Story
This entire week as I commuted to and from the Gamestar arcades, I have been stopping at a quiet lake to relax after a long day of playing and designing games. I like to wander around the lake collecting flat stones to skip across the surface of the water. Although this activity is pretty simple, I find it very relaxing and a good opportunity to clear my head. As I was skipping stones one day, I started to think about the pattern the stone makes as it travels over the surface of the water, as well as the ripples in the water that the stone creates as it skips. Essentially both of these phenomena are related to waves and waveforms. Today I made the decision to experiment with waveforms in Gamestar Mechanic. I started by creating a sine wave that starts at a crest and ends at a trough. For each of the point in the wave I used enemies, each with their own carefully set patrolling and speed parameters. This experiment reinforced the idea that individual points on a wave (or nodes, as they’re called) move at a specific tempo. If any node is too fast or too slow it will throw off the balance of the wave. Next, I created a sine wave that starts and ends with a trough. The distance between the starting and ending nodes in a wave is known as the frequency of the wave. It can be measured, trough- to-trough, crest-to-crest, or from the start of the wave cycle to the start of the next cycle. Although setting up this wave was not much different from the first experiment, the visual result was more convincing as you could see the wave’s shape more clearly. To finish off the day, I decided to design a few games around the idea that my enemies would move in sine wave patterns either horizontally or vertically in the game space. I can’t wait to show the Juror mechanics these games, since they are so inter- ested in patterns. I hope they like them. |
Class Activity
Introduce your class to the concept of wave cycles. Start by showing a simple example that your students can observe. For example, set up an experiment in your classroom where pairs of students create waves using long springs. Once your students understand the basic concept, show them other examples of waves as they exist in the natural world. Make sure to mention that some types of waves such as light or sound waves are not visible to the human eye.
Once you have introduced your class to the basic concept of wave cycles, take a moment to show them the parts of the wave and how to use those parts to calculate the frequency and amplitude of a wave. At this point, you can revisit the idea that there are different types of waves and that each of them exist within a different range of frequencies.
Based on what your class has learned ask them to design a game in Gamestar Mechanic where they use waves to create patterns for enemy movement.
Variations
Encourage the students to think of other ways to use waves in Gamestar Mechanic. For example, the placement of Point sprites in a wave pattern may encourage players to move like a wave. Using blocks to create a game space that resembles a wave may also enable the same kind of movement.
How did it go?
Ask students to talk through how they created their wave forms.
Ask them to point to moments of challenge or difficulty in creating the forms. Encourage them to highlight key Aha! moments in their design process.
Introduce your class to the concept of wave cycles. Start by showing a simple example that your students can observe. For example, set up an experiment in your classroom where pairs of students create waves using long springs. Once your students understand the basic concept, show them other examples of waves as they exist in the natural world. Make sure to mention that some types of waves such as light or sound waves are not visible to the human eye.
Once you have introduced your class to the basic concept of wave cycles, take a moment to show them the parts of the wave and how to use those parts to calculate the frequency and amplitude of a wave. At this point, you can revisit the idea that there are different types of waves and that each of them exist within a different range of frequencies.
Based on what your class has learned ask them to design a game in Gamestar Mechanic where they use waves to create patterns for enemy movement.
Variations
Encourage the students to think of other ways to use waves in Gamestar Mechanic. For example, the placement of Point sprites in a wave pattern may encourage players to move like a wave. Using blocks to create a game space that resembles a wave may also enable the same kind of movement.
How did it go?
Ask students to talk through how they created their wave forms.
Ask them to point to moments of challenge or difficulty in creating the forms. Encourage them to highlight key Aha! moments in their design process.