Computer Gaming; Zork

Continuing our Computer Game history:

• Crash Course Nintendo

Last class, we discussed CYOA (choose your own adventure) games/books. Let's take a brief look at how these books were set up. You will need this information for the project ahead. Let's look!

• Crash Course Roleplaying

See handout: The original Tomb of Horrors and the basic set from D&D...gather some friends and go adventuring!

• Crash Course Game Design

Ready, Player One?

Use one of the Chromebooks to play Zork. First, let's get some context for this 1980's computer game hit: Tapping into the Origins of Zork. Here's a pop culture reference from the Big Bang Theory.

 Use the handout tips to help you adventure. Play Zork.

HOMEWORK: None. Play an interactive fiction game to see how it works.

• Zork (text based game)
• Adventure (text based game)
• Jigsaw (text based game)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (text based game)
• Various Infocom online games

EXTRA CREDIT: (ongoing...MP2 ends Jan. 31)

Learn and create your own video games. Use this link to Chrome: Gamestar Mechanic and visit their website to see what you might be able to do. You might have to sign up for an account (use your student ID, etc.) to move further with this.

or use Gamefroot.com

or GameMaker (there's a cost for this one)

or Unreal Engine
or Flowlab
or Stencyl

or...look for one that doesn't cost anything, that is relatively easy to learn, and that you can share with your classmates. If you find a good site, please drop a comment with the site's URL in the COMMENT section below.

Early Video Games; Text-Based Games; Zork

Please turn in your Atari review article. This is due today.

Crash Course #5: The First Home Consoles (7 min.)
Crash Course #6: The Video Game Crash of 1983 (11 min.)

Add notes on your graphic organizer for this topic. You will turn in your notes today for participation credit. 

• Please read the article: Text Based Games (a short history). And a vlog review...hint, hint.

Also Read & Take Notes on:

Choose your own adventure books (CYOA) began to arrive in the late 1970's (particularly from Bantam Books) to entice younger readers. The role-playing industry was just getting started. For more history on fantasy role playing games, check here. More information about Choose Your Own Adventure books can be found here.

Then, 

Ready, Player One?

Use one of the Chromebooks to play Zork. First, let's get some context for this 1980's computer game hit: Tapping into the Origins of Zork. Here's a pop culture reference from the Big Bang Theory.

 Use the handout tips to help you adventure. Play Zork.

HOMEWORK: None. Play an interactive fiction game to see how it works.

• Zork (text based game)
• Adventure (text based game)
• Jigsaw (text based game)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (text based game)
• Various Infocom online games

EXTRA CREDIT: (ongoing...MP2 ends Jan. 31)

Learn and create your own video games. Use this link to Chrome: Gamestar Mechanic and visit their website to see what you might be able to do. You might have to sign up for an account (use your student ID, etc.) to move further with this.

or use Gamefroot.com

or GameMaker (there's a cost for this one)

or Unreal Engine

or...look for one that doesn't cost anything, that is relatively easy to learn, and that you can share with your classmates. If you find a good site, please drop a comment with the site's URL in the COMMENT section below.

1984 Socratic Seminar/Discussion; Review of Atari 2600

Please turn in your Chp. 3 homework ?'s--they are due today!

Period 7: 
1984 - Socratic Seminar

Discussion questions: let's discuss the significance of the following:

1. What function do some of the minor characters (like Syme, Mr. Charrington, Parsons, Goldstein) play in the novel? What is the purpose or use of these characters? Compare/contrast them with Winston.
2. How does a government change culture by censoring (or omitting) classical literature, such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Byron, etc. Examine your own education. How well do you know these authors and their works? Have we already "dumbed" down your education? What will be the consequences for you and your generation in the future?
3. How is our culture similar/different from the line on page 53: "There will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy (an authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine, or practice) means not thinking--not needing to think." Can you think of/examine any current issues where Orthodoxy is delivered to us through the media? 
4. What does Winston mean when he writes: "if there is hope, it lies in the proles"? Which characters in this novel are or represent the proletariat? (the workers--the hands that toil...the lower or working classes, etc.)
5. Explain: "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious." What would need to happen for the downtrodden and lower classes in our society to rebel? Which factions/groups/cultures in our country are more inclined to rebelling? How is this delivered to us through the media?
6. Explain: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." Are the characters in 1984 free? Is Winston "freed" at the end of this book? How? 
7. Examine pg. 102, "It was at night..." What might be your prediction about the characters in this book? Did your predictions come true? (Julia, O'Brian, Winston, etc.)
8. Why is writing a "dangerous act"?
9. Is Big Brother real? (in the novel?) (in our society?) Proof/evidence?
10. How much do you feel you are being manipulated by forces beyond your control? How does this affect your understanding or experience of "freedom"?
11. How are we controlled and manipulated by our fears? What fears as a collective society/culture do we have? What is the media's role in warning us about it? How does this fear similar/different from that which goes on in room 101?
12. What is the purpose/function of the Black Book in the novel? Does it work?
13. Other issues/questions?

The following writing prompt/preps for your dystopian fiction project: (extra credit)

Use the writing prompts from class to create your own dystopian story. Length is up to you, but remember that a good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Character is important, so you'll want to develop your character enough for us readers to care about him or her. Setting becomes an important aspect in any science fiction or fantasy story like this. Settings seem more real when they are described with specific details and verisimilitude. The shorter the story, the closer to the climax you will want to begin.

Other advice/resources:

The Writing Cafe: The Dystopian Society
5 Tips to Writing a Dystopian Story
It's a Bad, Bad World: Writeworld
What Makes a Good YA Dystopian Novel?

