Hey there,
So today is my last day and I have to say I had a very busy day. I had to finish downloading some tutorials from YouTube and then uploading them to TeacherTube since YouTube is blocked at the schools in West Virginia. This posed a problem for the team because all the video tutorials used on the website are from YouTube, which means that if left as they are, the students would not be able to see them. Then I had to continue doing more coding of the Rethinkers for Rebecca. I had to wrap up some stuff and make my profile and projects page neat and reflect all (or most) of the work I did this summer. I filled out the July invoice and answered Idit's exit questions. I hope to leave here today having finished all that I have to do but I am afraid I will not be able to finish the coding today.
I HAD A GREAT TIME!!!!!!!!!
~Leticia
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
DONE!!!
Hey there!!
So our game is finally done!!! You can check it out by going here -->> http://www.myhlife.org/usa/la/rethinkwiki/index.php?title=Fix_it_with_Food
Today is my first full day at the office since camp is now over. After many long and frustrating hours of not being able to keep our character on a moving platform, Brian came to the rescue!! He looked at our game and told us how we should go about it but considering that neither Leslie nor I had any idea how to execute is suggestion, Itay asked Brian if he could work with our game and send us the code. After I worked through some bugs in our game, I began to work on some other stuff Rebecca had for me. Then Leslie and I went to have and had lunch and when we came back Brian had uploaded a new version of our gym level. In it, he had the character staying on the platform and in the AppleScript he had comments to let us know what he changed and what each code meant. I went through all the comments and tried to understand what was going on in order to make it work for the other level that had the same problem. I ended up just copying and pasting the code and changing the names of the objects because those codes were way over my head. I was so happy when I finally had a finished game until I tried to upload the game and things started to flicker and disappear! I wanted to cry because I had no idea what went wrong!! Then I went into the file and just clicked on every object just to make sure everything was named right and then I published the file again and reuploaded the swf. Basically I did nothing but to my surprise, things worked again!! I don't know what the problem was but I am just glad that it is fixed! So our game is done and all that is left is to add sounds. If we have time we will look for sounds but if we don't get to it, then it would not be a big deal because the file is big enough as it is and our game doesn't really NEED it. We'll see.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
So our game is finally done!!! You can check it out by going here -->> http://www.myhlife.org/usa/la/rethinkwiki/index.php?title=Fix_it_with_Food
Today is my first full day at the office since camp is now over. After many long and frustrating hours of not being able to keep our character on a moving platform, Brian came to the rescue!! He looked at our game and told us how we should go about it but considering that neither Leslie nor I had any idea how to execute is suggestion, Itay asked Brian if he could work with our game and send us the code. After I worked through some bugs in our game, I began to work on some other stuff Rebecca had for me. Then Leslie and I went to have and had lunch and when we came back Brian had uploaded a new version of our gym level. In it, he had the character staying on the platform and in the AppleScript he had comments to let us know what he changed and what each code meant. I went through all the comments and tried to understand what was going on in order to make it work for the other level that had the same problem. I ended up just copying and pasting the code and changing the names of the objects because those codes were way over my head. I was so happy when I finally had a finished game until I tried to upload the game and things started to flicker and disappear! I wanted to cry because I had no idea what went wrong!! Then I went into the file and just clicked on every object just to make sure everything was named right and then I published the file again and reuploaded the swf. Basically I did nothing but to my surprise, things worked again!! I don't know what the problem was but I am just glad that it is fixed! So our game is done and all that is left is to add sounds. If we have time we will look for sounds but if we don't get to it, then it would not be a big deal because the file is big enough as it is and our game doesn't really NEED it. We'll see.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Friday, July 25, 2008
Another update
Here's another update on our game. The reason we have not been able to put up our game just yet is because Leslie and I ran into some trouble. Three of our levels were jumping levels and two out of the three have moving platforms. We figure out how to make him land on the stationary platforms but we are having tons and tons of problems trying to figure out how to make our game character ride with the moving platforms. I just spent all of today looking for tutorials online and trying out a couple of things. Luckily on Monday I will start coming in early because camp has ended so Leslie and I will have a lot of time to work on the little problem. After we figure this out we will be done!!
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
PS If you have any idea on how to help us, please do. We are begging you!
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
PS If you have any idea on how to help us, please do. We are begging you!
Monday, July 21, 2008
It's been a while!
Hello!
