Climate Change Project Final Version Released

Our "Colin CO2" software has now been released.

The project, developed in Flash by Electronic Blackboard for MWNet, The West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium, features two games developed by Chaos Created designed to increase environmental awareness in young children.  It also features a story which introduced "Colin" (CO2) as a character and explains the effect CO2 has on the planet.

The project features three games in total, providing a final outcome of a printable certificate.  This encourages children to make the best decisions and learn the basics about being environmentally friendly.

Electricity
Children learn how devices use electricity, and how switching off unused devices will save energy around the home, producing less "Colins".

Temperature
Children learn how putting on an extra layer of clothing, instead of turning up the heat, is better for the environment.  Children could also insulate the loft, leading to further discussions on how making changes around the home can save energy.

Transport
Children learn about environmentally friendly forms of transportation, such as walking and cycling, and also how public transport is better than other vehicles.

The software is now available to schools in the area through the internal network, but you can view the software on their public web site here.

Bug Fixing, Updating, and BDO

Spending the week producing a final version of the Climate Change software, updating activities for a refresh of the i-board Numeracy project and producing a new activity for the Big Day Out project, which should be off to our artist Stuart later today (this one's a lot of fun).

Two New "Games" From Chaos Created

More of a heads up than a grand announcement, but we're cracking on with two new products at the moment of our own.  The first is Melloweh which has been in stasis for a little while and in some form of development since 2004.

Melloweh actually won a runner up prize for multimedia, awarded by HP, back in 2005 for its demo.  The original demo was built using the Creatures Evolution Engine, developed by Creature Labs/Gameware and combined an artificial life game with a narrative and level based play.  I'll get around to posting the development diaries for the demo in good time, but one of the most interesting aspects was that we actually built the models for the world (constructed by Carla, who is now working as a set designer on film and television) in which the creatures, a  bug species, lived.  We then photographed them and combined them with some CG elements (including the creatures themselves).  The idea was interesting, and worked well.  Steve Grand and Ian Saunter did the same for the original Creatures game, for anybody here that played those games.

Since then, up until early 2008, the project was pretty much on hold (aside from the occasional dabble) as we've been busy working on other things, but we've got going again on the project recently (and made contact with those responsible for the original demo).

The second game (which may actually arrive slightly earlier than Melloweh, and is actually less of a game) will be a spin off, using the same technology, but aimed at a different audience and I'll post more on this soon.

We're using a different "engine" this time around (which is more flexible for us, and also extends the capabilities as to what we can do), so there's been a bit of a "from scratch" element to it, but it's coming along nicely, and we'll be ready for a release later this year on both products.

The idea being that the development for both products will be treated as one product for the next few months, and then they will spin off in different directions once the framework and AI is complete as both projects are very closely linked.

But for those that are interested, there is still an AL (artificial life) element to it.  In fact, the last few months have been spent working on the 'brain' and the results are pretty impressive so far.  And we've started knocking about some of the internet aspects of the game too.

The art will come later on.  At the minute, the graphics are all placeholders (in fact, for the most part, we're using the original model photographs and graphics from the demo as those placeholders).

Anyway, there will be more information to follow.  Obviously, there's not much to give away at the moment as most of the work, to date, has been on the back-end stuff, but I'll blog about the "brain" and the guts of the games shortly.

Mutant Cows (This is why we have artists)...

When working on i-board and Big Day Out activities, the process is that the programmer normally does most of the work before the activity goes across to the artist, and then it comes back for final tweaking.  So I normally mock up some 'cheap' graphics whilst I'm programming to work with until Stuart or Jack work their magic.  Sometimes, I'll grab some placeholders from Google, and sometimes I'll just draw some stick men...  Anything else just looks demented, as is the case of my mutant cows for a farm simulation I'm working on...

They're almost scary.  Thankfully, they look a whole heap better when they come back from the artists....

Numeracy by i-board Enters Beta

Numeracy by i-board, a web based education product, has shipped into beta.

The product, developed by Electronic Blackboard LTD, with activities created by Chaos Created, features over 250 activities covering almost every item on the curriculum for Reception, year 1 and year 2 and includes games and teaching tools for use on interactive whiteboards, and desktop computers.

The product, commissioned by London Grid For Learning, will be rolled out to all schools on the grid later this year.

For more information, see the product page and the London Grid For Learning web site.

Climate Change Project

Chaos is working for Electronic Blackboard on a project exploring the effects of climate change.

The project, developed for primary school children, features three games, as well as a narrated story. The games explore how children can have an effect on our planet and explores the effects of transportation and the use of electricity. Chaos has developed one of the three games for use within the project.

In one game, developed by Chaos, children can decide by simple drag-and-drop how a street of children travel to school and how much fuel they can save by doing things such as car sharing, or cycling.

This project, developed for Electronic Blackboard Ltd has been commissioned for use within primary schools in the UK and is due for completion in February 2008.

View the project page here.

Chaos publishes i-board's Magic School for the home market

Chaos Created is pleased to announce that it is publishing The Magic School, an i-board educational product which is already successful in the education sector and that it is now available for home users through its digital store at http://www.chaoscreated.com.

The Magic School is a remarkable new series for the home market, already a success in schools, nurseries and preschools, that places your child at the heart of the action using digital images making it a truly child-centred learning experience. Combining open-ended activities and interactive adventures the Magic School is rooted in Early Years’ good practice.

We are announcing, today, the commercial availability of the Starter Room for home users, with two more rooms to follow before Christmas - the Sand and Water Room and The Music Room. These rooms add on to the Starter room - to visit the new rooms, you simply click on the map!

In The Starter Room, you can:

Superimpose your own face onto the characters so you can take part. Make cartoon friends to play with.

Play the driving activity – design a road map so that you and your friends can drive a car around it – don't crash!

Decorate the room using the easel – when you finish your pattern or picture you can frame it on the wall.

Choose books from the bookshelf – listen and read along to a favourite rhyme – then make your own version.

Construct buildings and vehicles using the building block activity – what colours and shapes are you going to use?

Look after the class plant – how many flowers can you grow?

About i-board and Electronic Blackboard Ltd.
Electronic Blackboard produces focused cross-curricular interactive activities for teacher-led whiteboard teaching and for guided pupil use. Featuring a range of products targeted at pupils from a nursery school age, up to year 2, i-board is a critically acclaimed product found in schools throughout the UK.

Schools and nurseries should contact Electronic Blackboard through their web site at http://www.iboard.co.uk for site licenses and educational licenses.

About Chaos Created
Chaos Created is a media production group creating software for the PC market along with cutting edge web sites and film. Chaos was the runner up in the HP Award for Media Design in 2005 for its Melloweh demonstration and, since late 2005, Alastair Maggs of Chaos has been working for Electronic Blackboard Ltd developing an educational subscription service providing interactive applications for its i-board product.

Visit product page here

The Magic School is now available from our download store at http://www.chaoscreated.com/shop