Agenda, Oct.19, 2007

Expert School Year 2007-2008
Oct.19, 2007 Agenda

11:30 am Get all signed consents and waiver from participants. Anyway who does not have their consents, cannot participate.
Icebreaker

11:45 am Lunch

12:30 am Guided Game Play - play only games not played before

1:00 pm Testing in groups in studio - those who aren't testing will draft their expectation, goals, and specific qualities they can contribute to this Expert School year session
Start Game Critiques

3:30 pm Blog - What did you test today in the studio (name everything)? What were 3 great things about each thing you tested and why? What are 3 things about each you could improve and how?

4:00 pm Video Closet - What new game did you play today? Why did you decide to play that game? What are 3 important things people should know about this game and why?

4:15 Open game play

4:45 Clean up

5:00 Adjourn

Agenda, Nov. 21, 2007

Expert School Year 2007-2008
Nov.21, 2007 Agenda

8:30 am Get all signed model releases. Open Game Play

9:15 am Pirates Testing

11:15 am Blog and Video Closet
Blog – If you could change anything about playing Science Pirates, what would that be and why? If you don’t think you would change anything, explain why that is? Also, describe 3 things you really enjoyed.

VC – Describe your experience playing Pirates today? What are Some things that struck you as great and why? What did you learn from this game play experience?

noon Lunch

1 pm Adjourn

Agenda, Dec. 20, 2007

Expert School Year 2007-2008
Dec. 20, 2007 Agenda

11:30 am Get all signed model releases for outstanding experts.

Guided Game Play – have experts draw from new games to play, start game play before lunch

11:45-noon Lunch start/Game Play with Experts

1:00 pm Guided game play – draw games to play, rotate stations every 45 min – each expert should play at least 2 different games

3:30 pm Blog and Video Closet
Blog – Describe the two games you played today and on what system. What was your favorite and why? What made them special?

VC – Name 2 of the games you played today. What are the 3 best things you noticed about each game you played today and why? What are 3 things you would like to improve about each game and why?

4:15pm Open game play

5 pm Adjourn

new Game play

The two best games i played today was rockband and playground. Rockband is for ps3 but soon for ps2 and playground is for wii. Rock band is my favorite game I've played at the game lab so far because it kinda gives you practice for real drums and really helps you learn how to play the drums. Its also a good workout. Playground was fun because you get to do anything you can't do at school like throw paper air planes and race or even play dodge ball. I think rockband was really cool. I hope it comes out for ps2 because its really neat.

new Game play

New Game Play

The two best games I played today where probably Smarty Pants and DDR. Both games where on the Wii.I thought that smarty pants was really cool because it was a fun interactive quiz game.The questions weren't to hard and there was a variety to them.DDR was fun because it did get me up and moving (I think my parents would be surprised to hear that). The only problem with DDR was that the was that they weren't playing real dance music, just normal songs mixed to be techno (like 'Lips of an Angel' by Hinder). But over all it was a really good music. I think those are two really important parts of a video game, good tunes and interaction...... 

New Game Play

Today, I played two games called Karakoe and Smarty Pants. The system that the Karakoe is played on is the Play Station. Smarty Pants was on the Wii system. These were my two favorite games today because they were fun and challenging. Karakoe was special because it included singing, which is a hobby of mine. The fact that Smarty Pants had answering questions and competing in it made it special to me, because I'm very competitive.

New Game Play

The 2 best games that I played were Motor Storm which is a racing game and Heavenly Sword which is an action game.They are both played on the Playstation 3 . These are my favorite games because they are fun to play and have action in both of them. In Motor Storm when you crash your car blows up  and Heavenly Sword is about a girl who has a sword that makes her do amazing stuff like she could do special moves to defeat her enemies and she could jump higher.

NEW GAME PLAY

The two best games that I played today were mini golf and rockband which were played on the x-box 360 and the playstation 3. These were my favoite games to play today because in Rock band I played the drums which I am good at because in band I play percussion which made that game special to me, and with mini golf because it had a really cool course that you played on and was a little hard and easy which made it an alright game which made it special.

new gameplay

Ratchet and clank and Rock band were the best games that I played today. They were both ps3 games
1. Ratchet and clank is about This little furry thing and his robo friend beating thiings with wrenches and shooting theose things with your thermonuclear gun while collecting bolt things
2.Rock band is about controlling the world through your music by getting good performances. You gain fans and get bigger venues you earn cash and buy stuff
They were my favorite because they were games that you could pick up and set them both down which is ideal for a games lab.
They were special because they did not need stories for you to be excited about them .

new game play

Today we played new games and one of my favorites was Ratchetand Clank. This game is played on the PS3 and there can be only one player. I liked this game because it was chalenging but also really fun, and the animation was suprisingly very good because it was realistic, almost. I also thought the characters were cool because they weren't your everyday characters. There was like a fox sort of thing and a robot. The other game that I liked was Playgroud and that is played on the Wii. I enjoyed this game because it had different sports and there could be up to four players. I especially liked dodgeball. I think that both of these games are special because they are so different from each other and they keep you interested.

