[Assignment] Video Game Commercial

Background

Video game commercials designed to capture the attention of potential gamers and ultimately convince them to purchase the game. Commercials can use various techniques including catchy songs or music, clips of game play, comedic dialogue, price information, and others to create their commercial. A YouTube playlist of popular or classic video game commercials is provided below.

Content Rubric

• Commercial is 30 seconds to 60 seconds in length. [10 Points]
• Commercial uses a TITLE or similar opening screen. [10 Points]
• Commercial uses at least three different video shot types. [30 Points / 10 Each]
  • See Media College Shot Types for examples.
• Commercial uses at least two TRANSITIONS between shots. [20 Points / 10 each]
• Commercial includes the NAME OF THE GAME. [10 Points]
• Commercial includes GAME STUDIO AND/OR PUBLISHER. [10 Points]
• Commercial includes the SYSTEM(S) for which the game is available. [10 Points]
• Commercial demonstrates investment of time and effort. [60 Points]

Process Rubric

• File name is lastname_firstname_commercial [10 Points]
• File format is MPEG-4 (.mp4) [20 Points]
  • DO NOT SUBMIT JUST THE .OSP FILE. YOU MUST EXPORT YOUR PROJECT TO VIDEO.
• Due Date: Submit to Focus by Friday, May 14, 2021, by 11:59PM [30 Points]

[Assignment] Year-End Reflection PowerPoint

Background

For this project, students will create a PowerPoint presentation that is a reflection on this school year. Students will answer questions related to this school year in their PowerPoint. Students will also record a voice narration for each slide. The PowerPoint presentation should demonstrate high quality presentation skills: appropriate theme or design, easy to read font, appropriate pictures, animations, and slide transitions.

Content Rubric

1. Slide 1: Title Slide: Contains student name, class period, and '2020-2021 Year-End Reflection'. [10 Points]
2. Slide 2: I am glad I learned... Describe something you are glad you learned this year. [GAME DESIGN] [10 Points]
3. Slide 3: I wish I had learned... Describe something you wish you had learned this year. [GAME DESIGN] [10 Points]
4. Slide 4: I am glad I learned... Describe something you are glad you learned this year. [CORE CLASS] [10 Points]
5. Slide 5: I wish I had learned... Describe something you wish you had learned this year. [CORE CLASS] [10 Points]
6. Slide 6: Conclusion Slide: Write a paragraph describing your experiences in school or life this year and how COVID-19 impacted it. [10 Points]
7. EACH SLIDE contains an audio recording of the student narrating each slide. [60 Points / 10 Each]
8. Presentation uses a DESIGN THEME to enhance its visual appearance. [10 Points]
9. Presentation uses TRANSITIONS between slides to enhance its visual appearance. [10 Points]
10. Presentation includes at least three relevant PICTURES. [10 Points]

Process Rubric

1. File Name: lastname_firstname_2020-2021_reflection [10 Points]
2. File Format: PowerPoint (.ppt) [10 Points]
3. Submitted to Focus by 05/14/2021 at 11:59PM. [30 Points]

[Assignment] Video Game Box Art Creation

Background

Video game box artwork is designed to capture the attention of potential gamers and ultimately convince them to purchase the game. This artwork uses a number of techniques including contrasting colors, action or motion, large central characters, or examples of awards or reviews to name a few. Some iconic examples of video game box artwork are included here.

Content Rubric

• FIRST NAME and LAST INITIAL only in BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER. [10 Points]
• Box art includes the NAME OF THE GAME. [10 Points]
• Box art includes the GAME STUDIO AND/OR PUBLISHER. [10 Points]
• Box art incldues the SYSTEM(S) for which the game is available. [10 Points]
• Image demonstrates investment of time and effort. [60 Points]

Process Rubric

• File name is lastname_firstname_box_art [10 Points]
• File format is Portable Network Graphics (.png) or JPEG (.jpg) [10 Points]
• Due Date: Submit to Focus by Monday, May 03, 2021, by 11:59PM [30 Points]

[Let's Play] Post-Play Surveys

PLEASE DO NOT COMPLETE A SURVEY UNTIL YOU HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO PLAY THE GAME.

Surveys

• Super Double Dragon
• World of Goo
• Smash T.V.
• Madden '18
• Another World
• Super Mario Kart
• Quake III: Arena
• Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
• Dr. Mario
• Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
• Full Throttle: Remastered
• BioShock: Remastered
• StarCraft

[Let's Play] Play Test Schedule Spreadsheet

Click this link to access the Play Test Schedule Spreadsheet. Please make sure to update it as you complete various games.

