Self Initiated Project

Module Evaluation

2010-05-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Problem Solving & Methods of Working:

During this project I came across a number of problems which some I was able to solve but some are still yet to be solved.

The first main problem I had was the actionscript used for the drag and drop function so the user could move the stickers around. The actionscript that was going to be used originally was going to be placed on the layer of each sticker and just changing the instance name. See Blog Post. The problem with this actionscript is that because the stickers are within the sticker book movieclip, the stickers move up and down when the sticker book is opened and closed so I needed to find a way of making the sticker come out of the sticker book movie clip when it is released. I did this by making the sticker, that is dragged from the movieclip, move to -1000000 on the y axis and attaching the same sticker movieclip when the mouse is released so the user can't tell its a different movieclip but this way the stickers don't move when the sticker book does. See Blog Post.

When the sticker book is closed there is a tab with a movieclip on it with text that says 'Sticker Book' inside it. When the user clicks on this, the sticker book opens and then the user can still see the sticker book text but above this they can now see another movieclip with text that says 'Close' inside it so when the user clicks on this is closes the sticker book. I wanted to make it so when the user clicked on the sticker book text it changed to close and when they clicked on close it would change back to sticker book. I tried finding out ways I could do this and I did try a number of different pieces of actionscript but I couldn't get any to work therefore this still has to be solved.

Another problem I had was making the print button work on the postcard page and this is a problem that still has to be solved. I created a movieclip with the text 'Print' inside it and placed it on the postcard page and because I have never created a print button in flash before, I looked for tutorials on the internet and looked in flash books. I found a number of different pieces of actionscript that used the print function but I couldn't get a lot of them to work. I found some actionscript that worked when I placed it on the print button and when I previewed the movie in flash and pressed the print button, it printed the postcard exactly as I wanted it to. The problem is, when I uploaded the game to the internet and previewed the game in the browser, the print button worked as it did print something but it wasn't the postcard like it was when previewing it in flash and instead it just printed out a blue page. I looked on the internet again to try find a way to fix this but failed therefore this is something that needs a bit more time to be able to solve. See Blog Post.

I wanted to make the game so the user could go to the next level after collecting all the stickers, which I managed to achieve, but I also wanted the game to allow the user to go back to a previous level and view what they had collected. I had a real problem with this because everytime I tried to make it work, when it came to testing it, instead of taking the user to the previous level and showing they had answered all the questions and showing all the stickers they had collected in the places that the user put them, it just took the user back to the previous level but with no stickers available so the user had to answer all the questions again. Because I was running out of time at this point, I decided to leave it and maybe go back to it if I had time at the end.

How the Product Works:

This game has been created using flash and works by different pieces of actionscript being placed on objects on different layers within different timelines to tell the movie what to do when the user does a certain thing. To play the game the user basically has to enter the game and click on the questions and answer them correctly in order to unlock a sticker which can then be dragged from the sticker book and onto the island. When all the questions have been answered correctly on all the levels, the user wins a postcard at the end which can then be printed pressing the print button. The print button works because of the actionscript that has been placed onto the print button movieclip.

Testing & Feedback:

I did some user testing but because I was so late in finishing my flash game, I found it difficult to find children aged between 6 and 8 years old to test it. Therefore I asked a few people that were a bit older to see what feedback I got from them. The questions I asked for my user testing were originally aimed at the target audience, children, so the answers I got back from older people might be slightly different because the game will be easier for them to play. The questions I asked were:

1. Did you find it easy to start the game?
2. Did you know how to open and close the sticker book?
3. Did you find the questions easy or hard?
4. Did you know how to move the stickers around on the page?
5. Did you know how to get to the next level?
6. Did you like the background music?
7. At the end of the game did you find it easy to get to your postcard?
8. Did you like the game?
9. Did you think the game was fun?
10. Did you understand how to play the game?
11. Was the writing easy to read?
12. Did you get stuck at any time?
13. What was your favourite bit of the game? Why?
14. How could the game be improved?

