EVALUATION

QUESTIONS:

-good points -- Please list some points you liked about the game.
-bad points -- Please list some points you didn't like about the game.
-whole point of the game --Did you understand the whole point of the game and what you should learn? Why or why not?
-useful -- Did you actually learn it?
-interface -- How difficult was it to get into  the interface and how to navigate Kodu?
-improvement -- Please list things i could improve in terms of educational purposes and interface.


My game was evaluated by M5, although the intended audience of my game are primaries.


Caroline :
1. Its teaches you german in the game
2. It is easy to play
3.Yes, the game is created to teach you german, and we know this because of that character who tells us the instructions
4.Through this game I learnt how to say "hello" in german
5. It was not hard to move the players around
6. Could be more levels
Apparently it was obvious that i wanted to teach german in the game, so i achieved that my game has a clear goal. I made it that easy to play on purpose, because actually the intention was that primaries play it, so it has to be easy and the Kodu has to be easy to move around. I think it was good that i included the little "helper"-Kodu at the beginning because again it made the game and the goal of the game more clear.
I would have done more levels if i had the time to teach some more words and maybe even useful sentences.



the game was relatively easy to play and more importantly, easy to understand.
I'm not sure about the point of the fish.
The intent of the game and the outcome matched, except I 'won' and had -175 points ;)
Easy to play and easy to understand and met its goals well.
Could the fish ask higher level questions in GERMAN THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO COME BACK TO TO GAIN POINTS? (sorry about the caps)
Again, it was my intend to make the game easy so that primaries can play it. Furthermore, i just created the first level, and the first level is always the easiest one. The fish actually didn't have a point and i should have worked on the programming of it some more, because it constantly took away points when it dumped into Kodu. I think my game matched my first idea pretty well. For sure, i should have worked on the fish some more to give it a point. I think the fish was the only part about my game that was unclear or pointless.


its easy and user frinedly
its a bit too easy
the instruction were easy
i learnd some german
kodu was easy to move
more german woords
I made the game that easy on purpose, because it was made for primaries. The first level was just to understand the concept of the game for higher levels that would have become more difficult. Its good to get some feedback about the instruction of the "helper"-kodu because i was not sure if it might have been to fast or not understandable. If i had more time i could have added more levels to the game to teach some more words other than "Hello".



MatsVery user friendly and clear
Wasnt challenging enough
Instructionsw ere clear and consiece
Make the game more complex
User friendly and clear means that primaries would understand it, too. Of course it wasn't challenging for somebody at our age because the intended audience were primaries. Further levels would have been more complex and challenging, but i didn't have enough time.



Chloe
1. Easy to use, and understand.
2. Too easy
3. The point of the game was clear
4. the audience should learn German, It benefits language skills
5. Easy to navigate and move around, along with the fact that it was easy to find the star.
6. Langauge skills could be improved if you add more things to do another than learn how to say hello.
I think i achieved my goal pretty well because i wanted to make an easy understandable game that would teach german to improve the language skills of the players, because learning by playing a game is more fun than just learning. It was easy to find the star because the 'world' of the first level was shaped like a path in U-form. Again if i had the time to create more levels i would have included more words.



-good points -- Please list some points you liked about the game.
-bad points -- It was too quick
-whole point of the game --Yes it was very simple and clear
-useful -- Yes
-interface -- It was very easy
-improvement I think you should have mad a few more levels so you could learn more than hello

I know that my game was really short, it takes not even one minute to play the first level. I should have made it longer somehow. I am actually not that sure how useful it is to be able to say "Hello" in german, but again more levels would have taught more words.



The enviroment is nice
I dont see the point
I learnt how to say hi in german
It was easy to move
More words
Actually i thought the little "helper"-Kodu at the beginning that gives instructions made the point of the whole game pretty clear, but of course that was just the first level at maybe it was not that clear.



At the bottom line, almost everybody said that the point of my game (to teach german) was pretty clear and that the game was easy to play and understand and very userfriendly which matches my plan/goal because i wanted to make a game for primaries, so it had to be easy. For sure, it was too easy for somebody at my age and i should have added more levels to teach more words other than just "Hello" in german. I think teaching a language with a game is the best way to motivate little kids to learn.
In my opinion, this feedback was pretty useless, because i got it at the end of my game and i already knew everything that the people told me with their feedback. It doesn't have a point, because i won't work any further on my game and i won't improve it, although the feedback gave me some ideas how i could have improved my game (if i had the time).
I am pretty happy with my game because i never worked with Kodu or programming before and under these circumstances i think it was actually not that bad, i even finished the first level of my game. 

CRITERION C - PLAN

PLAN THE PRODUCT / SOLUTION:

                       

Step One

Task: Find out about the platform im working with (KODU), experience how to create a world (environment for Kodu later)                                                                                      

Date due:               

Process: Kodu is quite easy to work with and easy to understand, too, so that i have no problem understanding how it basically works. The interface is user-friendly and very nice to work with, even tough i should not waste that much time with navigating trough the menu or the options and select the right one. What i will experiment with different grounds and how to create hills and water.

Step Two

Task: Program the first Kodu                                                                                                      

Date due:               

Process: In my opinion, the programming is quite complicated, because ive never created a game before or even worked with Kodu or a similar programm, so ill have to get into programming first. i have to keep in mind to be logical and think in context. I will make Kodu move and navigate trough the game.

Step Three

Task: add opponent + little "helper"-Kodu that gives instructions right at the beginning of the game                                                                                             

Date due:               

Process: I will have to add an opponent and programm him AND kodu to make them interact to make the game harder and not that boring.
The little "Helper"-Kodu is there to give instructions and make the destination of the game easier. It will explain how to navigate Kodu through the game.

Step Four

Task: add destination                                                                                                 

Date due:               

Process: i will add a destination, an aim that ends the game when reached, in this case a star that says the german translation for "Hello".

Step Five

Task: finish piece as best as possible                                                                                                  Date due: 13th of December 2011 

Process: I will add two more stars that say two other words that are NOT the german translation for "Hello" to teach german better, because the kid that plays the game will have to chose a star. If its the right star that says the right translation, the kid wins. If not, he looses.

Step Six

Task: evaluation and respond to the evaluation                                                                              

Date due: 20th December 2011    

Process: I will respond to the evaluation (the comments on my blog) and evaluate what people wrote about my game.

Questions

-good points -- Please list some points you liked about the game.
-bad points -- Please list some points you didn't like about the game.
-whole point of the game --Did you understand the whole point of the game and what you should learn? Why or why not?
-useful -- Did you actually learn it?
-interface -- How difficult was it to get into  the interface and how to navigate Kodu?
-improvement -- Please list things i could improve in terms of educational purposes and interface.

Process

I finished a first draft of my game, but there are still some things to work on and that dont work yet. I found out about pages and how to use them.
My idea of the whole game kind of changed, because its quite hard to realize the selection of words, because ill have to make Kodu realize that only one of the destinations is correct and wins the game.

Why?

I chose the idea of teaching german because that's my first language and i know a lot about it.
The choice of my audience was quite easy, too, because Kodu looks kind of childish and i think primaries would like what Kodu looks like.

The actual task of the game (what the Kids are supposed to do) is to choose the correct german words. The game will assign tasks, like: "Collect the word 'Hello' in german!" and give the translation and then the kid will have to choose the correct word (in this case "hallo") out of a variety of other words. The learning effect will be supported by scoring points whenever something is done right and loosing points whenever the wrong word is chosen.

Idea for a game

GOAL: teach german
AUDIENCE: primaries
PLATFORM: Kodu
FORMAT/GAME TYPE: platform game, task: collect certain words, choose the right words/phrases out of a variety

http://crackedrabbitgaming.com/2009/08/19/kodu-game-lab-full-game-video-tutorial-with-narration-generic-wars/

Reflection on Design Unit

During this unit, I’ve learned how to work with design rules and how to create a proper poster. The most important rules are the “Rule of Thirds” and the “Rule of Hierarchies”: When you divide the picture into nine equal parts, the stress is at the intersections and power is shown from left to right and top to bottom. Elements that are above or in front have greater power or importance to the picture. Another rule is the “Rule of Contrast”: Contrast is the use of darkness and brightness to emphasize objects and to create mystery or sense of uncertainty as well as suspense because pictures without contrasts are boring and monotonic. Repetition is used for emphasizing certain parts of a design. Using some parts of the design piece again and repeating them reinforces their importance.


When I first started with my drafts I wanted to do something different than I actually produced: I wanted to use pictures and write only horizontal. But then I got started and searched pictures and I didn’t find anything big enough that I’d like, so I canceled the pictures. I was inspired by the Nike-Advertisement because it kind of appealed to me because it was so clear and dynamic.

