petermon's Forum Posts

  • 7 posts
  • As did I. If you can get back to me as soon as possible, that would be appreciated. This is Peter by the way.

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  • Hi Justin, I've sent you an email back. Let me know if you want to go ahead and I'll email the CAPX file through as it is right now.

    I've completed, in part, the 'how to play' layer, so don't worry about that (if can just make a button from the in-game menu, and from the main screen/start screen to the 'how to play' layer, that would be great).

    As I said in my email, when making the loading screen, starting screen, high scores table and in-game menu, you can either use the details I've given in my email or you can design them in a way that you feel is best.

    If you can make the button styles consistent with the buttons I've already built that would be good - or if you want to redraw/remake any existing buttons, that'd be good too. I'm just looking for a consistent visual style, that's all. Having said that, if you'd rather keep some buttons as they are, and make your own buttons in your own style, that is 100 percent fine as well. Whatever approach you wanna take, stylistically and in terms of navigation, is totally fine with me.

    I mention the co-authorship stuff in my email: since I'm writing a paper about this, I personally feel that anybody who contributes significantly to a research project or a body of work about which a research paper is written, deserves a co-authorship on a paper. All you have to do is read the paper, which I'll send once it is written, and if you want to make any changes, you can do that too. If you're not interested in having your name on an academic paper or you'd rather not have the paper co-authorship, not a worry in any way either. But I'll talk to you about that later.

    After this project is complete, I'll talk to you about the next game I'd like to develop: the next one will be from scratch and a bit different, but obviously I'll pay you more for that. We can talk about that after this project is complete.

    Thanks again,

    Peter

  • Hi Justin,

    Thanks very much for the rapid reply. Re: Google Analytics - I'm not sure how it works at all. Is there any way, if I have the game accessible on a website, that I'd be able to obtain user data of the type I mentioned in my previous post ? (Like, the average time spent per user, per game, or the total number of users who have accessed the game in a particular period of time, or which levels the users spend most time on, and the other metrics I mentioned in my earlier post).

    If we do this without Google Analytics, by some other method, that is fine too. But the basis of this software tool is for a research project: basically, we want to find out how students use the game, what levels are trickier, what levels are easier, are they willing to use such a tool instead of in-textbook problems, etc. Then we'd write a paper based on that.

    --

    With respect to the University ID, yep, it is just a "enter your name so everyone knows you won" type setup. It will not need to confirm that this is their ID - we could just have a message that says "enter your SOLs username [University ID]" and hopefully this will encourage students to enter that, instead of anything else.

    --

    As for resizing: I've actually not had too many problems with resizing on iPads, but I haven't tested it on iPhones. It will probably be too small for iPhones - if we can get it to display on laptop screens and on iPads, that'd be the best thing.

    My biggest worry is that when we run the game on a larger screen (say, the computers at my University/desktop computers that students might have at home) the elements/sprites will appear strangely or worse yet, will not appear at all. Or will be bunched up. I have not had this problem so far - except when zooming in/out using Google Chrome. That is when things tend to bunch up - but that makes sense.

    Finally, I want to have each layout appear the same size. Right now, the rudimentary high score screen I've got does not appear as the same size as the opening screen.

    PS: I should add, I have developed a 'start screen' graphic/background, but if you can include a loading screen with a certain logo on it (I'll send you the logo image, it will be the UOW - University of Wollongong - logo) and if you can include a starting screen with buttons that basically say "Start game" or "quit game" or "view high scores", and if you can add some very simple sounds (i.e. "play a sound when the student gets a match", "play a different sound when the student selects four squares that do not match", "play a sound when the student finishes a level", "play a sound for each button" and "play a sound when the student opens/closes the menu", - including the ability to turn sounds on and off, I'd pay another $25 for that.)

    I have already drawn up a sound on/sound off sprite, so the only work there would be getting the sounds themselves.

    The thing about this is, I am not a programmer, I'm a researcher, and trying to make these programs is, for me, very strenous. I need to start writing papers for publication, but all my time is going into trying to make the program. It would be really helpful to have someone to finish it off - and in my estimation it is quite close to being finished - while including those features I've mentioned. Particularly the high scores, the data gathering, the menu, and the loading and start screens.