From the people I asked they all said they really enjoyed playing the game and they knew how to do certain things on the game such as opening and closing the sticker book, moving to the next level etc. The all commented on the music saying that it was good and appropriate for each level and one person said that the sound effects added atmosphere to the game. The things people liked the most about the game included the sound effects on each level and the fact they received stickers as a reward of getting questions correct. One person also commented on the design saying that the design and the images appeal to the right age group. When asked what could be improved on the game, I received some helpful feedback. Some of the people asked were a bit confused when entering the first level as it took them a while to figure out how to get to the first question. Their suggestion was maybe putting an arrow above question 1 that says 'Click here' or something along those lines. They also said a variety of questions would have been more fun and interesting and also more imagery is needed on the underwater level to indicate that they are underwater.

Although I am disappointed I couldn't get any feedback from the target audience, I am pleased with the feedback I got and I think this feedback would help me to improve my game by making it more understandable and more fun and interesting for the user.

Evaluation & Appraisal:

I am pleased with how my self initiated went and I feel like I have learnt a lot from doing this. Although I learnt a lot from this project, I have found it challenging and I haven't been able to do everything I originally proposed at the start of the project. I was originally going to have a number of different questions for each question number and when the user clicked on the button it would randomly pick and display a question so they could play it more than once without getting the same questions so it makes it more fun. As I started to run out of time, I decided to just have one question for each question number. I also wanted to make it so the postcard at the end would display the islands that the user actually created (showing the stickers in exactly the same place as the user placed them on the screen) and having the option to print the page and also send the postcard to some one they know by entering the person's email address. This is the first time I have used actionscript other than gotoAndPlay() etc, so I did find it quite difficult but I enjoyed learning it and trying different pieces of actionscript until a certain thing worked as I wanted it to.

There are a lot of improvements that I could make to this project. I would like to improve the questions on each level so that there are a number of different questions for each one and they are randomly picked when the user clicks on a question so the user would get a different question everytime they played the game so they wouldn't get bored. Another thing I planned to do but didn't have time to do was making it so the user could go back to the last level. I have only made it so the user can go to the next level and I did try making it so the user could go back to the last level but it displayed the level with none of the questions answered and the user had to unlock all the stickers again. If I had more time I would have research this and tried to find a solution. I think to make the game better and more interesting and fun for the user, some of the objects could have been animated e.g. the clouds moving across the sky, or the sea moving (little waves), and even the eyes moving on the characters I created. Another thing that would have been good to put on the game are control buttons for the music such as play, stop pause. This would have given the user a choice whether they wanted to listen to the music or not where as at the moment they don't have a choice as the music is always on unless they turn the sound off on their computer. From the user testing I have found out other ways to improve the game also. One of these has already been mentioned above and this was to include a variety of questions so the user doesn't get bored. Another way to improve it was to make it more clear where the user has to click to get to the first question. The last thing the users that were testing the game suggested was to use more imagery on the underwater level because they felt that there wasn't enough when entering the game to indicate that they were underwater.

Overall I am pleased with how this project has gone and although there is a lot of room for improvement, a lot has been learnt during this project and I do feel a lot more confident using flash than I did at the start of the project.

Game

2010-05-21T02:30:00.000-07:00

Click here to view game

Adding Music to a Level

2010-05-21T02:24:00.000-07:00

On each of the levels I have added background music which is appropriate for each level. To add music to the level I created a new layer on the main timeline and named it 'sound'. Then I went to File>Import>Import to Library and select the music that I wanted to add. Once it was in my library, I made sure I was on the sound layer and then dragged the sound from the library and dropped it onto the stage. When the user enters a level the music starts automatically and is stopped when the user exits a certain level.

Linking the Levels Together

2010-05-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

So the user could get from the introduction screen to the first level I created a movieclip with the text 'Play' inside it. On this movieclip I then put the following actionscript:

on (release) {
this._y = -10000000
loadMovieNum("beachlevel21.swf", 1);
}

This code means that when the user clicks on the play button, it will move to -10000000 on the y axis so the button can't be clicked during the game and then it loads beach level 21.