So I know it's been a while but for the past 2 weeks all that I have been focusing on is the game. We have learned so much and I just wanted to announce that Leslie and I are basically done with our game. But since I worked from the beginning and she started at the end, we have to put the two files together. We just tried but it's a lot harder than it sounds. Ironically, Itay and Rem were talking about including a tutorial on how to combine two files so, as always, the NYC interns are the guinea pigs.
Once we combine the files, we wtill have some other stuff to clear out, such as making it so that our little guy can't leave the screen and making the obstacles (boxes, walls, etc) solid so that little guy cannot walk through them, and making some of the levels jumping levels instead of walking levels. So we're not completely done but pretty close!
My goal is for the next time I write (which hopefully will be tomorrow), we would have it all in one file so that we can upload what we have. I have no idea when we would have it done. Maybe the end of the week but let's not get too ambitious :)
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
So I know it's been a while but for the past 2 weeks all that I have been focusing on is the game. We have learned so much and I just wanted to announce that Leslie and I are basically done with our game. But since I worked from the beginning and she started at the end, we have to put the two files together. We just tried but it's a lot harder than it sounds. Ironically, Itay and Rem were talking about including a tutorial on how to combine two files so, as always, the NYC interns are the guinea pigs.
Once we combine the files, we wtill have some other stuff to clear out, such as making it so that our little guy can't leave the screen and making the obstacles (boxes, walls, etc) solid so that little guy cannot walk through them, and making some of the levels jumping levels instead of walking levels. So we're not completely done but pretty close!
My goal is for the next time I write (which hopefully will be tomorrow), we would have it all in one file so that we can upload what we have. I have no idea when we would have it done. Maybe the end of the week but let's not get too ambitious :)
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday
Hello!
So today I came in to show Rebecca and Leslie how I did my game. To my dismay, when I opened the file that had my game I noticed that the changes were not changed!! I was so upset but I quickly recovered and got to work. I had to work on the cars again but since I already knew what I was doing, I managed to have time to work on the choices for the game (ginger, broccoli and peanut). I also made those into symbols. After I was done, I decided to read a tutorial about collision detection because for all the levels the character has to hit the correct item in order to move on. We decided that buttons were out of the question because with a button, the player can simply click on the right answer without having to go through the levels we worked so hard making.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
So today I came in to show Rebecca and Leslie how I did my game. To my dismay, when I opened the file that had my game I noticed that the changes were not changed!! I was so upset but I quickly recovered and got to work. I had to work on the cars again but since I already knew what I was doing, I managed to have time to work on the choices for the game (ginger, broccoli and peanut). I also made those into symbols. After I was done, I decided to read a tutorial about collision detection because for all the levels the character has to hit the correct item in order to move on. We decided that buttons were out of the question because with a button, the player can simply click on the right answer without having to go through the levels we worked so hard making.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday!
Hello!
Since we are following along moreorless with the Rethink curriculum, we were asked to do a paper-prototype for our game. Since none of us knew how to do this, we started the day with a conference call with Daniel about paper-prototyping. We ended up hearing him on the phone and watching him on a computer. After a few jokes about Dell vs. Macs, Daniel began to explain to us what it is and he showed us the paper-prototype he has for his game "Circuit." Until about 5was working on putting the demo of game together. I worked on the prototype first with the girls and then after they were gone. Jeff came over and wanted to teach me how to use tweens and symbols on Flash since that would help make the amount of space a game takes up a lot smaller and load a lot quicker since Flash would not be trying to draw the same image in each frame. I went to the level I had been working on and changed the cars into symbols. I made two cars with two different speeds which I will use twice on my level. Tomorrow, hopefully I will have time to teach the girls how to do this so that we can make the file smaller and ultimately the game load faster. After that Itay asked me to fix the wiki page on myhlife so that all the videos and flash are in the section they belong.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Since we are following along moreorless with the Rethink curriculum, we were asked to do a paper-prototype for our game. Since none of us knew how to do this, we started the day with a conference call with Daniel about paper-prototyping. We ended up hearing him on the phone and watching him on a computer. After a few jokes about Dell vs. Macs, Daniel began to explain to us what it is and he showed us the paper-prototype he has for his game "Circuit." Until about 5was working on putting the demo of game together. I worked on the prototype first with the girls and then after they were gone. Jeff came over and wanted to teach me how to use tweens and symbols on Flash since that would help make the amount of space a game takes up a lot smaller and load a lot quicker since Flash would not be trying to draw the same image in each frame. I went to the level I had been working on and changed the cars into symbols. I made two cars with two different speeds which I will use twice on my level. Tomorrow, hopefully I will have time to teach the girls how to do this so that we can make the file smaller and ultimately the game load faster. After that Itay asked me to fix the wiki page on myhlife so that all the videos and flash are in the section they belong.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tuesday
Hello!