    If you are keen to work on this, definitely let me know here on the boards or email me at . I'll send you the CAPX file - just ignore the messy notes (I make lots of notes to myself).

    Originally I wanted to have an 'easy' mode and a 'hard' mode - but we can talk about maybe including that at a later time. Right now I just want to be able to distribute it to students, obtain data/high scores, and have it generally polished and presentable. It would be helpful, too, if the code was streamlined or if you could see any variables that needed removing and so on, as I mentioned in the first post, because that way I might be able to modify it myself later on if need be.

    Anyway if that sounds fair to you, just email me at (I am a med student at Deakin but a Masters in chemistry at UOW, this is for my Masters in chemistry research). My UOW email is playing up at the moment. I'll email you the CAPX, and then you can let me know how long you think it'll take, all up, and which parts you'd like to work on first, and in what order, etc.

    Thanks alot,

    Peter

  • Hi,

    I am working on a game for chemistry education - the game involves selecting four of sixteen displayed squares. Each square displays either a:

    (i) chemical structure

    (ii) chemical formula

    (iii) chemical name

    (iv) functional group name (e.g. ketone, aldehyde, alcohol, and so on).

    For each functional group (alcohol, ether, ketone, aldehyde, etc) the player needs to match the chemical's structure, with the formula, with the name, with the functional group name. You do not need to know any chemistry to help out with this. I have already built the part of the game that requires chemical knowledge.

    What I DO need, though, is:

    (i) A highscore table that shows the player's current, and past high scores, as well as ALL the other players high scores. (This is intended to be a game that is accessible via the Internet - any site will do, I can host one at any URL if need be and I already have a paid Wordpress account including a Namecheap domain name that I might use to host the game).

    This is an educational game, so players will need to enter their University ID after they have played their first game - the idea is, that this would transfer the player's University ID (or whatever name they type in) to a high score, and the high score table would be visible to all players.

    I tried to include something like this myself but it just did not work, unfortunately.

    On completion of the high score table, with confirmation that it works, I will $25 dollars.

    (ii) I also need Google Analytics integration: we intend to use this game for research, especially to collect user data (so we need to know things like: (a) how long players play the game for (b) how long does it take users to complete the game, on average (c) how long does each player spend, on average, on each level (d) are some levels requiring more time than others? (e) do some players abandon the game without finishing it - if so, what proportion ? Stuff like that would be really helpful.

    (If you can think of a different way to gather data than Google Analytics/a different analytics tool or some other method please just go with that or let me know and we can talk about it).

    Once the Analytics is done I'll pay another $ 25 dollars.

    (iii) When the player presses a 'pause' button, they should be able to access a menu, from which they should be able to either 'quit', 'restart', 'go to the high score table'. They should be able to also 'return to the game' which would effectively be the same as 'unpause'.

    (iv) A 'how to use'/'help' feature on the start menu, basically a button that players click to take them to a new layout (or that shows a new layer) that describes how the game works.

    (v) Very importantly, I need the game to resize properly on the following devices: iPads, iPhones, Android Tablets (e.g. Samsung Galaxy), Android phones (e.g. Samsung Galaxy S4) and computers, either desktop or laptop. The game relies on the display of cards/squares, since it is in effect, a 'match game', and so it really needs to resize properly from one screen to the next.

    It doesn't have to look perfect on ALL screens but if we can get it to look mostly the same on iPad, iPhones, and laptops, that'd be, I think, enough.

    (vi) Finally, I need some overall trimming down/cutting back on my verbose event sheets. I have the tendency to overcomplicate things - right now I probably have too many events for the game to run smoothly. So I just need someone to go through and remove unused global variables, unused instance variables, unused or overly complex code - without damaging the functionality of the game itself.

    --

    For this I am offering $ 80, and I will pay $25 of this on completion of the multiplayer table, and $ 25 dollars on completion of the Google Analytics stuff, and then the remaining $30 dollars for the rest. If you want to do it in a different order that is fine too.

