Mr. Warfield's Globaloria Blog

Drag and Drop Tutorials

2010-04-26T07:26:00.001-07:00

Here a few links to drag and drop tutorials that I have found in my wondering in search of Flash knowledge.....

http://www.actionscript.org/resources/articles/26/1/Drag-n-Drop-and-Drop-Targets/Page1.html

http://monkeyflash.com/tutorials/flash-drag-and-drop/
(seems to be a hit in my classes)

http://www.webwasp.co.uk/tutorials/A_IntAct-02-drag-drop/index.php
(the best one, in my opinion)

http://www.flashvalley.com/fv_tutorials/advanced_drag_and_drop_in_Flash/

I hope these help......

Links to Tutorials

2010-04-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

Here are few links I have to found to help my students find code for their games.

A nice shooter tutorial:
http://www.flashninjaclan.com/tutorialpage.php?ID=49

Cartoonsmart is a cool paysite with some free tutorials
http://www.cartoonsmart.com/index.html

Sothink SWF Decompiler 5.5 is a program that will convert SWF files to FLA files
http://www.swftools.com/tools-details.php?tool=7672718848

Flash vault is a site like FlashFridge with lots of tutorials
http://www.flashvault.net/
http://www.tutorialsphere.com/tutorials/flash

I have only scratched the surface on these sites. I haven't had time to sit and go through all of the sites in depth. I mainly just help my students do searches and point them in a direction and let them find what will work for them.

March to the End

2010-03-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

With only a 4 days left in the 3rd nine weeks, we are quickly approaching our game presentation deadline. So most of my goals this quarter are going to aimed at helping my students complete their games and have their presentations in order.
My personal goals this quarter are 1)Blog more and try to promote more blogging outside of the classroom. At this stage of the class, I would like the students to blog about problems they are having or topics they would like to cover in class. This would allow me to have problem specific classes. 2)To guide my students to get their wikis in order and 3)to help my students gather there presentation materials and practice presenting in front of people.

False Sense of Security

2010-03-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

It has been a difficult transition back in the routine. Things seem to be coming together a little too easy. I'm waiting for something bad to happen.Team Might Avengers seem to have everything in order to start putting their game together. Team somethingtrippy seem to be making it to school on a regular basis (except Pat who is always here) and producing a solid game platform. They should be ready to start putting their game together soon. Team THP changed topics but produced more work in 1 class period than they had in weeks of treading water on their first game idea. And lastly, team Architecture who resisted the game design have embraced the idea and are producing quality work at a fast pace. I hope to post their paper prototypes Friday for the world to see.
I hope that nothing else bad happens to slow the students down like 20 more snow days.

Blessing in Disguise

2010-03-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

Before you start throwing things just here me out. I think all of these snow days have been a blessing in disguise. All of this time off has seemed to set a fire under my students' butts. I think I have gotten more production in the few days that we have been in school this quarter than I did in the first semester. I really appreciate the effort that my students,you guys,have been putting into this experience.
I think the break give me a chance to assess how I need to approach teaching this class. Trying to present the "facts" about what we are learn wasn't working. I think getting so far into our games and then having a massive break give you time to come with questions about what you want to do with your game. I did good bit of reading on Flash during the snow days and I think that time spent alone with the program didn't give me all of the answers but it enabled me to have a better of how to point you in the right direction. I hope I can continue to stay ahead of the curve now that we are back to school.......

When the snow stops...

2010-02-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

When we get back from our extended snow break, my teams need to sit down with a calendar and come up with some deadlines for when each step of the design process is going to be completed. Also, we need to factor in some activities that you can work on without Flash, in case of another extended break because of the weather.So here is what we will be doing when you get back....

A streak.....

2010-02-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

I want to say how proud I am of both of Globaloria classes. Since the January Academy things in class have really been moving along at a good pace. First, the Architecture class has finally bought in the concept of what were are trying to accomplish. It was an amazing sight seeing them working on their paper prototypes. This group has many tasks ahead of them to complete but Monday made me BELIEVE that it will happen...and happen amazingly!!!!

And today in my Globaloria class, it was good to see some returning faces. And the production seems to be at a higher level than what I was thinking it was at. I hope we can get things uploaded to the wikis later this week.

I would really like to commend my students for not losing momentum during our technical difficulties that we have experienced in the last 3 weeks. Please keep up the good work. i am really PROUD of you guys fir not quitting on me.