After showing the girls what I had done the previous day, I was a little upset when I found out that they had already made a level for the question I worked on. Then Rebecca started to go through what we had and tried to think of other stuff we could include in the game. Finally Leslie thought about motion sickness and Rebecca found that ginger helps cure this ailment. Since most people get motion sickness on cars, I decided to make this level of the game on a highway. The cars are speeding by from all directions and the player must get through four lanes of traffic to get to the right answer. The hard part, besides trying to dodge the cars, is that I included to fake answers (peanuts and potatoes). It took me a while but I finally have the demo done. The only thing that is left is to turn it into a game.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
After showing the girls what I had done the previous day, I was a little upset when I found out that they had already made a level for the question I worked on. Then Rebecca started to go through what we had and tried to think of other stuff we could include in the game. Finally Leslie thought about motion sickness and Rebecca found that ginger helps cure this ailment. Since most people get motion sickness on cars, I decided to make this level of the game on a highway. The cars are speeding by from all directions and the player must get through four lanes of traffic to get to the right answer. The hard part, besides trying to dodge the cars, is that I included to fake answers (peanuts and potatoes). It took me a while but I finally have the demo done. The only thing that is left is to turn it into a game.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Monday, July 7, 2008
YAY MONDAY!!
Hello!!
So today is a very interesting day. I have been trying to figure out flash on my own without success, I finally asked Rebecca and Leslie to help me out. I love them both but they are TERRIBLE teachers. Rebecca would start showing me something and midway through her sentence she stops and stares at her screen very confused. I wait and wait and wait until I have to remind her that she was doing something. When I asked Leslie for some help she would stare at me, laugh and say that she doesn't understand what I want.
The girls explained to me the big picture and they had decided to break up the entire story so that each person works on a particular scene. My idea for my health scene is to make the player jump around moving bars to get to the refrigerator which has the best beverage to have right before bedtime (milk). I started to make my scene for the game and it took forever to make one bar move across the screen. I knew that there was an easier way so I asked Shannon and Itay. They very kindly reminded me that there are tutorials on the wikis to help me with these problems. After feeling like a fool for not remembering this, I went to the tutorial I needed and made changes to my flash. And that is how I learned how to motion tween! So I just finished my scene and I will show it to the girls tomorrow. I also have to show them how to motion tween because it saves a lot of time! Hopefully they will like my idea!!
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
So today is a very interesting day. I have been trying to figure out flash on my own without success, I finally asked Rebecca and Leslie to help me out. I love them both but they are TERRIBLE teachers. Rebecca would start showing me something and midway through her sentence she stops and stares at her screen very confused. I wait and wait and wait until I have to remind her that she was doing something. When I asked Leslie for some help she would stare at me, laugh and say that she doesn't understand what I want.
The girls explained to me the big picture and they had decided to break up the entire story so that each person works on a particular scene. My idea for my health scene is to make the player jump around moving bars to get to the refrigerator which has the best beverage to have right before bedtime (milk). I started to make my scene for the game and it took forever to make one bar move across the screen. I knew that there was an easier way so I asked Shannon and Itay. They very kindly reminded me that there are tutorials on the wikis to help me with these problems. After feeling like a fool for not remembering this, I went to the tutorial I needed and made changes to my flash. And that is how I learned how to motion tween! So I just finished my scene and I will show it to the girls tomorrow. I also have to show them how to motion tween because it saves a lot of time! Hopefully they will like my idea!!
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Hello!
So it's the day before the Independence Day so this is the last work day of the week. Today myglife was back up and so I was getting ready to tie up some loose ends, when Itay told us that some people have been complaining that they received some error messages while accessing parts of the wiki and glife and globaloria. So he asked us to look through all the links and every little corner of the site for any messages so that he can try to fix them. After that I embarked on those loose ends I mentioned earlier. Finally, it was back to Flash. Hopefully by Monday I will have something for the game to show Rebecca and Leslie.
Until Next Time,
(HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!)
~Leticia
So it's the day before the Independence Day so this is the last work day of the week. Today myglife was back up and so I was getting ready to tie up some loose ends, when Itay told us that some people have been complaining that they received some error messages while accessing parts of the wiki and glife and globaloria. So he asked us to look through all the links and every little corner of the site for any messages so that he can try to fix them. After that I embarked on those loose ends I mentioned earlier. Finally, it was back to Flash. Hopefully by Monday I will have something for the game to show Rebecca and Leslie.
