Experts Using Scratch
Experts in the game lab (outstanding consultants who were asked to return to participate during sessions in the school year) spent part of their time learning Scratch, a program from MIT. Experts and game lab organizers agreed that, if the experts spent their school-year time learning Scratch, they would be invited back to a two-week game development session over the summer where they would create their own games.
Experts spent time in the lab learning scratch from game development professionals in the department, and had homework after each session. Activities include:
Day 1: Introduction to Scratch
The kids were introduced to the layout to scratch, and the basic fundamentals of programing in scratch. In the first lesson they learn how to animate a cat that eats bad tuna and then changes colors and pops up a word bubble say its sick, and all of this is done through programing.
Day 2: Bouncing Off the Walls
On this day the kids were shown how to create interactivity and if statements. There example has them create a fish swimming in a tank and once the fish hits the wall it changes direction. They were also shown to add a button to make the fish blow bubbles and generate a bubble noise.
Day 3-4: Broadcasting Messages
In this project, they created a paper dollÂť in Scratch, the had three sprites act as buttons to change the costumes and backgrounds of the other sprites.
Day 5: Final Poject
Through out the scratch curriculum they had been introduced to several different programming scripts, they had to use these tools to create an interactive project of there own.
Downloads
All of the lesson materials used with the game experts are included below. You can download a zip file of all elements for the lesson (handouts, homework sheets, and sample files), or download each item individually.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3-4
Day 5
The Expert Consultants
The Expert Consultants culminated their year-long efforts in game design with custom exergames during the Expert Summer Session 2008 in the New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab. During their previous session, the Experts were introduced to Scratch, a program created by researchers at MIT, and learned the basics of programming. With NMSU game developers, Experts began the summer session with a brainstorming day, inventing possible games that encourage physical activity. Through game development, Experts engaged in additional fundamental practices of game development and programming, including concept development, group work, character animation and design, sound recording, product testing and analysis and project management. Experts were divided into two groups, developing games for a game bike and a dance pad. The PC Exerbike team, including Tre Diaz, Sierra Landrum and Dante Laroche, created the game, Get Off My Lawn. The dance pad design team ” David Martinez, Kyleigh Pearson and Alexandria Soto, created the rapid prototype of Donkey Kong. In Get Off My Lawn gamers mow lawns as quickly as possible while avoiding obstacles such as toys, trees and fences. In Donkey Kong, gamers avoid barrels, which can kill the main character Luario (a new character created by the group combining Mario and Luigi), and climb vines to the Donkey. The Experts worked closely with game developers on their game programming, animations and sounds. Throughout the session, the experts reviewed and discussed their experiences using the online educational forum, Moodle. In Moodle, users respond to queries from developers and fellow games lab consultants online, in and outside lab sessions. Experts are encouraged to continue participating in Moodle forums during the summer.