and ways to improve game design.

Present and Publish Game

       Our game, from Surprising Innovations, is a science game about biology. It is used to explain how plants survive and function with cells, and in this case, plant cells. It also is supposed to teach how chloroplasts and mitochondria function with cellular respiration and photosynthesis. It also teaches how viruses and infected cells work and how plants defeat them.

       Our team had the vision where you had 5 levels, each where a virus attack came randomly. Also, we thought of having a working day and night cycle. The player was supposed to complete photosynthesis and cellular respiration. We changed because of the tight time schedule so we never completed those visions. We got as far as adding a working virus and infected cell enemy.

      Our team was composed of three people: Me, Dylan, Luke, and Izzy. I was the main coder of our game. I made the viruses work and the game move from the main screen to other screens like the help screen or the first level. Luke was our sound engineer and team page editor. He added music to our game with the help of Izzy. He also kept our team page up-to-date by uploading new files and swf's. Izzy was our artist and pseudocode writer. She drew many scenes in our game, like the main screen. She also wrote pseudocode when needed.

        We researched about plant cells and viruses in our game. We knew many of the concepts about plant cells, but we learned a little more. We didn't know much about viruses so we had to research.

       The user can navigate through pages, move their plant cell, and "collect" resources. We did not complete the game and the closet we got was creating pages that you could navigate through and moving the plant cell.

        We did not see anything that could offend anyone in the game but our easter egg. We wanted to add that in to support a friend and to be funny. All other things in our game we believe you would have to try to be offended. For the "could be offensive" easter egg, to prevent offensiveness is to remove it.

       Some Flash resources we found useful were moving objects, drag and drop, and music. We used moving objects for navigating throughout pages and for enemy movement. We used drag and drop as WIP to move resources from the screen to the chloroplast screen. Music was added, just for fun, so you could listen to "epic" music.

       The most challenging topic for us was finding out how 
Overcoming Challenges: What curriculum topic has been most difficult for you so far? How did you overcome this difficulty? What programming features are you most proud of in your game?
Next Steps: What are you going to do with your game next? Who do you plan to show your game to? How will your game have an impact on your community? How could it change your school or neighborhood? Who will it help?

WIP surprising innovations update

For our game, we have gotten enemy and player movement. Our sky is able to move right to left to mimic the sun and moon rising in the east and west via animation. And we finally made it so you can navigate through some pages such as the main page and the help page. One problem I'm facing is that the help button breaks if I try to extend the key frames of the button or help page to last longer.

Game Design Update

For our game, we are having a hard time primarily on lack of time. One concept we are finding hard to teach are how to defend your plant from viruses. We have not found any sources that could teach us this topic. Also, we do have sources and knowledge for plant cells; however, we do not know how we could implement them in.

Assemble Game Presentation

        Our presentation didn't go well. First off, we were unprepared. Next, our game DEMO pages were out of order. We never read all the game pitch slides. So I do not believe our game is successful.

Assemble Game DEMO

          Our game demo is not good. We got our sounds, buttons, and animations in but forgot the pitch. Also, there is no way to see all the slides and our sounds don't work. Overall, I don't think our game has come out very well.

Add Animations

I worked on the animations and didn't get to where I wanted to be but it's something. I got the sky to move from right to left to show day and night appear. The win screen had an animation that I need to work on but it works. Thanks to Luke for helping me using a motion tween.

Add Sounds

I didn't really do anything with the sound except listen to the music. Luke added the sound buttons and Izzy made the music. Although we got the buttons working, Luke couldn't get the music to play.

Add buttons

I did not really do anything with the buttons. In the end, Luke added the buttons with the sounds. I at first started by creating a help button that changed pages but it overlapped all the other buttons. So I stopped and worked on something else.

Game Pitch

Our game pitch is not that good for now. First off, we do have an original idea; controlling a plant cell to grow a plant. And we do have our pitch. But our problem is that we don't have a complete main game scene. Also, not all our group members completely participate. We didn't have enough time to finish out game pitch, which also did not help. I really think that our group isn't doing great. If anyone can help, please comment.

Primary Game Screen

My team and I have worked pretty well. We have discussed what we would animate in our main screen. We've agreed on having clouds move, the day and night transition with the sun and the moon moving. We decided that Luke and Izzy will draw the animations, and I will animate them. We hope our game will turn out well with these animations.

Tracing Paper Prototype

      I had an easy time tracing the paper prototype. Luckily, my teammates helped out with tracing so we finished by the due date. I learned personally that I could use the rectangle tools and improved my knowledge of drawing in Flash. I also improved my skills with the pen tool. I believe I learned a lot more about drawing in Flash from this than I knew on my first game. Izzy traced the main page and the team's information page, Luke drew the first level and the lose screen, and I drew level 2, 3, 4, and 5; the win screen and the help screen.

Vlog

This is my groups Vlog: