Video Game Design/Developers

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

So many awesome projects students are working on. One in particular is making some incredible progress. This student has come up with an extensive backstory, customized characters, and has outlined so many different aspects of his game. He's working with another student in class, and as a team they are making some incredible progress. One student does all the programming, the other student focuses on the artwork and level building. I'm incredibly impressed with their dedication to this game. You can check out the first version of the game he created, made with GDevelop. The new version is built with Unity.

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

I'd like to share what a few of my advanced/highly motivated prereq CS Discoveries course students have cooked up in Code.org's game lab. One student has been working on creating essentially a 3D camera system by shooting out rays in a 2D world. This is an old example of it but now it has a 3D visual display as well https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/qtjLESNpKwW0M3B_ID8fWjgHeniGdH5rWM6TN73xO9I

And another is working on a Tower Defense game (again an old example, but they now have tower placement, firing, and enemy movement working) https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/A3X8dRKr4eYuqZ2S1830tUbj_yzGsETY8_1UYbAGFbA

I would LOVE some advice for how to keep encouraging these students. The default CS Discoveries curriculum is FAR too basic for their level, and I kind of want to move them both along to a different 2D engine or try and give them some structure to their on their own learning. The second student in particular also made a Super Smash Style fighting game with combos without even knowing how to make objects in javascript or what an array was (I have since remedied that)!

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

There are different philosophies on this.

I am of the opinion that you unshackle them as much as is reasonable.

I have one of these in my Digital Art class right now. He finishes the thing I have for the class, the becomes a helper for other people and while he isn't doing that he has his personal project he is working on.

Some kids don't actually need you, they just needed someone to put the tools in their hand.

I'd like to share what a few of my advanced/highly motivated prereq CS Discoveries course students have cooked up in Code.org's game lab. One student has been working on creating essentially a 3D camera system by shooting out rays in a 2D world. This is an old example of it but now it has a 3D visual display as well https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/qtjLESNpKwW0M3B_ID8fWjgHeniGdH5rWM6TN73xO9I

And another is working on a Tower Defense game (again an old example, but they now have tower placement, firing, and enemy movement working) https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/A3X8dRKr4eYuqZ2S1830tUbj_yzGsETY8_1UYbAGFbA

I would LOVE some advice for how to keep encouraging these students. The default CS Discoveries curriculum is FAR too basic for their level, and I kind of want to move them both along to a different 2D engine or try and give them some structure to their on their own learning. The second student in particular also made a Super Smash Style fighting game with combos without even knowing how to make objects in javascript or what an array was (I have since remedied that)!

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

There are different philosophies on this.

I am of the opinion that you unshackle them as much as is reasonable.

I have one of these in my Digital Art class right now. He finishes the thing I have for the class, the becomes a helper for other people and while he isn't doing that he has his personal project he is working on.

Some kids don't actually need you, they just needed someone to put the tools in their hand.

I'd like to share what a few of my advanced/highly motivated prereq CS Discoveries course students have cooked up in Code.org's game lab. One student has been working on creating essentially a 3D camera system by shooting out rays in a 2D world. This is an old example of it but now it has a 3D visual display as well https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/qtjLESNpKwW0M3B_ID8fWjgHeniGdH5rWM6TN73xO9I

And another is working on a Tower Defense game (again an old example, but they now have tower placement, firing, and enemy movement working) https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/A3X8dRKr4eYuqZ2S1830tUbj_yzGsETY8_1UYbAGFbA

I would LOVE some advice for how to keep encouraging these students. The default CS Discoveries curriculum is FAR too basic for their level, and I kind of want to move them both along to a different 2D engine or try and give them some structure to their on their own learning. The second student in particular also made a Super Smash Style fighting game with combos without even knowing how to make objects in javascript or what an array was (I have since remedied that)!

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

I feel the same as Garth and Brian, there is no way I can keep up with knowing (not only what all the possibilities are for my curriculum and the programs I use) but I can never know all of what the kids are doing/using/coding errors, etc.

I use a system of peer support. I also tell them from the beginning "I am here to facilitate an opportunity to explore a topic you might be interested in."