Motivation

2010-01-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

I would love to say that I am the "Great Motivator" but I cannot honestly say that. In drafting I try to motivate my students by telling them about interesting buildings or jobs that I was able to work on during my career in engineering and architecture. But ultimately most are only concerned about how much that they can make an hour when they get out of school.

That bugs me to a point because I value an experience more than money. But that being said I do like being paid but ultimately it is more about the journey than the destination.

As far as motivating my students, I would honestly say it has been so-so in my 3 and a half years of teaching. I have the most success with 10th and 11th graders. I guess because they are more mature than freshmen and don't have senioritis like seniors.

What I try to do is get to know each of my students and find out what movies, music or hobbies that they like and try to put a drafting spin on it. I have several guitar players in my class so we are going to design a guitar maybe build it in the spring.

I guess what I try to do is get to know my students and assure them that I only have their best interest in mind. ANd hope they buy into what I'm doing.

After the break.....

2010-01-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

This has been a refreshing break for me. I tried to spend the break recharging my batteries and laying out a game plan for the second semester. I think the one thing I need to change going into the second semester is that I need to quit being a player and be more of a coach. I tried to follow what my students were doing and try to teach from their perspective. That needs to change. I feel that has held back my classes progress. I would get hung up trying to do something and they would have to wait for me before we would move on.
What I'm going to implement when we go back is a short meeting with each team on the first day of class each week and determine goals for that week based on what needs to be covered.
I think I have a better grasp on what it is going to take to complete the games. I need to stay out of the way for the most part and set more precise goals, short term and long term. That being said, I hope my next blog is singing the praises of my new way of thinking.

Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing. the result.
Vince Lombardi

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
Vince Lombardi

Wacom tablet

2009-12-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Wacom intuos tablet that I purchased arrived last week. It is a drawing tablet that offers Flash artists more control and accuracy that drawing in flash with just a mouse. I have let several students play around with it and it seems to be a hit.

The tablet came with an assortment of software and brushes. We'll keep you posted of any discoveries that we come across.

Crazy....

2009-12-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Things have been nuts lately. I've been trying to give everybody and everything my 100%. Well folks...it didn't happen. I think everybody has been getting about 10-15% from me. So I had stop and take a breath. I just had step back and not try to run on instinct, because it was just scatter shot! I had to get organized and get a plan in place to get everything done that I needed to get done. I haven't got everything done but I am in better shape than I was 2 or 3 weeks ago. So what I am saying is...Yes, things in here are going to seem like they're overwhelming but if we just sit down get a plan in place and follow through. Everything will be okay.

Peace out!

Paper Prototyping

2009-12-02T07:17:00.000-08:00

I started Paper Prototyping with my class yesterday. The students really seemed to be getting into it. to spice it up a bit, we decided to use colored pencils. I think when we present using the ELMO, the colors will stand out better than just black and white. Check in next week to see the videos.

I Love Tweening!!

2009-11-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

There I said it. My first impressions of Flash back in April and May it would be nothing to conquer given my years of experience using AutoCAD. Boy was I wrong!!!!! It is so different to me that I can't even really make comparisons between the two. I love the functionality of AutoCAD, I mean it has been my bread and butter my whole career. But I really like the unlimited possiblilties that Flash offers. I really like the tweening effects. When I went to see KISS on the Reunion Tour back in 1996 ,they had a giant video screen that showed each member's face morphing into each other. I wouldn't have dreamed that I would be able to do something similar, so easily. One of my goals is to recreate the KISS morph. More later.

Hey music lovers

2009-11-03T06:10:00.001-08:00

I just stumbled across a really cool music blog called The Screen Door . The blogger’s name is Anthony Kuzminski from Chicago, Illinois and he is the writer for UNRATED MAGAZINE and ANTIMUSIC.COM. Just at a glance, it appears he covers all types of music and movies. It appears the last few days he has been into Bon Jovi, not my favorite by any means. But if you look on down he’s got some posts about Guns N Roses, Metallica and the Allman Brothers.

Spider

2009-10-21T05:25:00.003-07:00

Spider

2009-10-21T05:25:00.001-07:00

Mr. Warfield's Globaloria class: Watch this video!

2009-10-21T05:21:00.000-07:00

Guys and Gals,
Check out this video from one of the students at Greenbrier West!

