http://store.yoyogames.com/games/16-game-maker-for-mac-lite

has anyone used this? thoughts?

Recently on another game design forum, a topic was created about the possible re-naming, or re-branding of video games. The discussion was brought on by a TV show that made some similar claims, such as:

“When controversy arises our opposers don’t look at a game studio and see a team of artists, they see a team of toymakers who have gone too far.”

And

“I’ve heard it argued that we need a rebranding; that we need to take on a new title for this medium, kind of like how comic books had to take on the name graphic novels before they started getting the respect they deserve.”

The following discussion mainly revolved around the idea of re-naming “Video Games” to “Digital Art”, or “Interactive Media”. These new labels are meant to remove the negative stigmas associated with “games” and better reflect the professional and technical mastery that is required to create some of today’s top titles.

However, I don’t necessarily believe “rebranding” is the best solution to this situation, but I do believe that this brings up a very important topic that needs to be addressed by the industry as a whole, sometime in the near future.

Rather than trying to avoid the negative stigma that has been associated with games, I believe the easiest route to solving this problem is education about games and what they can instill, inspire, and engender in our young people. I doubt that those who perpetuate and believe the negative stigmas about gaming, are very well versed in games or how the industry has changed over the past twenty or thirty years. Instead of running from the stigma, we need to fight it head on, and show the detractors something they have never seen, and that is the positive and beneficial aspects of gaming that greatly outweigh the negatives.

And when we combat the stigma, there no longer needs to be any “rebranding”, because we have fought for what we believe is right, and proven the worth of our games to the world.

Well, I’ve finished reading through “How to Think Like a Computer Scientist,” and I think I’m getting a pretty good handle on the python programming language.  I still need to do a lot more work on GUI and I need to start figuring out graphics and sound.  Anyway, I sat down yesterday with the PyGame tutorial (yes, I know it’s actually written for kids but hey that just makes it easy to follow), and the first few program examples are straight out of the tutorial, but the Math Tutor I didn’t draw from the tutorial even though I think there might be something similar in it.

#————-
# Name:        Guess The Number from PyGame Tutorial
# Purpose:      Learning to program
#
# Author:      Liam P Boyle
#
# Created:     05/05/2011
# Copyright:   (c) Liam P. Boyle 2011
# Licence:     <your licence>
#————-
#!/usr/bin/env python

def main():
    ## This is a guess the Number game

    import random

    guessesTaken = 0

    print (“Hello, what is your name?”)
    myName = input()

    number = random.randint(1,20)
    print (“Well, ” + myName + “, I am thinking of a number between 1 and 20.”)
    while guessesTaken < 6:
        print (“Take a guess”)
        guess = input()
        guess = int(guess)
        guessesTaken = guessesTaken + 1
        if guess < number:
            print(“Your guess is too low”)
        if guess > number:
            print(“Your guess is too high”)
        if guess == number:
            break
    if guess == number:
        guessesTaken = str(guessesTaken)
        print (“Good Job ” + myName + “! You guessed my number in ” + guessesTaken + ” tries.”)
    if guess != number:
        number = str(number)
        print (“No.  The number I was thinking of was ” + number)

if __name__ == ‘__main__’:
    main()
## End

Just for fun (Yes, I remember the Zork games and choose your own adventure books)

#————-
# Name:        Dragon Realm from the PyGame tutorial
# Purpose:      Learning to program
#
# Author:      Liam P Boyle
#
# Created:     06/05/2011
# Copyright:   (c) Liam P Boyle 2011
# Licence:     <>
#————-
#!/usr/bin/env python
#————-

## Import Statements

import random
import time
##————-

## Global Variable Initializatins and Function definitions

def displayIntro():
    print (“You are on a planet full of dragons.  In front of you,”)
    print (“you see two caves.  In one cave the dragon is friendly”)
    print (“and will share his treasure with you.  The other dragon”)
    print (“is greedy and hungry, and will eat you on sight.\n”)

def chooseCave():
    cave = “”
    while cave != “1″ and cave != “2″:
        print (“Which cave will you go into (1 or 2)”)
        cave = input()

    return cave

def checkCave(chosenCave):
    print (“You approach the cave…”)
    time.sleep(2)
    print (“It is dark and spooky…”)
    time.sleep(2)
    print(“A large dragon jumps out in front of you!  He opens his jaws and…”)
    print()
    time.sleep(2)
    friendlyCave = random.randint(1,2)
    if chosenCave == str(friendlyCave):
        print(“He gives you his treasure.”)
    else:
        print(“He gobbles you up!”)
#————-

