Etoy issues

[Jahanzeb Sherwani]

Hi Phil,

I had the SAME experience today. I was interested in making a maze-like
game, and was stuck at how to make it bounce of a wall. There are a couple
of ideas that came to mind:

- if it touches the wall (overlap, touchesA, color sees), make the car move
back.

The problem here is if you had turned around, and gone backwards to crash
into the wall, you would continue to go into the wall -- not what we want!

- if touch, make car go in the opposite direction to the joystick.

Again this isn't satisfactory at all.

- if touch, make car stop.

This means the car will be stuck indefinitely.

Also, the lack of left/right movement tiles make the movement very
un-PacMan like which is unintuitive. If one uses the language construct:

car's x <- car's x + 1

.. it's too intimidating for schoolkids who've had no programming
experience to understand.


If anyone has any better ideas on how to make a maze, I'd also really like
to know. Further, any word on how to use the keyboard to do anything? Also,
if the kids want to see how the tetris game was made, for instance, what's
the best way they would do this?

With the Squeak team busy, I guess we'll have to wait for some time for a
response. Is there anyone on the squeak team who's not going to Japan? :)

Jahanzeb

At 07:43 AM 1/22/2003 -0500, Phil Firsenbaum wrote:
>Thanks for the offer, BJ.
>I'm currently working with an elementary school,so I'm sure the 
>students I have contact with are similar in age to your students. Right 
>now I'm teaching a MicroWorlds class in which students are creating 
>their own games (mazes and the like) So, I tried making a maze in 
>Squeak. One problem I've encountered involves getting an object (my 
>car) to stay within a confined area...I want it to bounce off the wall 
>of the rectangle I drew, the way it bounces off the perimeter of the 
>screen. With the lack of documentation, I'm at a loss.
>
>Phil
>
>On Saturday, January 11, 2003, at 10:22 AM, Kidd, Gary wrote:
>
>> I am BJ Conn a teacher at the Open Charter School.  I have been using 
>> Squeak
>>
>> with my kids for a couple of years.  What exactly are you looking to 
>> do?  I
>> am currently wrting a guide for using Squeak to enhance math and 
>> science
>> skills and am nearly finished but it is not ready yet.  can I help you 
>> with
>> any ideas?  What grade level (age group) are you working with.  I work 
>> with
>> 9,10, and 11 year olds.
>>
>> BJ
>
>
>