New Game Play

Today I played Playground for the Wii and Smarty Pants for the Wii. On Playground, you have to unlock the games and we had unlocked Paper Racers, Kicks, Dodgeball, and Slot Car Racers. Paper Racers is flying paper airplanes through a school hallway. You use the Wii remote to manuever your plane. In kicks you had teams of two and you played soccer. Dodgeball was just like regular dodgeball only using a remote control. On slot Car racers you raced cars but could drop tacks or zap people. On Smarty Pants you play against the other people and answered questions about books, fashion, sports, and even more. Playground was one of my favorite games because you can play super fun games with up to three other people. I liked Smarty Pants because you can have fun and learn some interesting stuff. Playground was special because the games you played were just regular games with added fun. Smarty Pants was special because it was educational and fun.

new game play

The two games i played that i liked was medal of honer 2. The other game was play ground. These two games were played on the wii. These two games was fun play ground was more of a sport game that you play and you get points. Medal of honer was more of a action and violent game to play but still fun. These two games were the most coolest games I have played today because they were very interesting to play they seemed most realistic I would say that what made them special was the wii remotes because its makes the game more fun . So thats why i like these games i played today.

new game play

new game play

The two best games I played today are Playground for the wii which I liked because it was really interactive like the dodgeball because it wouldn't automatically catch the ball. The other game was Smarty Pants for the wii. I liked this game because you had to be fast to answer the question. You had to buzz in. These games were special because the difficulty was who you played not the games.

New Game Play

The two best games I played today were Wii Playground, and Smarty Pants.Wii Playground is on Wii, and Smarty Pants is on Wii. Wii Playground was perfect for multiplayer, since it had good, easy-to-grasp games. The best game would have to be dodgeball because it would always switch difficulty. Smarty Pants was a great trivia game, but it seemed hard because of it's conditions. For example, when you stop on a certain spot, you would get a card and play it automatically.It was still fun because it was always challenging. They were special because I wasn't playing alone.

New Game Play

The two games I played today were Smarty Pants and Playground; both on the Wii. These were my favorite games because they were both very interactive and fun to play. I felt as if I could really get into the game, especially the Playground game because there were so many variations of games, such as you can play dodgeball, soccer/volleyball, paper airplane races, and slot car races. All of the games were multiplayer. For the Smarty Pants game, it was really easy to get into because you have to buzz in to answer and question and it made you feel as if you were on a game show. The questions ranged in difficulty and in subject, which makes it a challenging game, but I enjoy challenges. They were special because when you played the game you could really get into the game and have a good time competing with other people.

new game play

The two best games I played today were Playground which was on Wii and Motorstorm wich was on playstation 3. Playgrond was one of my favorite games because it was competitive and you are also interactive with other players. I also liked it because it had some of my favorite activities for example tether ball and dodgeball. Moterstorm was special because the graphics were fantastic because the looked so.. realistic and you also got to choose youre own vehicle.

Science Pirates

Today I tested the game Science Pirates. First, you chose which pirate you were going to be. Then you go to the Captains quarters. She tells you to find Brownbeard to break the curse. After that you go through different tests/adventures to get a peice of the map that tells you where Brownbeard is. Throughout the tests you use variables. One thing that I noticed was that you got to choose your character. During the summer time, when I first tested Science Pirates, you had to be just one character. The selection of characters was a good change! Three things that could be improved upon is the sound, length, and directions. The sound for the monkey temple adventure was just him eating. It started to get boring. The length of the animation at the end could be reduced a little. I'm not saying drastically, but maybe leave out some of the time of Brownbeard using the privy. The directions on defeating the sea monsters confused me. Maybe have the pirate help the person to better understand and to give more descriptive hints. Not longer hints. Overall I felt that this game was Awesome!! It is full of action, adventure, and suspense.

pirates testing

The game was about how to get rid of bacteria and what it can do to you like make you sick. I tested the pirates game and I noticed that th game seems to drag on. You don't really seem to progress so that you can finish your little mission. Something that I would change would be to add a bit more instruction because you can't always tell what you are supposed to be doing. Also I would add some signs where there are entree ways or exits because I did pass some more than once. Besides that I think that this was really cool.

