Present Game Questions

The Big Idea: Describe your learning topic for the game. What is the most important thing you want your players to learn?
My learning topic for my game, is about World History-Alexander the Great. I hadn't really thought about this idea. I was more into the dynasties and ancient civilizations, but this is what happened. I researched Alexander the Great because we had already read about him in class. At that second, I thought about all the things that I would have in my game if I did my game based on this topic. I didn't have many ideas,  but as soon as I read about him, a bunch of ideas were presented. I read his history on how he got his horse, Bucephalus. Going to the next question, I want for players to learn more about his history. I, myself, didn't know the events that he had to go through to get his horse. Yeah, I want for players to learn of how the combination of Alexander and Bucephalus, came into play.

Research: What kind of research did you do? What did you learn about your topic?
Like I mentioned, we all had to do a Science/Historical topic. I thought about the Science topics, but no, I wasn't all that interested. On the contrary, there were many topics to do for History topics. When I chose Alexander the Great, for my topic, I began to research the events in his life. I wanted to do something simple, but interesting. That is when I found the topic of Bucephalus. I read on how Philip II of Macedon, was given Bucephalus by 13 talents, special metals. Nobody could ride him because he was aggressive, until Alexander the Great, offered to ride him. If he couldn't get him settled, he will owe those 13 talents to his father. Miraculously, he was able to ride him. It is said that it was destiny, that brought them together. Now, that was something that I didn't know of him and it was the kind of event that I wanted to include in my game by making it, the goal of the game.

Making Decisions: How did your ideas change as you worked on your game?
My ideas did change a bit, but that was because I just kind of,"winged it," at the beginning. I already had ideas for the game, but all I really did was to change the artwork. My idea remained the same, which was avoiding Philip, warriors, and rude remarks. Collecting horse gear for Bucephalus also remained the same.

Mastering Programming: What Game Ingredients and Help Center resources have been most useful to you so far, and why?
This is where I, right away, got started. Last year, I didn't do a good job, but the thing that helped me the most, this year, was actually reading instructions. I decided to do parallax scrolling, background music, splash screen, health bar, and immobilizing traps. The easy/medium game ingredients, were the easiest. I decided to try the Hard Game Ingredients, but I didn't have fun at all. I read the instructions over and over again, but it didn't quite work. This year, though, I got help from the Help Desk. They were a good resource because they fixed the problems and that's how my game actually got finished. If I would have to recommend any help, I would totally say the Help Desk because it helped me.

Overcoming Challenges: Which part of making the game was most difficult for you? How did you overcome this difficulty? What features are you most proud of in your game?
The most difficult part of my game was putting the Immobilizing Traps. Now, these were difficult since it was located in the Hard Game Ingredients. I seriously got frustrated because I tried everything. A week passed and nothing, I couldn't get it to work. I overcame this difficulty by getting help from the Help Desk. They got it fixed in 2 days! I was so excited because now that I had finished with this game ingredient, I could do more of them. Even though, it's a fairly simple game, I am overly proud of all the features of my game. I am proud of my artwork, the Splash Screen that is so much better than last year's, the working of the health and score, the moving objects, win/lose screens, even the background, which was Ancient Pella in Macedonia. Yeah, I am really proud of my game, Alexander the Great: Getting Bucephalus.

Paper Prototype

Write about making a paper prototype. What problems did it help you to solve with your game idea?

Making a paper prototype is pretty easy for me. Why? Well, first of all, because I am so used to this routine when it comes to creating games. Another thing is that if you think about it, it's all about putting your ideas in paper, which is really easy. It's just like a rough draft with lots of details... I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain because it all depends on the person when making a paper prototype and I don't know what words I can use to describe how easy it is to me. Just to let you know, making a paper prototype is the beginning of having fun in this class.

Like I said, coming up with my game topic, which is about Alexander the Great, was kind of hard. I've been used to politics, safe driving, and healthy living, so this is like a new experience for me. At first, I thought that making a game about Alexander was going to be hard. This is because Alexander was known for being a great leader and he had tons of events in his life, so how would I choose a good,"mission?" Easy. I began to do my research and I found lots of them. Then I read about Bucephalus and I thought that it would be fun using this life event of his. When it came to making the level for the paper prototype, it was sort of given to me. His life story about Bucephalus gave me an easy idea of how to make it into a game. At the same time, coming up with enemies and collectables, it was really breathtaking. We had this deadline and the thing with me is that, I like taking my time when it comes to drawing. Yeah, I had to hurry with my paper prototype, but in the end, it all paid off because I have my ideas in my mind, which is awesome because I have the option to change things in my game.

Paper Prototyping is really fun!

Plan Game Scene

Write about your vision for this game. What excites you the most?

