Game Pitch

One of the things to do on the team page was to answer the "Game Pitch" questions.
Here are the questions and my answers:


Game Pitch

1. Game Pitch (Answer questions and make notes below, then add to your Flash file)

• Intro screen: Game title and screen shot or artwork from game The name of my game is: PET SAFETY 9-1-1.

• Team Introduction: Give the names and roles of all team members (no last names) The people in my group are only me, Kayelin. I have the role of doing everything in this group because I am the only member. This role may include creating the game, blogging about assignments, and making all of the decisions.
• Audience: Who are you designing your game for, and why? I am designing my game for all children of my age because my game is based on math questions and pet safety facts that are usually taught in my grade.
• Gameplay: What does the player see and do? What are the rules and how do you win? What is the goal of the game? The player takes the action of keeping the pet of their choice away from any hazards by clicking on them. The player also takes the role of answering exponent equations. The rules are that you keep the pet away from any hazards the player sees in the pet’s virtual home. You win this game by eliminating all the hazards known in the pet’s virtual home. The goal of my game is to let kids understand what can be harmful to their pets in the real world and to teach the curriculum of exponents by giving the player practice and tips throughout the game.
• Learning Goal: What will the player learn by playing this game? The player will learn about hazards that can be found in a common household that can hurt their pet and different skills and tips for solving exponent equations.
• Fun Factor: What makes your game fun for the player? I think that getting to choose your own pet and working to keep it safe is what is fun to the player.
• Smart Factor: What does your game teach? What can someone learn by playing it? My game teaches pet safety and exponent problem solving skills. I think someone can learn to keep certain hazards out of the way of their pets and simple exponent equation skills.
• Style Factor: What kind of graphic/animation style will you use? What kind of sounds? My game will use movement by the mouse. I will have different sounds such as an ambulance siren, wind blowing, and animal sounds.
• Originality Factor: What makes your game special and unique? Why will it sell? I think the social issue and math concept is what makes my game unique because it can teach people to care more for their pets and to realize their mistakes in solving exponents. I think it will sell because it can educate and inform young minds.

2. Sample of Gameplay

• Sample game scenes: One or more game scenes containing artwork, navigation (buttons), animation and sound
• Some game code for one level: Something to indicate what the full experience will be (it’s okay if the game is not fully working yet)

Scene 1: stop();
info.onRelease = function() {
gotoAndPlay("*info1*");
}
Scene 2: stop();

Design Plan

Right now, I am working on the Design Plan for Globaloria on my team page. Because of this, I have progressed in my knowledge of creating my game. I think that because this assignment helps you create your main scenes for your game, it will make it take a shorter period of time to create the final game.

Title/Start Scene
This is the scene where most of the gameplay happens.




1. Describe this scene: What do you see? 2. List of Assets for this scene: (Note: You may not need all these asset types.)

• Background The background will be the color blue.
• Character(s) The characters in this scene are a cat and a dog.
• Object(s) The objects in this scene are a cat, dog, shot (title of game), an info. button, and a play button.
• Animation(s) The animations of this game will be that the dog's tail is wagging and the cat's mouth is opening and closing.
• Sound(s) The sounds in this scene will be based on an ambulance siren.
• Button(s) The buttons on this scene will be the info. button which tells you about the game and the play button which lets you start the game.
• Text The text for this scene will be the title and the names of the buttons.

3. Describe the action in this scene:

• What actions must be completed by the player in this scene? The actions that must be completed by the player on this scene are in which you have to read the info. and then move-on and start to play my game.
• What controls does the player use to complete each action in the scene? The control the player will need to use is the mouse which will allow the player to click on the buttons.
• Is there a scoring or feedback system? How does it work? How is it displayed? There is no scoring or feedback in this scne because it is my menu.
• Are there characters? How many? Does the player control any character (how)? Can the player interact with any character(s)? How? The only two characters on this scene are the cat and dog. The player does not control the characters in this scene. The player cannot interact with any of the characters in this scene.
• How do you win the activity in this scene? There is nothing to win in this scene because it is my main menu scene which is at the very beggining.
• What happens when you win? Nothing happens when you win because there is nothing to win in this scene.
• How do you lose the activity in this scene? You cannot win or lose in this scene because it is my "main menu" scene.
• What happens when you lose? I have made it in my game to were you cannot lose in this scene because it does not involve interactment.
• How does the player navigate from this scene to other scenes? The player can navigate to different scenes by clicking the buttons which are named info. and play. The info. button navigates you to a page that tells you about the game and its objectives. The play button lets you begin playing my game.
• Can the player quit the scene or game from here? How? The player cannot quit the game or scene from here. 

