Interesting Article

http://www.switched.com/2010/08/23/valves-portal-now-mandatory-reading-for-college-freshmen/

The article discusses Wabash University's required reading for incoming freshman. The reading is required for a mandatory class and is used to introduce the freshman to college life, perspectives, and perceptions. The class requires that all students "read" the first person puzzler Portal and couple it with Ervin Goffman's "Presentation of Self in Everyday Life".

The article also makes suggestions for other games that should be incorporated into the classroom however, I fail to see how Grand Theft Auto and Fallout 3 are essential to college students' curriculum. They may raise moral and ethical questions but to require them in a classroom setting isn't the necessary.

The good thing about the article is that universities are accepting video games as a legitimate art form and educational tool. As we have discussed in the DAS classes Second Life and other virtual worlds have become a popular way to reach students and utilize unconventional teaching techniques. I think this is a trend that will only increase with time as the current generation of youth grow up with and expand upon these platforms.

Possible thesis idea

I talked to James Oliverio today about an idea for my final project/ thesis. I want to create an iPhone/iPad cooking application. It would come with several recipes already but you can also import your own recipes into the program. The app makes your grocery list once you've selected what meal(s) you want to make, it helps time your cooking so the each aspect of the meal will be ready for your dinner party, if you enter ingredients you have and wish to use it matched up recipes to fit your needs, and it has an easy to use organized interface.

James said he thinks its doable but that he doesn't want me to depend on a programmer that might not come through in the end. So i need to find someone who would be willing to help me as part of their thesis so that we both succeed. I want to do an application because I would like to create something useable that I could turn in to a viable business once I leave the program. I don't want to waste the next to years on a project that isn't going to be useful to me. I still need to talk to Jamie Kraft or Bill Rossi and see what they think about the application. I don't just want something that could be a business I want it to be a worthwhile business!

Interactive assignment 1

Our first assignment for Interactive Storytelling is to talk about video games we've played a lot in our lives. I used to play computer games like Carmen SanDiego, Oregon Trail, and Echo the Dolphin because my brothers wouldn't let me play with their Sega and N64 very often. Carmen San Diego is a great game because it was fun and I learned a lot about geography and the world. Most educational games aren't as interesting and fun as Carmen. I always liked the Oregon Trail because I had family that went on the Oregon Trail in real life. After my Dad's side of the family emigrated to the US they trekked out west and settled in Idaho. I loved the game and felt like it was what my family went through without losing most of the members to snake bites, dysentery, and drowning when the river was too deep to wade.

When I would sneak in to my brothers' room to play the game systems I played a lot of Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog. I was usually Kitana, Raiden, Scorpion, or Jax (when he got the metal arms). I remember sitting on the floor playing Mortal Kombat listening to the Spice Girls on the radio in 5th grade! haha I was a fan of Sonic and i was okay with his little friend but sometimes he just got in the way.

Now I play the Wii a little bit and stupid online games. I'm really good at the Wii target game, ping pong, and tanks. I also play Super Mario Brothers and Galaxy with my boyfriend but he pretty much carries our team! My real talent is in Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. I'm really amazing at moving jewels around super fast to score as many points as possible in 1 minute. I got my highest score of 752,000 yesterday and as sad as it is, I'm pretty proud of it! I also do a lot of crosswords and play solitaire on my iPhone 4.

Week 1 of school

My first week of my new masters has ended and I'm nervous and excited about the coming semester. I'm still unsure what to expect from the program. Interactive storytelling confuses me a bit in that we don't need to know any software but we have to make something for a final project. Since it's a DAS class I would expect to be using different softwares to create the story or game and even though we "don't have to" I kind of feel like we need to. The story idea I pitched to my group is a cross between Clue, And Then There Were None, and Who's the Murderer. I've been trying to focus on how to make the story interactive so I was thinking:

The audience knows there is a killer on the loose and there are a bunch college students in a house. Originally I thought it would take place in 1 night and they could be on shrooms or some other drug because it would give way for cool effects and more movement...for example, they could be walking through the woods, in the backyard, upstairs in the house, down the street, etc... but drugs aren't necessary. Anyways the killer has been watching the students from the woods behind their house and on one saturday night he decides to kill them. The audience gets to decide who, how, where, and in which order they each die. Then they have to figure out which audience member is the killer and determine whether or not the killer dies, gets arrested, injured, or gets away.

The idea isn't completely thought through and I'm not sure how we would accomplish it. It stems from an idea I had for a movie during my undergrad but obviously the original idea had no interaction, so instead of a movie we would make it a game. The six words would be: Students. Murder. How will they die? I'm not sure what my group thinks about it yet but hopefully we'll decide who's idea we'll do soon. I'm happy with my group members and their different skills.