In one of the courses that I am taking for my Teaching Credential I have been invited to create a 20% project in the spirit of Google and a few other companies. The design of this project is to let us explore something that we are passionate about and give us some accountability to create an authentic artifact that can be shared as a result of this process. The 20% project is something that is being used more and more in education as well as a way to start getting students self-motivated and prepared to be creative problem solvers in the 21st century. For my 20% project I want to make a game. I've used Google Sheets at a few different seminars that I've attended and heard about how it can be used as a |
Some questions:
- What kind of games are possible using Google Sheets? I mean, obviously the graphics ability of the program will be a huge limitation, but I'd like to have something that is more detailed than just text and numbers.
- One huge strength of Google Sheets is the fact that it is possible to share with multiple users. Can I make something that is multiplayer?
- What new formulas will I need to use beyond the simple math, statistics, and if/then commands I already know? A quick search shows that Google has them all available in a master list, but I'll have to do some work in order to figure out how to use them.
- I think that the most important question will be: is this the moment that my fellow teaching candidates are going to figure out what a HUGE nerd I am? Do they already know?
Those are some of the questions that come up off of the top of my head but I'm sure many more questions will come up over the course of this project. Speaking of which, what will the finished project look like. I'm not totally sure, because I really don't know what will be possible but I think my first attempt will be to make some kind of exploration game with zombies (because having terrorists be the bad guys is racist). A few preliminary elements that I want to put into my game include:
- An ability to move around a map that is mostly hidden except the area immediately around the player's avatar.
- A random map generator that creates a new experience each time the game is played.
- Interaction between the player and the game, something like health decreasing from zombie attacks, maybe things to pick up, something that shows that the player of the game is actually able to alter the environment around them.
- It needs to be able to run without me. The way to play should be self-explanatory and there obviously shouldn't be any bugs that make it impossible for a player to finish the game.
Please let me know if you have any ideas or comments on the idea. I'll get a link up once I have something to show off but I doubt I'll have much that is playable for a while.