Summer 2016
We successfully launched our first ever Summer 2016 AppJam+ program by partnering with 4 schools, Cerro Villa Middle School, Harbor Learning Center, Portola Middle School and Yorba Middle School. Students participated in a 3-week version of the program, meeting for 9-12 hours throughout the entire week. Mini showcases were held at each of the schools and one winner was chosen as having the best app!
Learn more about the apps created by the students teams from each school by clicking through the school tabs below.Showcase Winners
Cerro Villa Middle School:
Extremely Fluffy Unicorns
Extremely Fluffy Unicorns
Portola Middle School:
The Tuna Testers
The Tuna Testers
Yorba Middle School:
Team Solo
Team Solo
Harbor Learning Center:
HoopJam
HoopJam
Silly Goose
App Name: Apocalyptic Realm
Mentor(s): Bailey K.
Team Members: Brian P., David L., Colin M.
App Description: You're on a foreign planet and you have to defeat Purple Shepeple and his minions with your knowledge of astronomy and geology to get home.
Technical Components Used: Pre-recorded speech-to-text audio, created piskel (pixel) art, data structures (lists, pairs, tuples), random item selection from lists
Virtually Impossible
App Name: Thief Run
Mentor(s): John C.
Team Members: Diyar T., Ryan T., Marcus V., Armaan C.
App Description: A butcher gets his money stolen by a thief and must chase him through mountainous terrain, murky sewers, a crowded marketplace and above a house all while solving math problems in order to get his money back!
Technical Components Used: Database to store questions and answers, audio for background music, random number generators to dynamically select questions every time the app is run, if-then-else blocks to determine different outcomes of the game, image sprites to show the characters and obstacles, labels to display the questions, buttons for character movement and to answer the math questions.
Additional Comments: Each member was responsible for their own screen, allowing each student to be able to put their own ideas into the app and allow each of them a fair chance to bring their idea to life.
Extremely Fluffy Unicorns - Winner!
App Name: Unicorn Run
Mentor(s): Ceci G.
Team Members: Patrick W., Cooper J., Calvin O., Daniel S.
App Description: This game puts to test the memory and math skills of first and second grade students while also allowing students to have fun. The game is divided into a few parts. In the first part, the player's unicorn character must avoid being hit by narwhals while also keeping track of the number of Lucky Charm bowls. If the player is able to do so for 30 seconds, the player then get to move on and answer math questions. In the second part, the player must remember how many Lucky Charm bowls they see but they are only visible in one-second intervals. The player wins after correctly remembering how many bowls appeared and answering another set of math problems.
Technical Components Used: This app uses various forms of screen switching, timing, buttons, addition of sound and visibly options.
Additional Comments: There were many challenges encountered during the creation of this application but the students pushed through it all and were very set of making their visions into reality.
Mom’s Spaghetti
App Name: Space Shooter
Mentor(s): Tara F. & Allan Z.
Team Members: Mason C., Kai B., Jonathan G.
App Description: A retro 2-D space shooting game reminiscent of Galaga and Space Invaders that combines fast-paced action with improving the math skills of elementary school age students. The game educates the player about different algebraic relationships by challenging them to hit the best enemy with their lasers.
Technical Components Used: Accelerometer, audio, images, animations, database, timers
Destroyers
App Name: Ship Destroyers
Mentor(s): Anthony L.
Team Members: Joshua G., Jack O., Matthew J.
App Description: A shooter game that incorporates math as a STEM component in order to destroy enemy ships. It encourages players to practice fast mental math in order to destroy enemy ships in a timely manner because they have limited time. The faster the player's mental math skills, the better.
Technical Components Used: Random selection, audio, user-made art, clocks for time specific movement
Additional Comments: All of the graphics were drawn by the team members using Piskel, an online sprite editor.
The Tuna Testers – Winner!
App Name: The Dead End
Mentor(s): Cristian G.
Team Members: Christian H., Frankie J., Harry P.
App Description: The user is in a world where bullets do not kill zombies, knowledge does. The user has to injure zombies with special knives that destroy zombies with no effort if the user answers questions correctly. The user goes on a journey encountering zombies using knowledge and the special weapon to kill the zombies.
Technical Components Used: Canvas, image sprites, buttons, layouts, sensors
The Food Lovers
App Name: Math Jungle Escape
Mentor(s): John S.
Team Members: Jonathan N., Fayth S.
App Description: The design of the game is still evolving, but as of right now an ill-fated expedition into an unexplored jungle resulted in its members being transformed into various animals and alternative forms. The hero of our story is tasked with using their wiles, as well as their skill using various inventory items, to save and cure these mutated souls. Using a banana gun, raw meat, and a miraculous force field, players will tranquilize and apply a cure which will revert expedition members back to their original shapes. While the players will avoid killing these creatures, the opposite cannot be said for them. When killed, players will be required to do math problems in order to resurrect themselves, while also replenishing their coin reserves in order to purchase additional supplies through a magic bag (think Mary Poppins) which translates items from their boss at home-base, allowing them to cure more team members.
