What's on my mind...

The first thing that pops in my head to blog about is my schedule for the next couple weeks. Right now, my sister is on her way home from college in Morgantown.  After school, she's going to pick me up and my mom, my sister, and I are going to go Christmas shopping. Which by the way, I haven't bought anything for anybody yet.  So that's kinda stressing me out a little bit. I'm not even sure what I'm going to get anybody yet. 

After we are done shopping, I'm going to our game at six.  It's at home and it's against Valley.  The whole team from Valley pretty much hates me so I have decided not to play in this game just so that there isn't any drama.  Hopefully, I get to see one of my friends from Charleston Catholic that I haven't gotten to see in awhile at the game.  We have just recently started talking again and it seems like forever since I have seen her.

Tommorrow is the last day of school before our Christmas break.  I guess I'm gonna come to school, I haven't really decided yet.  Thankfully, we don't have practice again until next Wednesday.  But unfortunately, we have practice Wednesday thru Saturday, 9-11.  But on the bright side, Christmas is coming up very soon, only three more days!  And in only 13 days, is my 15th birthday. The next couple weeks are going to pretty amazing. (:

Drama

Every high school has some sort of drama.  Usually, it's about who is dating who.  I think drama is pointless and uncalled for.  It starts fights and causes too much trouble.  If everyone would just stay out of other peoples business and live their own life, nothing would happen.  A perfect example of something that starts drama is when a couple breaks up and one of them starts dating someone else.  The other person gets jealous and trys to start stuff.  If you're broken up, then you shouldn't worry about who they're dating.  Yeah, it might make you upset or whatever, but don't let it get to you.  It just creates drama and that's something that most people, like me, hate getting into.  On the other hand, some people enjoy it, I guess they like it cause it brings attention to themselves.  I hate drama!

Blogging

So pretty much everybody in my Globaloria class hates blogging.  We don't see the point in having to blog twice a week.  It really doesn't have anything to do with making a game.  And if we really have to blog twice a week, then we should at least get to choose what we blog about.  And another thing, sometimes we are doing the same thing for a week or more so it's kinda pointless to blog about what we are doing every single week.  Mostly because we would just be repeating ourselves and many people, especially me, hate it when people repeat themselves.  So, my point is, we shouldn't have to blog so much.  Seriously.  We hate it. 

Honors English Project Presentation

Tomorrow, my group has to give a presentation on our English project.  We have all (well, most of us) worked really hard on it.  The presentation has to last about ten minutes.  I'm really nervous about it.  We're not completely finished with it yet but I'm pretty sure that we will be able to finish everything tonight.  Our project is based around the book "I Am Legend", which I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.  Our theme park is named "The Walking Dead".  We have five different sections of our park; Los Angeles, New York, Prey, Dress of White Silk, and Buried Talents.  The Buried Talents section is based around a carnival theme so I'm going to make cinnamon rolls to bring into the judges tomorrow.  Our group really needs to practice what we're going to say and who is going to say what during the presentation.  However, we are having problems with everybody meeting at once.  Especially with me and Jake since we both have basketball practice at different times.  Hopefully we can pull the whole thing together and get a good grade, some of us really need it to pull our grade up for the semester.

The Dragonflies

My partner and I's team is called The Dragonflies.  We have been working very hard and diligently in our preparation in making our game.  We have recently been working on paper prototyping, which we just finished up.  We both contributed to the work that involved the paper prototyping.  For the rest of the year, we have decided to split the roles that will have to be taken care of throughout the making of the game.  This will make it easier and less stressful on both of us.  Working collaborately also makes actually doing the class work more fun.  We get to communicate with other people as well as with each other. 

High School Basketball

Yesterday was my first high school basketball practice.  I am now extremely sore.  We ran a lot and Coach Kincaid said that we would be running even more at practice tonight.  After a couple of weeks I'm sure it will get better.  Until then, I have to deal with the soreness and get through the practices.  There are only about five freshman on the team.  I think we are all adjusting pretty well to the new people that we are playing with.  Next Thursday we have our first scrimmage against Independence.  The only bad part about being a freshman is that we don't get to play in the games that much.  I'm really excited about my senoir year of basketball.  I think it will be pretty great, especially since we will get to play a lot more.  Hopefully this season is amazing.

Globaloria Class

My partner and I just finished up our paper prototyping.  We had been working on it for awhile.  It turned out a lot better than both of us thought it would.  We came up with some new ideas for our game, also.  Researching all of the endangered animals was really interesting.  I never knew so many animals were endangered.  It's kinda sad to think that a lot of these animals will eventually become extinct.  I'm excited to get started on the game.  We have a mini-game project coming up on Monday and hopefully that comes along good.  So far I'm liking Globaloria class. 

Enlgish Field Trip

Last Friday, my Enlgish class, along with some others, went on a field trip to Charelston.  We watched five plays.  These plays included The Monkey's Paw, The Jumping Frog, The Necklace, The Raven, and Sleepy Hollow- The Tell-Tale Heart.  It lasted about an hour and a half.  I have to admit, it was pretty boring.  I almost fell asleep, actually.  It's not that the actors did a bad job, the plays themselves were just boring.  And another thing, it was absolutely freezing.  I thought I was going to die.  On the way back, we stopped at Taco Bell to eat lunch.  The lines were so long and it took forever to get our food.  We got back to school right when the bell rang for us to leave. Needless to say, it was not my favorite field trip.  

