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These videos present the game ideas students developed from the start of the semester until mid-October 2007.

On Oct 19, we had a conference call and received feedback from Bonnie. Notes from our conversation are included.

Here are the earlier game concepts which were not pursued.

Ryan Buckley -- Music and Image Game

(:youtube kbUFRh2jWzY:)

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/ (:youtube OPj6L3lvB28:)

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

(:youtube CKILiJqutQs:)

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!

(:youtube 0d8_EjqWtcQ:)

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

(:youtube VLxBBFN_rO4:)

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

(:youtube x4b-osCDN98:)

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

Tor Valeur -- Jigsaw

(:youtube axO7705iZo0:)

Bonnie's feedback:

  • perfect - we don't have suggestions!
  • 4 pieces or more, music,
  • applause
  • nice visually, auditorally
  • good match for our student population
  • kids can bring their own pictures.