Technical Components Used: As of this writing(Weds), sprites (including collision detection), a database for inventory items, and audio (music and effects) have been implemented. There are plans to include touch manipulation of inventory items when confronting and curing the transformed ill-fated expedition members.
Additional Comments: Fayth assumed her mom signed her up for a leadership class and was surprised, and a little reluctant, on the first day(Mon) when she discovered it wasn't. She wasn't sure she would come back and was withdrawn at first, but as of yesterday(Tues) she has broken from her comfort zone to become the team leader, Photoshop editor, and primary programmer. Jonathan is the only 6th grader in the program for this week, as well as the smallest, and for the first 2 days was trying to find his place in the room as well as on his team. He finally broke out of his shell today(Weds) in order to overcome Fayth's strong will in decision making for their team app by standing up for his ideas. This resulted in Fayth being more diplomatic when it came to contributions. Jonathan has been the primary asset retriever for both graphics and audio, as well as story teller, and secondary programmer.
Math Tech
App Name: Food Wars
Mentor(s): Kevin Y.
1. Team Members: Michael C., Matthew D., Johnny O.
App Description: Food Wars is a game app that allows a player to save a day gone wrong at school by answering math questions to defeat the mutated food monsters.
Technical Components Used: Timer, buttons, images, labels, various arrangements, canvases, image sprites.
White Swan
App Name: Home Run
Mentor(s): Nikki G.
Team Members: Dinidu R.
App Description: Home Run is a fun math game intended for 5th grade students, based off of Tom & Jerry. Choose to be Tom chasing Jerry or Jerry chasing Tom, and make it to the end without getting caught.
Technical Components Used: App inventor, clip art, Paint, Photoshop
Additional Comments: Dinidu was not able to come to the first day to AppJam, and he came on Tuesday and learned as much as he could and designed the app.
Team Blue
App Name: Quiz Run
Mentor(s): Nikki G.
Team Members: Alejandra R., Luis R.
App Description: Quiz Run is designed for 3rd-5th grade students. Choose a character and answer questions quickly to have the character jump over the obstacles.
Technical Components Used: i=Images, lists, random item selection from list
Knights of the Round Table
App Name: Math Attack
Mentor(s): Shannon L.
Team Members: Brandon T., Julio G., Anthony S., Bryan D.
App Description: Math Attack is an educational game with the purpose of letting 2nd graders practice their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in a fun and exciting way. The goal of the game is to help the mouse get to the cheese as it runs through 4 different rooms (1 room for each arithmetic operation) in the house. A cat is chasing this mouse, and if the player runs out of 3 lives, the mouse will get killed by the cat. The player must answer all questions in each stage, and if they either answer a question wrong, or take too long to answer a question, they will lose a life.
Technical Components Used: Audio (sound and player), labels, buttons, image sprites, backgrounds, lists, timers
The Glasses Squad
App Name: The Adventures of Chara, Joey, and Rob
Mentor(s): Cristian G.
Team Members: Martin M., Isidro S., David S.
App Description: Our app is a STEM-based game that combines simple game mechanics with challenging puzzle and STEM-based questions. The game follows a simple storyline: Chara, Joey, and Rob must go to different areas to stop Evil Joey from turning the world evil. They go through tough bosses and complex puzzles to reach Evil Joey and stop him. This app will utilize the pop-up system which always provides a random question that you (the player) will have to solve. If the question is failed, you will have to defeat your boss again to retry the question.
Technical Components Used: Orientation sensor, clocks, canvases, Image sprites, Photoshop
Team Solo - Winner!
App Name: Think Fast
Mentor(s): Ceci G.
Team Members: Ashly C.
App Description: This game is created for two players at the same time. There are three round the first two of which are time based. Each player is assigned a half of the screen and has the opportunity to answer science or math questions. Each correct answer increases the player points while the incorrect answer decreases them. Once the first two rounds are complete the players then fight against each other and attempt to answer a set number of questions before the other.
Technical Components Used: This game is heavily reliant on the use of a database. This application's complexity however lies in the heavy use of lists and back end logic.
Friends
App Name: Different Colors
Mentor(s): Ceci G.
Team Members: Michelle A., Jocelyn R.
App Description: In this game, a player must get through question levels in order to be able to play the mini game in between. The mini game requires a player to shoot a ball at a spinner and hit only the section of the spinner that matches their ball color.
Technical Components Used: This app is very heavy on the audio and graphics. On the back end however, it also implements a database.
Rainbow Waffle
App Name: School Monster Invasion
Mentor(s): John S.
Team Members: Isabella H.
App Description: SMI is an interactive three level journey to defeat monsters (Goth girls) invading the players school. The player, Sasha or Bryan, enters classrooms where they are trolled into answering questions. If answered correctly the monster that trolled is vanquished, if not the player is sent to Angry Principal’s office and given an even harder question to answer. If the player survives Angry Principal’s question they are sent back to class to continue their journey, if not then they are sent to detention where their journey ends.