Then to get from the first level to the second level I put the following actionscript onto the jungle button:

on (press) {
this._parent.removeMovieClip();
loadMovieNum("junglelevel8.swf", 1);
}
on (release) {
stopAllSounds();
}

this actionscript means the when the button clicks on the jungle level it will remove the current movieclip (the beach level) and load the jungle level and also when the user release their mouse, it stops all the background music.

This is how all the levels and the introduction and postcard pages were linked together.

Postcard Page

2010-05-21T02:08:00.000-07:00

When the user has collected all the stickers by answering all the questions correctly, a button appears that takes the user to the postcard they have won when they click on it. The postcard has an image off each level and shows they have answered all the questions correctly.

On the postcard I also had a print above. It was meant to be so the user could click print to print the postcard they had won so they actually got something out of playing the game. The actionscript I used on the print movieclip was:

on (release) {
print(postcard.swf, "bframe")
}

When testing the movie in flash it printed the postcard with no problem but when it is online, it doesn't print the postcard and instead just prints a blue page.

Introduction Page

2010-05-21T02:01:00.000-07:00

I created an introduction page which included instructions on how to use the game so the user would know what they needed to do once they had started the game and then underneath these instructions is a big play button the user clicks on when they are ready to start the game.

Making the Jungle Level and the Underwater Level

2010-05-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

When it came to making level two and level three, rather than start from scratch and waste time, I saved the beach level (level one) twice naming one jungle and one underwater. Then I just changed the imagery so the images were relevant for each level and changed parts of the actionscript to go with the new objects. I then changed all the questions so they were different to the first level.

Underwater Level - Objects

2010-05-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

Jungle Island - Objects

2010-05-18T03:58:00.001-07:00

Changing how the user can arrange the stickers

2010-05-17T02:13:00.000-07:00

Originally the user couldn't place stickers on top of other stickers and some went on top of others and some went underneath eachother. I have decided to make it so the user can place stickers on top of eachother so on each sticker I put the following actionscript:

this.swapDepths(_root.getNextHighestDepth() )

This means that it swaps places with the object they want to put the sticker on top of making sure that it is the sticker that is always on the top.

The actionscript on each sticker now is:

Closing the sticker book

2010-05-17T02:03:00.001-07:00

I have made it so the sticker book is displayed when the user answers a question correctly so now I want to make it so the sticker book closes once the user has taken the sticker from the sticker book and placed it onto the island. To do this I went to the actionscript layer on the main timeline and underneath the code to open the sticker book I put the following actionscript:

_root.closeStickerBook = function() {
var yStickerTween:Tween = new Tween(_root.stickerBook, "_y", Regular.easeOut, -72, - 330, 1, true);
};

I then went inside the sticker book movieclip and clicked on a sticker and put the following actionscript underneath the on(release) section:

_root.closeStickerBook()

This was placed on all the stickers.

Beach level so far

2010-05-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

Click here to view beach level so far.

Drag and Dropping the Stickers

2010-05-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Next I made it so the user would be able to drag the sticker from the sticker book and drop it onto the island. I did orginally put the following actionscript onto the sticker itself:

on (press) {
startDrag(this);
}
on (release) {
this.stopDrag();
}

The problem with this code is, because the stickers are within the stickerbook movie clip, when the user drops the sticker onto the island it is fine but when the stickerbook is not displayed on the stage, the sticker also moves with the stickerbook movieclip so I need to make it so when the user releases the sticker, it removes the sticker movieclip that is within the stickerbook movie clip and replace it with the same sticker which will be outside of the stickerbook movieclip so when the stickerbook is not displayed, it won't affect the stickers that the user has already placed on the island.