    The quicker you can do this, the more I'll pay - if you can get it done inside of 7 days I'll pay $90.

    If it is completed by this Friday (Oct 2nd, say, midnight AEST (Sydney time)), and uploaded to a website so I can see how it works (and if you guide me as to how I can upload it to a website on or by Friday) than I'll pay $ 100. I'm flexible on this though, i.e. if you get it done 5 minutes after Friday midnight AEST than I will still pay the $100.

    If you think you want to do this, but can't get it done inside of 7 days, please let me know how long it would, realistically, take you, and when you could have this completed by.

    Again, you do not need to know any chemistry to use this game or to complete this work, but if you want to talk to me please send me an email at . I will be checking my email routinely over the next 24 hours. I am located in Australia so organising a Skype call may be difficult but I am willing to try or we can communicate via email. You can also post a response here, which I will check routinely over the next 24 hours as well.

    Once we've worked out a deal, I'll send you the CAPX that I've been working on, and you'll see what I've got so far.

    ---

    I also have a number of future games that I need developed that I would be willing to pay higher prices (between 200 and 250 dollars, potentially). So if you can do a good job on this, I can guarantee you, there will be more work to come, and very soon (within 2 weeks or less).

    Warmest regards,

    Peter

  • Hi LittleStain, thanks for the response and the CapX. Basically I've completed the visual select/deselect stuff.

    The problem I'm having now, is how to actually remove/destroy all the selected cards when they match (i.e. when the instance variable FG = x for the first, second, third and fourth cards, where x = either 1, 2, 3 or 4...if one or more cards has a different FG value to the others, then there's no match).

    So like I was saying in the last post, I started with:

    (Note: FG is the instance variable on every card/Square that defines the category, it can be either 1, 2, 3 or 4, and 'isSelected' is the instance variable on every card/Square that describes if the card is selected or not. If the card is selected, then isSelected = 1, else 0).

    localvar = IncreasingVarForArrayIndex = -1

    The sprite for the squares/cards is called 'Square1'

    The first group is 'On 4 cards selected'

    gCardsPicked => 4

    ..For Each sprite Square1

    ..Square1 'isSelected'=1

    ---> Add 1 to IncreasingVarForArrayIndex

    ---> Set at X for the array 'aSelectedSquares' (set value at 'IncreasingVarForArrayIndex' to Square1.FG)

    ..Trigger once

    ---> Add 1 to 'Turns'

    ---> Stop loop

    Next group: 'Remove Matches'

    On array 'aSelectedSquares', for Each X Element

    ..Current value in array 'aSelectedSquares' = aSelectedSquares.At((aSelectedSquares.CurX)+1)

    After all the FG values are set into the 'SelectedSquares' array (4 values total), then each value in the array should check against the value 1 higher than itself.

    eg. lets say I select cards with FG = 1, for each card. The X value at the array index 0, will = 1. The X value at the array index 1 will equal 1, the X value at the array index 2 will equal 1, and the X value at the array index 3 will equal 1.

    So during the For Each X Element, the loop will compare the Current Value, to the value stored in the next array element. If all four values in the array are equal, then the cards should be destroyed.

    The problem is, the last array value. So when the X element in the For Each X Element in the array = 3, then the value in the array will be either 1, 2, 3, or 4...but, if I use the compare Current Value = array.At(array.CurX)+1), then I think this will check for the value in a non-existent 4th array element, since (array.CurX=3) so array.At((3)+1)) = array.At(4)

    Should I use two different conditions here ? How can I make the game/system check if all the values in an array are equal ?

    Thanks for any help. I apologise again for my long and overly complicated way of doing things, I am trying to be more logical and concise but it is difficult. Thanks again.