I am NOT here to limit students who are interested in really stretching their ability in this topic, I am open to ideas, suggestions, and willing to allow for side projects that are not on my list.

Aside from this I can only do what I can do. I am not a programmer, or a gamer, I am still learning and I do not expect perfection.

As a group I do hope that we are all in this boat, none of us are perfect, we are all creating a new and exciting opportunity for these kids. I'm excited every day to be here on this campus with these kids and I am super excited about their creations, and their successes (as well as their failures).

There are different philosophies on this.

I am of the opinion that you unshackle them as much as is reasonable.

I have one of these in my Digital Art class right now. He finishes the thing I have for the class, the becomes a helper for other people and while he isn't doing that he has his personal project he is working on.

Some kids don't actually need you, they just needed someone to put the tools in their hand.

I'd like to share what a few of my advanced/highly motivated prereq CS Discoveries course students have cooked up in Code.org's game lab. One student has been working on creating essentially a 3D camera system by shooting out rays in a 2D world. This is an old example of it but now it has a 3D visual display as well https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/qtjLESNpKwW0M3B_ID8fWjgHeniGdH5rWM6TN73xO9I

And another is working on a Tower Defense game (again an old example, but they now have tower placement, firing, and enemy movement working) https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/A3X8dRKr4eYuqZ2S1830tUbj_yzGsETY8_1UYbAGFbA

I would LOVE some advice for how to keep encouraging these students. The default CS Discoveries curriculum is FAR too basic for their level, and I kind of want to move them both along to a different 2D engine or try and give them some structure to their on their own learning. The second student in particular also made a Super Smash Style fighting game with combos without even knowing how to make objects in javascript or what an array was (I have since remedied that)!

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

I sort of lean into this.

My first day of my Capstone course, I explain that while I can solve a bunch of their problems, it would take away learning how to solve those problems. So I want them to tread water and swim their own way out. If they drown, I will come get them. The term "creative/productive struggle" gets thrown around a lot. It is a big reason my rubrics are designed the way they are, to NOT fail the kids that grind and don't quite get there.

In my digital art class, I am actually pretty out of practice with Blender 3.0. So it's a little "I don't know how to fix that, ask your classmates/google it" and a little of me legitimately not having a clue how do it. 

I also see a lot of value in the advanced kids learning how to explain stuff out loud. It is good practice for "duck decoding" when we get to the Unity Course.

I feel the same as Garth and Brian, there is no way I can keep up with knowing (not only what all the possibilities are for my curriculum and the programs I use) but I can never know all of what the kids are doing/using/coding errors, etc.

I use a system of peer support. I also tell them from the beginning "I am here to facilitate an opportunity to explore a topic you might be interested in."

I am NOT here to limit students who are interested in really stretching their ability in this topic, I am open to ideas, suggestions, and willing to allow for side projects that are not on my list.

Aside from this I can only do what I can do. I am not a programmer, or a gamer, I am still learning and I do not expect perfection.

As a group I do hope that we are all in this boat, none of us are perfect, we are all creating a new and exciting opportunity for these kids. I'm excited every day to be here on this campus with these kids and I am super excited about their creations, and their successes (as well as their failures).

There are different philosophies on this.

I am of the opinion that you unshackle them as much as is reasonable.

I have one of these in my Digital Art class right now. He finishes the thing I have for the class, the becomes a helper for other people and while he isn't doing that he has his personal project he is working on.

Some kids don't actually need you, they just needed someone to put the tools in their hand.

I'd like to share what a few of my advanced/highly motivated prereq CS Discoveries course students have cooked up in Code.org's game lab. One student has been working on creating essentially a 3D camera system by shooting out rays in a 2D world. This is an old example of it but now it has a 3D visual display as well https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/qtjLESNpKwW0M3B_ID8fWjgHeniGdH5rWM6TN73xO9I

And another is working on a Tower Defense game (again an old example, but they now have tower placement, firing, and enemy movement working) https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/A3X8dRKr4eYuqZ2S1830tUbj_yzGsETY8_1UYbAGFbA

I would LOVE some advice for how to keep encouraging these students. The default CS Discoveries curriculum is FAR too basic for their level, and I kind of want to move them both along to a different 2D engine or try and give them some structure to their on their own learning. The second student in particular also made a Super Smash Style fighting game with combos without even knowing how to make objects in javascript or what an array was (I have since remedied that)!