This actionscript is saying that when the user releases the sticker, it is going to attach the movieclip 'starfish' and then where abouts to place the starfish movieclip on the x and y axis and also how big or small to make the movie clip. I have chosen to make the movieclip that is being attached to be slightly bigger than the sticker that is in the stickerbook so it is more fun for the user.

Displaying the sticker book when a question is answered correctly

2010-05-11T01:50:00.000-07:00

Next thing I did was make it so the sticker book automatically appeared on the stage when the user had answered a question correctly.

This actionscript is telling the movieclip to bring the question buttons back onto the stage and also if the answer the user chose is correct then open the sticker book. Then it tells the movie clip to remove the current movieclip which is the question.

Once the user has clicked ok then sticker page is displayed but the next bit of code is needed to make it appear and it is played within the actionscript layer on the main timeline:
stop();
import mx.transitions.Tween;
import mx.transitions.easing.*;
_root.openStickerBook = function() {
var yStickerTween:Tween = new Tween(_root.stickerBook, "_y", Regular.easeOut, -330, -72, 1, true);

};

For each question that is answered correctly a different sticker is unlocked. The question movie clip will need to know which frame to go to in the stickerbook movieclip so I put the following actionscript on frame one within the question movieclip:

The actionscript above shows that if the user answer answers the question correctly, will will go to frame to within the stickerbook movie clip which will then display the unlocked sticker which is the starfish.

Creating the sticker book

2010-05-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

For this I created a new layer on the main timeline and called is 'stickers' and then created a box the same width as the stage, 750px, and a height of 253px. I then converted this into a movie clip and within this movie clip I created seven layers. There was a layer for the background, the starfish sticker, the beach ball sticker, the umbrella sticker, the deck chair sticker and the sun sticker and the seventh layer was to put actionscript on. On this timeline there are six frames. The first frame shows all the stickers but faded so it shows the user that they have to unlock them before they are able to move them from the sticker page onto the island. On the actionscript layer I have put 'stop()' so that the movieclip will stay on frame one until it is told otherwise. Frame two is the same as the first frame except the starfish sticker is not any longer faded as the user has answered the first question correctly so they have unlocked the first sticker. This is the same on every frame unlocking the next sticker each time so for example frame three will unlock the beach ball sticker and frame four will unlock the umbrella sticker until frame six when all the stickers have been unlocked.

Above: Shows frame one with all the stickers faded.

Above: Shows frame four with three unlocked stickers

Above: Shows frame six with all the stickers unlocked

Displaying that the user has correctly answered a question

2010-03-25T03:36:00.001-07:00

Once the user had answered the question, it would tell them if they were either right or wrong. If they were wrong the game would just take them back to the island screen and they could click on a question again, but if they had answered the question correctly there needed to be a way of displaying that a certain question had been answered correctly and this could be done using a tick to cover the question box.

This is the actionscript that is on the question 1 movieclip on frame one and it takes the user to the question screen. To show that they have answered the question correctly, I inserted a keyframe on frame 2 and added a a red tick over the question 1 box. Also, so the user couldn't click on question one again, I deleted the actionscript that was there on frame 1.

So when the user has correctly answered a question, they will be able to tell as it will look like this:

Setting the Correct Answer

2010-03-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

The next thing I did was set a correct answer for the question so when the user selects their answer and then clicks next, it tells them whether they have got the question wrong or right.

Next I put the following actionscript onto the tick box movieclips that were next to the incorrect answers.

The tick box movie clip next to the correct answer had the same as the above plus a bit extra at the end.
The next bit of actionscript is on the 'ok' movieclip.

The next bit of actionscript tells the movieclip what text to display if the user is correct and if the user is incorrect.

Making the Answers clickable

2010-03-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

The next thing I needed to do was to make the possible answers to the question clickable and making it so the user can see that a certain answer has been selected. I created a circle and converted that to a movie clip and named it tick box and put this movie clip at the side of each answer. Inside each movie clip I put the the following actionscript on frame one so the movie would stop on that frame.