## Main Program Logic
def main():
    playAgain = “yes”
    while playAgain == “yes” or playAgain == “y”:
        displayIntro()
        caveNumber = chooseCave()
        checkCave(caveNumber)
        prompt = “Do you want to play again: yes/no?”
        playAgain = input(prompt)

if __name__ == ‘__main__’:
    main()
##End
#————-

And finally, my own work:

#——————————————————————————-
# Name:        Math Tutor pre-K
# Purpose:      help children learn addition and subtraction
#
# Author:      Liam P. Boyle
#
# Created:     06/05/2011
# Copyright:   (c) Liam P. Boyle 2011
# Licence:     <freeware w/ author attribution>
#——————————————————————————-
#!/usr/bin/env python

##Import Statements
import random
#——————————————————————————-

def greeting():
    print (“What is your name?\n”)
    plyrName = input()
    print (“Hello, ” + plyrName + “, would you like to add and subtract?\n”)
    print (“Enter y for yes or n for no\n”)
    playAns = input()
    return playAns

def selectMode():
    ModeNum = random.randint(0,1)
    return ModeNum

def additionPractice():
    tries = 1
    num1 = random.randint(0,5)
    num2 = random.randint(0,5)
    answer = num1 + num2
    while tries <= 3:
        print (“What does “, num1, ” plus”, num2, “equal?\n”)
        plyrAnswer = int(input())
        if plyrAnswer == answer:
            break
        else:
            print(“That isn’t correct.  Please try again\n”)
        tries = tries +1
    if plyrAnswer == answer:
        print(“Great Job!!!”)
    else:
        print(“The correct answer is:  “, answer)

def subtractionPractice():
    tries = 1
    num1 = random.randint(0,5)
    num2 = random.randint(0,5)
    if num1 < num2:
        num1, num2 = num2, num1
    answer = num1 – num2
    while tries <= 3:
        print (“What does “, num1, ” minus”, num2, “equal?\n”)
        plyrAnswer = int(input())
        if plyrAnswer == answer:
            break
        else:
            print(“That isn’t correct.  Please try again\n”)
        tries = tries +1
    if plyrAnswer == answer:
        print(“Great Job!!!”)
    else:
        print(“The correct answer is:  “, answer)

def main():
    playAns = greeting()
    while playAns == “y”:
        switch = selectMode()
        if switch == 0:
            additionPractice()
        else:
            subtractionPractice()
        print (“Do you want to play some more?\n”)
        print (“Enter y for yes or n for no”)
        playAns = input()

if __name__ == ‘__main__’:
    main()
## End

I would like to think that I’m getting better at this

Liam B

So this track is based on a game I am trying to develop (TRAPS). But I think the core idea would work well for AOK, so here we go:

Again, no smart phone, so I’m doing this the old fashioned way with a blog. ^_^

This track will increase the player’s willingness to be whimsical, to talk to others about spreading happiness and their awareness of the limitations we as humans place on ourselves when it comes to positive random play.

The Track:

1. You will need a piece of chalk. Find a public pedestrian place (somewhere where the rain will be able to wash your work away) and write something positive. Be creative with it: a single word like “smile”, a drawn smiley face or heart, a positive quote or one that makes you feel good (“The person you love is 72.8% water” – not exactly sure why I love that one, but I do.)
2. You will still need your chalk. Again find a pedestrian place, but this time chalk something participatory: hopscotch, a squiggly line for people to try to walk down, etc… Be creative.
3. Hang out at your 2nd act participatory chalking or at a new second one. See how many people participate. Encourage participation. Talk to people. Do it yourself a few times.
4. Create a set of five chalkings – a combination of instructions, quotes, drawings and anything else positive you can think of.
5. Create a set of twenty chalkings with at least two friends. Chalk them and camp out together for an hour to talk to people and encourage participation.
6. Partner up with a friend who lives in a different location. Coordinate a set of twenty chalkings and have both of you do them at different places at the same time.
7. Create an epic set of thirty chalkings. Include at least one where you give things away. “Please take a ______.”(bottle of bubbles, flowers, pinwheels or balloons, etc…).

A quick note on this one:

You might need to get permission from whatever city you are working in to chalk. My university had a set of chalking rules in place, but you should check into it before you get into the more epic challenges.

Title: First Act: Chalking
Description: I chalked “Smile!” on the ground. It worked for me. ^_^
Media:

Difficulty: 1
Duration: less than a minute

This first act is pretty simple and requires no follow-up. I think part of the impact from this sort of thing comes after it is read. You remember at home that someone wrote “smile” on the ground. Maybe it works then. Maybe you wonder why the anonymous chalker did it.

