Game Pitch

• Intro screen: Game title and screen shot or artwork from game The title of my game is Sally's Energy Ride.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Team Introduction: Give the names and roles of all team members (no last names) My name is Katie and I am the only person on my team. I perform all of the roles that involve the process of developing my game. Some of those roles are drawing the scenes, coding, blogging, and doing the activities on my team page.

• Audience: Who are you designing your game for, and why? I am designing the game especially for children and young adults because I feel that they need to know the order of operations in order to be capable of performing more advanced math equations. I also want them to know about energy waste.
• 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 controls Sally using the up, down, left, and right keys. In my game, you see how to save energy and how to do the order of operations. In order to win, you must complete the energy task and correctly answer the order of operations probem. The goal of the game is to be able to power a city off of renewable energy sources.
• Learning Goal: What will the player learn by playing this game? In my game, the player will learn how to correctly do the order of operations and how to save energy. They will also learn how precious our Earth's energy is. *

Smart Factor: What does your game teach? What can someone learn by playing it? My game teaches the player how to correctly do the order of operations. It also teaches them tips and ways to save energy.

• Fun Factor: What makes your game fun for the player? My game is fun because the player gets to complete neat energy tasks such as riding a bike. The player is also challenging the energy monster. If they incorrectly answer the order of operations problem or do not complete the energy task, the energy monster has beat you. After completing my game, the player will feel accomplished because they have learned how to save our valuable energy. My game is also fun because it has cool music and neat animations.
• Style Factor: What kind of graphic/animation style will you use? What kind of sounds? The animation in my scene will be spinning windmills, flying birds, floating answers, bubbles popping and floating, bicycle wheels spinning, water coming out of a shower head, dots floating, the energy monster lights up, power buttons turning black, and wires coming out of the outlet when the player clicks it. The sounds in my game will be music, the energy monster saying things when you incorrectly answer a math problem or don't complete an energy task, bubbles popping, bicycle wheels spinning, sound of a shower, computer running, computer shutting down, and buttons making a "pop" noise when you click them.
• Originality Factor: What makes your game special and unique? Why will it sell? My game is special and unique because it can teach everyone about tips and ways to save energy. It can also teach the player how precious our energy is. My game can change how people use energy, and they will start being more conservative. It will also teach the player how to do the order of operations problems while completing fun energy tasks and interacting with the energy monster. My game makes learning fun and easy.

Adding a Scene

     I am visually storytelling through my sequence of scenes by having the player to complete tasks and answer order of operations questions in order for them to save energy. When the you complete the task, you earn one windmill. After you get two windmills, you earn one solar panel. Eventually at the end of the game, you will have powered the city off of renewable energy sources. My game shows the player that saving future generations from running out of energy is possible. You yourself can help save energy by doing simple household tasks. A game I have played that showed exceptional storytelling was Medical Mysteries. In this game, there was many diseases that you had to figure out how to cure. If you didn't, many people would die. This game told a visual story of how mankind can die, if we don't know how to cure diseases.

My First Scene

This is my first scene. The objects in this scene are a house, windmill, solar panel, and the sun. In this scene, the actions will be the windmill spinning. The buttons are the play button, about button, and instructions button. The scene background is aqua and green. Sally is the only character in this scene.

Question and Answer

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

The Big Idea: My game topic is energy waste with a math concept of the order of operations. The genre of my game is adventure. In my game, you will learn ways to save energy by completing tasks such as turning off the television. I chose energy waste because I feel that we waste a lot of energy in our daily lives and we will eventually run out if we don’t start saving it. I believe that it is up to our generation to change things. You will also learn how to do the order of operations by answering the floating math problems. There will also be an informational page explaining how to do the order of operations. It is important to learn it because you need to know that system in order to be capable of doing more advanced math.

• 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?

Making Decisions As a Team: I am the only person on my team. Imagining my game helped me decide my game topic by narrowing down my choices. I started out with just energy waste. Eventually, after completing imagining my game, I decided that my game concept was going to be energy waste including renewable energy sources and ways to save energy. In my game, your character has to complete a task such as turning off the lights and answering a math problem. You earn one windmill for answering the math problem right and completing the task. When you get two windmills, you earn one solar panel. Eventually, at the end of the game, a whole city will be powered off of renewable energy sources.

• Roles & Responsibilities: Tell us more about your team process. Please each talk about your specific roles, and how you work together.
• Since I am the only person on my team, I participate in all of the roles. I decided that my social issue was energy waste with a math concept of the order of operations. I also did the paper protyping on my own. I have drawn all of my scenes and coded them too as well.

