Long Time, Lots Done!

Hi everyone, Andrew here!

It seems like years since we have posted on our blog! Well, we have good news anyway!

After looking at our budget, free-time etc. we have FINALLY announced the place, venue, and time for our launch night!

We are having it in Killinarden Community School hall, Tallaght, on the 28th of January, at 5-6.30pm.

We will be officially launching Maths Craze, and announcing English Craze to teachers, principals, the general public, and most importantly, the media! We're also inviting a few people close to us up to the stage to say a few words, and we have something thats top secret we have to do!

We will more than likely be stressed to pieces in the next four weeks as we still have a lot of organising to do!

All we can say really is Thanks God for Claire Hutchinson! She helps us so much!

We have invited a large number of guests and have got a lot of R.S.V.P.s back since, so we're not overly worried about people turning up!

Stay tuned, as we will be taking a lot of pictures of the night and will definately post them up here!

Andrew

Blog 005 - English Craze Screenshot, Vlogs and Update

Hello, Gavin here,

Sorry for not posting an update in a while, I've been busy working on E.C. (English Craze). Myself and Andrew have been working a good bit on E.C. over the past month and we're thrilled by the current progress of the software :)

I have a good bit of news to talk about, so I think I'll start with E.C. and how its coming along. We are delighted to say that the Poem Tool is coming along nicely and that we are nearly finished developing it, which is great, because that means we can then move onto : The Play Tool. The current number of lines wrote for the Poem Tool stand at 2,233 (nice number huh?) and I think I should have 4,000 lines wrote by the end of the week. We are also pleased to announce that we have released a screen shot of The Poem Tool (now remember the software is still in extreme beta stages):

(CLICK TO INCREASE SIZE)

This screen shot show cases the poet's profile in which the student can learn about the poet and also visit his/her poems. The layout is designed to relax students (and also for looking great!).

The software has updated some more after this screen shot was taken, and we're hoping to release an updated picture soon.

Some more good news:

We dispatched some of our Maths Craze games to people who have bought the game awhile ago, and we would like to apologize them for the delay, we had alot of work on our hands at the time.

We would also love to announce that we have updated Maths Craze to version 1.3! This new version includes the following updates :

• A new added feature in which the parent/teacher can set a limit to the question difficulty for a child/student
• An XML error has been fixed
• Some coding rewrites
• Engine rewrite for the editor
  

Ok, now that I've discussed English Craze and Maths Craze, I'll like to move on to something fun! Myself and Andrew have decided to use a different camera of mine...instead of the Rollei camera we've been using, we'll be using the Samsung L83t 8.2 Mega Pixels. I love this camera, and for future vlogs we will be using this with our new intro that I have made in Sony Vegas (check it out on Vlog Day 8).

Well, I'm signing off,

Stay Tuned,

Gavin Kenna
G.A. Learning

Blog 004 - Ta Da!

Hello, Gavin here,

Well, today has been really eventful (even though I seem to say that every blog/vlog) but it was! I managed to get the Poem Tool Editor done, which means we can move onto the Poem Tool, woop!
Also Andrew has got the website up and running , which you can find here : http://galearning.110mb.com (Go on...visit it...you know you want to)

OK, now that I have the main stuff out of the way, you may have noticed that we have uploaded Vlog Day 6, check that out, a pretty good Vlog today if I-do-say-so-myself. From Vlog Day 7 onwards, we will be using wide screen for You Tube, so be sure to check that out, the quality of each video will be better, I promise you that :)

Oh, I almost forgot to say, since we are going to be working on the Poem Tool now, we might just surprise you all at the end of the week with a very exclusive screen-shot, so, don't forget to check up on this blog and our vlogs on You Tube to stay up-to-date ;)

Just to inform people, we will be heading back up to our school tomorrow morning to take yet another people for the main menu (yes I know...we already took approx. 50 pictures) but we really want the design to look great, and Andrew has a good vision of how the game will look, so, I put my trust in him.

Also, we are hoping to annoy Jolyne from our school (you can see her in our vlogs in Vlog Day 4) , which is usually fun :)

Well, I'm signing off,

Stay Tuned,

Gavin Kenna
G.A. Learning

Blog 003 - Website and other matters.

Hello, Gavin here.

Well today was quite a busy day for myself and Andrew. Today we worked on the website (found here) , the game and packaging the Maths Craze game for all the people who have paid and haven't received the game and also for the people who haven't paid.
The Maths Craze game now has a new case and stylish cover, and I'm hoping to get a picture of that onto this blog to showcase. Oh, and before I forget, the official price of Maths Craze is €6.99 , and if purchased online, delivery charges apply. You can purchase the game here : CLICK

Now onto the website. Today we worked on the website, such as setting up a web gallery, updating the news section and the homepage section, stuff like that. It is coming along really nicely ! The new theme and skin to it makes it look amazing.

Now on to some fun stuff. Today we were also checking out a merchandise site which can make merchandise for a company, and we were looking at making G.A. Learning T-shirts for the both of us, and also pens and journals, to make the company more official and professional.

As I'm writing this blog, I generally think of an amazing event which happened today, and then the thought vanishes and I get very annoyed, but fortunately I remember what it is now : English Craze. Today was a pretty eventful day in terms of English Craze, as I got the user control of the Poem Editor for the Poem Tool done. I can now add poems to the game !