Adding A Scene

     I think I am using visual storytelling through my sequence of scenes to help players learn about my topic by letting the player keep their pet of their choice away from normal household hazards found. I think this is using visual storytelling because it is letting the player see and relate to how I feel pets should be treated and be taken care of. An example of a game I have played through "Playing to Learn" that uses storytelling to teach a concept is Climate Challenge because it seems to tell the story of the President of the United Nations and his/her responsibilities, duties, popularity for votes, and issues. Other narrative games have influenced mine by making me want my game to contain interactional play and a lesson/concept to teach.

Drawing A Scene

     My game topic is on pet safety(social issue) and exponents(math concept). A new idea or concept I have learned from this activity is making objects move in flash. I came to learn this concept by my teacher and the mini-game project both telling me codes. My projects page was a helpful resource because I could always go back to the mini-game project page for more instructions and codes. The mini-game project page is a very informative and trustworthy source because it was created by flash experts.

Paper Prototyping Video Blog

The Big Idea: Describe your team's game topic. What is the most important concept you want your players to learn?

My game’s team topic is on Pet Safety and Exponents. In my game, you are using Pet Safety by keeping your pet away from common household hazards. I want my player to learn how to keep their real pet at home safer. Also in my game, you are solving Exponents after you “delete” a hazard. I want the player to get practice solving Exponent equations so he/she improves in math a little better.

I think the most important concept I want my player to learn is to solve “Exponents” because my game is mainly about teaching a math concept and I feel it is important for many students to improve in their capability of solving Exponent equations correctly.
    

                   Making Decisions as a Team: How did your individual ideas from "Imagining Your Game" come together for your team game topic? How did your team decide the topic?

I am actually the only member of my group. So, making decisions about the game came very easy to me. My ideas came together by deciding which of my ideas were best.

I decided the topic would be based on Pet Safety and Exponents because I love animals and think it is important to inform people of how they should treat their own pets. I think it was important to add Exponents as a math concept because many others in my grade struggle to answer exponent equations correctly.

                   Roles & Responsibilities: Tell us more about your team process. Please each talk about your specific roles, and how you work together.

Right now, I am working on drawing all my 19 scenes from paper prototyping. I have also created my team page and blogged about drawing my scenes for paper prototyping.

My role in the group is to everything because I am the only member of the team just like the rest of my fellow students in Globaloria. This job includes making the game, blogging about it, creating the flash files and adding actions, and so on.

                  

                   Research: What kind of research went into the way you will express the game topic?

I researched through the internet to find websites that related to my concepts. For example, I found a site that was about “Common Household Hazards for Pets” and it helped me to draw different hazards into flash on my “house” scene.

                  
            The User Experience: Explain the game play. What actions does the player take in the game? Has this changed since you first started planning your game? Why?

In my game, you get to pick the pet of your choice and then you go to your virtual home and have to eliminate the hazards you see. After you choose a hazard, you will be notified whether your answer is wrong or correct and you get to go where ever you are supposed to after the scoring of your answer. After you have been notified, you will have to answer an exponent equation. There will be more exponent equations throughout the game. You have to eliminate all of the hazards in order to end the game.

The player takes the action of deleting all the hazards out of the way so the pet of their choice has a safe environment.

This has changed since the beginning of planning my game because I first wanted to do different levels but then thought that it would not work out for my game because it is based on one household for one pet and levels would make it to were the pet would have different homes at once. To me, this is not apart of pet safety.

        Mastering Flash: What Flash resources have been most helpful in your learning so far, and why? How did you locate these resources?

I think that the video on the “Drawing a Scene” wiki website page was the most helpful in flash because it demonstrated what you can make with flash and the tools that can help you improve your creations.

I located this resource by my teacher giving my class the assignment of watching the video.

Overcoming Challenges: What curriculum topic has been most difficult for you so far? How did you overcome this difficulty?

I think the “Mini Game Project” was the most difficult curriculum so far because it was the first flash project my class had done and I was not familiar with flash including its many tools, codes, actions, and layers.

I overcame this activity by getting more practice with other projects such as “Action Script” and “Drawing a Scene.” 

How Did Thanksgiving Start.......?

  



   Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the U.S. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to the English God in 1621 when the English colonists and native Wampanoag Indians, or native people of North America, ate together during the harvest celebration.

Although juicy and tender butterball turkeys are the main cuisine of today's Thanksgiving celebrations, these birds were NOT the most popular centerpieces on the first Thanksgiving tables in 1621.

