Summation #5 - Video Games + Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games

This book discusses the use of video games and the implementation into a learning environment. It goes into detail about the controversy behind video games and the stereotypes it posses and how to better merge games and education in a symbiotic middle ground. It is compose of multiple essays ranging from the general concepts of using games in education to direct examples of games the already do have specific learning goals and processes.
The article that interested me the most was Chapter 5 Learning about learning from a video game: Rise of Nations. This chapter is a direct recollection of the author as her describes the important of the game Rise of Nations. The idea of Rise of Nations is not a strange idea. It is a game based on different times during our own reality with character based in our reality as well. These characters are based on different races or groups of people throughout history and in the game you wage war against other groups for domination of specific territories. The game is top down based and your characters are moved in units, this type of game is called a real time strategy game(RTS).
The author illustrates that RTS games were hard for him at first. He explains how games may also seem extremely hard to teach and learn for older generations like the baby boomers because it is like learning something new and foreign for the first time. This attributes the delay of games being used directly in the classroom. The author goes on to explain his experiences with the game, explaining the quick reaction times necessary to play. As he uses his mind and moves his characters on screen with his mouse he is able to form a spatial sense between himself, his hand and movements, and the virtual world. This is a vital type of learning which is commonly overlooked in a testing based education received in a normal school system.
The Author goes on to directly show the correlation between skills enhanced and used in games compared to typical education and how best to integrate the two in a harmonious blend. The methods discussed here directly impact the ideas I wish to carry across with my thesis game as well.
Works Cited
Gee, James Paul. Good Video Games + Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy. New York: P. Lang, 2007. Print.

Summation #4 - Game Art: The Graphic Art of Computer Games

In reading Game Art: the Graphic Art of Computer Games you get a inside look at artistic process that goes into creating a game from start to finish. This book was put out in 2003 so it can seem a little dated at times but the general principles remain the same. The chapters each detail a different kind of art style or part of the pipeline. With each of these parts you receive a explanation of the process and then a walk-through of a particular designers pipeline in completing that piece of the game.
There are a few pertinent parts of this book relating to my thesis. The first is the explanation of first person exploration. This explains how the movie industry at one point tried making their films in the first person view but were unsuccessful because as you continue to watch from that view you begin to grasp that although it is if you are in the film and seeing it first hand, you have not control on what is happening to the character and therefore cannot really be the character in the film, breaking the believability. On the other hand games do this quite successfully, as the player has direct control of their movements which is the reason for an increase in sales first person games compared to the over the shoulder, top down, or side scrolling counterparts. This first person view also gives more incentive from players to explore their surroundings as it is all based of the direct perspective of the camera, which only gives the player a limited scope at any point in the game.
The second interesting part of the book was the chapter on environment detailing. This chapter provides how the professionals can make a seemingly open and vast world, condensed and controllable within the gaming engine. This is done through lighting, low poly background models, sky domes, and other such tricks that can give the player a real feel of infinity. This feeling helps to establish the believability within the game, making for a more immersive and memorable experience.
Lastly the chapter about middleware was quite interesting. Middleware is a product or software that has one particular purpose or goal that is integrated into the game engine to reduce time for the developers and artist involved. This is similar to the program speed tree which is a random tree generator used in many games such as oblivion. With speed tree the artist is able to create a few trees and set parameters for those trees, then by changing a few details about the tree in speed tree the program is able to set up the whole world with random assortments of trees which all look unique.
In whole the book does a good job of breaking down parts of the art production pipeline and makes it understandable to the common reader.

Works Cited
Morris, Dave, and Leo Hartas. Game Art: the Graphic Art of Computer Games. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2003. Print.

Summation #3 - Fort Sumter National Monument: Where the Civil War Began

The book Fort Sumter National Monument: Where the Civil War Began tells the story of how the historically important Fort Sumter came into existence, its time in service, its importance, and its transformation into a historical monument for present day. The fort was conceived during a series of fortification projects set up during the revolutionary war to prevent attacks on the coast by the British. The fort was named after Revolutionary War General, Thomas Sumter who had defended American soil during many major attacks by the British. After its completion it was one of three major forts located in the Charleston SC area.

After South Carolina declared its secession in 1860, Major Robert Anderson, who was loyal to the Union pulled his troops out of the local Charleston fort of Fort Moultrie and relocated his troops without orders to Fort Sumter in order to keep a footing in the Charleston area. Anderson feared with the secession of South Carolina that union support would soon crumble to and he and his men would no longer be safe in South Carolina. The South Carolina government asked multiple times for Union forces to evacuate the Fort over the course of the next few months, to which the response was always a respectful no. Lincoln sees what is happening at Fort Sumter and agrees it is important to support Anderson in his defense there and sends ships to aid him in defending Fort Sumter. As the ships arrive in South Carolina, Charleston Confederate forces decide that the time for waiting is over and begin their bombardment of Fort Sumter from the surrounding forts and beaches. After about three days of bombardment the Fort has suffered sustainable damage, most damage being caused by fires breaking out within the fort and burning up most of the supplies, munitions, and buildings. These fires were caused by special cannon fire known as hotshots which were heated cannonballs that started fire when coming into contact with wood or fire burning surfaces. This causes Anderson to finally relinquish the fort to Confederate forces on the agreement that there be a canon salute in honor of the battle and that all of Andersons men go unharmed to join the already stationed Union ships in the harbor. With the surrender of the fort this becomes the first major confrontation of the Civil War which surprisingly has no casualties except for one accidental death during the cannon salute at the surrender of the fort.

By 1868 the fort had sustained large amounts of damage to the outer and inner walls. This year was the beginning of the reconstruction and preservation of the fort into the national monument it has become today.

Works Cited
Bostick, Douglas W. Fort Sumter National Monument: Where the Civil War Began. Charleston: Charleston Postcard, 2011. Print.

New Books

I have invested in some new modeling books to help me into the process of understanding how to model for game and integrating my models into UDK.

Weather Snow

New video references

Visit to Fort Sumter

Went with a friend to Fort Sumter. I got to take about 500 some odd pictures for reference and use for texturing. I was also able to pick up another book about Fort Sumter as well as talk to some of the historians there about the history of the fort.