Video Game Success: Making Video Games with Math

Start with Pixel Press Floors

Pixel Press Floors allows you to create your own video game.  In our algebra and algebra 2 units we talk about lines and graphing lines for a solid part of our curriculum.  I wanted students to collaborate and have an ending project that brought a final bang to our unit.

This app allows you to draw on screen (in paper mode) and draw out the different levels of the game. There are a ton of lesson plans and tried and true ideas here: http://www.projectpixelpress.com/education

The Rules for the Project

• Student's need to create at least one level where they have an undefined, positive, negative, and zero slope.  They also need to have at least one other slope that is different from the rest (e.g. y=-3x instead of y=-x.)
• Student's level needs to be playable, you need to be able to get from beginning to end as a player of the game.
• The student's need to take a screen shot of their different levels to show their different slopes and use Desmos to graph each of the different slopes.

Here is an example level:

Students final examples should look something like this:

I want students to have a different final project.  Students will peer assess with others in the room.  Student's will need three other people to play their level and look over their paper they will have to write.  They will have a rubric to fill out about the playability of the game and the features of the game.