     In 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians celebrated the first Thanksgiving, they were gobbling up many more foods than just turkey. Since lobster, goose, duck, seal, eel, and cod were plentiful during this time, these foods were most likely the main courses of this first feast. Deer meat and wild fowl are the only two items that historians know for sure were menu of this autumn celebration.

     So how did the turkey become the main mascot of modern-day Thanksgiving if we don't know for certain that turkeys were at this first feast?

     One story tells of how Queen Elizabeth of 16th century England was chowing down on roast goose during a harvest festival. When news was delivered to her that the Spanish Armada had sunk on it way to attack her beloved England, the queen was so pleased that she order a second goose to celebrate the great news. Now, the goose is the favorite bird at harvest time in England. When the Pilgrims arrived in America from England, roasted turkey replaced roasted goose as the main cuisine because wild turkeys were more abundant and easier to find than geese.

- google searched at http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/turkey.asp and http://www.suite101.com/content/how-did-thanksgiving-start-giving-thanks-for-creators-gifts-a272845

My Thanksgiving Traditions!

           

     "My Thanksgiving Traditions" are very similar to others. In the morning of Thanksgiving Day, my little brothers, my parents, and I watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on television. In the afternoon, my family and I gather at my house or my grandparent's house and everyone feasts. Our meal usually includes turkey, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, apple salad, dill pickles, celery with peanut butter or cream cheese, and olives. It all tastes so good! After everyone eats, we usually play card or board games, watch sports on television, or eat desert! My grandma usually makes pumpkin and pecan pie for desert. I love Thanksgiving! Sometimes, we have to travel to different places and states to join other family members. For example, sometimes my family and I go to Hendersonville, North Carolina to visit my grandparents. All of this is what I do on Thanksgiving Day! This is my family and Thanksgiving Day tradition! 

Paper Prototyping

    
  





      My team's game topic is based on Pet Safety (social issue) and Exponents (math concept). The most important concept I want the players to learn would be my math concept which is exponents. I think this is the most important because many kids my age have trouble solving exponent problems and the idea of the game is particially to give them practice solving exponent equations. Animal Safety is important too though because it is important that people of all ages know how to treat animals right and safely. My ideas from Imagining Your Game came together by me deciding which ideas and links I like which will help me create the game. My team decided that the two topics would be on pet safety and exponents as the social issue and math concept because I like animals and think people should treat them fairly and I feel that my other classmates have trouble with exponents. My team role is to do everything because I am the only one in my team just like everyone else in my Globaloria7 class at Eastern Greenbrier Middle School. I researched links that gave tips and tricks of how to solve exponent equations and I also searched for links on animal safety and common household hazards for pets. The player of my game will take the action of making sure the pet of their choice is away from household hazards and if the player lets their pet get into a hazard, the pet must take a visit to the vet. By taking the pet to the vet, this should teach the player responsiblity of what to do when his or her pet is sick, hurt, etc. There will also be exponent problems to solve throughout the game. This action of the player has not changed since I began planning my game because I have always wanted the player to understand responsibility, pet safety and care, and exponents. I think the "convert to symbol" has been the most helpful in flash because it kind of lets you save your art and name it so you do not have to draw it again and again if you accidentally erase something or cut it. I located this resource by my teacher, Mrs. Sheppard, the first time my class used flash. I think coming up with lots of different household hazards for pets was the most difficult for me. I overcame this difficulty by searching more links on common household hazards known to pets.

Planning Your Game

   
      My team is called "Chocolate Fantasy" and I am the only member in this team. Everyone else in my class' teams only contain one person too. My role in creating the game is to do everything because I am the only person. This role may include creating the game by making my own characters, sounds, animations, illustrations, etc. in flash. I got the role of doing everything in my group because I am the only person in my group. I look forward to competing against other teams in my class and other schools to see who's game is the best. The greatest challenge about collaborative work is deciding on the same idea. I think you can overcome this by practicing accepting new ideas.  

*Imagining Your Game*

     



    


       I am most excited about starting my game and seeing how it turns out and see if it will be as good as I plan. Another thing I look forward to is memorizing most of the codes for flash because with them memorized, life is alot easier. Without knowing which codes to use, you have to look them up and it wastes some of your time for creating your flash game. Hopefully, it will all turn out as good as I hope! :)
       For "Imagining Your Game," my class and I had to summarize what are game was about and how it was going to operate. We also wrote down one to two paragraphs of our game's objectives and purposes into flash in which we have to upload to our wiki in both FLA and SWF files. This is suppose to help us know what we need to work on when creating our very own game. 
   

