[kidsgames] Re: Kids Game Builder version 0.0.1

[Jeffery Douglas Waddell <jeff@smluc.org>]

Hello,

On 28 Sep 1999 aleris@iag.net wrote:

> Quoting Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>:
> 
> > 
> > Should we be trying to create the "engine" for all these games from
> > scratch?
> > I know there are a few GPL programs out there that are designed for the
> > creation of graphical adventure games.  We ought to investigate those and
> > see
> > if any are close enough to what we're looking for to give us a substantial
> > head start if we modify them rather than duplicating work that's already
> > been
> > done.
> 
> Seems as good a time as any for me to jump in.

:)

>  I gotta agree here.  The whole
> point of the GPL is to make available a huge body of previous work without
> having to be directly concerned with stepping on any patents or copyrights. 

:)

> What we should probably be doing at this point is deciding exactly what the goal
> of this project is (in technical terms) and then survey available GPL'ed
> software to see what can be used.  
> 

Yes.

> > 
> > I'm not much of a computer gamer myself; I come more from the network
> > infrastructure end of the computer world.  
> 
> My background is in general development, particularly applications work.  I
> don't have children myself, but I like the idea of contributing to a project
> that might actually educate kids (as compared to the educational abyss the
> United States seems to be sliding into..) rather than just making them better
> consumers.
> 

You noticed that too?

> In that spirit I guess I have a non-technical question.  What do we want to use
> as authoritative sources of information?

Very tough question.  As yet I can't say, I think we get content, and let
people decide for themselves.

>  Generally math and the sciences are no
> problem,

The can be, you experienced "new math" yet?

> because those subjects naturally scale with difficulty.

I assume you mean without here.

>  History
> strikes me as a little foggier of a subject - a lot of what I was taught in
> school about history turned out not to be true, but only convenient myth.  (Or
> as one of my teachers told me once, "it's easier to teach this way")  My
> background isn't in education.  How do we want to proceed about this?


Submit what we have to the community and let it work itself out ?!?  I
don't think I want a "educational board" or something making the decisions
for me on what is right and what is wrong, but it would be nice to have
"certified" data.  Who or how the data would be certified is a how 'nother
kettle of fish.  Eventually this question will have to be worked out,
especially if our programs are "officially" adopted into school computer
networks.


Thanks for the input

Sincerely,

Jeff Waddell
jeff@smluc.org


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