[Educational Game] Code Screenshots

Below are screenshots of my current code. Many students have asked for screenshots instead of just the YouTube videos. PLEASE NOTE THAT NOT ALL CODE IN HERE IS COMPLETE. SOME OF THE 'TEST MESSAGES' IN THE CODE MUST BE CHANGED BY YOU TO GET FULL CREDIT. The screenshots go in line number order. If there are lines missing between screenshots, they are empty lines that you can just skip down.

[Assignment] Business Dress Example

Background

How you dress plays an important role in the business world. It can impact job interviews, promotions, and daily interactions with clients, colleagues, or supervisors. With this in mind, the teachers at school want to encourage students to start dressing up once a week in business casual or formal attire. The goal is to have all students enrolled in Cyber Security or Game Design classes to dress up on either Thursday or Friday of each week (final decision coming soon). We want students to start dressing and acting professionally from a business standpoint.

Dress Code Guidelines

Below are a few links with some additional information about business dress codes.

1. MoneyCrashers: What to Wear
2. Indeed.com: Guide to Business Attire
3. BalanceCareers.com: What Is Business Attire?

Duval HomeRoom Students

For students in Duval HomeRoom, they can do one of two things to satisfy this requirement: submit a head-to-toe picture wearing approrpiate business attire OR submit a picture of an appropriate business outfit laid out on the floor, bed, or clothes hanger for example.

[Digital Art] Photoshop Battle #02: Animals

Directions

For this Photoshop Battle you will need to choose one of the four images provided below. Then use your digital photo editing skills to create a new image. You can make something serious or funny. The goal is demonstrate your ability to use the many editing tools available in Paint.net or GNU Image Manipulation Project. This also gives students an opportunity to show off their creativity.

Choose One of the Following Pictures

• Save the image you want to your USB flash drive, computer, and / or OneDrive.
• Use the tools, plug-ins, filters, and effects found in the software to create a new image that demonstrates your skills and creativity.
• You can use additional images in your project but the main focus of your project must be one of the animals from the images provided.

Content Rubric

• FIRST NAME and LAST INITIAL only in BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER. [5 Points]
• Must include one of the four animals pictured above. [5 Points]
• Image demonstrates investment of time and effort. [10 Points]

Process Rubric

• File name is lastname_firstname_photoshopbattle02 [5 Points]
• File format is Portable Network Graphics (.png) or JPEG (.jpg) [5 Points]
• Due Date: Submit to Focus by Friday, March 5, 2021, by 11:59PM [20 Points]

Student Examples

[Presentation] Personal Improvement Project

Background Info.

For this speech, you will choose some aspect of your personal life that you want to improve. It could be your math grade, your ollie to kick-flip ability, how well you can cook a steak, or getting along better with your siblings. The point is to choose something that you will enjoy working on for this project.

S.M.A.R.T. Goal

Regardless of which topic you choose, it must be stated as a SMART goal. This is a method of setting goals that makes it easier to define and meet those goals. The SMART acronym will be explained below with examples.

1. Specific: Your goal must be specific.
   • Example: "I want to improve my 100 meter freestyle time." or "I need to get better at dividing fractions."
   • Non-Example: "I want to swim better." or "I need to learn math."
2. Measureable: Your goal must be measureable in some way. You will need a baseline measurement when you start. You will need a measurement at the end of the project too.
   • Example: "My Fortnite K/D was 0.56 to start. After this project, my K/D was 0.75."
   • Non-Example: "When I started, fractions were hard. Now I think they're easier."
3. Achievable: Your goal must be something you can actually achieve considering the time and resources available.
   • Example: "My goal is to get a 4 or better on my FSA Reading test." or "I want to learn how to cook chicken parmesan without burning it."
   • Non-Example: "I want to win a gold medal in Olympic ice dancing." or "I would like to bench press 350 lbs."
4. Relevant: Choose a goal that is important to you. If the goal is not relevant you won't want to work on it.
5. Time: You must establish a time frame to meet your goal. For this project you have approximately 7 weeks to meet your goal. Choose something you can accomplish in this time.
   • Example: "I would like to improve my sight-reading ability by May 1st, 2018."
   • Non-Example: "I would like to run faster this year."

Complete Example #01: "By May 1st, I would like to improve my current mile time of 6:36 by at least 15 seconds."
Complete Example #02: "I would like to reduce the number of times I fight with my brother from once a day to once a week by June 1st."

