The other day, I was watching a nostalgia clip on YouTube from a movie called "War Games." It came out in 1983 (I was working at a Canadian university at the time) and I recall how realistic the computer graphics were. In '83, I was even using a computer much like the one shown in the movie!
This got me thinking about what I posted in my last blog where I gave a shout-out about a day-long conference on the gamification of the classroom (Games Students Play). One takeaway I got from the conference was that the THEORY of game-play really hasn't changed much but the delivery of the games has.
Yes, we still have board games, card games and so on, but computer games - well, have you ever played a VR (Virtual Reality) game? It is literally a different world!!
Let me give you an example of what I mean.
Recently, my son and a friend of his created a computer game that they call "Backyard Brawl." The premise is that you, and a group of friends, are playing a neighborhood-wide game of laser tag. It uses quality 3D graphics and real-world physics. It is quite exceptional when you think that he and his friend are only 13 year old!!
Recently, my son and a friend of his created a computer game that they call "Backyard Brawl." The premise is that you, and a group of friends, are playing a neighborhood-wide game of laser tag. It uses quality 3D graphics and real-world physics. It is quite exceptional when you think that he and his friend are only 13 year old!!
In order to pull this project off, they had to go through all of the planning stages of game creation. You know, stuff like: select the genre, create a story-line, how to engage players, layout the game, ...and so on.
Then they had to code it! My son did most of the coding over a 3 month period. What really got me as a parent was that he did it in his spare time, keeping up with his homework and other obligations!
The finished project? Well, that's the great part... it's not finished yet!!
They just released the first "early release" version to get feedback from other game players. There is a lot that needs polish and upgrade, but when you stop and think that this was created by two middle-school students, it is pretty awe-inspiring.
Here is an early release video of the game in demo mode:
The game uses real-world physics (at least for the most part!!) and has some great animation.
If you would like to download the program and give it a try (remember that this is a multi-player game, so you have to have a few computers on the same LAN to play) here is a link to the STEAM Store to download it.
What do you think? Does this kind of computer game play improve on the old days of - "Want to play Global Thermonuclear War?" - or perhaps you would just like to play a nice game of Chess?
(the classic clip from War Games - a fun 2-minute watch!!)
As always, I solicit your comments on the blog site. (If you received this post through email, please click on the title at the top to get to the blog page to post your comments. - THANKS!!)
Yossie
YossieFrankel
Director of Technology
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy
9120 W Olympic Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310.276.6135
www.hillelhebrew.org
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy
9120 W Olympic Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310.276.6135
www.hillelhebrew.org
