Designing games overview presentation 0

Youth Creating Online Games: What Adults Need to Know Trudy Dunham, Jay Staker, Molly Reisman & Vishal Singh May 2010 Learning the Scratch Language • Scratch (scrăch) n An interpreted dynamic visual programming language – Teach programming concepts to youth by enabling them to create games, animations, videos, and music – Create and animate characters that dance, sing, and interact with each other Before the Creating Can Begin… There is some research (program outcomes) you need to know, and then… some important sites and buttons on the Scratch Program that you need to know… The Scratch SkillBuilding Set • Information & Communications Skills – Information & Media Literacy – Communication • Thinking & Problem Solving Skills – Critical Thinking, Systems Thinking – Problem Identification, formulation, solution – Creativity & Intellectual Curiosity • Interpersonal & Self Directional Skills Interpersonal & Collaborative Skills Self-Direction Accountability & Adaptability Social Responsibility • Reference: http://llk.media.mit.edu/projects/scratch/papers/Scratch21stCenturySkills.pdf – – – – The Scratch Community • Low floor / High ceiling / Wide Walls • In a world of social media and participatory online learning • Share, mash, learn from others • For youth & educators • New Members, Beginners, Advanced, & more • Talk in the forums • Share yours & check out other’s work What Makes An Educational Game • Animation is good, game is better • Play - how we teach our culture, share tools • “Humanity's most serious activities belong to the realm of make-believe Culture comes from play.” J Huizinga • What is fun for one person can be tedious for another • “A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.” – Salen & Zimmerman • Games are a disruptive medium: possibility spaces • Gaming process and sharing knowledge is more important than getting a high score • Game playing alone is often not a learning event, but contributes to learning Reflection following game play is where the learning takes place: identifying strategies, rules, the system What Makes An Educational Game - • Game making: a learning activity which comprises the solving • • • • • • • of an ill-structured problem Means cognitive benefits are hard to identify, to predict Think of games as systems: simple to complex, dynamic Game elements can subvert the learning: make things happen faster, or more dramatically, or skip over tedious steps Increases fun but at the expense of accuracy The more you care about content, the less tolerant you are of game elements When the house is on fire & you need to learn to put out the fire, you don’t want to play a game Game elements (score) can focus users on besting that element rather than learning the material Too little game is boring; too much: silly & distracting Balancing simulation elements, game elements, and pedagogical elements is an art - unquestionably ! Understanding the trade-offs is critical • • • • Some Scratch Basics Download at no charge Guide available in number of languages Teach in 10 minutes, continue to learn Hardware: – – – – The Display: 1024 x 768 or larger, 16-bit color or greater Operating System: Windows 98 or later, Mac OS X 10.3 or later 120 megabytes of free space to install CPU & memory requirements are soft Most computers have enough memory to run Scratch – Speakers & microphone to use audio features • Audience: – Works well with school age, teen and adult audiences – Build complexity of task by adding features for more advanced users Some Scratch Handouts • “Cheat Sheet –Overview of how to http://www1.cyfernet.org/conffav/05-10-Dunham-ScratchCheatSheet.doc • Labels on Images to aid your understanding of the instructions • http://www1.cyfernet.org/conffav/05-10-DunhamScratch-CheatSheetImage.ppt The Scratch Control & Design Screen Cat Sprite Starting Position Click on “Control” from the Palate Click and pull the block onto the Script Area Snap the two blocks together Click on the green flag and watch your sprite change locations Experiment with position by changing your (x:) and (y:) values 2nd Sprite Starting Position These are your (x:) and (y:) coordinates for your stage Remember each Sprite has its own script!!! Click on “Motion” from the Palate Click on and pull the block onto the Script Area Click on the white holes and type in -139 for (x:) and 80 for (y:) (or anywhere you want) This will be your 2nd starting point Sprite Starting Position - Your Design and Control Center Screen should look like this - You can now position your Sprite and change colors Moving Click on “Control” from the Palate Click and pull the blocks onto the Script Area , , and Click on “Looks” from the Palate Click and pull blocks costume1 box and select costume2 onto the Script Area Click on the arrow in the Moving You should have separate blocks for that say “Costume1” and “Costume2” , Click on “Motion” from the Palate Click and pull blocks Snap the blocks onto the Script Area and together as shown Moving Stack the remaining blocks in this pattern Click on the and drag your new stack of blocks into the space in the block IMPORTANT  If you NOT click on the block then your complete stack of blocks will NOT stay together when moved The blocks will come apart instead of moving together Moving - Press the green flag and watch! - Experiment with different # of steps, wait, sounds & backgrounds - Press the space bar to see the new changes Make Project Notes • Use the Project Notes option to track your steps & leave instructions for others who look at your Scratch programs • Think of as your Project Science / Engineering Journal • Click on File, and select Project Notes From one Project to Another • Click Save to save your work – The file could be named “Cat Chase” • Click New to begin a new program Activity #2 Your Time to Be Creative!! Sounds Click on “Control” from the color palate Click and pull the blocks onto the scripts area and Click on “Sound” from the color palate Click and pull the block times into the script area For two of the blocks, click on the arrow in the 48 box and change the value to 40 The other two stay the same Animation Click on “Motion” from the color palate Click and pull the blocks onto the scripts area , , Note: You need of each for these blocks… Turn Left Turn Right Glide Ignore the numbers at this point , and Animation Enter your values and variables: • In the block type in for the seconds area and (x:) 140 with (y:) as 50 • In another block type in for the seconds and (x:) -135 with (y:) -157 • For the blocks and the blocks have Left and Right stay at 15 degrees • Type in 30 degrees for the other blocks • The should say x: (0), y: (0) More Resources • Sensor Board: make your Scratch project respond to (sense) things going on in your world outside your computer • Additional Lesson / Activities: http://learninggameslab.org/scratch.html • Translations and Supplemental Materials for special populations: http://scratch.wik.is/Support/Translation • Understanding Games: http://boingboing.net/2007/03/21/understanding_ga mes.html • Getting Ready to Take the Knowledge Home Like it? – If you want your animation or game: email to yourself or download to flash drive – For Questions or Comments Contact: • cyf@umn.edu http://scratch Now that mit.edu you have the Scratch basics it is time for you to create scripts of your own! ... Teach in 10 minutes, continue to learn Hardware: – – – – The Display: 102 4 x 768 or larger, 16-bit color or greater Operating System: Windows 98 or later, Mac OS X 10. 3 or later 1 20 megabytes... Sheet Overview of how to http://www1.cyfernet.org/conffav /05 - 10- Dunham-ScratchCheatSheet.doc • Labels on Images to aid your understanding of the instructions • http://www1.cyfernet.org/conffav /05 - 10- DunhamScratch-CheatSheetImage.ppt... of an ill-structured problem Means cognitive benefits are hard to identify, to predict Think of games as systems: simple to complex, dynamic Game elements can subvert the learning: make things