Monument Valley gets new levels" The best iPad game ever jsut got better!

Thanks to the people at UsTwo Games, there are new levels in Monument Valley that add colorful and interesting challenges. There is even a bonus level: Ida's Dream.

IDA'S (RED) DREAM
http://www.monumentvalleygame.com/ 
 

One final chapter to fight AIDS.
Available now through December 7.

I appreciate the "inside insights" into the game design and level design processes described on the Monument Valley Development Blog Here:

http://monumentvalleygame.squarespace.com/blog/2014/12/4/forgotten-shores-and-the-storm-in-a-teacup#commenting

NY Times: How to Get Girls Into Coding MAY 31, 2014

http://goo.gl/1mdxlS

"Nitasha Tiku gets it right: games are the gateway to motivating girls (and boys too!) to get into the world of coding, game design, start-up culture, DIY, steAm (adding the Arts to STEM) and the maker movement in general.

I have been fortunate to have been beta-testing a  "new platform called Beta" (www.betathegame.org: mentioned in this article) with very interesting results: my 9th grade students at Dwight School have responded with a rare enthusiasm. The students worked over the weekends and over vacations purely through the self-motivation and a 'need-to-know' driven by the joy of learning.

Errol King, the co-founder and creative director of Hidden Level Games (which created Beta the game) and I were talking about what makes this platform (and game design in general) so potent as a motivator for kids: "god-mode" is the answer.

Girls like to build worlds and games that allow them to build things (Minecraft, the Sims) appeal to girls and tap into their natural abilities in ways that the straight-forward computer science curriculum can't touch."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-girls-into-coding.html?comments#permid=11922957

Flat Vs. Not: Join the Debate

Read the story here than post your comments 

Rules, Space, Goals, Components, Core Mechanics, Challenge are defined here as "Six Game Design Elements"...  Choice can be considered as an additional element. In addition, Balance is a concept of Game Design that is essential.

I Can't Wait for Kandu!

Kandu lets anyone make great games and apps without knowing how to code.

Kandu asks:

What Will You Make?

See the Kandu Pre-release Promohere:

http://goo.gl/7cCg4f

Pattern Recognition compared to Flowlab.io

Pattern Recognition theory of mind p. 65 How to Create a Mind
http://www.amazon.com/How-Create-Mind-Thought-Revealed/dp/0143124048

http://flowlab.io/resources_behaviors caption

I can't help but see the connections between an illustration from  Ray Kurswell's How to Create a Mind and a tutorial illustration from the Flowlab.io game design engine.

Since I am currently reading one and designing in the other, the similarities jumped right off the page (actually iPad screen) while I was reading on the subway this morning.

Thoughts?

High School students take part in closed Beta testing of Carbon Cutters

Students in my 9th and 10th grade Digital Media classes at Dwight School in NYC are currently in a closed-Beta test for an iOS game in development called Carbon Cutters. The game is being designed by Russell Savage from Dented Pixel (a NYC game developer with two Apps currently online). 

Russell came to Dwight on Monday, 2/3/14 to introduce the game and to watch the students play.  "Carbon Cutters" is intended to link gameplay with carbon credits via partnerships with advertisers and engineering firms.

Students are required to fill out a Google Feedback Form designed to further the development of this innovative game.

Read more about Carbon Cutters and Dented Pixel here:

http://ccutters.com

See the related Dwight School Facebook post here:
http://goo.gl/suY2bx

Read about other Beta testing of games at Dwight here:
New York Observer: Can Video Game Classes Get kids Into College?
http://observer.com/2014/01/video-games-once-a-vice-are-now-a-private-school-academic-pursuit/#axzz2t3uQMI9P
Published on 1/31/2014