Choosing Team Game Topic

My Team (4 Green) decided to work on Environmental Issues around everywhere. We all agreed to work on this topic because we all had the same interest for it. At first we had to choose 3 different organizations on our own , that we would like to work with. When we got put into a team , we noticed that among our chosen organizations we had some of the same ones. Since we all were interested on the same topic , we narrowed our websites down to the one that we liked the most and looked very interesting. The chosen organization was Environment Texas and Research Policy . We all agreed on this website because we thought that it was the organization that focused on the environment issues around , I mean it wasn't the only one but to us it had more research and interest in it. We really liked how it focused on many issues but also works with one at a time. I think that Me and my team (4 Green , Salvador, Paige, & Robert ) really nailed it at working with this topic. We hope to make an extraordinary game that teaches others about the environment issues around that need to be taken care of but also to have a little fun with it. :)

Organizations to Consider Focusing On

These are the Websites that me and my group have agreed on focusing for our game.

1. -Texas Land Conservancy
http://www.texaslandconservancy.org/

2. - Environment Texas Research and Policy Center\
http://www.environmenttexascenter.org/

First Game Idea

The one website that I really liked and intrigued me was Keep Austin Beautiful. KAB is a non-profit organization that focuses on inspiring individuals and the greater Austin community to help out the environment towards being a good & stable community. I thought that it was really cool what this organization does and how it helps out the city to become better and more of a good environment everywhere. An idea that I had in mind was to create a game about the evolution of an environment , what I mean by that is to show others how an environment would look if it wasn't cared for at all and how it would affect others around it. Then I would create the game based on inspiring everyone to help out and make it look a lot better and safer.

Links to Non-Profit Organization Websites

-National Center of Domestic & Sexual Violence
http://www.ncdsv.org/\

-Groundwork Music Project
http://www.groundworkmusic.org/site/about-2/

-Safe Place
http://www.safeplace.org/SexualAssault

-Rodeo Austin
http://www.rodeoaustin.com/

-The Hotline
http://www.thehotline.org/

-The Cipher
http://www.thecipheratx.org/austins_hip_hop_project/BUZZ.html

-Austin Green Art
http://www.austingreenart.org/about/austin-green-art/

-Keep Austin Beautiful
http://www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/event

Play To Learn ; Part 2

The genre that I am most interested in would have to be math , it's actually the first time that I am going to create a game based on it. I played this game called "Math Sports" and I really liked how it was based on different sports but at the same time it was teaching the square roots of numbers. It gave me many ideas and thoughts on how I can create my game based on math. There were many different varieties of genres , on one game I learned about what to do when there is a flood. It taught me what to do and how to evacuate. Another game, "Sally's Energy Ride" taught me how to save energy and at the same time it taught me the square roots and other stuff. In the game "Math Sports" , what really stood out to me - not that of a big deal- but I wondered how the creator of the game did the volume animation thingy to lower the volume down. I thought that was really cool and I would like to learn how to do it.
I think that the genre that I chose is going to be great for my game , I'm going to get some really cool ideas and create a fantastic game ^__^

Presenting My Hidden Object Game !

Describe your Learning Topic for your game , - 
What is the MOST important thing you want your players to learn ?

The Learning Topic for my game is Science. I am focusing on Astronomical Science , like outer space and it's surroundings
I am basically trying to teach the players about what's in space and how to identify what doesn't belong there. The player will learn how to see what doesn't belong in space by looking at the object. It will be able to look at it closely and identify it , the most important thing that I'm trying to teach the players is to know what's in space and how to know what's not up there. ; 

What kind of Research did you do ? , What did you learn about your topic ?

I did research about Constellations in space and what they mean. Since my game was going to be about space , I'd figure why not put a constellation in it if it's part of space. I learned that there are about 88 constellations in total in the Astronomical Community , pretty cool , huh ? I also learned that way back years ago people just thought that the constellations were just pictures drawn in the sky , imagine if that was possible..., mmm ? So , constellations is what I researched for my game and even tough i just put one constellation in my game , I still know the importance of it.

How did your Ideas change as you worked on your Game ?

I think that my ideas changed A LOT in my game , I didn't have the chance to do what I was hoping for. My game sort of came out like I wanted to but I still had more ideas , just not enough time. My ideas changed by the concept of the game. I was hoping to put more constellations in my game but as I started working on it , I realized that it didn't go with the background. My ideas did change as I went through working on my game. I thought that it was a good idea to change some of the things that I was doing because it just didn't go with my game but I'm glad I made those decisions because know I have my game complete.

What Game Ingredients & Help Center resources have been useful to you so far, and why ?

I have to say that the Game Ingredients helped me a lot to make my game better. I liked that when you clicked on a Game Ingredient , it gave and showed you exactly what to do. That was an amazing resource that really helped me. I also used the code center to help get the codes for a few of the Game Ingredients that I used. Some were hard to figure out so I went to look at the past codes. They were really helpful and I'm glad I had the chance to use them.

Which part of making the game was most difficult for you ? , How did you overcome this difficulty ? What features are you most proud of in your game ?

Ummm .. , the most difficult part about making my game was definitely the coding for the Game Ingredients. When I was trying to make something work , the code didn't seem to be working so I had a pretty rough time with it. It took me like 2 or 3 times for each Game Ingredient to make it work , but at last I made it work. I know I had a hard time but I did get some helpful resources from the code center as I said above. I overcame the coding problem by looking over at the code and making sure it was in the right place and the correct one. Even tough I had a hard time I have to say that I am very surprised that I learned how to add music to my game. Since last year , Music was a big challenge for me. I could of never figured it out , I thought it was going to be hard but I was wrong. It was the easiest thing I did on my game , & I'm proud of myself that I accomplished it.

A problem that I overcame in code on flash ;

Using code on flash to create my game , I have to say it was very challenging at times but I worked through it. The one problem that I did overcome was figuring out where to put the codes for the Message Box and Scoring. I noticed that whenever I put in my code for anything , I have to be noticeable of where I put it. Especially for the Message Box - I had trouble working it out because the code wasn't in the right place so I fixed and put it where it needed to be. Overcoming that problem of knowing where to put the code really helped me out on creating my game. I realized that I always had this problem but, I'm glad I achieved it and now I know what to do if my game doesn't seem to be working out.