Unity Based Top-Down Shooter Game: Design and Development
By Gillian Yue, VI Form
Unity based Top-Down Shooter Game: Design and Development
I’ve always been interested in video games since I was a child. To me, playing games was never just entertainment; it was also a special artistic experience. While art can be presented in many forms, visually, auditorily or written down, video games are often a combination of different forms, as they need to contain graphics, sounds, and storylines.
This summer, through the Class of ’68 Grant, I worked on an independent game project for the iOS platform, a simple space-shooter-style game with a small variation: instead of simply shooting “bullets”, the player first collects the bullets by tapping on the randomly code-generated paintballs. I chose to work on this project because I’ve always enjoyed playing Space-Shooting games, and I wondered if I had the ability to create something similar. The bulk of the programming was facilitated by the game engine Unity3d, whereas the graphics and audio used in the game were created respectively in Photoshop and Garageband. So far, I’ve had the time to complete the basic structure and logic of the game, with a few characters, background and soundtracks, and I plan to add more artistic components as my project progresses. (more…)
I Built a Canoe!
By Reily Scott, III Form
I Built a Canoe!
Over the summer, I ordered some blueprints, bought some wood, and started on my
Click the image for a time-lapse video of the project!
seventy-hour journey to buoyancy. For the past three summers, I have built something alongside my dad. Projects have varied from a toolbox to a blacksmith forge. I knew I wanted to build something, so I looked online, but nothing inspired me. After some deep thinking, I decided that my solution should consist of something with fishing because of my dad; oh, and I love the joy of using dangerous power tools! My dad and I searched online for unique canoes that we could construct. Eventually, we came
upon a method known as “skin on frame”. This method helped Eskimos construct their boats. Basically, it consists of a seal skin pulled tightly over a wooden frame. Since we were not planning to go to the top or bottom of the world to hunt and skin a seal, we purchased a small tarp of polyester in substitution. (more…)
Penny the Penguin: Parents’ Best Helper!
By Izzy Kim, VI Form
Penny the Penguin: Parents’ Best Helper!
This summer, I attended a tech + business program at MIT called LaunchX, formerly
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known as MIT Launch. I was admitted as a “hacker,” with my specialities in app development and virtual reality. The ultimate goal of the camp was to create a start-up and pitch the business idea in four weeks. I worked with three other students and together we co-founded Ami. Ami has an ambitious vision of “keeping kids happy and healthy,” and we are taking a first shot at our vision with our pilot product Penny the Penguin. On the outside, Penny might seem like any other penguin plush. Yet, Penny is a kid’s best buddy and the parent’s best helper: Penny can speak parent-crafted messages through a phone-connected bluetooth speaker. Through these messages, children will adopt healthy habits, and parents will find parenting less of a difficulty and more of a joy. Busy parents who accidentally forget to remind kids to “brush their teeth” or “wash their hands” can simply set up a reminder on our accompanying app to have a message played specific times. We tested our products on families living in the greater Boston (more…)
The Power in Controlling the Past: Orwell’s 1984 & Big Brother
By Laura Sabino, IV Form
The Power in Controlling the Past: Orwell’s 1984 & Big Brother
Editor’s Note: 1984 was the St. Mark’s School Gray Colloquium Summer Read for 2017
In George Orwell’s 1984, the Party aims to control all of the citizens of Oceania. They have figured out how to take away their citizens’ privacy by watching them through tele-screens, brainwashing them to be blindly loyal, and even claiming control over their bodies and mind. The Party has limited language, so rebellious thoughts could not be expressed, and are working towards controlling the past. The Party wants to control the past because by controlling history and memories, they are able to control their citizens and gain power.
At first sight, controlling the past might not seem too important since most people do not think history is crucial to their everyday lives. However, the Party controlling the past ends up giving it power. People look back and learn about history so that they are aware of mistakes and things to avoid. People look at history so that they can get reminders of what worked out and what did not, and what ended up being good and what ended up being bad. In 1984, the Party understands that history defines its people. (more…)
Becoming a National IV Cup Soccer Champion
By Hailey DuBose, VI Form
Becoming a National IV Cup Soccer Champion
You train three times a week all year. You go to the gym, do the beep test, and run three miles all to prepare for four days of games. You’ve put in work all year, almost 15 hours a week to prepare to play 360 minutes of perfect soccer in four days. Most people would never think of doing something as demanding as this; they might even call it crazy. However, to me this is one of the most exciting times of the year: the US Youth Soccer National Championships. Yes, you miss fun things throughout the year like hanging out with friends on “days off”, not being able to ask anyone to the Sadie’s dance because you have a tournament in Virginia, and people deciding that you don’t want to be invited because, “You always have soccer.” Saying “Sorry, I can’t go, I have soccer” at least 100 times a year gets annoying, but the feeling as the final whistle blows in the final game and knowing that you just became a national champion is worth the travails. (more…)
Productivity, Neuroscience, and Deliberate Practice: Deep Work and School (Part 2)
By Dr. Colleen Worrell, Director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
Productivity, Neuroscience, and Deliberate Practice: Deep Work and School (Part 2)
With the school year off to a frenetic start, I am returning to the topic of deep work, which I wrote about in LEO last September. My article, “Make Deep Work Your Super Power,” was supposed to be the first in a series of posts that would connect Georgetown Professor Cal Newport’s book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World to school and learning. “Deep work” is the ability to focus deeply on a challenging task for a specific period of time, blocking out all distractions in order to get stuff done efficiently and well. The fact that I’m writing part 2 of the “series” one year later proves that I have yet to master this skill. Indeed, my failure to build deep work into my own practice is, in part, what motivates this post. (more…)
On Spoken Word Poetry
By Grace Darko, VI Form
On Spoken Word Poetry
Before I start, here are some of my favorite spoken word pieces: one by Loyce Gayo and a few by Kanye West.
Spoken word poetry is the lovechild of rap and free verse. She definitely had an identity crisis and couldn’t decide whether she should speak in verse or in prose. But, it turns out her audience is multilingual, so she never really had to choose. She instead takes from both parents, honoring them by presenting the best of both worlds.
I was introduced to spoken word in my later years of elementary school. My brother had recordings of performances from the show called Def Poetry Jam, hosted by rapper Mos Def. Each episode of Def Poetry Jam was an oral anthology of poems with no particular order, and the show includes poetic performances from popular singers and rappers. It was amazing to hear some of the performances. Up until middle school, I never saw the video recordings because I only listened through my brother’s mp3 player. Yet, when I finally looked at the tape, the experience was even better than just the music. (more…)
A New Reality for Cancer Patients
By Sophie Haugen, VI Form
A New Reality for Cancer Patients
“No radiation. No Chemo. No Cancer.” These are the words on the sign hanging from the window of the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Partway through my fifth form year in Advanced Biology, Jack Thalmann and I were fortunate enough to be selected for internship positions at a cutting-edge research lab for one month of the coming summer.
This past August, we traveled to Seattle and lived in Magnolia, an urban-residential neighborhood located a few miles north of downtown Seattle, with Max (‘72) and Marcia Witter. Each day we commuted to the Ben Towne Center and worked in the Jensen Lab, which focuses on immunotherapy as a treatment for pediatric cancer. Dr. Michael Jensen (‘82), the director of the Center, has made remarkable strides and has achieved some incredible success. Dr. Jensen and the staff at the Jensen Lab take an innovative approach to fighting cancer: they collect blood samples from pediatric cancer patients, genetically engineer the patient’s own T-cells to recognize cancer cells, and infuse the treatment back into the patient’s body. (more…)
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