Technical Components Used: Sound effects, moving sprites, text to speech
Additional Comments: Bella has a lot of imagination and the app she made only hints at the story she wanted to tell, but the quickness of the summer program made programming the priority. Bella drew all of her classroom background images in photoshop and she also learned how to take existing images from Google image search and modify them for what she needed. The game design, graphics and sound selection, as well as game and story construction are at least 80% creations of Bella. The remaining 20% was from me answering her questions, suggesting alternatives and acting as her personal wiki.
Joint Strike Fighter
App Name: I Wanna Be the Bestest
Mentor(s): Sasha M. & John S.
Team Members: Aidan W.
App Description: The app is a fighter based shooting enemies game. With each level the enemy changes appearance and becomes more difficult to shoot.
Technical Components Used: Sound effects, button controls to move fighter plane and fire. Progressive difficulty.
The Elites
App Name: Adventure Ball
Mentor(s): Marina M.
Team Members: Raul F., Ignacio R.
App Description: The game is about a baby ball that got lost from his family, and in order for the ball to find his family the user have to answer math and science questions.
Technical Components Used: Audio, use of sensors to move the ball, buttons that move the ball in order to answer questions, a list of question that will change once answered.
Ballistic Doritos
App Name: Adventure of the Weirdest
Mentor(s): Sasha M.
Team Members: Miguel T.
App Description: Adventure of the Weirdest is about an alien called Weirdest who is lost and needs the player’s help to find his parent by knowing the solar system. There will be couple of questions related to all planets in solar system (their sizes, their distance from the sun, etc.) and will be asked randomly on top of the screen. The player needs to move the alien to different planets on the solar system till he/she find the correct one, then the question changes and the player scores. This exploration continues till the player reaches a certain score and to get familiar with the planets and their basic properties. At the end, the weirdest speaks with the player and thanks the player for helping him through finding his family by showing him the solar system.
Technical Components Used: A list: to keep all the questions and their answers. Audio: to play in the background, to make an applause when the player scores, and at the end to read out he final dialog (a robot sound) for the player. Different conditional statements: to check the planets that has been visited by the alien with the correct answer and to take certain actions depend on the correctness of the answer.
PopScout9580
App Name: Attack of the Virus
Mentor(s): Sasha M.
Team Members: Jude W.
App Description: The goal of the app is to teach the player about some of the viruses and illnesses and how long it takes for the white blood cells to defeat them. Story begins by showing inside of a vessel (the red and white blood cells initially). After few seconds a virus appears in the vessel, then the screen changes and the player will be asked to fight with the virus. Player have limited time to defeat the virus and has to press the fight button several times depending on the strength of the virus. The story continues by moving on to stronger viruses on the next screens and eventually the player wins after defeating all the viruses. If the player fails defeating a virus, he/she will receive a game over message.
Technical Components Used: Clock: to keep track of the fighting time with the viruses, to make them appear on the first screen, and to show different messages during the fighting Audio: to for the fighting sound, and to make sound when the player wins or loses.
Classified Name
App Name: Ballout
Mentor(s): James P.
Team Members: Poland N., Marcos M., Angel M., Edwin T.
App Description: The user answers math questions. Correct answers score goals. Score three goals to move on to the next level.
Technical Components Used: Audio, images.
HoopJam - Winner!
App Name: HoopJam
Mentor(s): Jerry G. & Anshul S.
Team Members: Gilberto A., Gustavo P., Edgar C.
App Description: The NBAs are coming up and we need our best players. Wear your math pants and start shooting in the right baskets. The questions get tougher depending on the level you choose, answer them by shooting/flinging the ball in the right baskets.
Technical Components Used: Lists, audio and graphics
Team One
App Name: No Vacation
Mentor(s): Alex R.
Team Members: Trentin H., Imanol R.
App Description: Imagine having your tropical vacation ruined by a strange witch. That's exactly what happens to our protagonist who bumps into a witch and is turned into a tiki. Your mission is to travel through a maze and collect the necessary chemicals for a potion to transform back into a human by answering various 5th grade-level chemistry questions. Answering wrong costs you a life. Lose all lives, and it is game over. Can you solve everything and make it out alive or will you be stuck as a tiki for eternity?
Technical Components Used: Canvas, ImageSprite, Lists, Clock, Horizontal Arrangement, Audio
The Runners
App Name: The Game
Mentor(s): Cristian G.
Team Members: Mayra A., Leslie C., Ashley E., Justice K.
App Description: The app is about 4 girls that fall into a new world and are trying to find their way out of it. They go in through a door that leads them to different places. They are chased by different monsters throughout the various screens. There are obstacles in the different screens. To be able to get through the obstacles the player has to answer questions about a STEM subject. Each chase scene/screen has a different STEM subject associated with it.
Technical Components Used: Notifiers, canvas, image sprites, clocks, a custom picture