Endangered Animals

There are tons of endangered species all over the world.  Many of them are starting to become extinct.  In order to help some of these animals, we can refrain from killing them. There are groups that endangered animals are put in.  These groups include extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, conservation dependent, near threatened, and least concern. Being extinct is the worst, which means that all of these animals in that specie has died out.  The best group to be in is the least concerned group, which means that there is no immediate threat of survival.  People should make every effort to to save these endangered animals.

I Am Legend.

In my Enlgish class, we are doing a group novel project.  My groups project is on I am Legend.  We aren't finished with the book but so far, I don't think any of us like it.  Robert Neville is the main character who is, supposedly, the last man on Earth.  All of the other people have been infected with the plague and have turned into vampires.  In our project, we have to create a commercial to sell the book.  We haven't decided what we are doing our commercial on yet.  We also have to design an entire ammusement park based around the book. The ammusement park has to include resturaunts, attractions, rides, etc.. We only have a couple more weeks to do this project and we haven't gotten very far into it.  Hopefully we can pull it together and get a good grade.

Collages in English Class.

In my eighth period Honors English class, we are working on making literature collages.  To do this, we are using magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Discovery, and others similar to these.  On our collages, we have to provide examples of many literary elements. These elements include alliteration, conflict, theme, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, onomatapoeia, character, and personification. It's challenging to find examples of these in magazines.  This is probably the most fun thing that we've done all year in my Honors English class. I really enjoy working on these collages because it's a very relaxed project. I'm not yet finished with my collage but we should be finishing by the end of the week.

Research Links

These are the links I used for my research.

• 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species
• 2. http://en.wkiipedia.org/wiki/Overexploitation
• 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Everglades

This is an extra link I also used for research.

http://www.eearth.tv/?p=245

Game Reviews

GAME REVIEW #1: MOST EFFECTIVE Learning Game

• Name of the game that taught you the MOST about its learning topic:

"What Would You Do?"

• What social issue or educational topic does the game explore?

It explores teenagers making decisions about what they should do in certain situations.

• What can you learn from this game?

I can learn that you should always think about what you're about to do before actually doing it. And it teaches me that there could be serious consequences to certain things that you do.

• What game genre is it? Do you think this genre is a good choice for creating a learning game? Why or why not?

This game is the genre of adventure. I think this is a good choice for creating a learning game because it requires careful thought and planning.

• Design Analysis (Does it look good? Does it clearly illustrate the issue or learning concept?)

I think this game looks really good and it clearly illistates the issue of making choices.

• Usability Analysis (Is it clear what you need to do as a player? Does it work well?)

It is very clear what you should do as a player, the instructions are helpful. And yes, it works well.

• Suggestions for improvement. How would you change the gameplay to make the learning and play experience work together better?

I would find better graphics for the game. And I would add more of a realistic ending to some of the outcomes.

• List 2-3 things that you would like to learn how to do (in terms of functionality, design or content)

I would like to learn how to create the boxes with the content in this game, how to create the characters, and how to insert the scroll bars.

GAME REVIEW #2: LEAST EFFECTIVE Learning Game

• Name of the game that taught you the LEAST about its learning topic:

"Bullseye"

• What social issue or educational topic does the game explore?

This educational topic explores the physics of how to fire a projectile.

• What can you learn from this game?

I can learn that you have to have really good aim to participate in archery.

• What game genre is it? Do you think this genre is a good choice for creating a learning game? Why or why not?

The game genre is sports. This game genre can be a good choice for creating some learning games but I don't think it is for this type of topic because it's hard to explain physics this way.

• Design Analysis (Does it look good? Does it clearly illustrate the issue or learning concept?)

It looks pretty good but I don't think it clearle illustrates the learning concept.

• Usability Analysis (Is it clear what you need to do as a player? Does it work well?)

I don't think it's as clear as it could be on what the player has to do. They might should have added instructions.

• Suggestions for improvement. How would you change the gameplay to make the learning and play experience work together better?

They could use better graphics and make it easier to move the bow and arrow.

• List 2-3 things that you would like to learn how to do (in terms of functionality, design or content)

I would like to learn how to draw a scene and how to make the characters move.

Game Genre

My partner and I are thinking about doing a strategy game.  Our strategy game is going to consist of a series of mini-games.  For example, word searches, matching, etc..  We are also thinking about an action game.  We think that this particular genre would be a lot more challenging to make but also more exciting to make. We will eventually have to decide but I think we are leaning more towards strategy.

Privacy on the Internet

Privacy on the internet is very important.  You should never give out or post your full name, your e-mail address, your address, phone numer, etc.. If this kind of information gets out, there could be serious consequences.  If they have the right information, people could steal your identity, or hack into your bank accounts. The safest way to use the internet is to never, ever post your personal information on the internet.

My Hopes For Globaloria Class

In Globaloria class I hope to learn many new things.  For example, I've already learned how to create blog posts, embed videos and pictures, and work with a little bit of coding for my wiki profile.  Hopefully I will learn a lot more. The game that my partner and I are going to make is a series of mini-games. I'm excited about learning how to work with all of the different coding for my game.  But I'm scared that I'm going to want to give up because I know it will be frustrating.