My vision for this game, is the same as the other ones that I have created. I know that I have only done one Mobile Game, which was last year, but it's the same thing, only with a completely different topic. The other one was a huge success, even though that it was small and quick. I have the same expectations for this game: not only to get to finish it, but show the 100% effort by making this an educational game. It seems sort of, weird and complicated. This is only because I was used to creating games that were about the environment, politics, and healthy living. Now, I have the opportunity to choose any topic, either with Science or World History. In my case, I chose World History. In 8th grade, I sort of did this topic, but had to do with the Presidential Race. Now, I'm doing my topic in Alexander the Great. When I was reading through the many topics that I could have chose, the one that really did interest me was on Alexander. I was actually in between Julius Caesar and him, but then I sort of did brainstorming. I was thinking of how I will incorporate education with the game. Then just like that, Alexander was my choice. This is why I'm really looking forward to this topic and game.

I guess that I'm really excited, myself, because I get to program again with Flash. Yeah, I kind of admit that it will be hard because coding is sometimes is difficult. Although, I'm really looking forward to it, meaning I'm not scared. It sounds funny, but I have noticed that through out the years, I have always finished my games. Not only that, but they all work perfectly. I even got awards for some...
Then again, I am also excited by having others play it when it's finally competed. I just hope that I can help others remember what Alexander had to do, in some of his life events, to become a great man in ancient history!

Choose Learning Topic

Write a game quest:
You are Alexander the Great, I know, it is pretty cool. You are currently 12 years old. Why? This is when your adventures and life started. Just so you remember, Philonicus, the Thessalian, brought a horse, Bucephalus, to your king and father, Philip. He was offering to sell him for 13 talents, which was used by the Romans and the Greeks, meaning a former weight and unit of currency. Now you are seeing that no one is able to ride the horse because it's so vicious and aggressive. When your father is about to take him away, you stand up and say,"What an excellent horse do they lose for want of address and boldness to manage him!" All of the crowd is looking at you and no one thinks that you are able to ride it, so why even try? Now this is what you have to do: the crowd, and even your father, don't believe that you will be able to ride the horse, right? Are you going to listen to them? No, you will have to avoid all of them people to be able to win Bucephalus. When you are able to avoid all of them, you will win Bucephalus. Obviously, Bucephalus will be in your hands because it is destiny that him and you are together.

Now, that is one thing that you will have to accomplish, is there something else, Alexander? Well, your father, Philip, wants you to get a good education. Because you need the studies, Philip has announced Aristotle as one of your tutors. I mean, you might not be interested in philosophy, but that is one thing that Aristotle teaches. Not only that, but medicine, morals, religion, logic, and art. So, what do you need to do, Alexander? What do you need to do in order to have a good education? It's obvious that you will have to pay attention, but will you not get distracted? It's obvious that you like to know about combats, especially when you are 12-13 years old. To not disappoint your father and yourself, which is important, you will have to avoid distractions. Come on, you are Alexander the Great. Avoid at all costs thinking of something that is not studying. For example, your father has told you to not make the same mistakes as he did once. You will have to avoid women, swords, and other weapons. If you avoid these kind of distractions, not only will you make your father's/mother and Aristotle's heart, you will find inner peace in yourself because you have learned so much.

Well, anyways, you have had so many adventures in your life, that these missions are the beginning of your life...I wish you the best of luck, but remember, try really hard on following your destiny and doing the right thing. 

Remember: YOU ARE ALEXANDER THE GREAT!




 

Learn to Design For Mobile

Main Question: What is the difference between a mobile game and a console game?
Well, the differences are kind of obvious. Both mobile and console games are fun to play with. A mobile game can be pretty hard to work with. For example, when playing Mario Bros. on the computer, it's a bit difficult to play with. I guess that for mobile games, it's much difficult. You have to make it more simple, with simple buttons and all that stuff because that way, you wont have any trouble playing with it. By that, I mean slowing or the controller is hard to play with. A console game is much different. For me, it's much easier with a console game because nowadays, people play those. More and more games are created, so I guess that makes them much easier to play with.
Mobile and console games can have their differences, but they are also much alike. With me, the only thing that matters is for you to have fun, and if it's an action-educational game, then it's much better. Really, if I had to pick between the two of them, I think that I would pick the console game. That's only because a mobile game can be a game that has been created for a console game, and that will only, maybe, bring difficulties while playing.

Hour of Code

I recognized Shakira, Barack Obama, and Ashton Kutcher.
That everybody should learn how to program, no matter where we come from or who we are, is what they encouraged us to do or learn.
Well, I think that it is important to learn how to program because it's something new and hard. You get to understand how games and things are programmed, so that way, you can at least think of studying in that kind of area. I guess that it's something fun too because you get to experience with the coding and you can even mess with it.
Like I said, if you learn from this right now, it will bring you more interest for you to study as your future career. Of course, this is just an option, but talking about this, you get to show more of your creativity and show more of you skills.