7P5 Merge Cube

Using COSPACES and the merge cube, I created a six scene story. First, I wrote the story in google docs. Then, I built and coded it in COSPACES. Finally, I recorded a video of my story on the merge cube. My story is about two children who fall into an old tree stump and are transported to a different world. They have to find a magic stone to save the world and return to earth.

I learned a lot during this project. I learned how to add sound to a world in COSPACES. I used this in scene four to make the dragon roar and the harp play the lullaby. I also learned how to make multiple things happen at the same time by using the "run parallel" block. I used this to make Molly and Oliver move at the same time. I also used it to make the world transform in scene five. I learned how to I learned how to attach items to other items. I used this to make one Oliver grab the stone. I used it again to make the stone hover over the middle of the stump. I also learned how to use collision events. I used this to make the harp play the lullaby when Molly bumped into it. I learned a little about writhing and animating a story during this project.

This project is tied to some of the MITECS standards. One of these is Empowered Learner. This project is tied to Empowered Learner because I had to write a story and then figure out how to create that story with the merge cube. Another standard this project is tied to is Knowledge Constructor. Under Knowledge Constructor on the MITECS website, it says that students "Plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits." At the beginning of this project, I looked at a few videos to figure out what the merge cube was and what I had to do. When I was stuck part of my code, I went to the COSPACES forum to try and find solutions to my problem. A third standard this project ties to is Innovative Designer. Under Innovative Designer on the MITECS website, it talks about using the design process. I used this when I was writing my code. I wrote it, tested it , and revised it several times until it looked like I wanted it to.

There were a few challenges I overcame during this project. For scene four, I couldn't figure our how to make Oliver grab the stone. After looking at the forum and experimenting a little, I figured out that I could make it look like he was holding it by attaching the diamond to his left hand. I ran into another challenge when I tried to record my video. I recorded it on an ipod because it was the only device I could find that I could record COSPACES on. I also needed to narrate and add other sounds though. The ipods don't record sound. I was eventually able to airdrop the videos onto an ipad. From there I was able to put the videos together in an imovie and record sound to go with it.

If I could do this project again, I might try to get the code to line up better with the narration. I found that it was sometimes difficult to say all the words I needed to and keep up with the code. Other times, there would be a few seconds where nothing was happening, and no one was saying anything. This happened because I didn't get the timing right when I was writing the code. I didn't have time to perfect it this time, but that is something I would want to do differently if I had the chance.

The skills I learned during this project might be useful if I wanted to do something with making movies. I had to code everything to create my story with the merge cube. That might help me if I wanted to be an animator. I also had to write my story. That might be useful if I wanted to write stories for movies.