Finally I used a lot of contrast to create a clear poster that would be big enough for A0. I didn’t use the rule of thirds, because there are no pictures in my poster. Hirachies is expressed through change of size of fond: The words that are more important are bigger than other ones. I didn’t really use repetition, but I used the same fond for everything and I had my concept that I repeated and followed for all three posters.

GAME MAKER

http://gamemaker.info/de/manual

http://www.gm-d.de/wbb/index.php?page=Portal

Posters - Third Draft

Posters - Second Draft

Posters - First Draft

IB Learner Profile

thinkers

communicators

principled

caring

risk-takers

balanced

reflective.

open-minded:
http://sassywire.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/if_open_lowres_01.jpg

Inquirers:
http://wortakrobat.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/frage.gif

knowledgeable:
http://piyushaggarwal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/knowledge.jpg
http://02f6373.netsolhost.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/books.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2H599tgim53N5NbjhSYSDKZo9rUWHw1U89NFd9Q95d-m_bKa4uyoq0upFJuoQD12mNg7_OzbZoyNYce7ZqpebduXE_QUQMMRO0XEU89HWSMXXBbrzgl8EdHT0FuIsrpAGoyO-vO1JkOzN/s1600/booksstackxx.jpg

thinkers:
http://us.cdn3.123rf.com/168nwm/rolffimages/rolffimages0905/rolffimages090500003/4802061-melting-burning-earth-isolated-on-white.jpg

Eyes Picture

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs7/i/2005/259/6/4/The_World_in_my_Eyes_by_Burning_Liquid.jpg

Colour Wheel

Cara Poster

SUMMARY

Rule of Thirds: 
power shown from left to right + top to bottom, use the grid, stressing of intersections

Rule of Hirachies:
Objects + people above or in front have greater power/importance

Rule of Contrast:
use of darkness + brightness to empasize objects, create mistery, sense of uncertaints, suspense

Rule of Repetition:
for emphasis, reinforcement

Rule of Alignment: 
Things are aligned with one another, no widons or orphons

Rule of Proximity:
Things are equal distances frome one another and the edges of the document

Ong Bak - Example for Rule of Thirds

Edited Video (sorry for the bad quality) with grit in the important scenes

Some Photoshop Effects

http://www.photoshopstar.com/photo-effects/unusual-photo-stylizing-effect-by-fragments/

http://www.photoshopstar.com/graphics/the-effect-of-music-notes-on-flowers/

http://www.photoshopstar.com/photo-effects/broken-dreams/

http://www.photoshopstar.com/graphics/poster-from-the-words/

http://www.photoshopstar.com/effects/adding-texture-to-the-skin/

Photoshop - edited picture example

Edit Pictures with Photoshop

1. Duplicate Background layer
2. lasso tool --> select the area that should be clear afterwards
3. feather selection: ctl+alt+d --> for soft edge
4. select pixel radius: 50 pixels
5. layer: new, from copy
6. Lay effect over background layer

example, addition

from 7:25 it's kind of interesting:
first, tony jaa's opponent jumps on the table --> he has more power.
then, tony comes from the LEFT side, jumps up and knocks him down from the table --> he is higher and has more power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eV8hc-6WvY

Rule of thirds - example

clearly from 2:30 min, better from 5:30 min

whenever tony jaa is on the left side, he is strong or in the position of power; he controls the situation. (in the beginning almost all the time). everytime he knockes his opponent out, he is on the left side.

whenever he is on the right side, he is in the weak position: he is beaten/defeated. (mostly in the last part of the video, from 5:30 min)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eV8hc-6WvY

RULE OF THIRDS

In pictures/movies, important things should always be placed on the intersections of the lines that divide the picture/screen in nine pieces.


The strong characters are usually on the left side (because you read from left to right, even a movie/picture) and the weaker characters on the right side. Really weak characters are always in the middle.

If somebody is higher or in the front, he has usually more power.

Definitions: CONTRAST and REPETITION

Contrast is the difference between design elements in a poster (colour, size, topic).


Repetition is the reusing of same or similar elements in the poster.

http://www.presentationzen.com/chapter6_spread.pdf

3. poster draft (contrast+repetition)

2. poster draft (contrast)

1. poster draft