Helping Hand

Just realized I forgot to blog about this! Oops!

So, today at school I was working on the game and Kevin, who is on a different OGPC team whose name I don't remember pointed out the solution to a bug I was having. (I forgot to type "else" where it need to be an else if, not just an if. Yeah. Super embarrassing. Let's not talk about that.)

And earlier this week, I overheard Andrew from another OGPC team complaining about their game's lack of levels. So, I helped him out by building a level for him! It was pretty complicated actually, entirely by entering coordinates because they don't have a level editor programmed. Their game is actually really cool! It's a 3D Lite Bot with some new capabilities (and a new goal, instead of lighting squares you push a block around).

Yayy helping people!

Finally named the game....

The game won't actually be called "Educational Video Game for Preschoolers" (lol). Instead it will be called

Learning Steps: An Educational Journey

Yepppppp

Night Before OGPC

Well, here we are, the night before OGPC.

All the art and sound still needs to be added but the programming is DONE!

Super excited---and I can't wait to see how our game turns out..and the other cool games people make!

Beta Testing on Preschoolers

(That title makes this sound dangerous!)

Today I had a 4 year old, Katie*, and a 5 year old, Isabella*, playtest my game for me!

They really liked it! The games they liked the best were the character creation, pipe connecting game, and ABC Mountain.

They also liked the shape game too!

Here are some memorable quotes:

Isabella*: "This is really fun!"; "I want to make another character!"; "I can't wait to tell my dad at dinner about this!"
Katie*: "I want to play the ABC game!"; "Can I play this again?"; "Yes! We made it to the party!"
Isabella's* Mom: "It really seems like they enjoyed this game. It looks like they're very entertained."

I'm really glad it went over so well!

*Names changed to protect privacy

Planning Schedule

1. Interview preschool teachers to find out what kids are learning & play test other games targeted toward preschoolers to see what techniques they use ~ 2 weeks.
2. Create characters and storyboard the video game and review with project team ~ 2 weeks
3. Code the core game elements (i.e. the main parts of the game where information is presented.) ~ 3 months
4. Enhance the game user experience (i.e. polish it; artwork included) ~ 1 month
   Play test it by myself and fix all the bugs I find ~ 1 month Project team playtests and fix bugs ~ 1 month Have preschool age children play test it and fix all bugs ~ 1 month Repeat steps 5 through 7 as needed Create a website for the game with a downloadable copy and feedback survey ~ 1 month
   11. Burn copies of the game onto CDs for distribution ~ 2 weeks
   12. Provide copies of the game to preschool teachers and ask them to pass them out ~ 1 week
   13. Publicize the website and the game through Girl Scout websites, parenting websites, etc (including researching appropriate parenting websites to publicize through)

Ideas for Elevator Pitch

My game is an educational video game intended for preschoolers. It covers concepts like control of the mouse, spelling their own name, logic, counting numbers up to ten, the alphabet, shape recognition, and cooperation. I surveyed preschool teachers and parents of preschoolers about what should be included in the game.

Conflict Amongst Ourselves

I was originally intending for Michelle to help with programming in addition to doing art and voice overs. However, this seemed to put a lot on her plate. I was worried she wasn't going to be able to keep up with all of it. She had also never had programming experience before. She was having trouble meeting our deadlines. Therefore, I decided to tell her to stop trying to program and focus on the art and voice overs.