The area of interaction for this project that my group did other than Human Ingenuity, would be C&S (Community and Service) because we collaborated different versions of game technology - the arcade and the game - to show children and entertain them using a way that teaches them the "old-school" way of gaming. :)
Tech Fair Feedback Evaluation
We haven't received our feedback or results from the judges for the Tech Fair yet, but from looking at the reactions we got from the judges, I think they found it very entertaining and fun to play the game - especially some of the teacher judges that looked at our project. I think that everyone liked the arcade and the effect it gave to playing the game. Some teachers liked how we mixed in old ways of gaming (the arcade) with newer versions of the technology like laptops and bluetooth/wireless keyboards. Overall, I think my group is going to get good marks - but we could have gotten better marks if we included a wireless mouse as well!
Design Task: Reflection
The Tech Fair project that my group did for this year was somewhat of a success, but there are lots of things we could have worked more on! Here's a reflection on this year's project.
The design process of the Arcade Box we made for the Tech Fair Project was simple but hard to get done:
1) First, we cut out two semicircles out of the edges of the longest two sides of the box.
2) Then, we used the crafting knife to cut out a square that connects the two gaps that the semicircles created on the side between the two.
3) Cut out a smaller rectangle above the the square so that there is a thin strip of cardboard left in the middle that makes it look like a frame around the "screen" area.
4) Next, you tape back the semicircles of cardboard the opposite way around in the slits at the side so it creates a wing-like structure.
5) Finally, you use tape to secure the unstable areas in the box and then PAINT!!!
It was really fun making this project as we could get really creative and artsy. I think that we got the shape of the arcade correct, and it was folded correctly in all the right places. We could have improved the overall appearance by painting a white base coat of paint before the colours so that the colours would be solid and bright.
To connect the laptop to somewhere from which you can play the game easily without having to put your hands into the cardboard box, we used a wireless iPad keyboard and connected it using Bluetooth to the computer. This way, the game player could hold the controls in their hands and play the game easily. Although, something else we should have thought of is how the player can click the replay button without having to put their hands inside the box to maneuver the mouse - so next time, we can fix this problem by also connecting a wireless mouse to the laptop and putting it outside the arcade.
The design process for the game, however, was slightly more complicated than the arcade. On GameSalad, you can create the game by doing two things: by creating scenes, and by creating 'actors'. Actors is just another word for the actual characters in the scene. You start off by creating different scenes in the game, for e.g.: a title scene, an instructions page, the actual game scene, and the score/try again scene.
Then, you create actors - characters that you want to be in the game. After giving the characters an image, you then program them by adding 'rules'. These are basically what lets your character do what you want them to do. You program them so that they react to some kind of stimulus - for e.g.: when the down arrow is pressed down, the character moves down at a speed of ... and so on.
Using this particular software for making the game was a good idea because it somewhat simplifies the process of programming. We could have made the final product better by adding a few more levels to the game and making the game fullscreen by publishing it on the GameSalad website - but both of these things take more time, and we rushed the project, so our goal for next time is: DON'T LEAVE IT TILL THE LAST MINUTE!!! Start working on the project at least two weeks before the Tech Fair :)
The design process of the Arcade Box we made for the Tech Fair Project was simple but hard to get done:
1) First, we cut out two semicircles out of the edges of the longest two sides of the box.
2) Then, we used the crafting knife to cut out a square that connects the two gaps that the semicircles created on the side between the two.
3) Cut out a smaller rectangle above the the square so that there is a thin strip of cardboard left in the middle that makes it look like a frame around the "screen" area.
4) Next, you tape back the semicircles of cardboard the opposite way around in the slits at the side so it creates a wing-like structure.
5) Finally, you use tape to secure the unstable areas in the box and then PAINT!!!
It was really fun making this project as we could get really creative and artsy. I think that we got the shape of the arcade correct, and it was folded correctly in all the right places. We could have improved the overall appearance by painting a white base coat of paint before the colours so that the colours would be solid and bright.
To connect the laptop to somewhere from which you can play the game easily without having to put your hands into the cardboard box, we used a wireless iPad keyboard and connected it using Bluetooth to the computer. This way, the game player could hold the controls in their hands and play the game easily. Although, something else we should have thought of is how the player can click the replay button without having to put their hands inside the box to maneuver the mouse - so next time, we can fix this problem by also connecting a wireless mouse to the laptop and putting it outside the arcade.
The design process for the game, however, was slightly more complicated than the arcade. On GameSalad, you can create the game by doing two things: by creating scenes, and by creating 'actors'. Actors is just another word for the actual characters in the scene. You start off by creating different scenes in the game, for e.g.: a title scene, an instructions page, the actual game scene, and the score/try again scene.
Then, you create actors - characters that you want to be in the game. After giving the characters an image, you then program them by adding 'rules'. These are basically what lets your character do what you want them to do. You program them so that they react to some kind of stimulus - for e.g.: when the down arrow is pressed down, the character moves down at a speed of ... and so on.
Using this particular software for making the game was a good idea because it somewhat simplifies the process of programming. We could have made the final product better by adding a few more levels to the game and making the game fullscreen by publishing it on the GameSalad website - but both of these things take more time, and we rushed the project, so our goal for next time is: DON'T LEAVE IT TILL THE LAST MINUTE!!! Start working on the project at least two weeks before the Tech Fair :)
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