The Course Assignment
In the fall semester of 2007, I took a course in New Media at Purdue University. The final project for the course involved, well-- making something (as the class was conceived as primarily a production workshop). I’d been working with Adobe Flash all summer long, and I’d finally reached a place where using the program didn’t make me want to pull all my hair out and scream obscenities at the screen. For three months, Flash and I had been having an epic love/hate relationship. Mostly love-- dashed with a healthy amount of hate. The more I researched, the more I hit that damn “help” button, and the more ideas became reality on a Flash screen, the more I grew excited about the possibilities. I was excited enough to think that maybe . . . just maybe . . . I could integrate some Flash usage into my First-Year composition classroom. The New Media project seemed like a good place to test the waters.
Always having a life time interest in video gaming, I quickly realized how perfectly Flash lent itself to game production (though I didn’t know a thing at that point about the coding that would be involved). Since my students already make websites, photobooks, music videos, and other new media projects, video games felt like the perfect addition to my growing stockpile of assignments. So the first step was obviously for me to make a Flash video game myself. Not only to see if I could do it, but also to eventually see if I could teach the program to students. My students already use Dreamweaver, Movie Maker, Photoshop, and a host of other programs. I’ve never felt comfortable assigning multimedia projects without providing at least minimal instruction on the programs required. Was “minimal” going to even be possible with Flash? Could I ever hope to teach a program that still infuriates me on a regular basis?
This website is the result of my exploration. I ended up making two fragments of Flash video games. I think they both have potential, and what they lack in anything resembling finished products will hopefully be deflected by this website’s attempt to wrap the experience in a narrative/contextual bow. Both game fragments are included here. You will also find an extended take on the experience of composing with Flash. Additionally, I’ve included my thoughts on how and why to bring Flash into the classroom.
A little background on me. I came to Purdue with a BA and MA in English literature. This did not involve an extensive training in visual design. Literature as a field is still heavily seeped in good ol’ traditional text. So it really wasn’t until about a year and a half ago when I got to Purdue (as a Ph.D student in Rhetoric and Composition) that I heavily threw myself into visual design and composing with technology. I’ve used this time to teach myself Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and hell, I’d somehow never even used Powerpoint until I got here! After learning these programs, I got hired on by the Purdue OWL to develop visual rhetoric materials. The animation possibilities in Flash seemed like the best way to illustrate basic design principles, so I started diligently learning the program. I’m not suggesting my methods are the best. I’m basically a start-screwing-with-the-program kinda guy. It’s not that I’m anti-help, I just seem to do better when I devout endless hours to wrestling with the program from the ground up.
I feel this is important background information. On one hand it provides me a nice little buffer and excuse for my game fragments being less than polished. Additionally, my background info helps me identify my target audience. Although I hope anyone can get some use out of the info and narratives presented here, I’m truly aiming for instructors without background and experience with technology. In some ways, this is a “if I can do it, anyone can” appeal. Experienced designers are welcome to scoff at my trials and know in the back of their minds much easier paths I may have gone down. But for instructors with desires to integrate more composing with technology into their classrooms, hopefully my narrative of partial distress and frustration will help inspire (and maybe even lessen some anxiety).
