The basic idea is that certain sections of the keyboard would correspond to different images that would appear on the screen and songs that would play. There is no objective to the 'game' nor any real skill required besides the ability to bang on the keyboard. Songs could range from young kids' songs to teenage songs. Pictures would most likely be vibrate or exciting images.
Bonnie's feedback:
random songs & images works, lots of kids will enjoy this
exactly right for so many of our kids
images weren't babish -- they were teenage-oriented -- we liked this.
Jim Dalphond & Matt Oullette -- Battle Tanks
www.cs.uml.edu/~mfouelle/
Bonnie's feedback:
oooh, destroy the opponent
angle indicator made sense
trying to add sound to this, to add better understanding of what they're choosing
as the angle goes up, tone goes up -- auditory feedback
same with power bar -- sound goes from soft to loud
better outcome has bigger, louder explosion
do you have kids who can play this game? we have some. would be less independent initially, being able to press and release on the mouse,
did not require a lot of reading. simple, auditory.
fun, give them a sense of angle.
computer as sitting duck or other bad player
hardest part is press and release when they want to
in order to press down, they can't see the screen at the same time
listening for highest or loudest tone, so they can release at that point
the larger and clearer the display of the power bar, the better
trying to get to high point or right side
good to have it on a continuum, so they can anticipate it
when they know they're supposed to release, it's the hardest time for them; if they have a period of preparation, it's better.
the higher the pitch, the higher the angle; louder -> more power
Jeff Albert -- B-Ball
Bonnie's feedback:
object is to make a basket
sounds like a lot of fun
very random, very visual
sound effects to go with the movement
points could be hard for kids to understand
make visual represetnation as well (bargraph or some other way of seeing that they have more)
game has a bunch of 3D imagery
make 2D and 3D versions -- flip a bit in the code to control Z-axis
Jonah Choquette -- Oregon Trail... in Space!
A version of the Oregon Trail but set in space, with a ship of colonists traveling across a few star systems. Easy turn-based controls would allow either multiple players to sit at one computer to interact with the game, or for less inclined players a helper to describe information to them the information on screen. Either controlled by a single button control, or keyboard input.
Animation and sounds would be included to increase interactivity.
Bonnie's feedback:
everyone who saw it is very familiar with oregon trail, liked that!!
how will students make choices about crew morale, ship status, fuel
e.g., simplistic image based ways of doing this
e.g., crew morale -- happy crew, happy face
to increase morale, give them happy faces across the screen, if they can hit switch before they disappear,
for spare parts, literally have spare parts go acrsos the screen same for food -- have apples and wedges of cheese go across the screen, which kids have to capture. the more they capture, the further they can travel and the longer and cooler the trip will be
ability to words vs images in the content
mini games to restock instead of spending $$
numeric values for a lot of students are very difficult (use bar graph)
reading -- not so much
the more images, the better, point to something on the screen
auditory output -- sounds and text
pictures of food next to the word food
do things wrong in a place that's very safe
Will Brendel -- Shatter
Bonnie's feedback:
we weren't sure how to control the cannon
perhaps something similar to the tanks game (move automatically; one button to fire)
not sure if keep with the color
shoot ball from cannon, it will shatter anything in its path until it disappears from the screen,
random destruction is always fun
talking about colors -- suggestion is similar to what you said, if cannon is purple, and shot off riht side of screen, purple balls closest to ball would explode.
still be color matching concept, but you always got something for firing it.
the concept is so nice, there are many ways it could go.
bargraph or other indicator of score or, let player play until whole wall is knocked down, then something is revealed behind it.
Daniel Gabriel -- Bonfire
Each click will toss a random object (from a large collection of objects) onto a hibachi grill or something similar. When the player stops hitting the button, the fire will be set and the object will burn. Animation and sound effects will be a major component of this game. I also thought it might be useful to tweak Jeff's physics a bit to allow the object to pile up in the stove.
Bonnie's feedback:
pointless fun, really sick, that's why we like it
get the darker side out in a way that's really fun
more items, bigger longer better the bonfire
keep music going in a loop when you're still adding items