A Tale of Two Classes

2009-10-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Yesterday's 8th block waws like A Tale of Two Cities. The students were really getting into the Mini Game Tutorial, overcoming the obstacles of learning new software & working to together. It was really good to see them taking off. Me, on the other hand, I had the anti-Midus touch. Everything I touched yesterday broke. My computer was suffering from an overdose of Facebook Mafia Wars or something, it would not do anything I wanted it to do. I pretty much spent the whole class starting and restarting my computer. Next class will be better, but this blog is really meant to commend my 8th Block Globaloria class on holding things together while I fell apart.

My video game Journey continued.....

2009-09-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that I probably know more useless music trivia than any sane human should know. While most people were learning relative’s birthdays and anniversaries, I was reading album liner notes. So I could probably tell you Ace Frehley's guitar tech before I could tell you my mother's birthday. But enough about that. What I am here to blog about is one of the earliest, if not the earliest marriage of rock music and video games. The band Journey was on top of the world in 1983 when Bally Midway decided to capitalize on the bands upcoming U.S. tour and released the Journey video game.
So what you say. This game was really ahead of its time. It had scanned images of the band member’s faces on cartoon bodies trying to retrieve their instruments on different planets. Once you obtained all of the instruments it played their hit song “Separate Ways”. The song was looped on a cassette player inside the machine. Due to the degradation of the cassette tape finding one of these machines that still works is nearly impossible. So you won’t be able to put on your parachute pants and Rising Sun T-shirt and push some quarters into this innovative machine.

A New Perspective

2009-09-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

Since the 1^st Globaloria training in June, I have looked at video games in a new light. Until then I had never really cared about what was going on behind the scenes to make these games work. After the June training, whenever I play them now I am thinking in the back of my mind “How did they do this” or “How did they do that”. Recently, I had a flashback. I went into Pizza Hut to pick up some pizzas for my daughter’s birthday party and there before mewas a Donkey Kong machine! This took me right back to 1982.Until I had to put 50 cents in to play.

I will confess, growing up I was a video game junkie. I would pump quarter after quarter into these machines. It started with pinball and evolved to Pac Man, Centipede right on until home platforms got affordable. But seeing this Donkey Kong machine got me thinking. Thinking back to that training in June and how we had a created a game that was comparable in a few hours and how Donkey Kong was state of the art in 1982.

On the ride home I got to thinking about the advances in technology in just the last 20 years. In my adult life I have evolved through Pong, Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstations 1 -3, Play station Portable, Nintendo DS. I never would have dreamed that I would have all of this technology in my life.

Bloggers Block

2009-08-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

Finally.... every few days for the last month I have opened my blog and stared at the screen racking my brain for a topic to comment on. Every time I drew a blank. I have a big mouth and a lot to say (whether or not it's relevant is another story). But I just haven't posted anything. I have Bloggers Block!

I have this fear of coming across as an idiot or something. Or I'll post something and it will be my view at the time and somebody will comment 6 weeks from now. And my opinion will have changed and I'll look like a hypocrite.

Does anyone else have these fears or am I just over analyzing all of this. Should I just put the pen to the paper and spew out what ever is on my mind. Please advise.

Metallica Number 1

2009-06-26T07:48:00.001-07:00

Check out the new Metallica number 1 blog. It has tons of videos.

Notable Educational Experience

2009-06-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

One of my most powerful learning experiences was in my 10th grade biology class. I was under achieving in this class( it was guitar class or drafting, so there for I under achieved), and my teacher questioned my intelligence in a somewhat insulting manner. And told me I couldn't pass her class. Well, at age 16 nobody told me what to do , not even me! So I upped my game, and aced her class. Through the course of the year we started getting along and by June we were both satisfied with my efforts. I had never been called out like that by a teacher and I guess that taught me lesson about myself and how I should handle by business. Twenty some (very)odd years I find myself calling some of my bright under achieving students out. The 2 that come to mind have turned out well. The first graduated this year and the second had learned his way to being one of first recruits for Globaloria. You'll get to see first hand how that one plays out.

Bass Blogging

2009-06-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

I chose a bass blog because I play bass and I'm am always looking for new approaches to the instrument.

Metallica Blog

2009-06-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

I chose a Metallica blog to follow because I am a pretty big fan of the band. And having been a fan for nearly 25 years it is always interesting to compare notes and opinions on the band.

Warfield's Opening Blog

2009-06-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,
I am blogging for the first time as part of the Globaloria training I am getting in Charleston this week. This program looks like it is going to be a blast. Hang on!