Video Game Design/Developers

Hey all!

I am sitting in yet another pre-school year PLT session, alone, having done everything my district wants from the next two days several years ago.

I figured I would reach out to you all, my actual PLT.

I am entering year 2 at my new school West Park High School in Roseville, CA. I finally get to teach my capstone course again this year which is kinda awesome.

Most of my focus presently is on revamping my pixel art portion of my Graphics class and figuring out what games I want my intro design course to play in the first few days of school before pivoting to making our own stuff.

I look forward to learning from all of you over this school year!

Brian Bautista

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Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
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I like the idea of playing some games before designing. What have you used in the past?

I kind of like the idea of retro games like Frogger and Donkey Kong, Asteroid, etc. 

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Dvora Celniker
Teacher HS CS, Engineering, & Math
San Diego CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 8/7/2023 7:13:00 PM
From: Dvora Celniker
Subject: RE: Hello again!

I like the idea of playing some games before designing. What have you used in the past?

I kind of like the idea of retro games like Frogger and Donkey Kong, Asteroid, etc. 

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Dvora Celniker
Teacher HS CS, Engineering, & Math
San Diego CA
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We use all kinds of old-school 8-bit games We even have some old consoles that the kids can play on. We focus on why the games are fun to play even though they don't look as nice as today's games and why. Intro duces game mechanics and user experience. How games employ the "Baby Bear" rule. The most we ever play in one day is 10 minutes...

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[Keith] [Barnes]
[Digital Learning Coach]
[Bullitt County Public Schools]
[Shepherdsville] [KY]
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-07-2023 18:12
From: Dvora Celniker
Subject: Hello again!

I like the idea of playing some games before designing. What have you used in the past?

I kind of like the idea of retro games like Frogger and Donkey Kong, Asteroid, etc. 

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Dvora Celniker
Teacher HS CS, Engineering, & Math
San Diego CA
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Brian,

I would love to hear what you have come up with for your pixel art revamp.

One thing I do is have students play games from former students so they get an idea of what is possible in the span of time for the course.

As for published games, I enjoy having students prepare and share their favorite game (I usually model it by going first), one per day.

Jerry

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Jerry Huang k12teacher
Sacramento CA
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I am looking at new stuff to use for projects/curriculum got the book Pixels Forever recently and think some of that stuff might be useful. I am trying to find some different stuff to use for kids that it the class doesn't "click" for.

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Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-09-2023 00:16
From: Jerry Huang
Subject: Hello again!

Brian,

I would love to hear what you have come up with for your pixel art revamp.

One thing I do is have students play games from former students so they get an idea of what is possible in the span of time for the course.

As for published games, I enjoy having students prepare and share their favorite game (I usually model it by going first), one per day.

Jerry

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Jerry Huang k12teacher
Sacramento CA
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Welcome back to another school year and welcome to our Video Game Dev group in CSTA.

I'm excited this year my Capstone course is 3 time larger this year than last, looking forward to starting an eSports team this year and looking for advice if anyone has any to offer. 

I only have 2 classes in game design this year so a bit more thinned out than before, I am also looking for ideas on promoting my classes for future enrollment.

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Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA
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I'd love to hear what you decide, especially for pixel art. I am installing LibrePixel on my lab machines, it's the free and open source version of Aseprite. Aseprite is awesome and I use it at home, but they don't take PO's so I can't order with my CTE budget.

I plan to do the Septembit challenge for pixel art. A person on Twitter named Saultoons runs it. Each day, spend 10 minutes, doing a small pixel art challenge, 16 x 16 square. Over time you add each drawing to a monthly sheet and you see your progress. I did it myself over the summer and think this will be a hit in my Game Design courses. 

Saultoons https://twitter.com/Saultoons

Septembit https://twitter.com/septembit?lang=en

There is a black and white one from a couple of years ago that is a good starting point for me.

You can also join his Discord and see each year's submissions as well as the submissions for the daily challenges if you want. I want to get my kids submitting to stuff like this to get us up and out of our classrooms for inspiration.

What other tools do people use for pixel art?

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Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA
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Yeah I am right now just looking for more resources, projects, tutorials. 

That part of my class works great for some kids, other kids it's just a little too much freedom. I grabbed the book Pixels Forever and I think there might be some stuff there I can use.

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Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-07-2023 17:50
From: Owen Peery
Subject: Hello again!

I'd love to hear what you decide, especially for pixel art. I am installing LibrePixel on my lab machines, it's the free and open source version of Aseprite. Aseprite is awesome and I use it at home, but they don't take PO's so I can't order with my CTE budget.

I plan to do the Septembit challenge for pixel art. A person on Twitter named Saultoons runs it. Each day, spend 10 minutes, doing a small pixel art challenge, 16 x 16 square. Over time you add each drawing to a monthly sheet and you see your progress. I did it myself over the summer and think this will be a hit in my Game Design courses. 

Saultoons https://twitter.com/Saultoons

Septembit https://twitter.com/septembit?lang=en

There is a black and white one from a couple of years ago that is a good starting point for me.

You can also join his Discord and see each year's submissions as well as the submissions for the daily challenges if you want. I want to get my kids submitting to stuff like this to get us up and out of our classrooms for inspiration.

What other tools do people use for pixel art?

------------------------------
Owen Peery k12teacher
SAN FRANCISCO CA
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