Pirates Testing

I havnt ever heard of bacterial education games before,but I would really enjoy playing this game instead of listening to a monotone speach in science class. The ending of the game where the avatar is in the battle with brown beard was a nice ending touch, but it still would have been nice to see the entire (or at least a scene) of the battle. Overall the ending was super funny.The other two things I might suggest improval on is instructions for turning around in the Super Monkey Tiki Temple (sinse turning around isnt one) and maybea another avatar. Everything else was designed great!!!!!!!!!!

pirates testing

the game that I tested today pirate science to me was really cool and i had alot of fun playing it. some things that i noticed bad was that after the characters stopped talking there mouths kept moving. I would improve the levels by making them more fun. Also that at the end you would be able to fight groundbeard with a sword. and lasr have more characters to choose from.

Science Pirates

The game I played today was alright. Some bad things about it is that the levels took awhile and some things were kind of confusting. It got kind of boring because it always said the same thing over and over again. I thought the funnest part though was when you get to make the cannon balls. One thing that could make it better is that you get to walk around controling every step and not just clicking on something where he walks there by himslef. Another thing would be is a better ending because the hole time you want to fight brownbeard but in the end you just walk away. Another thing that you could improve is use real swords and guns.

Pirates testing

I played Science Pirates today, and thought it was a good game. It was a good reference to independent variables and such. The animation in it was sometimes blocky, but it was funny and well animated. Some of the songs ran on too long. They were repeating the same lyric many times. And I noticed that in the monkey temple, there was a door that said "locked" after I got the treasure. In the end, I think I would add a sword fight. And I would make a bigger part for the hermit. Also, I'd add more animation.

pirates testing

I tested science pirates today. the game was about solving the curse of captain brownbeard. I learned about variables and scientific stuff. the game seemed to drag on and on. I noticed that sometimes there would be text no one says. the parrot also was annoying. I would make the parrot disappear. I would also make the songs shorter because they would drag on. I would also make the tikis say the chorus less. that got really annoying.

Pirates Testing

I really enjoyed the game I tested today, because parts of it were challenging and entertaining. I noticed that within the game there were many valuable lessons about science, such as a description of the scientific method. Three things I would imporove would be for there to be less challenges with the ghost pirates, for the songs to be shorter, and for there to be less levels to complete in the Monkey Temple. I think that if these things are fixed the game would improve by a substantial amount, because in my opinion these things can make the game drag and lead to frustration.

Science pirates testing

Overall it was a good game. The game is about a curse that you are trying to figure out how to get rid of it. You go and get 3 map pieces then you learn that it is only bad hygene. You then tell the captain and then you have to prove that it is not actually a curse. Then you get Brownbeards treasure and then the game is over. The things that I like were how the sounds sounded like you were actually in the game. I also liked doing the puzzles for the Monkey Temple. One of the main things is fighting the different monsters, I enjoyed shooting with the cannon. What I might improve is making the Monkey temple a little bit less levels. It was good how you only had to do 8 but had the option to do all 10. another thing is shorten the part where you had to help the ghosts with their tasks. It started to almost do the same thing, it was good how the last few tasks were a little bit different. The last thing that I would do to improve the game is make a "you are here" thing on the map. I had to spend a little time to figure out where I was.

Pirates Testing

Science pirates is a great game especially for being so educational. you are a swash buckler that has a cursed crew which you must help by breaking the curse with scientific experiments.I noticed that the game was really well animated and did not look to serious which is good for an educational video or computer game. Everything was pretty good.I would improve the hermit by making him a challenge instead of just a song. I would also make the ghost scene less long with like 5 challenges instead of 9. I would make the monkey temple brighter because I could barely see.

pirate testing

the game i tested was fun but very long beacause all the part of the map and the shows that pop up in your face. one more thing that makes it long is the directions and the taling. the game needs to have a faster pace. some things i noticed was the game isfun but also educational. because all the info its giving you. its in a good manner the things i would improve is the pirates speaking english. its hard to read all the subtitles of words its sometime confusing. those are the two things i would change in the game.

pirates testin

the game that i tested was about pirates.the things that i noticed was that the game was a bit slow.that could be a good thing and a bad thing. the way that it could be god is by the people that don't read fast and the people that read fast is they have to wait for a long time.the things that i whould improve is the speed. the other ting that i would improve is the charcter selection, the thing that i would improve is more characters. the last thing that i would omprove is the speach. what i mean by the speech is the way that they talk. those are the things that i would improve

Pirates Testing

The game that I tested today was Science Pirates.  I noticed that the character that you were playing as was walking to fast.  To make this game better I would slow the speed of the characters down, make recordings of people talking like pirates and program them into what the characters were saying, an I would make some of the game levels more challenging. 