Until Next Time,
(HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!)
~Leticia
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Hello!
So today we had a cool new experience on Second Life. In the office, Itay and Jeff logged us in to Second Life, an online community in which you participate and interact with avatars. I had read about it when doing research for Idit's slides, but seeing it blew my mind away! The reason we were on Second Life is because Idit had her presentation at NECC in Texas recorded live on Second Life. We had a good laugh during the presentation because Lee, someone who virtually works in the office, could not figure out how to sit down in the theater and I bet some people were annoyed at that since he was in the front row. Shannon was also friended by someone and then there was an attempt to teleport her somewhere else. Stalker anyone? For about 10 minutes we lost video and sound and so we missed a lot, which was unfortunate since Idit's talk was really interesting.
During the presentation, Aixsha mentioned that myglife and globaloria sites were down but Itay confidently showed us that it worked on his Windows and that the problem must be our Macs. However, when people in the virtual theater began to complain about an error they were receiving when trying to access these sites, Shannon, Jeff and Itay became a little nervous and anxious. It's a good thing Idit knew this might have happened and she made sure to do her presentation offline.
Since the site where we do ALL our work was down, the only thing I had to do for the rest of the time here is figure out Flash. I can't say I know anymore about Flash because I couldn't do one of the tutorials on the site. I don't know why I thought making a game was not going to be a hard task but after unsuccessfully figuring out Flash, I can now admire the kids' games even more.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
So today we had a cool new experience on Second Life. In the office, Itay and Jeff logged us in to Second Life, an online community in which you participate and interact with avatars. I had read about it when doing research for Idit's slides, but seeing it blew my mind away! The reason we were on Second Life is because Idit had her presentation at NECC in Texas recorded live on Second Life. We had a good laugh during the presentation because Lee, someone who virtually works in the office, could not figure out how to sit down in the theater and I bet some people were annoyed at that since he was in the front row. Shannon was also friended by someone and then there was an attempt to teleport her somewhere else. Stalker anyone? For about 10 minutes we lost video and sound and so we missed a lot, which was unfortunate since Idit's talk was really interesting.
During the presentation, Aixsha mentioned that myglife and globaloria sites were down but Itay confidently showed us that it worked on his Windows and that the problem must be our Macs. However, when people in the virtual theater began to complain about an error they were receiving when trying to access these sites, Shannon, Jeff and Itay became a little nervous and anxious. It's a good thing Idit knew this might have happened and she made sure to do her presentation offline.
Since the site where we do ALL our work was down, the only thing I had to do for the rest of the time here is figure out Flash. I can't say I know anymore about Flash because I couldn't do one of the tutorials on the site. I don't know why I thought making a game was not going to be a hard task but after unsuccessfully figuring out Flash, I can now admire the kids' games even more.
Until Next Time,
~Leticia
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Hey there!
So today was a very interesting day at work. After fighting about which is the best residential college at Yale with Daniel watching, Aixsha and I settled into our normal spot. First we installed Flash which took FOREVER!!!! I would not have found that so bad but the issue was that I could not open Firefox during the download which meant that I could not work on anything until the installation was complete. Then we sat down with Rebecca and Leslie and talked about our collaborative game idea. They had a good idea of having three different levels for different age groups and having them go through a day making food choices. I suggested that it should be like a choose your own destiny in which after they make an unhealthy food choice that they should continue to play but have repurcussions such as you gain weight and therefore can do less or something along those lines. After we talked I started to work on the game assignments and since then I've been taking notes and playing the games. (http://www.myhlife.org/usa/la/rethinkwiki/index.php/Learning_Game_Design)They are fun but hard to beat.
Until Next time,
~Leticia
So today was a very interesting day at work. After fighting about which is the best residential college at Yale with Daniel watching, Aixsha and I settled into our normal spot. First we installed Flash which took FOREVER!!!! I would not have found that so bad but the issue was that I could not open Firefox during the download which meant that I could not work on anything until the installation was complete. Then we sat down with Rebecca and Leslie and talked about our collaborative game idea. They had a good idea of having three different levels for different age groups and having them go through a day making food choices. I suggested that it should be like a choose your own destiny in which after they make an unhealthy food choice that they should continue to play but have repurcussions such as you gain weight and therefore can do less or something along those lines. After we talked I started to work on the game assignments and since then I've been taking notes and playing the games. (http://www.myhlife.org/usa/la/rethinkwiki/index.php/Learning_Game_Design)They are fun but hard to beat.
Until Next time,
~Leticia
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