Month: November 2021

Constructing Creative Communication Part 1

jacksonc Maker 0 Comment

Hi and welcome back to my blog! In my Maker class, we’ve been working on a new and super fun project. This whole project has been about art, drawing and photography. The Carr section, the first part that I will be talking about, has been about drawing and graphic design. The other half, that will be in my next post, is about photography. For this project our driving question has been “Why is it important to use technology to further improve our ability to communicate and to think creatively?” this has been an interesting Driving question because it is the same one for both segments of this project, meaning that we will get two different perspectives on it. 

                 

The first thing that we did with this project was really to just get used to the tools that we had to use. The only drawing app that we were allowed to use was Sketches Pro. We started with some simple use of colour, lines, and shapes. We then tried to do some simple letter art and would later go on to try doing our names. This was very helpful because we started to get used to the tools, some I didn’t know about until I did this. 

Another important thing that we worked on was perspective. This was important because if the perspective of something is off, then the whole drawing looks strange. Because of how precise this had to be, it made it a lot harder. This was especially the case if you don’t have a clear horizon line to work off of. 

The final part of the project was probably the most fun. To start it off we had Chloe Devine zoom in and answer some questions for us. Chloe is a professional graphic designer that is currently doing work with logos. This was perfect because that was our last project, to create a logo. The logo was for an imaginary company that we created. The company needed to have a colour scheme, a slogan, and a certain product or service it provided. I choose to do a sport shop called Coast to Peak Sport Shop. It’s slogan was “From coast to peak we’ve got you covered” and the colour scheme was mostly blues and pinky colours. 

So, why is it important to use technology to further improve our ability to communicate and to think creatively? It’s important because it is an Important skill to be able to communicate with more than just words. Sometimes, it is easier to say something with an image, and these tools and apps that we have access to can make it so much easier, if you know what you’re doing. If you can’t get the perspective right or there is no colour or shading, then you can communicate the wrong message. It’s like if you’re building a house, instead of writing everything out you can just draw a blueprint. If you get something wrong, then the whole house could be wrong. In the end, part 1 of this project has been a really fun experience that has started to show me why it is important to use technology to further improve our ability to communicate and to think creatively.

Tectonic Chances

jacksonc Scimatics 0 Comment

Welcome back! Lately, me and my scimatics group have been hard at work with our latest project, Tectonic chances. In this project we have been using probability and Plate Tectonics to create an unique and fun game. Me and my group, Makai and Magnus (you can check out their blogs here. Makai Magnus), worked together to create Disaster Island. 

How are thematic and mathematical elements used in game design? This has been our driving question throughout the project. To answer this question we dove into game design to see how it’s done. There have been many changes made to our game, I’ll talk about soon, and many things that still could use changing. To help with our understanding of probability we did a lot of work with dice and fractions. 

To start off this project we had to start thinking of game ideas. For this one, our groups weren’t finalized so we also had Cameron B. Our original ideas were similar to later on but much too complex. In the original it was much too hard and time consuming to get the keys, the extra life, and the wheel spins. Another difference was that some things, like the wheel spin, were optional. This made it too easy because, unless you went for these things, you wouldn’t even have a chance of getting the bad option. 

At the end of this project we started to finalize the game rules and then we had fun. We got to spend a bunch of time playing our game with other people, from our class and the other one, and we got to play other people’s games. This was a fun experience that further helped us understand how we can use thematic and mathematical elements in game design by seeing how other people did it.

Another important thing that we did was the mind map. We did a mind map at the start of the project to see some examples of what we know, think, wonder about, and some ideas for our games. As the project went on, we added more and more to it so we could see how far we came with our knowledge about plate tectonics, we also answered some of our questions. 

Throughout this project we have learned a lot about game design and the effort that goes into it. We have done a lot of work with tectonic plates and how they work, with them moving on top of the mantle and causing many things to happen. We also did a lot of work with probably and fractions using dice rolls. So, how are thematic and mathematical elements used in game design? Well, many games use some form of mathematical equations to help determine the outcome. Sometimes it’s using probability with dice, cards, or a spinner, and other times it’s using simple math like adding/subtracting or dividing/multiplying. Some games, like Monopoly, will use multiple of these things to make the gameplay more exciting. In the end, this project has taught me a lot about how thematic and mathematical elements are used in game design.