Importance of Paper Prototyping

Paper Prototyping is a very important part of the process of making a game. It is a very cost-effective way of implementing your ideas without using programs and eliminates error. You create a different scene for the game you want to create, and see if it runs smoothly. You can easily add a slide anywhere, and therefore errors can easily be corrected. Also, it lets even those with very little programming expertise contribute to the creation of the game.

Finally Finished!

Yesterday I finally finished the Mini-Game Project. And I have to say that it was actually really fun:


Once I got the hang of it.


The whole process became really easy at the end, but getting to that point was a challenge. ActionScript is pretty tricky to learn, and I'm not going to tell you that I'm the master at writing codes, but I do know the basics, finally. Every single character and its capitalization and placement matter. Something may not be capitalized, and your whole code may become invalid. But when you finally learn it, you get a huge feeling of accomplishment.


It made me happy to finally learn how developers make video games. I know it isn't exactly the same, but knowing that the process they go through is a thousand times longer and harder is amazing. I've played video games for my whole life. I started with the NES and I now have an Xbox 360, and I've always wondered how they make them.


If you want to see my played games and how much I play them, go to http://www.xbox.com/ and look up my gamertag, razgriz317.

One of My Favorite Blogs

I chose Destiny's blog as my blog of choice. First of all, she's a cool cat and sits beside me in this class. Second, her blogs are really, really good. She stays on topic, uses correct grammar and spelling, and completes everything. She's just awesome opossum, just like her blog says!

Blogs About Coal Mining

I have picked three blogs about coal mining and mountaintop removal, the topic which I may make my game about. One is the blog of a coal miner from good old West Virginia, while the other two are about stopping mountaintop removal. I chose these three blogs because they give you some very different points of view.

First of all, let me start by saying that I do not support environmental activists, but these two blogs against mountaintop removal do give excellent insight of the effects of mountaintop removal on the environment. Streams can be polluted and the mountains we've grown up around and love are temporarily destroyed.

Then the blog by the coal miner changes things. He gives you insight about how he feels the world looks at him, and tells of the town he lives in and about his job. Without coal, this man couldn't make a living. Both blogs make you really think twice about supporting one side or the other.

Playing to Learn

Today for my assignment, I played two games. One was made by an outside source; the other by a student just like us. While I thouroughly enjoyed the games made by outside sources, the games made by the students were very glitchy and not good at all.

The first game I'll talk about is called Consumer Consequences (follow this link: http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/). This game was very interesting to me because it basically told me how many earths we would need to sustain 6.6 billion of myself through a series of questions about my lifestyle over a set period of time. It came out to be 6.7 earths; I'm wasteful but hey, I won't be around when we run out of nonrenewable energy sources and land space.

The second game I'm writing about, called Go Rabbit Go!, is a very different story. This game is very glitchy and unchallenging. First off, the controls are terrible; hitting onlythe spacebar to turn right is not fun by any means. Second, the game functions poorly in its objectives. The tortoise that is trying to catch the rabbit never gets faster, making the game too easy. The only reason I would die is when I got stuck on a multitude of invisible barriers throughout the game. And third, why put a ton of warp circles when the game is easy, anyway? I know I sound like a complainer, but I play video games a lot, and there is no way I could play this game for a long amount of time and not lose my sanity.

The Importance of Online Safety

It is extremely important to take safety precautions wherever you go. However, the internet requires a whole new level of safety. With so many viruses and hackers out there, one little slip-up could mean that you no longer have your identity. Another huge thing about the internet is that you never have any idea who is on the other side of the computer. You can be whoever you want to be on the internet; so can anyone else.
Your identity must be protected over the internet. Did you know that if a person has access to your Social Security Number, they are basically you, in a sense? They can apply for jobs, get credit in your name, and find out a lot more about your personal life. But not only is your Social Security Number at risk; your credit/debit card numbers and personal information are all posted on the internet as well.
You never know who is on the other side of the computer, either. All cases of identity theft can be prevented; however, cases of stalking and other like things are extra preventable. You NEVER talk to anyone that you don't know over the internet; and two, you NEVER post your address, phone number, or even full name on your personal websites, because all of these can be used to find your location.

http://www.youridentitysafe.com/ is one site that can be used to help you understand how to be safe and stay safe on the internet. It talks about identity theft and how to prevent it. Another site, http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/internet_safety.html, brings this information down to a teenage understanding and makes you clear of the do's and don'ts of the internet, and the consequences that could follow if you don't listen. I found both of these to be very good websites.