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

One thing I do a lot with my Unity students is I may have a vague idea of how to complete the task/idea they want in their game,  but not the specifics, so I will tell the student, "Google Unity keyword blah blah etc." to get them pointed in the right direction but I leave the specific implementation up to them. Or, I say, "that student over there has something similar to what you need, talk to them" and that works too if another student has already solved that particular problem.

I sort of lean into this.

My first day of my Capstone course, I explain that while I can solve a bunch of their problems, it would take away learning how to solve those problems. So I want them to tread water and swim their own way out. If they drown, I will come get them. The term "creative/productive struggle" gets thrown around a lot. It is a big reason my rubrics are designed the way they are, to NOT fail the kids that grind and don't quite get there.

In my digital art class, I am actually pretty out of practice with Blender 3.0. So it's a little "I don't know how to fix that, ask your classmates/google it" and a little of me legitimately not having a clue how do it. 

I also see a lot of value in the advanced kids learning how to explain stuff out loud. It is good practice for "duck decoding" when we get to the Unity Course.

I feel the same as Garth and Brian, there is no way I can keep up with knowing (not only what all the possibilities are for my curriculum and the programs I use) but I can never know all of what the kids are doing/using/coding errors, etc.

I use a system of peer support. I also tell them from the beginning "I am here to facilitate an opportunity to explore a topic you might be interested in."

I am NOT here to limit students who are interested in really stretching their ability in this topic, I am open to ideas, suggestions, and willing to allow for side projects that are not on my list.

Aside from this I can only do what I can do. I am not a programmer, or a gamer, I am still learning and I do not expect perfection.

As a group I do hope that we are all in this boat, none of us are perfect, we are all creating a new and exciting opportunity for these kids. I'm excited every day to be here on this campus with these kids and I am super excited about their creations, and their successes (as well as their failures).

There are different philosophies on this.

I am of the opinion that you unshackle them as much as is reasonable.

I have one of these in my Digital Art class right now. He finishes the thing I have for the class, the becomes a helper for other people and while he isn't doing that he has his personal project he is working on.

Some kids don't actually need you, they just needed someone to put the tools in their hand.

I'd like to share what a few of my advanced/highly motivated prereq CS Discoveries course students have cooked up in Code.org's game lab. One student has been working on creating essentially a 3D camera system by shooting out rays in a 2D world. This is an old example of it but now it has a 3D visual display as well https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/qtjLESNpKwW0M3B_ID8fWjgHeniGdH5rWM6TN73xO9I

And another is working on a Tower Defense game (again an old example, but they now have tower placement, firing, and enemy movement working) https://studio.code.org/projects/gamelab/A3X8dRKr4eYuqZ2S1830tUbj_yzGsETY8_1UYbAGFbA

I would LOVE some advice for how to keep encouraging these students. The default CS Discoveries curriculum is FAR too basic for their level, and I kind of want to move them both along to a different 2D engine or try and give them some structure to their on their own learning. The second student in particular also made a Super Smash Style fighting game with combos without even knowing how to make objects in javascript or what an array was (I have since remedied that)!

Wow Some impressive projects!

Smash and Grab Game Jam-first year mostly 9th graders (no previous experience with Unity or programming so these are very rough)

Video below was our winner for the last Game Jam in class.

------------------------------
Melanie Honeycutt k12teacher
Lompoc CA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2023 10:13
From: Brian Bautista
Subject: Monday Check in Cool Student Stuff

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------

Hey all,

For today's Monday check in, let's show off some cool stuff our students are doing right now. Images, descriptions, videos, whatever.

Right now my Game Dev 2 students are working blender with some lowpoly stuff. We started with Blenderguru's Donut as a class and then they had a menu of stuff to choose from for last week, we are doing some lowpoly animals to start working animation sets this week.

------------------------------
Brian Bautista k12teacher
Citrus Heights CA
------------------------------