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Video Games Assigned as Homework
joestump98 writes "I wish that my teacher had assigned video games as homework. Videogame makers are working on making educational games that are playable. The criteria for a good game, not surpising, kids say is an interesting storyline and unique characters."
Problem 1:
Load Quake3. Examine some of the textures along the walls. Point out whether or not maps in dm1 use:
- Texture Maps
- Detail Maps
- Bump Maps
- Specular Lighting.
In the case of all four present, determine the formula for determining a pixel color with light magnitudeProblem 2
Load Warcraft 3. Notice the design of some of the landscape. What would be the most effective use of storage for generating map material (e.g the landscape). Exclude objects such as trees since they are objects within the level. Explain why in your reasoning.
- BSP
- Height map.
- Triangluar Mesh.
- Quad Mesh
Some of the high hills in War3 look "boxy", meaning that there aren't enough polygons within the hill. We wish to implement a grid system that also stores a third point between grid points. This point in space will be the basis for creating Bezier curves.Write a program that takes a 100x100 array of height points, and a 100x100 grid of bezier height points, and write a program that creates a 200x200 array of height points. Remember to generate ALL height values.
Part 2: Try tesselating further into a 400x400 array.
Part 3: Render this into the API of your choice (OpenGL, Direct3d). Create a program that tesselates the grid runtime based on the distance to each key point on the grid. Derive your own reasonable equations to determine this.
Extra Credit: You'll notice some "popping" as new vertices are generated. This is because as new vertices are created between height points, the old ones are shifted over. Write a routine based on the previous problem that forms new vertices along the old position, and then morphs to the new position.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
I think games that are games first and educational second would do a better job at teaching. For instance, what if in order to level a cleric in Everquest you had to pass a real medical test (anatomy, biology, whatever). The Sims would also be well suited for this. Maybe harness some of all that wasted energy and put it into something useful.
Cool. And my teacher(s) did assign games as school work. Oregon Trail was the main one. Got that one in US history class in like the 5th grade. (This was New Mexico, so take that for what it's worth. Not exacly the best trak record for edukashun in NM)
:)
The best thing about Oregon Trail from a teacher's viewpoint is it taught us basically without supervision, we learned to work as a team (had to double-up on the machines), taught us what it was like for them back then, and made me a deadly shot when we needed venison.
Were they as good as the games people have today to play? Yes, IMO, because it was new and exciting, and all the ideas weren't already out there and repeated 50 times.
Sent from your iPad.
this is serious evidence of the saturation of computers in society. It helps u bridge the gap between now and the science fiction novels.
I've always thought (well before i knew how to program) that good video games were true pieces of art, to be appreciated with much respect. For those that still don't play them: as much respect as a painting. I'm sure that because u're reading this here on slashdot, you've played a video game before, the odds that u have are far higher if u were a kid in the last 20 yers. But, notice, that there are lots of people that choose (for whatever reason) just not to have technology like this in their lives. This tends to cause a lot of tension between them and their children. I think its interesting how some people are just never going to interact with tech, no matter how much its at their fingertips.
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Help my mini cause: My journal
I look after the IT for a school, and spend most lunchtimes in the library helping the kids with their homework and the computers. The Headteacher isn't mean't to be best pleased with the fact that the kids are always using the computers to play one or two of the fairly mind-numbing puzzle games on there instead of doing "research".
Once I've actually got their network sorted out, I plan on writing a 2D platform game where they earn time in the game by solving Math problems, and where the problems that require more thought are rewarded with more time (so, for example, solving a few simple multiplication/division sums might get them thirty seconds, whereas solving a trig problem might get them five minutes). The whole thing will be completely voluntary, the prospect of shooting bunnies will hopefully be enough to spare them on a little, and they'll be spending their time doing something a little more worthwhile than clicking on pretty pictures (which seems to be the theme of a lot of so called "educational" proprietary software out there right now).
The only problem is that unless they find someone else to do the library shifts every lunchtime then I'll have probably moved on to another job before I've had chance to sort their IT out and write the game. But then my attempts to get this through to management will probably only surface when they're asking why I left...
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Andrew
I don't mean to flame the educational system, but mod me down for it cause i believe what i write.
The entire educational system is in the crapper as far as i'm concerned. The larger problem is that we have teachers that don't give a darn about teaching and students who would rather be doing something else. Albiet that the latter has almost always been true, i mean, when did a kid *want* to go to school? I know many who do and the only reason is that from birth their parents have told them that to get somewhere in this world, they must go to school. Teachers, on the other hand, get paid less and less. That is the crux of the problem. I don't know many teachers who wouldn't bail for another job. The third issue is the idea in the American psychology that the school should teach everything from math to table manners to ethics (in other words: the school should be parenting). The fourth issue is our governments desire to fund murderous foreign goverments (read: Israel and a hundred others) with billions of dollars that could be going to our schools. All of this thrown together and we end up with teachers experimenting with tomorrows youth by playing video games. Did the generations of the 18 and 19 hundreds that got the ball rolling to have the technology we have today rely on a playstation? No, they relied on a pencil and a stack of paper. That is the only way to learn basic skills. That is way it should be. No video games in this household.
Funny, some of those unbathed, ill-groomed troglodytes dropped out of college, started companies, wrote software, and took over the computer industry. Why again is a college education so important? To play devils advocate for a minute, have YOU ever play educational video games? When I was young it was "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego" "Oregon Trail" and "Logo" (although not a game technically, it was taught as one). I learned about our geography, history, and programming from these three simple, mediocre games. As for our nation of drones who fall for junk science, how long did we believe in those two elements that were fakes? How many people know, for sure, if milk is good or bad for them? If science is experiencing a downfall, it is the scientists fault, for not thoroughly checking their results before publishing them. I'm sorry if I'm ranting here, but I'm tired of people who don't really think through what they say. Here's an idea: how 'bout we stop all progress whatsoever. We can go back to the old ways of teaching that apparently didn't work, turning out mindless corporate slaves, who don't know how to think for themselves, who have no problem solving skills, and who will be miserable for the rest of their lives in a crap job, all because we've decided that the old ways are the best. Let's not adapt with the times at all. I think I'll return my computer tonight, and get a Commodore 64. Or maybe I'll just go back to pencil and paper... If we refuse to adapt to the times, we will be destroyed by them.
CODITO, ERGO SUM: I Code, therefore I am.
Wow. So recycling is just a government conspiracy to placate the commie-liberal-environmentalists? That's pretty insightful. Or wait -- actually it's just stupid.
It's just obedience-training. The liberals always do what they're told, because they haven't the imagination or strength of will to create their own freedom.
Your rant was at least a little bit valid (despite the completely pointless part about recycling) until you got here. EVERYONE does what they're told. Liberal and conservative alike. If you think it's any different, it's only because your conservative leaders are TELLING you to think that.
Open your eyes, man. You bitch that it's "them" that's screwing up the system. It's always "them". Until people realize that it's ALL OF US, TOGETHER, screwing things up, it ain't gonna get any better.
You obviously like to complain, but do you ever do anything about it? I doubt it. (And, no, I don't either, but I accept the fact that it's my OWN DAMN FAULT and don't try to blame other people)
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal