Blender - Mushroom

Blender - Mushroom

Scratch Level 2 - Racing Game

1. What difficulties did you have with programming this game? How did you fix them? Be specific.
   
   - I had some difficulties with getting the high score to work, but eventually I fixed it by... I'm not sure how I fixed it but it works.
   
2. What changes to the tutorial game did you add? Why and how?
   
   - I added a countdown before the game starts. Making it so you have to wait until after the countdown to move.
   
   - I added many of my own little graphic details like the border around the road, the yellow lines on the road, and my custom start/finish line.

Kodu Pac-Man

1. How close is your game to the original? What is different? What is the same?
   
   - My game is somewhat similar to the original Pac-Man
   
   - Instead of collecting little white dots, the player has to collect 90 apples in order to win the game.
   
   - One thing about the original Pac-Man and this that are the same is the map layout, I attempted to make it the same as the map of Pac-Man.
   
2. What extra or creative details did you change or add to your version of the game? Why did you create these changes?
   
   - I made a power-up the player can receive by going to the middle of the map and it allows them to shoot for a limited time. During that time the player can eliminate the "ghosts" but that's their only chance to do so.
   
3. What difficulties did you have? How did you fix this?
   
   - One difficulty I had was that I kept accidentally deleting the floor of my map. I don't know how I did this, but eventually I stopped doing it somehow.
   
   - The "ghosts" would get stuck on corners and would occasionally run into each other and get stuck. I managed to fix this by cleaning up the paths and making the corridors two blocks wide instead of only one. Editing the corridors also helped get the player stuck on less corners too.
   
4. What feedback did your beta testers have for you and how did you implement their suggestions?
   
   - My beta testers led me to improve my game by fixing up the paths and editing the map, allowing easier movement for the player and bots.
5. What would you improve with your game? What would be the next steps with your game?
   
   - I would improve the power-up, possibly add more and a different variety of them.
   
   - The paths of the AI and the map would be improved so there was no potential of a player or bot getting stuck on a corner.
   
   - The next steps with my game would to improve controls, power-ups, bots, and map layout.

The map layout.

The map layout with the paths used by the bots

Player Code: The two pages of player code which are the regular code for controlling the player and victory/loss conditions, along with switching to page 2 if the player picks up the power-up.

Player Code (Power-up): These two pages of code are for the player once they pick up the power-up, allowing them to shoot the "ghosts".

 Bot Code: One bot starts out moving, but as the player collects more apples more bots begin moving around the map. (Example: When the player reaches 10 points, this bot will begin moving.

Blender - Intro

Blender - Intro

Scratch - Intro

Scratch - Intro

Video Games: The Movie

1. What are some of the reasons video games were successful? What makes a game popular?

I think what made games successful is the fact that they were new and never before seen. Also the fact that you could control images on your television was new and it interested a lot of people.

2. What are some of the reasons why the video game industry crashed in the 1980s?

The video game industry started off fine, but in the 1980s many companies didn't spend time making their games. They released as many as they could because they were overconfident with this industry. Many games that were made didn't have too much work put into them, making them simple, repetitive, and just bad. Because of these companies trying to making as many games as they could without making good games, people started to lose interest.

3. Do you think video games are a form of art? Why or why not?

I think video games are a form of art because it takes creativity to make one. Many games need a story, and to go along with that story the game needs unique characters, environments, and audio. And besides people having to draw and design all those things, I consider the whole idea of creating a video game a form of art.

4. What is the next evolution in video games? What are the challenges that need to be solved in the next generation of games?

I believe the next evolution in video games would be virtual reality because VR is advancing quite quickly. A lot of video are also starting to add choices that the player will make, and those choices have an impact on the entire story.

In the next generation of video games one problem that people should attempt to solve would be story, a lot of games already have a pretty good story, where the player is taken into account and the player can make choices that affect the game world and the game's story. Although not every game needs a story, some that do have stories that don't quite feel right, or don't really have the player in mind.

Kodu - Intro

                      

Player Code

Bot Code     

1. Did you have any difficulties with your programming? What was the issue? How did you solve it?

-One issue I ran into while doing the programming was making the apple disappear once the player bumped into it, but I solved it easily by making the player also eat the apple upon bumping it. 

-The bot that chases the player would get caught on corners, so I added more land so there would be less possibilities for the bot to get stuck on a corner while the player collected apples.

2. Did the student who played your game have any suggestions for your game that you implemented?

-The student recommended that I make the play area a little larger so I added a few squares to the border of the map.