Benchmark #7
For this project it was our job to create a playable game that involved an area of randomness. We started this process with learning how to program on Starlogo Nova. We learned how to created oddly shaped accents and flowers out of planned patterns. We used skill cards to work though the small projects that we did in the game. Starlogo Nova is what I feel to be a very advanced tool, I decided to start with a website that I am familiar with. Scratch is another programing sight that was open for our use and I decided after messing around on it for a while that it was the sight that I was going to get my game finished on.
I created a guessing game that involves a 30x35 polar bear to fall randomly under a row of 5 145 x 135 presents. The polar bear is set to fall between -200 and 160 on the X axis. The Y axis is set to 0 because there is no need for it to rise. The Presents on the other hand are set to 60, but when the space bar is pushed it is set to rise to 150, wait three seconds then fall back to 60. If the space bar is pushed again the presents will rise by 70, so it's important to wait three seconds to play again. It is a never ending game that you can play with multiple people. Scratch Game
At the beginning of this project I started off with a partner. We worked well together, but we had two different ideas for what our game should look like. I wanted something for simple and he wanted something more his style. We created additional game that had to do with checkers. We decided to do this when we were completing benchmark number one. The “Initial Game Concept”, where we provided a background to why we chose to create checkers. How we were going to make it, How we want it to look, and two challenges we think we might face.
Benchmark #1:“We chose checkers because it looked fun to program. Checkers is played on a checkerboard between two players using 12 pieces that can move diagonally. Pieces are captured after an opponent's piece move over and into an open space. I see our game as a first person player game that battles against a robot that we program. I think two challenges we will face is figuring out how to program the robots reactions and also creating the game board.”
After a whole lot of slacking we realized that checkers doesn’t have anything to do with chance, unless we were willing to spend more time on making it play against a robot. We both didn’t really understand that and even our teacher told us it’s a big leap for people who don’t know here was around Starlogo Nova. At this time we had not decided to use Scratch yet, so when the second benchmark came around “Detailed Game Description and Proposed Probability Analysis” We needed to take sometime to think about what we really can complete.
Benchmark #2: “We are going to be creating a guessing game using 6 cups. There is going to be a randomly generated ball under one of the cups. Each round you have to choose the correct cup that its under. Whether you get the correct cup determines how many points you achieve. The cups colors are going to red will all rise once the player clicks the cup they think the grey ball is under.
There will be an unlimited amount of times you can play. Score will be kept at the top of the screen. I think we will struggle the most with trying to figure out how to make the cups rise and also trying to click the cups. Another thing will be figuring out what software we should use. We are still deciding between either using Starlogo Nova or Scratch. We plan to program the ball to magically appear under a random cup.”
We decided a guessing game was the best thing for folks who don’t know much about programming. It was simple, but complicated at the same time. My main concern with this idea was how we we're going to get the ball to randomly generate under a cup. I was worried that we would not be able to get the ball to show under the cup. I was also noticing how my partner seemed disinterested in the idea of this concept so when benchmark number 3 came around I started to create the game on my own. The “Preliminary Program Design” was a time for us to sketch out what we wanted our project to look like. I worked by myself on this piece because my partner and I had different ideas of how the project should look. I started with sketching 6 cups all placed on a table and then the next picture on the back was the cups all raised from the table and a ball under one of the cups. Something that I wished I had done was put arrows on the sides of the ball to indicate how the ball is to move to any other side.
We took a break from benchmarks and skipped to finishing our game. It was coming close to exhibition and we had a few time to complete our game for a full score. Me being me decided to work on completing my whole game at home by myself. I wanted an environment that was completely silent for me to fully take in what all the controls ment and how to operate everything. My game by be very simple, but it took me close to 4 hours of non-stop working to fully get it to work. I went through many revisions and got my programming down to a very simple point. I wanted the controls neat and it took getting messy before that point. One thing that I realized while working on my game is I would go through many loops to create something, when all I really needed to do is duplicate one part or the other. I didn’t look at any tutorials or get help from anyone and I don’t really think anyone understands how hard I worked on it. I was shamed for not having a lot of advanced things in my game, because I couldn’t understand how to make it. Even though not a lot of people understand, it’s ok. I know how hard I worked. I know how proud I am. Benchmark #5 was a completed game and I completed it.
After we came back from winter break we began to learn about how to solve probability and how to incorporate tree diagrams into the knowledge. We started this by completing packets in class with different circumstances with pertaining to probability. After we got comfortable finding the probability, we started using tree diagrams. A tree diagram uses the information of the probability to find patterns and more information. This was a part of this project that I started to not pay attention to. I was not interested in the topic, but I soon learned that because of all the assignments that we we're doing on the topic I needed to learn it. I understood some parts of it and struggled to get through the assignment, but when it came to completing benchmark #4 I was at a loss. Benchmark #4 was the probability analysis and we had to find the probability of the random event that happened in your game and I found myself struggling so much that I didn’t complete it. The times I tried to work on it, I looked around and saw everyone working with a partner and realized how nice it would had been to work with someone on this project.
This was our first exhibition project in math for tenth grade. I can truly say that I am happy with the results of my game and what I have learned. There are some area’s I need practice in such as working with tree diagrams and being comfortable with sharing my work. I hope with the future projects that we work on I learn to be more open with failing and also getting help from my teacher and my peers. When I look back on how productive I was on this project, I would say that there was times when I would get distracted by certain people in my class. I wouldn’t take the time to separate myself, but now that I am in my new class I am really excited to have time to work. In conclusion. Last semester exhibition project was educational and thought provoking, but I hope for a better experience with the next.