In the reading I have done this week I got together a couple of interesting papers on video games impact on speech and language development. Obviously papers like these focus mainly on people who have difficulty with speech and language development. I learned in my reading that dyslexia has some impact on somewhere around 10% of the population.
Dyslexia is a severely invalidating learning disability that affects literacy acquisition despite normal intelligence and adequate instruction.
Dyslexia is the main ailment that is focused on in quite a few of the papers I've looked at, both the ones I'll be using and the ones I won't be using. This is because dyslexia is a very common condition with a strong impact on the topic of my paper.
The main paper which caught my attention is one about video games aiding children with dyslexia in learning to read better. The paper puts forth that 12 hours of action video games had a positive effect on the reading comprehension skills and the reading speed which was measured in syllables per second. It also posits that this is because the high pace and reactions needed to play action video games translated into an attention span improvement which impacted reading abilities. More reading in the future will hopefully yield more interesting things like this.
I was initially intimidated by the scope of this project but as I read more and more I feel that it will be easier than I initially thought. The more I read the more confident I become about this project, I have fallen behind slightly but I will be back on the horse soon.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
reading 4
Reading 4, Week 4
The reading this week was about how to write properly in an academic setting. The aim is to have a hypothesis and a conclusion based on evidence pulled from reliable sources. Nobody is reading to hear an opinion, they want facts backed up by evidence. The way we achieve this is by citing sources whenever relevant info such as a statistic is mentioned.
The first step in a piece of academic writing is to state a conclusion in the opening paragraph so people know what the piece is about. next we support our argument with a variety of evidence that has been gathered.avoid quoting word for word as that doesn't show you've understood what you're citing and there's no point reading my paper if all I do is talk about other papers.
Next you must provide detail, you want there to be a very clear conclusion reached in the paper. Achieve this by quoting other papers and paraphrasing what others have said on the topic at hand. Summarizing things in a short sentence or two is helpful with this.
Don't be repetitive. No matter how interesting the topic at hand is, it will be boring if every sentence is 10 words or if you only quote people or only quote the same people etc. Avoid repeating yourself.
A good way to strengthen an argument is to summarize other papers/paragraphs from papers in a couple sentences. This shows why you have reached your conclusion and citing your sources is a very valuable tool in writing a good academic piece of writing.
The reading this week was about how to write properly in an academic setting. The aim is to have a hypothesis and a conclusion based on evidence pulled from reliable sources. Nobody is reading to hear an opinion, they want facts backed up by evidence. The way we achieve this is by citing sources whenever relevant info such as a statistic is mentioned.
The first step in a piece of academic writing is to state a conclusion in the opening paragraph so people know what the piece is about. next we support our argument with a variety of evidence that has been gathered.avoid quoting word for word as that doesn't show you've understood what you're citing and there's no point reading my paper if all I do is talk about other papers.
Next you must provide detail, you want there to be a very clear conclusion reached in the paper. Achieve this by quoting other papers and paraphrasing what others have said on the topic at hand. Summarizing things in a short sentence or two is helpful with this.
Don't be repetitive. No matter how interesting the topic at hand is, it will be boring if every sentence is 10 words or if you only quote people or only quote the same people etc. Avoid repeating yourself.
A good way to strengthen an argument is to summarize other papers/paragraphs from papers in a couple sentences. This shows why you have reached your conclusion and citing your sources is a very valuable tool in writing a good academic piece of writing.
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Learning Challenge
Learning challenge
I low key am a bit of a geography nerd, world capitals to be exact. I know all of europe, a couple random ones, most big countries but the one that's pulled up a blank for me for a while has been the capitals of south america. So I decided to finally try learn them, I'm going to look at the list for a while then do a sporcle quiz and see how I do.
Alright I'm back, there's 12 countries in south america and I was able to learn all but 3 of them. No matter what I did I couldn't get the capital of guyana, suriname or bolivia. My brain just doesn't like those ones for some reason.
When I was 12 I did US states and I still know a couple of them, comes in good at pub quizzes and absolutely nowhere else.
so yeah.
I low key am a bit of a geography nerd, world capitals to be exact. I know all of europe, a couple random ones, most big countries but the one that's pulled up a blank for me for a while has been the capitals of south america. So I decided to finally try learn them, I'm going to look at the list for a while then do a sporcle quiz and see how I do.
Alright I'm back, there's 12 countries in south america and I was able to learn all but 3 of them. No matter what I did I couldn't get the capital of guyana, suriname or bolivia. My brain just doesn't like those ones for some reason.
When I was 12 I did US states and I still know a couple of them, comes in good at pub quizzes and absolutely nowhere else.
so yeah.
Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset
I don't know how personal I'm allowed to go in these blog posts but I've had a couple setbacks that have nothing to do with college recently, also I've been really sick the past couple days so my signature upbeat demeanor may be a little compromised here but oh well.