Some writing tips:

• No matter what, when you get stuck (and you will) remember to step into the shoes of your protagonist. What does she see, what does he think, what does she want, etc.?
• Skip to the next scene. If you don't know what to write yet, skip it and come back later. Write the stuff you know you want to see. Fill in the other stuff later.
• Take time to read. Often reading or taking a walk or doing something else for a minute can jar your creative juices to continue spilling when needed.
• Work through your writer's block. Writers block doesn't exist. It's just you not making decisions or not wanting to write. Make the decision to write.
• This is a draft. It's not ready to be published. Relax and tell a good story!
• Freewrite. Brainstorm. Use the skills we've taught you.
• Get back on the "horse"--if you stop writing, go back to it. Persistence is important! Keep writing and the story will arrive--just maybe in a lot of pieces and fragments. It's okay to have a story come out like a jigsaw puzzle that will need to be assembled later. Get the words down, then worry about how it all fits together!

When we complete our discussion on the book, let's write our Atari game review.

• Choose a game you played from the link (Atari 2600) and review the game. 
• Remember to research and provide some history/context from what you learned (go ahead and use your notes, for example) to help you write your short review (300-500 words in length).
• Don't forget to attribute your sources if you borrow ideas/information that you didn't know from other sources!

Your review should be completed by the end of period 8. Please turn your draft in to our Google Classroom.

HOMEWORK: If you are writing your own dystopian fiction piece (extra credit) please continue to work on that as well. See the sources above. Also, begin reading "Ready Player One".

Video Games (more history) & the Video Game Review; Atari 2600!

TASK #1: On YOUR blog, please post an article answering this question:

• Write about your favorite game (this could be a board game, a sport, or a digital/electronic video game, etc.)
• What is it? What's the objective/goal of the game? How do you play? Etc.
• What do you like about the game? 
• What have you learned about yourself, others, or your world from playing the game? What benefit is there to playing? Etc.
• Remember to include photos/videos or hyperlinks in your blog post for full credit!

After posting, we will complete our video game notes today (please return them to the in-box at the end of class today for credit). Include information on Atari, Crash Course #4 below: 

Crash Course #4: Atari and the Business of Video Games

Play some games from the Atari 2600 for the rest of period 7.

Period 8: The Video Game Review.

Let's take a look at a couple short video game reviews.

Then, choose a game you played from the link above (Atari 2600) and review the game. Remember to research and provide some history/context from what you learned (go ahead and use your notes, for example) to help you write your short review (300-500 words in length). Don't forget to attribute your sources if you borrow ideas/information that you didn't know from other sources!

Your review should be completed by the end of period 8. Please turn your draft in to our Google Classroom.

HOMEWORK: Complete Part 3 of 1984 by Monday, Dec. 16. Please read and annotate Chp. 3: Digital Gaming and the Media Playground (part 1). Answer the 7 questions as well for Monday, Dec. 16. If you are writing your own dystopian fiction piece (extra credit) please continue to work on that as well.

OPTION: Secret Santa's Writing Workshop! If you would like, place your name in the "box" and draw a name. Write that person a "personalized" short story, poem, play sketch, or article/essay/non-fiction, comic strip, etc. for the holidays! We'll deliver our gifts on Friday, Dec. 20 before Winter Break! This is extra credit; if you don't want to participate, you don't have to. Don't put your name in the box and don't draw a name from the box!

Student Blogs

• Linden
• Ariel
• Hannah
• David
• Simone
• Andrew
• Harrison
• Pia
• Aryonna
• Sarah
• Zachariah
• Thalia

Welcome back! Wrapping up Ms. Martinez' Curriculum; Introduction to Digital Gaming

Ms. Martinez says good-bye and good luck to you all as you continue your education. She thanks you collectively for your work and your patience.

Because of field trips, several of you need to make up the 1984 test. Please use period 7 to do that.

The rest of us will work on the following:

Done with the 1984 test today? Either A. continue reading 1984 (Part 3), or B. your homework (see below), or C. play some video games to introduce you to our next unit: Digital Gaming and the Media Playground. (Please use headphones when playing any game--you will need, for the most part, to allow Flash)

• Online games
• More online games
• Even more online games

Period 8:

ON YOUR BLOG: (15 minutes) Write about your own experience playing video games. Do you have strong memories from playing early video games? If so, what were they? [You might focus on one or two--or start a series of blog entries featuring a different game memory/experience per week!] What impact did they have on you? To what extent did these games define (or are still defining) your childhood? Make sure you include photos or videos or hyperlinks in your blog post for full credit!

Crash Course Video/Digital Games

Answer the following on the back of your graphic organizer:

• Crash Course Games (introduction)
• Crash Course Games: The Dawn of Video Games
• Early computer games: Pong & the song that the game inspired by Eisenfunk.

1. According to the video, what is the difference between a TOY and a GAME? (use the graphic organizer to answer this question)

2. What are some things you learned about games from this video? -- complete your notes on the graphic organizer.

3. How do we use games in our culture? -- Complete your notes on the graphic organizer.
4. How did video games get their start? According to the video why did they become popular?
5. What were some of the earliest computer games? (list some and briefly describe them!)

Turn in your notes today for participation credit.

Now with time remaining, play some games from the Atari 2600. We'll be reviewing one of these next class.

HOMEWORK: Complete Part 3 of 1984 by next week. Please read and annotate Chp. 3: Digital Gaming and the Media Playground (part 1). Answer the 7 questions for Monday, Dec. 16. If you are writing your own dystopian fiction piece (extra credit) please continue to work on that as well.