ALICE
Alice is a 3D programming environment designed to teach object-oriented, event-driven computer programming. The late Randy Pausch, known for his Last Lecture, was the developer of Alice at Carnegie Mellon University and Alice is available for a free download from http://www.alice.org. Alice can be used to develop computer animations or games. Teaching with Alice means meeting students where they live in media rich world of animation, audio, and interaction.
Workshop Animation
This animation was originally developed for a workshop to introduce high school girls to computing. The workshop takes between 45 and 90 minutes and all the participants created the Alice world and coded the skater's motion. I have used the same workshop to introduce new faculty to Alice, even those with no computer programming experience.
Student Projects
Rather than have me discuss the results of the class I teach, it is better for me to show the work that students have done.
- Animations (unless noted, developed after 4-6 weeks of class).
-
- Iraq Vet's Salute
- Eastside - an animation based on Westside Story
- Night Club - a valentine day card based upon Night at the Roxbury the film Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan.
- Moon Shot Birthday Card - a birthday card programmed by an adult student.
- Easter Card - a card showing a more contained narrative.
- Easter Nightmare - a card beginning to show different worlds possible with animation.
- Valentine MasterCard - a card developed by an international student of a well know MasterCard advertisement.
- Iraq Vet's Salute
- Games/Interactive Programming (usually
after 12 weeks of class)
- Ace Gunslinger - this is a multilevel game (4 levels) designed as a first person shooter. The walkthrough in this video is conducted by the game developers who are adept at getting through the game. Ace's girl has been kidnapped and he has to rescue her. He is beset by hoods in different settings, and at each level has three lives and four reloads of his six shooter.
- Hawks Hunt - in response to a complaint that Alice had a "Fisher Price" toy look and feel, the developers of this program created a first person shooter set on the campus quad.
- Night - a couple of students entered the literary competition to celebrate the publication of Night. For their entry they created a first person game based upon a section of Night where Elie's father has been taken away from him and he is desperate to find him. The walkthrough plays the game three times with increasing success.