• Research: What kind of research went into the way you will express the game topic?
• My research sources were magazines, the computer, and newspapers. The magazine that I used was the National Geographic issue on Energy. It helped me find new ways to save energy around your home. The second source was the computer. It helped me become more educated on energy waste, the consequences, and ways to save it. My third resource was the newspaper. It showed me that energy waste is a large worldwide problem. Energy is wasted everywhere and we need to start saving it. If we don’t, our future generations won’t have access to energy. Energy waste is also polluting our precious earth.

• 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, the player will have to complete an energy task such as turning off the lights or riding a bicycle to a place. After completing the task, the energy monster will begin to chase you to the correct answer to the floating order of operations problem. If you correctly answer the math problem and complete the task, you will earn one windmill. When you earn two windmills, you get one solar panel. Eventually, you will be able to power a whole city off of renewable energy sources. When I first started planning my game, you would have to earn energy conservative light bulbs before getting a windmill. I decided to change this because the game would have to be many levels in order to get solar panels and windmills to power the city. Energy conservative light bulbs are also not renewable sources of energy.

• Mastering Flash: What Flash resources have been most helpful in your learning so far, and why? How did you locate these resources?
• The flash resources that have been most helpful in learning are the tutorials and the mini game assignment. The tutorials have helped me understand how to create my scenes in flash. It taught me how to use layers, the fill button, line former, square and circle drawer, selection tool, text, and brush tool. All of these things help me make my scenes. The other resource was the mini game assignment. The mini game taught me the basic codes I would need to create my game. It also helped me form an understanding on what the codes mean and the actions they perform.
• Overcoming Challenges: What curriculum topic has been most difficult for you so far? How did you
• The curriculum topic that has been most difficult for me is the mini game. When I first started doing the mini game, I didn’t know any of the codes or how they worked. It was very challenging to learn them and type them in correctly. Sometimes, your code would have errors that you needed to find in order to make the scene work. It was usually something difficult to find, but  as simple as a missing bracket or space. After completing the mini game, I gained a better understanding of all of the codes and how they worked.

My Perfect Thanksgiving

     My idea of the perfect Thanksgiving is a warm atmosphere involving family, family friends, traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and a fire in the fireplace to fight off the chill of a crisp fall day. Each year, my family makes every effort to include all of these ingredients so that Thanksgiving is special and memorable. The men add an extra spice by reporting their Thanksgiving morning hunting stories. The women typically gain from recipe exchanges. At the end of the evening, a good movie completes our Thanksgiving Day for those who can stay awake.

     Most of my family lives further away in Virginia and North Carolina. It is a special treat to be able to visit them. Thanksgiving is one of the few times that all of my family is together. I enjoy talking to my cousins to see how they are doing and the activities they are involved in. It is entertaining to listen to my Uncles' bets on who will win the Thanksgiving football games. My aunts put me in the Christmas spirit by discussing  the gifts they plan to purchase on Black Friday. Even though I get overjoyed about seeing my uncles, aunts, and cousins, I enjoy visiting with my grandparents the most because they are always in high spirits, and they have many intresting stories about their childhood. Thanksgiving wouldn't be perfect if I wasn't surrounded by my loving family.

     My family also invites family friends who are in need of Holiday Company. Often, their families were not nearby or had to work on Thanksgiving. In some cases, all of their family passed away. Those family friends remind us of how fortunate we are to have each other. Sometimes our family friends are even the life of the gathering.

     The women in our family work very dilligently to prepare our delicious Thanksgiving dishes. They make savory, juicy ham that sizzles in your mouth. The women also fix scrumptious, tender turkey that makes your tastebuds dance. I enjoy eating the fluffy, moist homemade rolls that my grandmother prepares. My favorite dessert is the pumpkin roll which has a pumpkin spice flavored breading with a luscious, sweet smelling cream cheese filling. The beverage we usually drink is ambrosial apple cider that warms and moistens your dry tongue. The flavorful food is one of the key ingredients for a perfect Thanksgiving.

     Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate what you are thankful for. It also gives you a chance to catch up with people you havn't seen in a while. On thanksgiving, you have the opportunity to eat scrumptious foods that make your mouth water. A warm, crackling fire puts the icing on the cake. I believe that family, family friends, and delicious foods are the key ingredients for my perfect Thanksgiving.

Drawing a Scene

     I have learned that we waste a lot of energy. If we don't start saving it, we are going to run out in the future. We can start saving it by using renewable energy sources such as the wind and sun. You can also do things within your home such as turning off the lights, or turning down your water heater. The sources that were helpful for me in gaining this understanding were the internet and the National Geographic Magazine on energy. I know that these sources are informative and trustworthy because I did a lot of research and most of the concepts and ideas were the same as the other ones.