Expectations

The expectations for this project are simple:

• You need to spend at least one hour a week working towards your goal.
• You need to keep a Excel spreadsheet log that includes the following:
  1. Date you worked on the goal.
  2. Time you spent working on the goal. [In Minutes]
  3. What you actually did to work on the goal.

Writing the Speech

Using this information you will need to plan and write a speech that should take 60 seconds to present. Usually, five to seven paragraphs is required to discuss all of the required information. When planning and writing your speech please make sure that you:

1. Introduce yourself to the audience.
2. Tell the audience what your topic is.
3. Provide details and support for your topic.
4. Thank the audience at the end.

You are required to have a hard-copy of your speech when you present. You can either print it out OR write it down on index cards.

The PowerPoint

Students will also create a PowerPoint to present along with the speech.

Rule #1 of every 60 Second Speech assignment is DO NOT READ DIRECTLY FROM THE POWERPOINT.

The PowerPoint is meant to be a visual aid for the speech, not the focus of the presentation. Your PowerPoint should include the following slides:

1. TITLE SLIDE with NAME, TOPIC.
2. One slide that explains why you chose your topic.
3. One slide that explains what you did to practice/improve.
4. One slide that explains your final results.
5. CONCLUSION SLIDE

Pro-Tips for Great Slides

• Bullet points are usually better than sentences.
• No more than three or four bullet points per slide.
• Use a LARGE font so the audience can read it.
• Make sure the BACKGROUND and FONT COLOR contrast. (e.g. dark background with light font OR light background with dark font)
• No more than one or two pictures per slide.
• Keep sound effects and crazy transitions/animations to a minimum.

Speech and PowerPoint Rubric

New rubric will be posted soon.

Presentation Dates

• Presentations will begin the week of May 03, 2021.
• A specific presentation order will be determined in class. Students will know at least one week before their scheduled presentation date.
• Students that are absent on their scheduled day will need to make-up their presentation during the next class period.

[Educational Exploration] YouTube Play List

I have created videos up through version 1.0.0 for this project. Additional videos coming soon. Please use these videos to catch up any parts of the project you may have missed.

Click here for the YouTube Play List.

[Educational Game] Next Steps

[Digital Art] Photoshop Battle #01: Face Swap!

Info.

Face swaps are a popular use of digital graphics software. For this assignment, you will use Paint.net to create a face swap. STUDENTS CANNOT USE PHONE/TABLET APPS OR WEBSITES TO COMPLETE THIS PROJECT.

Content Rubric

1. First Name, Last Initial ONLY in bottom right corner. [10 Points]
2. Demonstrates time and effort to create a high quality face swap image. [30 Points]

Process Rubric

1. File Name: lastname_firstname_photoshop_battle01 [10 Points]
2. File Format: Portable Network Graphics (.png) [10 Points]
3. Original images + student image submitted in .zip file (compressed folder) [20 Points]
• .zip file must use lastname_firstname_photoshop_battle05 as file name.
4. Submitted to Focus by 01/22/21 at 11:59PM. [25 Points]

Pro-Tips

1. The "Feather Object" plug-in will help.
2. The Smudge Tool will help.
3. Adjust Hue/Saturation to get skin tones to match.
4. The more similar the original images in pose, color, etc. the easier your face swap will be.

YouTube Tutorials

Previous Student Top 8 Projects

Example #00 Example #01 Example #02 Example #03

[Rubric] My Educational Game Version Number Milestones

Description

The following version numbers indicates what should be completed for each milestone of the development process.

As you are working on your code, update the .x part of the number until you finish a section completely. For example, if you are working on the main_menu() function you might save your code as 0.6.1 or 0.6.25 for example. The .x part of the number does not matter AS LONG AS YOU ARE UPDATING IT EACH TIME YOU SUBMIT TO GITHUB.

