Article For Mag

The App Development is a great opportunity as it is something never done before, opening the door for school kids to design and develop an app that would eventually be sold in the apple market. So far from the process students have learned what makes up a great app, the whole logic of it to makes people want to play it, designing the graphics in Photoshop and finally  developing it in game salad. It has given students the chance to experience new software they are not familiar with in their every day school life. These skills gained will not only help in school work e.g designing posters in Photoshop as appose to word but it is also a huge advantage to have in the job market, as not everyone can use Photoshop. Because of this it is a great opportunity and those who do not do it are foolish for doing so.

Day 4 - Logic

Nearly at the half way mark in the project and most of the students are starting to assemble their ideas, themes, graphics and logic and start constructing their games in Game Salad.

Day 3 - Game Dynamics

Today we had a look at Gamification and Game Dynamics - the essence and 'rules' of why we play games and engage with them.

Gaming Mechanics pt 1 - gamification techniques on Prezi

Several pupils are now altering their games to take on board some of these ideas to make their game the most enjoyable it can be.

Competition short list...

Progress has really accelerated in the past two weeks as the game makers have started to work out the finer details of the game logic. We have tower defence, continuous runner, canon physics, street fighter beat 'um up and joystick controller games all with a unique difference to make them stand out in the market.

One of the games dev teams has been short listed for a gaming competition. Their designs, if they win, will be made into an app by professional company. This is great news, however due to the success of this project they don't want someone else to make the game for them so they've decided to enter a different idea that won't compete with the unique game they are developing.

Next week we hope to push games to devices for testing, can't wait to see them buzzing at seeing the games on their iPhones!

Resources :: Presentation from GameSalad

http://www.slideshare.net/1ninjakitty/gamesalad-weekend-intensive This is a nice presentation and covers a few things i have touched on previously and some i discuss in Day 3 session

Day 2 - Game Design

In the second sessions students were starting to think about their themes and visual ideas for their games. By getting a rough idea at an early stage a really clear picture can start to be cemented about how the game will feel when complete.

Currently we have 2 endless runner games, 2 cannon physics games, 1 top down third person shooter and 2 platform games and several more to be decided.

The theme is most definitely action and games with pace and excitement.

Students began work on rough graphics; templates for correct sizes of backgrounds and characters and some visual ideas and sketches to aid with game design.

Tips : Game Name

Just a quick hint/tip before you all begin making your games artwork title screens... making sure another game doesn't exist already with the same name!

Easiest way is to grab your iOS device and just go to the App Store and search ! If you don't have a device then open up iTunes and do a search , making sure you pick App Store and not music or books categories.

If the name is taken then a rethink of your title is in order - remember this is the name that appears in searches and is the actual App Name so a slight discrepancy is allowed for example Dizzy Prince Of The Yolk Folk is the game and the actual App is called Dizzy POTYF so it may not mean your game title has to change completely - however Angry Birds will of course not be allowed neither will Angry Bird etc..