  • So I have advanced this a bit, I'm quite happy:

    I used the following:

    On the condition that 'Number of Squares Selected' = 4 (i.e. when four squares are selected by the player), no action but a subevent, and a local variable 'IncreasingVarForArrayIndex' with initial value = -1

    The conditions of the subevent:

    For each 'Square'

    Square instance variable 'isSelected' = 1

    The actions of the subevent:

    Add 1 to local variable 'IncreasingVarForArrayIndex'

    (and for a new 1D array of slots (4,0) called 'aSelectedFrames': Set value at 'IncreasingVarForArrayIndex' to Square.FG)

    When the Square is selected by the user, the instance variable 'isSelected' changes from 0 to 1. So, the user selects 4 cards, and then the array receives the number for each 'category' (in a deck of cards, the categories would be the suits: each card would have an instance variable 'Suit', which for Clubs cards would = 1, for Diamonds = 2, for Jacks = 3, and for Hearts = 4).

    (In reality, I'm using chemistry categories, and the four categories are just 4 different functional groups - they can be any functional groups, the first level uses alkanes (instance variable 'FG' = 1), alkenes (FG=2) alkynes (FG=3) and cycloalkyls (FG=4).

    So now I've got the FG instance variable of all four selected cards, into the array. From here, I can easily (I think), have the system evaluate whether each of the four FG values in the array are the same. So if the Squares selected are all from the same category, then FG of each card = x (where x = 1, 2, 3 or 4), then this means the Squares are matches.

    To avoid the select/deselect problem, I only want to evaluate the FG instance variable of each card/Square, once the student has selected FOUR cards. (So, when they select the first or the second or the third card, I don't want anything to happen, because I think it is simpler just to evaluate the cards once four are picked, this way there is no 'first' or 'second' or 'third' card, there are just four cards and each can be checked at the one time).

    When I run the game, I select four cards, the four cards' FG values are placed in the array, no worries there.

    So the next task, is to have the computer evaluate the FG value in each array slot to see if they are all the same ! If this works, then I will have the computer destroy those cards and so there'll be only 12 cards left, then 8, then 4 ! So this is really good. Writing it out really helps me think actually.

    Hopefully I'll solve this - I think I'm nearly there.

  • Hi,

    I'm trying to make an educational game. It is for teaching chemistry, but you definitely don't need to know chemistry to know how the game works, or to help answer this question. Instead of explaining how the game works using chemistry, I've used an analogy that describes the game without any real change in the mechanics - that is, an analogy using a normal deck of cards. (If you do want to know about the chemistry, I've explained the game that way at the end of this post, it is first-year organic chemistry/intro organic chemistry, the idea being to familiarise students with different representations of chemical compounds).

    (I've highlighted 'the problem' in black so if you want to only read that, jump down to it). If anyone needs any further explanation about anything, let me know and I'll be happy to do that.

    The game

    Imagine there are 16 cards are depicted, face up. All cards are the same size. (In my game I call the cards 'Squares'). They are randomly selected so that we have 4 cards from each suit (so four cards, any four, of the 'Hearts' suit, four of the 'Diamonds' suit, four from the 'Clubs' suit and four from the 'Jacks' suit). Every card is unique (we don't have two Ace of Diamonds, but we might have an Ace of Diamonds and an Ace of Clubs). We don't see every card from every suit.

    I've only used 1 Sprite object (called 'Square') to depict the different cards - each animation cell has a different card 'frame': the first 4 animation cells (animation frame=0 through animation frame=3) are of the same 'category'/suit. The next four animation frames are of the same category/suit, and so on.

    The players job would be to click/touch the cards that belong to each suit - for instance, a player might select the 4 of Clubs, the Ace of Clubs, the 9 of Clubs and the Queen of Clubs. When this happens, they get a 'match'. The four cards they selected disappear, and now there are only 12 cards left, each belonging to one of 3 suits (Diamonds, Hearts or Jacks).

    I spent hours and hours trying to figure out how to have a 'select'/'deselect' graphic. Finally, I figured it out, and it was far more simple than I'd thought (I've described how I did it at the end of this post since I don't want to clutter it up, I am long winded and I don't want to drone on too much). Basically, when the student taps or clicks a Square, it highlights blue. This means it has been Selected. When they tap the selected Square again, it returns to the normal colour, meaning it has been de-selected.