Animation Testing

Today, I watched two videos: Ratey the Math Cat and Atlantian Dodgeball. Ratey was funny in an annoying way. It was sort of corney, but that's what made it good. It would be perfect for posting on Youtube. One thing I would add would be a scene where they punch Ratey, or throw him out the door. Atlantian Dodgeball was unfinished. It was about two teams playing against each other. I think I would make it more of a tournament than just a match. With a scene where mascots are attacking each other.

Animation Testing

I tested The math cat cliep and atlantiean dodge ball. The math cat was funny. I thought it was funny because the people were also people you know. It also teaches you about rates easy. The atlantien dodge ball had cool graphics. And its something most people can relate to if they have played dodge ball. It was really funny at how Atlantise was lost.
One thing that could be better about the math cat was if it was turned back into a cartoon. It could try not to use the per part so much because thats more of an adult thing. Instead of the cat poping up in the back of the car it could be hit by it instead.
The atlantis dodge ball could be improved by making one of the teams human. Another thing is that the dodge balls could have like sharp spikes on them.

Animation Testing

Today I tested the video Dodgeball and the video Ratey the Mathcat. 3 great things about the Ratey the Mathcat video were that Ratey is funny and annoying, I liked the way Ratey would pop up in random places, and I liked how Ratey always had a reason to be there. 3 things I would improve about Ratey the Mathcat were that I would have Ratey explain how he got the rates he did, I also think that Ratey should ask the veiwer questions. Another thing I would improve is that Ratey would tell the other people in the scene about figuring out the rates. 3 great things about Dodgeball were the fact that the sport was dodgeball, and it was cool how each of the main characters had their own voice. I liked the way you got to see them playing dodgeball. I wold focus more on the players than the coaches. I would have the movie be more interactive like the characters would ask questions about the ratio. I would also give the players more indivualty. By that I mean not having so many of the same players.

Animation testing

Today in the studio I tested a PS3 game Lair and Burnout xbox 360. In lair I I like the gaphics a lot they are very good, I like how you could fly a dragon and fight with fire. I like how it was an arial game too. With Burnout I like how you go really fast in the cars, the graphics were really good, I like how i could choose which car I wanted and how Instead of trying to avoid other cars, you try to crash into them and I thought that that was really fun to crash in the cars and get points. In lair I thought that they could improve the flying handling. Make the story a little easier to follow along by telling you what to do ad make it easier to find the objective on where you are supposed to go. With the Xbox Burnout I think that the main thing is to work on the load times, they took a really long time. Also I was playing a certain type of mode in the game that was really fast to do but you had to reset everything to play again. You had to chose car course and everything all over I would improve it by making a "Play Again" function. Other than that I think that it was a good game.

animation testing

today we tested ratey the the math cat andatlantian dodgeball.
Atlantian Dodgeball was intresting it taught you about ratios in a catoonish way there was nothing i would change except the mouths moving when they will talk and the sea urchins losing and the balloogins win.the next video was ratey the math cat rate was funny and educational at the same time the only thing i would change is ratey being a cartoon and ratey sould have have series for example ratey the division cat and ratey the science cat.

animation testing

Today in the studio we looked at two animations. One was Ratey the math cat. I liked this one because it wasn't hard to understand and I also liked it because he popped up in random places. The puppet was also really cool. One thing that could be improved is that there was not much sound so it wasn't that exciting. We also viewed the Atlantis dodgeball one. I liked this one because it explained things pretty well and I liked the animation. I loved their names, the Sea Urchins And the Beluga whales. The only thing I would add is a few more characters because it was showing the same three over and over.

animation testing

the things that we tested where rady the math cat. we also tested atlantian dogeball.the best thing that was in rady th math cat was it had real chaterters such as the game developers. the other good thing that the animation had was it explayed every thing good. Rady had a real person charecteristic. The oter movie that we tested was a dogeball movi that explayend rates. the way that it expayend rates was by playing a dodgeball game.the other thing that i liked was the way the graphics where, the way the graphics where like a perefeational game like from sony.I liked how they used the brond casters. they looked so real. that was what I thought about the movies.