I put this actionscript on the second frame also on layer 2. On layer one in the first frame, the tick box is white and on layer one in the second frame the tick box turns to red (below).

Frame 1 - white tick box (above)
Frame 2 - red tick box (below)

Beach Questions

2010-03-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

I have now made the question numbers into movie clips and when the user clicks on the first question, it takes them to the screen below (this is just an example question and will be changed later on) :

The actionscript I put on the first question number is shown below:

The on(press){ section is telling it to do the following if the user clicks onto the movie clip.

_root.attachMovie("question", "question", _root.getNextHighestDepth() ) section is telling it to attach the movie clip on press and then the user will see the screen that is displayed above.

_root.question._x = 50 _root.question._y = 20 this section is telling it where to place the questions movieclip on the screen.

_root.questionButtons._y= 600 } this section is telling it to move the questionButtons movieclip off the stage when the user clicks on the 1st question. This is so the user can't accidentally click on another question when they are already viewing a question.

Drag and Drop

2010-03-10T01:51:00.000-08:00

The next thing I wanted to do was to make it so the user could pick up the objects and move them around, The first thing I did was give all the objects an instance name and put each object on its own layer. The I put the following actionscript on to each layer changing the instance name to match each object.

beachball.onPress = function(){
startDrag(this)
}

beachball.onRelease = function(){
this.stopDrag();
}

The part I changed was the 'beachball.' part so for example, to be able to let the user drag and drop the starfish, the actionscript was be added to the starfish layer and would look like this:

starfish.onPress = function(){
startDrag(this)
}

starfish.onRelease = function(){
this.stopDrag();
}

Beach Level - After

2010-02-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

This is what the beach level will look like when the user has collected all the stickers by answering all the questions correctly.

Beach Level - Before

2010-02-28T09:19:00.001-08:00

This is how the beach level will look when the user goes onto it and they have to answer questions to unlock the stickers which they they place onto the beach.

Beach Level - Objects

2010-02-25T02:53:00.000-08:00

I have now started to create the objects that will be on the beach level using flash.

Unlocking Items

2010-02-24T02:54:00.001-08:00

I have decided I am going to change the way the game works when the user has correctly answered a question. Originally, once the user had answered a question correctly, an item on the beach became available instead of it being faded out with a red cross over it and they could move the item around the island. I am changing it slightly so that on the island screen there is a sticker book icon and when the user clicks on this, it displays a screen which looks like a sticker book and also the items that are available to unlock on that level but they will be greyed out. The sticker page will not take up all the screen, it will leave the left side of the screen so the user can still see the edge of the island. Once they have answered a question correctly, an item becomes available and they then have to drag the item from the sticker page and onto the island. I have decided to do this so it is more fun for the user because there is more interaction but it also gives the user a clearer idea of what they have to do in the game.

Above: The sticker page with the greyed out stickers that are available and also the edge of the island. On the edge of the island you can see the dotted outline of the starfish. This shows the user that this is where the starfish sticker goes once they have unlocked it.

Postcard Storyboards

2010-02-18T03:33:00.000-08:00

When the user reaches the stage where they can send a postcard via email, this is the first screen that is displayed. Down the side it has a picture of each island and then it asks the user their name which they type in the box below and then click 'OK'.The next screen that is displayed is the front of the postcard and the image on it depends on what stamps the user has collected. If the user has only collected one stamp, an image of the level they earned the stamp on will be displayed. At the top of the image there will also be the name of the game and at the bottom of the image there will be the user's name.If the user collected two stamps, there will be two images on the postcard, one of each island they collected the stamps. In the top right corner there will be the name of the game and a island image. In the bottom left corner there will be the user's name.If the user collected all the stamps, there will be an image of all of the three levels. Like the other two screens, this screen will display the name of the game which will be at the top of the postcard and also the user's name which will be the bottom of the postcard.When the user has seen the front of the postcard, it is then flipped over so they can view the back. On the right side of the postcard there will be the stamps that the user has collected in the game so there could be one, two or three stamps displayed depending how well the user has done. Underneath the stams there will be the user's name to tell the recipient who the card is from. On the left side of the postcard is where the user can write their own message to the person who they are sending the card to. Once the user is happy with their message, they then click the send button and the bottom of the screen.

