If you feel confident in your basic coding abilities, try one or both of these tools for coding a game. These are optional for the assignment in 2020 as you need to tools (available in Andersen Library).
Puzzlets consists of a try, tiles to indicate actions and an app that displays what happens when those actions are executed. Recommended for grades K-2, this helps build computational thinkers. The tray works with iOS and Android devices and Macs (not Chromebooks or Amazon Fire).
1. Learn: If you want to start at the beginning, use the tiles to code the actions of Cork the Volcano. When you enter the game in the iPad (or computer), you'll go through a brief tutorial. The website has more detailed instructions with explanations of each piece. If all the game files are full, feel free to erase one. Build the steps to move the character and then play it to see if your solution works. This may take some trial and error.
Currently the games available are:
Each game requires its own set of tiles.
2. Do Your Challenge: Play the game and move up at least two levels.
3. Create a Challenge: Look at Cork the Volcano and information about the other two games. Create a scenario where students work collaboratively to solve challenges.
4. Create a curricular Tie-In: With your partner, develop a an idea to suggest to teachers for using one of these tools for a curricular purpose.
Include an objective, at least one relevant standard that could be included, a description of an activity, and considerations on it implementation (e.g., equipment needs, student skills, grouping, timeframe). Puzzlets provides some curriculum resources to get you started.
In this tool, you are a game designer, storyteller, programmer and player. For our purposes, you can wok in Guest mode, but you won't be able to download content, share and publish or like tiles.
Building your Game in Bloxels
For more videos, see:
For more help on using BloxelsEDU see their support site.
1. Learn:
Player: Start by testing out what a game build in Bloxels can do in BloxelsBuilder (app on iPad). You have right and left arrow to move your character, a jump button (B) and an attache button (A).
You can find games created by others in the Featured area and the Infinity Wall. Poultry Panic is another game you can test drive. One of the best ways to get an idea of what a simple game looks like is to go into Game Buildines and choose Quick Start New Game. Here you choose the layout, character and decorations in a quick game that you can then play.
Any time you have a question, find the question mark for videos explaining different aspects of the process. There are also basic instructions at the Bloxelsbuilder site with a link to the Help Desk. The tutorial videos can also be accessed online.
Builder: You use the app, BloxelsBuilder to create rooms with layouts on the tray with different types of game elements based on the color of the block: terrain, hazard, coin, enemy, exploding, story, water, and powerup. You can create up to 169 of these rooms in any one game. Once you create a layout on the gameboard, you capture it by taking a picture of it, placing it in the Bloxels Editor. Once you do that you can configure the enemies, powerups and story blocks to create actions. You can also decorate the game by creating backgrounds. Finally, you can build your characters and create animations (idle, walk, jump) in the app editor.
2. Do Your Challenge: Play a game and then create a one room game with terrain, a character, hazards, enemies, coins, and a story block.
3. Create a Challenge: Create a scenario where students work collaboratively to solve develop their own game.
4. Create a curricular Tie-In: With your partner, develop a an idea to suggest to teachers for using this tool for a curricular purpose.
Include an objective, at least one relevant standard that could be included, a description of an activity, and considerations on it implementation (e.g., equipment needs, student skills, grouping, timeframe).