It's really easy to be positive when everything is going your way which it normally is to some extent but I'm sick as hell right now so it's a little difficult. The thing that triggered me thinking about growth was a reddit post "what would you have missed if you died a year ago" or something like that and I remember thinking I was doing great a year ago but I would have missed so much if I died a year ago. I didn't think the last 12 months would have an awful lot different in store for me but in the last year I feel that I have grown more than I have any other year, I'm almost like a whole new person. So no matter how good or bad you feel like you're doing just know that the next year could take a crazy turn for you. I'm more excited for the future than ever before because I feel like I'm not done growing and changing. Even as I sit here sick as heck I'm excited to feel better soon, I'm excited to get back to training and fighting, learn new things, have new thoughts. It's this attitude towards growth that drives me forward to grow and evolve as time passes by.
"This isn't even reached my final form" - some anime man, I think dragonball, yeah Mr. Dragonball.
I don't know how personal I'm allowed to go in these blog posts but I've had a couple setbacks that have nothing to do with college recently, also I've been really sick the past couple days so my signature upbeat demeanor may be a little compromised here but oh well.
It's really easy to be positive when everything is going your way which it normally is to some extent but I'm sick as hell right now so it's a little difficult. The thing that triggered me thinking about growth was a reddit post "what would you have missed if you died a year ago" or something like that and I remember thinking I was doing great a year ago but I would have missed so much if I died a year ago. I didn't think the last 12 months would have an awful lot different in store for me but in the last year I feel that I have grown more than I have any other year, I'm almost like a whole new person. So no matter how good or bad you feel like you're doing just know that the next year could take a crazy turn for you. I'm more excited for the future than ever before because I feel like I'm not done growing and changing. Even as I sit here sick as heck I'm excited to feel better soon, I'm excited to get back to training and fighting, learn new things, have new thoughts. It's this attitude towards growth that drives me forward to grow and evolve as time passes by.
"This isn't even reached my final form" - some anime man, I think dragonball, yeah Mr. Dragonball.
Prototype Beta
My Prototype
My prototype is having a couple creative issues, I've been able to get the basics of my game, I have a small area the player can walk around in and it kind of looks the part, it's dark and all that good horror stuff but therein lies the problem, I am not entirely sure where to go from here. I do not know if I should just have a horror corridor, a series of rooms or something else, the only issues are how to not make my game boring. We researched the different types of fun in the past and I just do not know where exactly it is that my horror game fits into the puzzle. I don't have an awful lot to report on to be honest other than that I will try out a couple different ideas I have and will report back in a future blog post to let you know what worked, what didn't and how it is that I will proceed in the future.
My prototype is having a couple creative issues, I've been able to get the basics of my game, I have a small area the player can walk around in and it kind of looks the part, it's dark and all that good horror stuff but therein lies the problem, I am not entirely sure where to go from here. I do not know if I should just have a horror corridor, a series of rooms or something else, the only issues are how to not make my game boring. We researched the different types of fun in the past and I just do not know where exactly it is that my horror game fits into the puzzle. I don't have an awful lot to report on to be honest other than that I will try out a couple different ideas I have and will report back in a future blog post to let you know what worked, what didn't and how it is that I will proceed in the future.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
unity free tutorials
Tutorial
The tutorial that took up all my time this week was the creation of a rolling ball game. The game had a couple hurdles, I had an issue with the landscape not working as intended and the ball wouldn't spawn on it but I went back and copied the tutorial instead of trying to use what I already knew and it worked out properly. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am still learning unity and haven't mastered everything yet. Other than that I just followed along in the tutorial and everything seemed to work out, a few small hiccups along the way but they were just from not following the tutorial properly. The main issue is normally simple stuff that can take a while to change because unity can be a bit finicky sometimes. The solution is normally something I overlook and in the beginning of my unity career I spent hours wondering why several problems were happening but it was always just a small thing like a camera facing the wrong way or I wasn't clicking the right thing. This still happens but it's something I am getting better at. I think I can use these lessons to overcome problems when I am making my game and hopefully I won't waste too much time because I don't have an awful lot these days.
The tutorial that took up all my time this week was the creation of a rolling ball game. The game had a couple hurdles, I had an issue with the landscape not working as intended and the ball wouldn't spawn on it but I went back and copied the tutorial instead of trying to use what I already knew and it worked out properly. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am still learning unity and haven't mastered everything yet. Other than that I just followed along in the tutorial and everything seemed to work out, a few small hiccups along the way but they were just from not following the tutorial properly. The main issue is normally simple stuff that can take a while to change because unity can be a bit finicky sometimes. The solution is normally something I overlook and in the beginning of my unity career I spent hours wondering why several problems were happening but it was always just a small thing like a camera facing the wrong way or I wasn't clicking the right thing. This still happens but it's something I am getting better at. I think I can use these lessons to overcome problems when I am making my game and hopefully I won't waste too much time because I don't have an awful lot these days.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Reading
Story in games
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130770/what_every_game_developer_needs_to_.php?page=2
Story is important in games because it is something memorable and gives players a reason to keep playing with a pay off at the end of the game. If a game is fun but has no story then reaching the end will almost be disappointing because it's over but if the story is good then there could be a huge pay off at the end to reward players for finishing the game. Stories in games have the same elements as stories in film and TV. There is typically a protagonist, antagonists, an inciting incident and something for the protagonist to overcome. Not every story follows these but they are outliers.