animation testing

i tested atlantian dodgeball, and ratey the math cat. In the atlantian dodgeball i liked the graphics, the characters, and how they taught wahat they were trying to teach. On ratey the math cat o liked how they came up with a cool way to show what they wanted to show, and the cat ratey, and last the way they were able to teach you something in a funny way. for atlantian dodgeball they could improve on the characters speaking, and the music could be a little bit better, and because at the end there was no sound so it killed the ending and the whole point of it. the last animation which was ratey and i think they could improve the speed of the show, and also the stuff that they talk about could be better, and last they could make it look much more real.

Animation testing

Today I tested Ratey the math cat and atlantean dodgeball.
Atlantean dodgeball: 1. The concept rocked because it was dodge ball in atlantis which is awesome.
2. The skill was awesome because it taught ratios which I do not personally need but other kids need.
3. I also liked the design of the the characters because I bought that they were from atlantis.

Things that need to be improved:
1. The sound for the anchors was off at one point.
2. The players all looked pretty much the same.
3. The mascot was wearing a speedo wich was wierd.
Ratey the Math Cat: 1. Ratey was old and ragged which was awesome.
2. The shower scene was cool because the acting was totally buyable.
3. I totally understand what rates are meow Things that need to be improved
1. I did not get the per joke until half way through the video
2. the market scene went on for a little bit too long
3. It would have been much better if it were cartoon animated.

animation testing

I tested Atlantian dodgeball and ratey the math cat.three good things about atlantian dodgeball are it taught me about ratios, it was really funy, and it gave really good explanations. three good things about ratey are it taught me about rates, it was funny, and it did a good job explaining. three things about both that i would chenge are some of the jokes, some of the ways they present it and the animals.but not Ratey. well maybe furrier

animaion testing

The animations that I tested today was Raty the Math Cat and Dodge Ball. Three things that I liked about Raty the Math Cat was that it was funny, Raty was annoying, and that he popped in in weird places. I liked these things beause it kept me interested in the animation. Three things I think they could improve on for Raty the Math Cat would be for them to have you interact with Raty, for Raty to explain how he got the rates, and have a little more humor in it. Three things that I liked about Dodge Ball was that it was based around dodge ball ( because I like dodge ball ), that it had to do with Atlantis, and that it looked like graphics you could make and not something totally computer animated. I liked this because it helped me relate to the game. Three things that could be improved upon for Dodge Ball is that -again- you interact more, it explained how the got the ratio, and that the characters didn't all look the same. These should be imroved upon because it helps give the animation personality and for the viewer to understand ratios better.

Animation testing

I watched Ratey the math cat and dodge ball.Ratey the math cat was funny and annoying, taught you about math, and the animations were good because they used green screens on some of the pictures. Dodge ball was cool, funny, and the graphics of the dodge ball game were amazing. I could improve the speed of the words that the people are saying on the Dodge ball show, make the people funnier in both, and make the graphics cooler in the Dodge Ball, make the Ratey video slides shorter and funnier.

Animating testing

Today I tested Ratey the Math Cat, and Atlantian Dodgeball. The three good things I though about Ratey was that really funny, and I though it gave really good examples of rates, I think that the way they used the examples allowed us to focus on the subject better. I thought the three good things about Atlantian Dodgeball were that it had good animations, and good example to demonstrate rates, and good comparisons between two numbers. The three things I would improve about Ratey would be to have better actors, a little more enthusiam and emotion by the oh so wonderful Ratey, and to give a little bit of a definition for rates. The three things I would change on Atlantian Dodgeball would be to give a better explanation of what a rate is, to explain why a rate is different than the difference between too numbers, and to explain why the dodgeball players were out for the whole game if they were only hit by rubber balls (in Egyption Dodgeball they were hit with rocks; resulting in death).

testing with the developers

Today we tested was ratey the math cat and the atlantian dodge ball. After that the devolpers gave us questions about we went over. Ratey the math cat was funny, more relistic, showed some information about ratios. After that i viewed doge ball. It showed diffrences and ratios like ratey the math cat. Some things the game devolpers could improve is the graphics in both things and the way they put information in the clips. The way they can improve them is shorten them and also make some longer. Like in ratey the matoh cat the shower scene was to long and the car was to short. In dodge ball it talked to much about the diffrence between the two teams.