welcome to

1
welcome to
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Office hours

• Alexander Repenning ecot 824, 10am, Tuesdays
• Clayton Lewis tbd

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Objectives

• Introductions
• background
• Hands on make 1st game

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motivation

• James Paul Gee Games, not school, are teaching
  kids to think.
• Todd Oppeheimer The Flickering Mind

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Goals of this course

• Learn about game design
• Learn about education
• Learn how to build real-time graphics
• Work in interdisciplinary teams (computer
  science, fine art, education)
• Learn to work in group presentation and
  communication skills
• Research find relevant support material and
  present solution to others
• Evolve designs by presenting to larger group
• Critique other people's design
• React to other people's critique

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short history of games
Pong, 1972
Space Invader, 1978
Centipede, 1980
Pacman, 1980
Sokoban, 1982
Frogger, 1981
Tetris, 1985
SimCity, 1989
The Sims, 2000
Doom, 1993
Halo 2, 2004
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What this course is and isnt

• Not an opportunity to make DOOM 4
• CS students you will have to work with students
  and teachers

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Challenge how to make educational games that
really areengaging and educational?
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challenge 1

• Establish meaningful connections between
  engagement and learning using Engagement/Learning
  continuum
• Educational Design (Learning ? Engagement)
  Educational designs main objective is learning.
  This design process starts with learning but
  gradually adds elements of engagement. A popular
  design approach used in education is backward
  design (Wiggins and McTighe, 2000).
• Game Design (Engagement ? Learning) Game design
  is highly focused on motivational aspects such as
  engagement and fun (Koster, 2004). Most games
  have clever scaffolding mechanisms built in (Gee,
  2004) allowing their users to gradually solve
  more complex problems. However, these mechanisms
  are typically used to learn about using the game
  and not about some educational topic. Most game
  design approaches are highly user centered and
  iterative.

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How not to merge games and education

• Before you go on, what is Newtons 1st Law?
• Fma
• FGMm/r2
• VIR
• None of the above

http//research.microsoft.com/sdrucker/Presentati
ons/Making20Tools20for20Making20Games.ppt
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Prototyping with AgentSheets

• Be able to express and communicate complex ideas
• Education
• History
• Math
• Music
• Geology
• Logic
• Programming
• Art

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Why we use AgentSheets

• Fastest prototyping tool make games in minutes,
  not weeks
• Learn a lot about agent-based, object-oriented
  programming
• Applies to all programming languages
• Feel free to decompile your projects with Java
  decompiler
• In later part of course turn the same projects
  into 3d projects using AgentCubes

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Out of this World(very distance education)

• NASA used AgentSheets to simulate an E.coli in
  microgravity experiment aboard the space shuttle
  Discovery with John Glenn

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Bridge Builder

• Simulation to explore bridge designs
• Create a bridge by erasing bricks use as few
  bricks as possible.
• Each bricks computes forces acting on it
• Bridge collapses when one or more bricks do not
  have enough support
• Users discover different bridge designs (Greek,
  Roman)
• Activity featured on PBS Mathline
• http//www.pbs.org/teachersource/mathline/concepts
  /architecture/activity3.shtm

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Game design

• homework 1 Frogger

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Problem Analysis
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Frogger

• You are a frog. Your task is simple hop across
  a busy highway, dodging cars and trucks, until
  you get the to the edge of a river, where you
  must keep yourself from drowning by crossing
  safely to your grotto at the top of the screen by
  leaping across the backs of turtles and logs. But
  watch out for snakes and alligators! (Sega, 1980)

Background and history http//en.wikipedia.org/wi
ki/Frogger
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1) List agents project description nouns
step 1

• a) Categorize agents user controlled, AI
  controlled, passive/props
• User controlled
• Cursor keys
• Sound, speech recognition (Mac only)
• b) Define user control and AI
• AI from simple to complex
• Random movement
• Tracking with pathfinding
• Collaborate Diffusion (optional topic for
  afternoon)

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What are the Objects/Agents?
step 1

• You are a frog. Your task is simple hop across a
  busy highway, dodging cars and trucks, until you
  get the to the edge of a river, where you must
  keep yourself from drowning by crossing safely to
  your grotto at the top of the screen by leaping
  across the backs of turtles and logs. But watch
  out for snakes and alligators!

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What are the Objects/Agents?
step 1

• Mark nouns
• You are a frog. Your task is simple hop across a
  busy highway, dodging cars and trucks, until you
  get the to the edge of a river, where you must
  keep yourself from drowning by crossing safely to
  your grotto at the top of the screen by leaping
  across the backs of turtles and logs. But watch
  out for snakes and alligators!

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Homework 1

• Download AgentSheets (agentsheets.com)
• Install
• Follow tutorial to make virus simulation find it
  in the support/video section
• Send email to me (ralex_at_cs.colorado.edu) to get
  registration code for AgentSheets
• Give me a sentence about what you like to get out
  of the course.
• Let me know if you want Mac or PC version
• Have csci4830 in subject line
• Make Frogger (for 100 points)
• Cursor controlled frog
• Trucks moving on road continuously
• Hint use generator agent (e.g., tunnel producing
  trucks)
• Frogs will die when hit by truck
• Extra points (up 20)
• Frog, when dying, will make new frog
• Hint use generator agent (e.g., leave) and
  broadcast message
• Frog live counter
• Nice artwork (original) of agents/background or
  extra functionality
• Submit Frogger
• http//www.cs.colorado.edu/ralex/courses/gamelet2
  006/gorp/Frogger/

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Homework 1 GORP submission

• Goto the course website and select the
  GORP/frogger tab
• http//www.cs.colorado.edu/ralex/courses/gamelet2
  006/gorp/Frogger/
• Login into GORP
• Name xxxxxx
• Pass xxxx
• Click add project to Frogger
• Fill out add new project form

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Add new project

• Name something about your frogger, e.g.,
  superduper frogger
• Description
• Thumbnail upload a 256 x 256 image, use screen
  dump tool
• Author name
• Applet Zip up the folder produced by the
  Ristretto tool part of AgentSheets.
• Use a name that allows you to recognize that this
  an applet file, e.g. froggerapplet.zip
• Win use winzip
• Mac use Finder create archive
• Need to have full registration to create applet
• Source
• Use a name that allows you to recognize that this
  an applet file, e.g. froggersource.zip
• Win zip your project folder inside the
  projects folder inside AgentSheets
• Mac
• Export your project File Export
• Zip folder exported

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Homework 1 email submission

• Only do this if GORP does not work!!
• mailto ralex_at_cs.colorado.edu
• Subject csci4830 frogger
• Attachments
• applet.zip - Zipped up folder produced
  by Ristretto
• source.zip
• Mac zip up folder produced by File Export
  project
• Win zip up project folder contained in
  projects folder
• and send email to Larry Hamel
  larhamel_at_gmail.com
• He is in charge of the server
• Include problem description and CC me