    Now, when a student has selected four Squares, the game checks if all four Squares belong to the same 'category'/'suit'. If YES, then the Squares are destroyed, as I mentioned before. If NO, the Squares are all unselected, and the player must try again, and this goes on until all the Squares are gone.

    The problem:

    I cannot figure out how I should 'store' the Squares information, so that when 4 cards are selected, the computer calculates/compares them, to check if they belong to the same category.

    Previously, I had abandoned the idea of 'deselection' so a student could only SELECT cards, and could not change their mind until four cards had been selected.

    But now, when a student selects a card, I want them to be able to change their mind and deselect the card, then select a new card. Previously, with no 'deselect' capability, I was just using a set of four global variables, e.g. 'FirstSelection', '2ndSelection', '3rdSelection' and '4thSelection'. Each time a player selected a card, the animation frame would be stored in the corresponding global variable (so if they were choosing their first card, the animation frame number would be stored in 'FirstSelection', and so on, until 4 cards were chosen, at which time the four variables would be added up, or shunted into an expression, and if the expression equalled a certain number, the student would get a match, and the Squares would disappear).

    But now, if the student selects a Square, e.g. they choose a 9 of Diamonds for their first selection, but then they want to change it to a 9 of Clubs (and lets say the 9 of Diamonds is drawn in animation frame 0, for the sprite 'Square', and the 9 of Clubs is drawn in animation frame 4 of the same sprite).

    Using the code I've got now, the game would set the 'FirstSelection' variable to 0 (corresponding to the student's first choice).

    But since they have changed their mind and deselected the 9 of Diamonds, and now selected the 9 of Clubs, the variable 'FirstSelection' has to change as well.

    But I don't know how to code this. I'm completely baffled by this actually. I am only thinking vaguely, like, a condition 'when 1 card is selected, add the number of the AnimationFrame of the Square that is selected, to the global variable 'FirstSelection' - but if this card is DESELECTED, then the variable should be reset (to -1, say), and then if another card is chosen in its place, the Animation Frame value of that card should be added to the 'FirstSelection' variable.

    And the thing is, maybe the student selects 3 Squares/cards, and then looks at the 3 Squares, and sees that the SECOND and THIRD selections are okay, but the FIRST selection is wrong. So the student deselects the Square, and selects another one. So, at any time, the student should be able to replace any selection (until 4 cards are selected, at which point the game will evaluate to see if they are all of the same category).

    I hope this is not too confusing. I will upload the CapX file for the game if anyone wants it, but I have to warn you that it is a bit messy and hard to navigate. I based the game structure on a Card Matching game I found somewhere here (it is in a tutorial actually) where a Deck of cards is shuffled and random cards are laid out on a screen face down, and the player selects 2 of these cards, which must be the same value cards but from different suits (e.g. the 9 of Diamonds, the 9 of Clubs). I think that is how it worked. I laid my game over that framework, removing the concept of 'facedown', since I want the students to see all the Squares/cards at all times. From there, I just customised the game so it works for 4 cards, and have added in chemical structures/formulae as the animations.

    Any help at all, I would greatly appreciate. I am getting desperate actually ! It is a weird mode of thought, making this game, and it is unfamiliar to me. I spend hours trying to determine the best way and I often think of very complicated ways, but it nearly always turns out that simplest is best. However, I don't have a very fluid mind, I think my brain is good at retaining facts, but less so at logical explanations (or concise ones).

    Thanks in advance,

    All the best,

    Pete

    The organic chemistry/the actual game

    The cards analogy is quite fitting for the game. Instead of Clubs/Hearts/Diamonds/Jacks, I am using different categories, based on functional groups. The first level, the easiest, has alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and cycloalkyl compounds. For the alkanes functional group, they will see a square with the name of an alkane (e.g. ethane), a square with ethane's chemical structure (the skeletal structure for ethane), a square with ethane's molecular formula (the lowest whole number ratio of carbon and hydrogen atoms in the compound, so for ethane that would be C2H6, and finally, a square with 'alkanes' written on it (i.e. the functional group type/classification).

    Again if you need or want or would like any more info, or anything else, please let me know, I'll only be too happy to provide it. Thanks again.

  • 7 posts