Mini-Game

    







    In my Globaloria class, we have completed the mini-game assignment in which you were to make your own mini-game. In the mini-game, you had to do step by step instructions so at the end of the game, your bunny would be trying to get through a wolf and pizza in order to get a carrot.


    It was difficult to make the mini-game. It was only difficult because it was the classes' first time really using layers in flash. The codes are a bit different from the wiki too. I think the best part of this topic was learning how to move the bunny and other objects and creating "your very own game." I think the worst part of making the mini-game was naming the symbols, codes, layers, etc. I think this was the hardest because we were not use to having to name every little detail of something. All together, I think the mini-game activity was a learning experience for everyone and it helped prepare us for when we create our own game based on our social issue and our math concept.

Starting Flash: Scene 1

         

     For my globaloria game, my social issue in the game is Pet Safety. Monday, we started working with Flash. Flash is were we will create the game. I created my first scene Tuesday. I decided to try and create my first page of the game. Which will have a picture of a dog and cat, say Pet Safety inside a shot, and will eventually say PLAY and INFO in the two white boxes at the bottom of the image. In flash, we used different tools like the text, paint bucket, and pencil to create our designs. I used these tools and more to make my first scene of my game. By the end of making our games, we will have our full game in animation. I can't wait until we get started! Flash is not hard to do. It just takes effort. It sure helps when you memorize the key codes though!!!  

Why I am Passionate About My Social Issue

     I have chosen Pet Safety as my social issue. I am very passionate about Pet Safety because I want to become a veternarian in my future. I feel it is important for people to know how to treat pets safely and with care. That is why I want my game to be about Pet Safety. Hopefully, my game will be able to teach all different kinds of people how to take good care of their pet, what you need to do and how you can tell when your pet is not well, why vetenarians are important, etc. No matter who owns a pet, I think nobody has a right to have their pet in a hazardous, non-safe environments. My game will hopefully reduce this cause and teach people the right way to raise or own a pet.

Choosing A Topic

        I love animals so much! That is why I have chosen "Pet Safety" as my social issue in my game. I also had to choose a math concept for my game, so I chose "exponents" because many children have issues solving these. I think these links I have chosen for "Choosing A Topic" will help me in making my game. My links include intrnet sites I found that contained information for my social issue and math concept. I also found exponent games and pet safety/care games online. I need these links , so when I am creating my game and need facts, all I have to do is go to my wiki page or my blog home page and click on the link that I need for the topic. These links have information based on my social issue and my math concept. I think these links will be helpful because when I am in the process of creating my game, I don't have to spend extra time researching than   creating my new game. The links I have gathered are easier to search for because it only takes "a click of a button" to go to some interesting facts about my topics.

Playing to Learn :)

     For my Globaloria-7 Class, we had to compare past games ,created by students and professionals, to see which ones we thought were the best and worst games and which were most fitted in for their topic. I chose "Third-World Farmer" as the best interactive game in the gallery. I thought "Third-World Farmer" was the best game because it pointed out all the percautions a real life farmer has to go through in order to keep his/her livestock, family, home, and crops safe. I think "Third-World Farmer" also teaches real life health and life issues. I chose "Ayiti: The Cost of Life" as my worst rated Globaloria game because I didn't really understand the concept in which you were suppose to do to meet the goal of the game. In my opinion, "Ayiti: The Cost of Life" did not explain itself and didn't really have a goal. When I played, all you did was move your character from place to place in order to keep it alive. It may impress others ,but as for me I did not understand the concept at all.

Ayiti: The Cost of Life                      Third-World Farmer

Internet Safety Guidelines

In order to keep your identity safe, keep your last name, user name, home/e-mail address, passwords, and phone numbers off of your wiki, blog, or any other internet resource. When somebody knows your personal information, it can be very dangerous and sometimes people can commit identity theft, which is when somebody stills your identity and uses it against you. It is also important for you to keep pictures off the internet. BEWARE of offers like "be rich quick" or "lose weight fast" because they require personal information. NOBODY needs to know your personal information!!! If they ask for it,

DO NOT give it to them. 

http://www.aegisprotective.com/resources/internet_safety.htm

My math concept and social issue!!!!

     I would like to do "Pet Safety" as my social issue for Globaloria. I want to do "Pet Safety" because I love animals and hope to become a vetenarian in my future. When I create my "Pet Safety" game, I need a math concept. So, I chose "exponents" as my math concept. I would like my math concept to be "exponents" because I think many people still confuse exponents and addition/multiplication today. Maybe, my game will help people of all ages learn the right way to find the answer for exponents.