Changes to Storyboards

2010-02-18T01:43:00.000-08:00

I have changed two things on the first screen that is displayed on every level. The first thing that has been changed is the icon where the items are placed. There was originally a padlock in the place where an item would be and it would disappear and the the item would appear once it had been unlocked but I thought that some children would not understand the padlock idea so I decided to have a faint image of the item with a cross on top of it so when the user unlocks an item, the cross would disappear and the item would appear.

The second thing that has been changed is the icons for the other levels. They were originally just images of something on that island e.g. trees for the jungle, a jellyfish for the underwater one, and they were just floating there so the user might have got confused therefore I have created an island with trees on for the jungle and for the underwater one I have drawn an island with a water level and then drawn jellyfish under that water level.

Storyboards:

2010-02-12T05:48:00.000-08:00

Website:

The user will enter the website and the interactive game will be on the home page and there will be a large play button on the game and the user will click this to start the game. The website will just be a holding place for the game.

When the user starts the game, there will be an instructions screen. Because of the age range the game is aimed at, the instructions will have to be quite simple but effective. There will be a ‘Start Game’ button on this page and it when the user clicks on it they will be taken to the first level in the game.

Screen 1:

The first level is on the Beach. The only objects on the island are palm trees but there are padlocks where the sun, a beach ball, a starfish, a beach chair, and a beach brolly should be and in order for them to appear, the user has to correctly answer 5 questions. At the bottom of the page there is a question section where there are five individual squares with numbers 1-5 in them. To answer the first question they will click on the number 1 square. It will then take the user to screen two. Screen two displays a box that contains a question for them to answer and will be multiple choice. Each question number (1-5) will have 3 different questions and one will be randomly picked to ask the user. This is so the user doesn’t get the same question if they play more than once. Once they have answered the question there will be one of two screens displayed. If the user correctly answers the question the game will take the user to screen four where the sun will appear. If the user does not answer the question correctly, screen three will be displayed and will give them the option of trying again or going back to the beach, but the user will not have unlocked the sun. They can then choose to answer any of the other questions and if they answer any questions correctly and unlock items, they can move the items around on the island. If they manage to answer all the questions to unlock all the items, they will receive a Beach stamp (screen 5). There will also be icons on either side of the island, one of a jungle-maybe a monkey and one of underwater- maybe a jellyfish. These icons also have to be unlocked. The jungle icon can be unlocked by the user correctly answering one question. The underwater icon will be unlocked when the user has correctly answered a question in the jungle level. When they have unlocked the jungle icon and they click on it, it will take them to screen six.

Screen 2:

Screen 3:

Screen 4:

Screen 5:
Screen 6:

When the user first enters the jungle, there are only a few trees and some grass displayed. Again there are five items to unlock and these are a bush, a snake, a monkey, a frog and a bird. The user plays this level exactly the same as the beach level and it also has two icons, one either side of the island, one which will be of something on the beach such as a beach ball and the other will be of something underwater such as a jellyfish. So they next click on a question number and then it takes them to screen seven where the question is displayed and gives the user a multiple choice for the answers. If they answer the question incorrectly the game will take them to screen eight. If they answer the question correctly, they will be taken to screen nine. If all the questions are answered correctly they will be taken to screen ten where they are rewarded with a jungle stamp.

Screen 7:

Screen 8:

Screen 9:

Screen 10:

Screen 11:

Screen 12:

Screen 13:

Screen 14:

Screen 15:

Screen 16:

After the user has attempted all three levels, a postcard button displays at the top of the screen (screen fifteen) and when they click it, it takes them to screen sixteen. Screen sixteen is the front of the postcard and depending on what stamps the user has collected, determines what images are on their postcard. There will also be an arrow on the top of the page and if the user clicks it, the postcard will flip to and display screen seventeen which is the back of the postcard. On this screen the user will be able to write a message.