I am going to tangent real quick and say that TRAPS is Twenty Random Acts of Positivity Somewhere, and boils down to writing twenty of these chalkings around one geographical area. Each chalking is a “trap” for negative emotions meant to leave accidental players a little lighter.

You can read a little more about it on my gameful blogpost:

http://gameful.org/hanna/first-run-of-traps/

And I am working on a blog for the game:

http://www.trapsthegame.blogspot.com/

Under “List of Traps” is a list of potential chalkings that might be useful for anyone who wants to try this.

Global Awareness Track   

This track will make players more aware of the global community outside of mainstream media. It will also empower them with their ability to contribute to positive change.

A quick note: Unfortunately, I do not have a smart phone, so I can’t try out the app or submit properly. I wanted to submit a few ideas anyway. Thanks for the opportunity. This was a great challenge to ponder these last few weeks.

 The Track:

1. Choose a country you are unfamiliar with, somewhere you have never been and rarely see on the news, and learn about it. (globalvoicesonline.org is one place to start)
2. Refine your research to issues that the country is dealing with. Pick one.
3. Educate a friend. Have a conversation.
4. Find an organization that is already doing charitable/development in that country and donate to it. (globalgiving.org might be useful here). The donation doesn’t have to be big, you just have to get a little involved.
5. Design and run a fund-raiser for the country you’ve chosen. Set a monetary goal and try to meet it. Get a few friends to help. Donate what you make.
6. Make it annual. Make it bigger. Do the same thing in six months or a year and set a higher monetary goal. This can be as epic as you are capable of. Surprise us with your remarkable awesome.

First Act:
 - Learn about a country.

What I would submit on the app:

Title: First Act: Peru
Description: Spent some time on Global Voices and Wikipedia learning about Peru.
Difficulty: 1
Duration: about 30 minutes

I think of myself as a decently aware citizen of the world, and part of that is knowing I have huge blind spots. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.

An hour ago the things I knew about Peru were these: they speak Spanish mostly, border Ecuador, and at some point I remember there being some controversy over broadcasting radio in the native Peruvian language. I would assume they like soccer.

That’s it really. I didn’t know that they were in the middle of an election, that the digital community is afraid their options for president will lead them towards a Chavez-like regime, that the majority of the population is not a part of digital culture, or that there is a large Peruvian immigrant population in Japan dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami. One of the presidential candidates has a Japanese name. Those two countries are not a connection I would have made.

Like I said, this mini dive into learning about Peru has only reminded me how little I know. And the truth is that staying well informed on politics around the world would be a full time job. But just that tiny spark of knowledge increased my empathy for another culture. Small, yes, but significant.

This sort of act of kindness does not have the immediate external effect of a smile or a helping hand, but it is a first brick for our foundation of global empathy. And that will change the world. This is a selfish act of kindness. It makes me a better person.

One of the improvised instructions for TRAPS

So this week I ran a test of a game called “TRAPS: Twenty Random Acts of Positivity (Somewhere)”. It is the first time I ran a game and the first game I’ve thought of AND actually gotten it together to play. The essential of the game is to chalk positive instructions on the ground for casual passersby and for deliberate players to interact with. More narratively each chalking is a “trap” for negative emotions.

The people running the game had way too much fun. The people passing by seemed mostly confused, but in a happy way.

The first run was on a college campus, and I think the combination of a limited demographic and purpose to pedestrian traffic made people more self conscious. But hopscotch was a big hit.

I am going to try running it again next month with some tweaking in a different location.

This is Epic Hopscotch. One of my favorites. The hopscotch worked well because people would walk onto it, look down and realize what it was, and then their feet would begin moving of their own accord.

My other favorite was an area we marked off with the words “make up a game to get across” and then drew shapes and lines and footprints so that there were many paths to use.

I learned a lot and now I need more chalk. Thanks to the gameful community for being supportive and optimistic. ^_^

If anyone has questions or chalking suggestions I would love to hear them.

I was talking to a friend last night, and we were talking about playing the name game. (there’s many rules to how you link celebrities names together, and what celb’s are allowed). I recalled a time where we were on patrol sitting in observation for 4 days, and we played the name game for what must have been 14 hours or so.  

In telling the story I realized how essential games were to passing the time and staying focused and engaged.  If we hadn’t had eachother to play games with it’s very likely that morale would have gone to shit. Games to get through war… CRAZY!