Paper Prototypes just around the corner.

My mentees are either actively involved with creating and filming their paper prototypes, or it is just around the corner. I always find it thrilling when students put pencil to paper and are forced to conceptually their game ideas on paper. This is where many of your student's game idea "blind spots" can be spotted. Quiz students on the intricacies of their game ideas. At this point, they should be able to answer all of your questions. If not, more work needs to be done to flesh out the idea.

Mini Game in full force!

All of my mentees have started easing their way into the Mini Game topic. There have been (and will be) some bumps in the road along the way, but that is to be expected. It is our mistakes we learn from the most, the things we never forget. So, if a student hits a roadblock here and there, no sweat, once they fix that issue, they can learn from it and teach others how to avoid the same issue.

Progress Report 1 is dead and gone!

Progress Report 1 is now history! Everyone made it through alive with minor flesh wounds. Now we must focus our attention to our next foe to vanquish, Progress Report 2. Make haste! :-)

Start of Fall semester

Even though I am not actually teaching a Globaloria class, I am still knee deep in wikis and blogs this year through my third year as a Globaloria mentor. I always enjoy helping Globaloria educators work their way through the intricate web that is the Globaloria wiki. This year is no different, I have two new educators and two returning educators, and all of us are new to the fantastic changes to the wiki this year. Technology is not something that rests on its laurels, and all of our students need to learn that. They need to be exposed to a routine of self-learning and self-realization as young as possible because the workforce of the future needs to be a flexible and agile one.

My favorite beetle

Seeing as how I was a little less than two months old when John Lennon was killed, picking my favorite Beatle would be a little hard. So, imagine my surprise when I instead decided to pick my favorite beetle and found the selection to be just as frustrating. Based on the Encyclopedia of Insects, there are currently 350,000 known species of beetles, with more being discovered everyday. It must be hard for someone to pick just one, after all, with a face like this little guy, the competition must be fierce. In the long run, after my extensive elimination process, I declare my favorite to be the Clytus arietis, or wasp beetle. It takes a serious case of hubris to crawl and fly around imitating a wasp. That is just the type of thing to provoke Vicky Neal into rolling up a newspaper and bashing your brains out Clytus arietis!

Game Analysis: Alan Wake

I recently purchased Alan Wake for Xbox 360. I had been very saddened by the ending of ABC's LOST, and this game was just what I needed to pick up my spirits! The game has such a great atmosphere! The atmosphere brings me back to my first time playing the original Silent Hill and hearing the static on the radio knowing that some hell-spawned creature was close to me in the foggy city of Silent Hill. The game borrows from Twin Peaks, the Twilight Zone, and games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and the story is fantastic and leaves some answers to your imagination. For anyone who knows personally about the awesomeness that is Alan Wake, you may want to check out this Analysis of Alan Wake's story. WARNING: This link is extremely spoilerish. If you have not finished the game, I suggest you DO NOT read this analysis.

Week 18 - Post class

Wow, this was a wonderful semester! I feel that each semester my student's games get consistently better. I feel this is due to the fact that each semester more and more games are available for new students to tinker with, which accelerates my student's progress.

All of Mountwest Community and Technical College's game presentations are now posted here.

Want to see our students final games? Click here.