Creating My Game

I have begun to make my game in flash. So far it has gone well, but it has been very difficult. The part that is most difficult for me is the coding. Sometimes the code is wrong because a bracket or space is missing, or is not needed. This creates errors and causes the game to not work. I'm enjoying designing the scenes of the game. Flash has been a great experience so far, and I hope my game turns out well.

Paper Protyping

I have finished working on paper protyping. It was a good experience for me because it helped me organize my plans and thoughts for my game into scenes.Paper protyping will help me create my game because everything will be planned out into individual scenes. I am excited to start making my game because I enjoy desingnig the scenes and I'm looking foward to learning new things about flash and its capability.

Planning My Game

My team name is Energy Savers. I am the only person on my team. I will be creating all of my flash scenes and coding them too as well. I have just finished paper protyping. We will begin filming our paper protyping process on Monday. After that, we will begin creating our flash scenes for our game. I am excited to start doing this because I enjoy designing the scenes and I am looking foward to learning new things about flash.

Imagining My Game

I am most excited about designing my game. Designing my game makes me excited because I enjoy decorating things. I hope to learn many things in flash on how to animate my scenes.

Mini-game

     The mini-game was slightly hard for me because the codes sometimes did not work. It often took me fifteen to twenty minutes to just get an object to move across the screen. The best thing about this was that it helped me understand the codes and how they operated. It also gave me the opportunity to learn how to fix errors in the code. The worst part of the mini-game was that when one thing was wrong with the code, the whole scene was affected. I feel that the mini-game has been a great learning experience and has made me excited about making my game on energy waste and the order of operations.

First Scene

     My first scene is on my social issue energy waste. It shows a windmill and a solar panel. I put a windmill and a solar panel on my scene because they are both renewable sources of energy. I believe that our world should convert over to using renewable energy sources because they are clean and they never run out. The tools that I used to make my scene were a pencil, a paintbrush, the rectangle box, text button, and the line drawer. I used the pencil and paintbrush to draw my windmill, sun, flower, and my background. The rectangle box was used for making boxes for my text to go in and to develop my solar panel. I used the text button to write information about my social issue on my scene. The line drawer was used to help me draw straight lines on my sun, solar panel, and windmill. I think this activity was good because it helped me get aquainted with the tools on flash and how to use them.

Links

    Hello, my name is Katie, and my math concept is the order of operations and my social issue is energy waste. My links will expand my knowledge on these topics to help me make my game more successful. The links will also inform me on the news that energy waste has created. They will give me new ideas on things such as easier ways to do the order of operations. The links will also help me understand energy waste better and give me tips on how to start conserving energy.

Social Issue

     My social issue is energy waste. I am passionette about energy waste because I feel that we waste a lot of energy in our daily lives, and we need to start saving it. If we don't try to be more conservative, we could run out of energy in the future which would leave us with no electricity. If we didn't have electricity, we couldn't have cellphones, telivision, light in our homes, gaming systems, computers, and much more. There are many ways we can start saving energy such as using renewable sources like solar power and wind power. If we all work together, we can make a difference!

Playing to Learn

http://medmyst.rice.edu/index.html

       The game that taught me the most was Medical Mysteries. In this game, you are on a mission to discover the causes of many different diseases. As you follow the clues to solve the mystery, you are given the opportunity to explore many facets of the healthcare world such as chemistry, pharmacology, neuroscience, public policy, and history. The genre of Medical Mysteries is adventure. I think that this game works well because it runs smoothly, without any flaws. Also, I believe that the instructions were explained very theorly and clearly. I feel that this game is good because it has a balance of being educational, yet fun and enjoyable too.

Internet Safety

      Internet safety is important because it can save your identity and even your life. There are many ways to stay safe online. One way to stay safe is to never give out personal information such as your name, address, social security number, or your telephone number. Another way to be safe is to not communicate with strangers. The third way to stay safe online is to not download content without your parents permission. Another way to stay safe online is to not answer any emails or IMs from someone you don't personally know. A way to stay safe online is to not fill out questionnaires, even if they are from your friends. When you are online, you treat everyone with respect. Also, there is no such thing as "private" on the Internet.


http://www.commonsense.com/internet-safety-tips/tips-for-kids.php

My math concept and social issue.

The math concept I chose for my game is the order of operations. I chose this concept because I feel that it is a very important part of math. The order of operations is one of the basic foundations that you need in order to solve problems on a higher level. The social issue I chose for my game is energy waste. I am passionette about this because I feel that we waste a lot of energy every day of our lives. We need to start saving now. If we don't, we may run out which will cause a major problem. Our world today can't function without energy. The world needs to start using renewable and clean energy sources such as the sun and the wind. I think my math concept and my social issue will make a good game because it will teach you how to do the order of operations, and how to save energy to help our Earth at the same time. Together, we will make a difference.