The character also needs to have a personality, there are plenty of games where the protagonist has no personality and is just a drone the player controls in the world and these are boring, we need to know about what type of person the character is in order to identify with them and follow them along throughout the story. The conflict in the story can be either internal or external, is someone trying to kill the protagonist or are they trying to overcome a personal battle within themselves. Normally the conflict is external, there is someone the protagonist must overcome or something along those lines however internal conflict is a big theme in Hamlet as he tries to overcome his own personal demons to avenge his father. Both work and both can be great.
The artical uses Halo as the story it mentions as an example, not a game known for great story but it shows how core it is to any game. They have you fight along side marines however at one point a marine attacks you and you choose to kill him or not which makes up your character, are you merciful or not?
Games also show and don't tell quite often, Dark Souls is a game in which nothing is told to the player, they must piece together the story themselves by observing the world around them. It is very possible to complete dark souls and not know what is going on because you didn't search for a story yourself.
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130742/into_the_woods_a_practical_guide_.php
Article 2
This article is about the hero's journey and how it plays into the story of a game. If a hero just stays in the same room for an entire story then it'll probably be boring. Changing scenery and setting keeps new things in the story for our hero to engage with so we can learn more about their character, the world and the story.
According to the article a hero typically possesses a couple qualities such as: courage, intelligence, a special talent, a motivation and an obstacle to overcome, to name a few. We can see that any successful story has a protagonist with at least a few of these or the story is based around them not having these, these qualities are integral to story.
The article also mentions villains. What makes a good villain? A good villain is someone that people root against, in the pro wrestling industry they're called a heel. A good hell makes people dislike them by being cocky, arrogant, a coward, deceitful, rude, wins by cheating and dishonorable tactics. This generates heat against them and makes people root against them. These can all be applied to a villain in a story. Look at white goodman from dodgeball for example, Cocky, arrogant, bought the best dodgeball team instead of earning one and mocked the average joes the whole film. A great villain and that was for a comedy, in a serious role someone like that could be more fleshed out and hated.
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130770/what_every_game_developer_needs_to_.php?page=2
Story is important in games because it is something memorable and gives players a reason to keep playing with a pay off at the end of the game. If a game is fun but has no story then reaching the end will almost be disappointing because it's over but if the story is good then there could be a huge pay off at the end to reward players for finishing the game. Stories in games have the same elements as stories in film and TV. There is typically a protagonist, antagonists, an inciting incident and something for the protagonist to overcome. Not every story follows these but they are outliers.
The character also needs to have a personality, there are plenty of games where the protagonist has no personality and is just a drone the player controls in the world and these are boring, we need to know about what type of person the character is in order to identify with them and follow them along throughout the story. The conflict in the story can be either internal or external, is someone trying to kill the protagonist or are they trying to overcome a personal battle within themselves. Normally the conflict is external, there is someone the protagonist must overcome or something along those lines however internal conflict is a big theme in Hamlet as he tries to overcome his own personal demons to avenge his father. Both work and both can be great.
The artical uses Halo as the story it mentions as an example, not a game known for great story but it shows how core it is to any game. They have you fight along side marines however at one point a marine attacks you and you choose to kill him or not which makes up your character, are you merciful or not?
Games also show and don't tell quite often, Dark Souls is a game in which nothing is told to the player, they must piece together the story themselves by observing the world around them. It is very possible to complete dark souls and not know what is going on because you didn't search for a story yourself.
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130742/into_the_woods_a_practical_guide_.php
Article 2
This article is about the hero's journey and how it plays into the story of a game. If a hero just stays in the same room for an entire story then it'll probably be boring. Changing scenery and setting keeps new things in the story for our hero to engage with so we can learn more about their character, the world and the story.
According to the article a hero typically possesses a couple qualities such as: courage, intelligence, a special talent, a motivation and an obstacle to overcome, to name a few. We can see that any successful story has a protagonist with at least a few of these or the story is based around them not having these, these qualities are integral to story.
The article also mentions villains. What makes a good villain? A good villain is someone that people root against, in the pro wrestling industry they're called a heel. A good hell makes people dislike them by being cocky, arrogant, a coward, deceitful, rude, wins by cheating and dishonorable tactics. This generates heat against them and makes people root against them. These can all be applied to a villain in a story. Look at white goodman from dodgeball for example, Cocky, arrogant, bought the best dodgeball team instead of earning one and mocked the average joes the whole film. A great villain and that was for a comedy, in a serious role someone like that could be more fleshed out and hated.
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