More Visual Designs

2010-02-09T15:30:00.000-08:00

I have created a storyboard for my interactive game using sketches to show what screens would be displayed when the user plays it:

I was originally going to have a town scene on the island but I thought that it would be more interesting and fun do do something underwater so I have changed the town scene to an underwater scene.

Development Schedule

2010-02-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

I have created a design schedule for this project so I know what I want to have done by the end of each week.

Week 1: Design sketches and mockups
Week 2: Create the beach scene
Week 3: Create the jungle scene
Week 4: Create the town scene
Week 5: Create the quiz boxes for each scene
Week 6: Create the questions and answers for the quiz
Week 7: Create other artwork such as the stamps
Week 8: Animate objects in each of the scenes
Weeks 9: Transitions for scene to scene
Week 10: Transitions for scene to scene
Week 11: User Testing
Week 12: Create a simple website with the flash game on it

Visual Design: Design Sketches

2010-02-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

Above: Sketch of the beach scene on the island

Above: A sketch of the question box on the beach scene

User Experience: Competitor Analysis

2010-02-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to have a look at existing flash games that are educational and aimed at young children. The first one I looked at was 'kidspsych' (http://www.kidspsych.org/index1.htm)

Above: This is the first screen on the flash game. You get a choice of age groups and also information for parents.

Above: When I clicked the age group 6 to 9, the following games were displayed.

Above: An example of a flash game on the site along with instructions on how to play.

Above: This is the 'about this game' section and it tells parents what the game is testing for.

I don't think the first two screens we saw were visually attractive so this might put the parent off letting their child play the games on that site because they might think that the games will not be good as the website is not very good. I thought the pages with the game and game information on were a bit better but overall I thought it was very poor.

The second one I looked at was 'funschool' (http://funschool.kaboose.com/index.html)

Above: This is the websites home page

Above: This screen is what is displayed when the user clicks on a game and it is showing the user how to play the selected game.

Above: This is a screenshot of one of the flash games on the website

I looked at this website and I really like it although it isn't exactly what I am going to be creating but the games on it have been made using Flash. Overall it looks fun and there is a choice of different games on there which are educational.

Other flash games I had a look at include:

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/index.html

http://www.paulysplayhouse.com/paulys_playhouse/game_page/game.html

I think that some of the games I have looked at are quite good but I have noticed that, because they are educational games, they are all about maths, english, science or exercising different parts of the brain and that is all the game is about, they do not have anything to collect or unlock which make games much more fun for the kids to play. I now know that what I am going to create is different from most of the existing children's Flash games.

User Experience: Audience

2010-02-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

The intended audience for my flash application is young children because they are people who are learning simple things and will be interested in answering questions to collect things.

It is important that the game is interesting and fun otherwise they will lose interest and that is why I have chosen to create it so they have to collect items and unlock levels as this gives them something to play for. It will also be fun as they can explore the island and go back to different parts of the island.

Children like playing games because they think they are fun and they like to think that they are in control. I also found out that games release tension and relieve boredom. (http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_effect.shtml).

I wanted to create an educational game that was fun because from research I have found out that games can be like teachers as children find them highly motivating because of their interactive nature, they provide repeated practice and they reward users for skillful game play. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/).

Goals

2010-02-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

1) Design and build an interactive flash game

2) Research what the target audience's needs are and also existing flash games aimed at the same audience

3) To take my designs and create my flash game

4) Do user testing by asking my target audience to test my game and give me feedback

Abstract

2010-02-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

For my self initiated project I am going to create an interactive game using Flash where the user will have to answer questions, collect stamps and unlock levels. The outcome of this will be the user being able to send a postcard to someone they know through email once they have collected all the stamps in the game.

Brainstorm

2010-02-03T13:28:00.000-08:00