Milestones

• Version 0.0.x: Program description completed. Due December 04, 2020.
• Version 0.1.x: Player variables for starting role, money, score bonus, player name, and at least three party members are DEFINED and INITIALIZED. Due December 04, 2020.
• Version 0.2.x: Inventory variables are DEFINED and INITIALIZED as INTEGERS. Examples include: amounts for food, water, clothes, weapons or defenses, livestock, and transportation. Due December 04, 2020.
• Version 0.3.x: Inventory COST variables are DEFINED and INITIALIZED as INTEGERS. There should be a cost variable for each inventory item. Also create a cost multiplier variable. Due December 04, 2020.
• Version 0.4.x: Disaster variables are DEFINED and INITIALIZED as FLOATS. Examples include: chance of sickness, accident, injury, or getting list. Due December 11, 2020.
• Version 0.5.x: Location variables are DEFINED and INITIALIZED. You need a starting point, ending point, at least three additional locations, and a variable to record the current location. Due December 11, 2020.
• Version 0.6.x: Defines main_menu() function to print the main menu of the game and allow the player to make chocies from it. Due December 18, 2020.
• Version 0.7.x: Defines disp_info() function to print information about the actual historical expedition as well as provide game play tipes. Due December 18, 2020.
• Version 0.8.x: Defines player_info() function to get player name, party member times, choose role and assign the score bonus and starting money. Due December 18, 2020.
• Version 0.9.x: Defines show_inventory() function to list all items currently in the player inventory. Due January 08, 2021.
• Version 1.0.x: Defines buy_item() function to allow the player to purchase items. Function should display the name of the stored based on current location. Function should modify price based on location. Function should display total cost of items, subtract cost from player balance, and update player inventory values. Function should loop until player chooses to exit. Due January 15, 2021.
• Version 1.1.x: Defines sell_item() function to allow the player to purchase items. Function should display the name of the stored based on current location. Function should modify price based on location. Function should display total cost of items, subtract cost from player balance, and update player inventory values. Function should loop until player chooses to exit. Due January 15, 2021.
• Version 1.2.x: Defines show_map() function. Function displays map image based on current location in game. Due January 22, 2021.
• Version 1.3.x: Defines do_travel() function. This function will determine travel speed, calculate distance traveled, check for disasters, and consume food / water. Due January 22, 2021.
• Additional items coming soon.

[Daily Agenda] Monday, January 11, 2021

Clock-In PIN

No PIN today.

If you miss the clock-in or clock-out it will be marked zero. If your computer is experiencing technical difficulties you must show the teacher BEFORE the clock-in window closes.

Standard

1. 43.0 Code programs.

Benchmarks

Topic

Maps

Essential Questions

1. What will you do today to be better than you were yesterday?

Mise En Place [~3-5 Minutes]

Every day you should:

1. Clock-In on Focus.
2. Login to DCPS OneView.
3. Open Microsoft Teams for this class.
4. Open the Standards spreadsheet.
5. Read your DCPS e-mail.
6. Follow any additional instructions from the teacher.

Instruction [~15-20 Minutes]

Students will begin working on their map graphics.

Work [~45-60 Minutes]

Complete the Student Self-Evaluation Survey for the 2nd quarter.

Students need to spend 30-45 minutes working on their map graphics.

Break Down [~5 Minutes]

Before you leave please do the following::

1. BACKUP your data in at least two locations.
2. RESTART the computer.
3. TURN OFF the monitor.
4. COLLECT your materials.
5. WAIT quietly to be dismissed.
6. PUSH in your chair when you leave.
7. THROW away any trash in the trashcan as you leave.

Homework

Finish any class work not completed during the period.

Read for fun, at least 20 minutes.

[Daily Agenda] Tuesday, January 05, 2021

Clock-In PIN

11001010

If you miss the clock-in or clock-out it will be marked zero. If your computer is experiencing technical difficulties you must show the teacher BEFORE the clock-in window closes.

Standard

1. 43.0 Code programs.

Benchmarks

Topic

Maps

Essential Questions

1. What will you do today to be better than you were yesterday?

Mise En Place [~3-5 Minutes]

Every day you should:

1. Clock-In on Focus.
2. Login to DCPS OneView.
3. Open Microsoft Teams for this class.
4. Open the Standards spreadsheet.
5. Read your DCPS e-mail.
6. Follow any additional instructions from the teacher.

Instruction [~15-20 Minutes]

Students will begin working on their map graphics.

Work [~45-60 Minutes]

Complete the Student Self-Evaluation Survey for the 2nd quarter.

Students need to spend 30-45 minutes working on their map graphics.

Break Down [~5 Minutes]

Before you leave please do the following::

1. BACKUP your data in at least two locations.
2. RESTART the computer.
3. TURN OFF the monitor.
4. COLLECT your materials.
5. WAIT quietly to be dismissed.
6. PUSH in your chair when you leave.
7. THROW away any trash in the trashcan as you leave.

Homework

Finish any class work not completed during the period.

Read for fun, at least 20 minutes.