2017 Saturday Enrichment, here we come!

Next week starts my 2017 teaching series, this year using narrative gaming platforms to teach HTML, CSS, javascript (Twine) and visual scripting blocks (Kodu) to build links, triggers, and conditionals to program interactive stories. So, over the next 5 weeks, I'll post our progress, including tips and tricks we learn throughout the series. Already, in preparation, I've got a few:

Twine: This platform is in a transition from Twine1 to Twine2. We'll be using Twine2, an upgrade from the previous version that allows you to build projects entirely within your internet browser (preferably Chrome, you cannot use IE). It is still in beta with lots of bugs, which is in itself a good learning experience to introduce the concept of "workarounds", something as a developer in real life, I do daily! What I've found so far:

• Many Twine game examples you find online were scripted using Twine1; you cannot open a Twine1 programmed game in Twine2. Which means, you'll have to do some careful searching if you want to find a game already programmed to remix it to see a game's behind the scenes scripting. You cannot tell directly from the interface itself to which version a game was developed. However, if you find a Twine file that is .tw file type, good chance it was built in Twine1. Additionally, you cannot convert/open a Twine1 scripted game to Twine2. If you try, you will get an error within your Twine2 code editor when you try to import it.
• Adding image, audio, and video file features are not currently reliably functional in Twine2. However, I did research and implement a hack that seems to work for image files that are fairly small (are web optimized, and less than 500 kb). I have not found a hack that works yet for audio or video files. Basically, for images, you have to "decode" them into binary scripting and there is a website with a tool that does this! We'll talk about it more during the series and I'll post a video on my youtube channel explaining step by step. Unfortunately, there are many videos, including on the Twine wiki itself, that tell you Twine2 can upload these file types as was possible in Twine1 using standard html tags! I did finally confirm the reality via this Twine user forum post.
• Kodu in their latest version now requires some sort of "sign in" step. It looks like they are trying to revamp their user forum to improve connecting your projects to questions folks post there?  For the class, we will look at using Kodu downloaded to the UVa PCs  logging in via the "guest account" feature where users do not provide identifying information.
• Since we are using "Piper" as a storytelling case study, I dug into the Kodu "water" features. While visually stunning, the Microsoft Kodu team concedes on the Kodu user forum that "water" was added as an "after thought", and essentially, isn't programmable; just looks pretty! Therefore, once we move the class discussion to the Kodu platform, we'll re-tell "Piper" using the "sky" and "light" features, which are just as visually impressive and very programmable. Think: "What if Piper was scared of the dark?". 

So, as you can see, challenges just lead to more discoveries! Can't wait to invent some more ;)