As for the art of the game, Andrew has the Official Logo for G.A. Learning done, meaning there wont be hundreds of the logo of G.A. Learning floating around, only one. I can't wait to show you all the logo, it looks superb!

Well, I'm signing off,

Stay Tuned,

Gavin Kenna
G.A. Learning

Today's Events

Hello!

Gavin from G.A. Learning here to update everyone on what myself and Andrew have done today and yesterday :)

Well, today myself and Andrew were again looking for a good template for our website, and to our delight, we found an amazing one! We are hoping to have the new website up very soon, as it will allow us to input this blog into the site along with our social networks, which will make making updates more efficient and quicker.

As for English Craze, the new project in development, we are coming along very nicely , and I'm very proud to see how its coming along.
If you have been watching our Video Diaries on Youtube (click here), you will know that Andrew (G.A. Learning's game artist) has been researching colors and the effects it has on humans, such as influencing different emotions and moods. From Andrew's research, he has been able to draw up a rough design for English Craze, more preciously the Poem Tool, which blends greens and blues together to create a relaxed atmosphere for user.

As for the programming section of English Craze, I have started work on the Poet Tool , mainly the Editor . The Editor can edit files from the Poet Tool, including the Theme classes, Quote classes, Poem classes and Poet classes. I am happy to announce that I have completed half of the Editor today, which means I only have half of the Editor left to do, then I can move on to programming the core of the Poet Tool. Once that's done, I can then program other aspects of English Craze, such as the Novel Tool, which will include the Novel Tool Editor.

Now, to the fun news! Myself and Andrew are going up to our school tomorrow morning to take test shots of school utilities (such as pens, books, etc) for the main screen of English Craze!

Well, that's all the news for today,
Stay Tuned

Gavin Kenna,
G.A. Learning

New Update

Hello!

Gavin here from G.A. Learning. Well, I just thought I'd update everyone on whats going on in the world of G.A. Learning.

Well, the most important thing to mention is that we have new social networks for you to join and be apart of, and read about new things going on. The links are here :

Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/user/galearning

Twitter
https://twitter.com/galearning

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100...702&ref=profile

Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/484029896

Bebo
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=9443620595

Blogger
http://galearning.blogspot.com/

Another piece of news is that we have started our new project, and you can keep up-to-date on this project through our youtube channel!

Well, See you soon.

Gavin Kenna
G.A. Learning

Some News

Hello

Well, I for one, think it is about time for a pretty good update on everything, ranging from the game, to the design, and from the cases to the distribution.

Well lately (three weeks ago to be approx. I think) me and Andrew finished the game , but, of course, there was a few things needed to be tweaked, but thankfully, doesn't involve much work from myself ;)

One of the main issues that myself and Andrew need to deal with is the design of the case and the manual, the colour is too bright, the text is too pushed together and the logo for 'Maths Craze' isn't very visible from the fluorescent background , all things myself and Andrew will need to fix immediately.

A list of our To-Do-List is roughly:

• Fix small problems
• Fix case
• Fix manual
• Fix Logo
• Get bank account
• Update web-site and upload some screen shots.
• Finish the installer until we are 100% happy with it.
• Upload game onto internet, which includes setting up online shop.
• Start Selling!

=======================================================

In other news, I recently gave a copy of the game to my maths teacher to beta test it and see what she thinks of it. We are waiting for a response and we are hoping for a positive response instead of negative one's , since the game is very near the last stage ; actually selling the game.

=======================================================

Returning to the subject that we raised a few weeks ago, we are still looking for people to join our development team, and we have the following vacancies :

• Programming with basic vb .NET skills (prefer. vb 2008 skills)
• Designing with Photoshop, Flash, Fireworks experience (prefer. CS3 skills)
• Person willing to learn programming/design by working alongside us and learning the skills (no experience / skills required, but basic computer skills is preferred.)

=======================================================

Well, that's all of our news that covers the past few weeks of G.A. Learning.
Keep on the lookout on our website (http://galearning.110mb.com) and this blog to stay in the know of our progress with Maths Craze and future releases.

Stay tuned,
Gavin Kenna
G.A. Learning

Game Completed and Future

Hello,

Here at G.A. Learning are proud to announce that we have finished creating Maths Craze. Maths Craze will be availble for purchase from PayPal from the 15th Of Feb onwards. This means you can buy the game at a very low price online :)

After programming, designing and testing the game, it is completed and we couldnt have been more pleased the way it turned out , and we are also very proud to have struck a partnership with P.Q. Games who will host links to the game on their forums, so check the P.Q. Forum regularly!
P.Q. Games/Projects is a personal favorite of mine because they allowed me to join their team back in early 2007 and I have had a pleasent stay. I hope to continue to create games with P.Q. Games/Projects in the future.

In other news, G.A. Learning are hoping to expand our company and hire (yes, hire, as in money) aspiring V.B. .Net Programmers and artists for upcoming games.
If our first release , Maths Craze , does well, then we will be on the look out for programmers and artists to join us on our team and create fun, educational games. If you are intrested, contact us here : galearning@gmail.com

Also, now that we have Maths Craze completed, this gives myself and Andrew breathing space to design a game in an ample working time frame to develop our next game in which we hope you will enjoy :)

Stay Tuned,

G.A. Learning.

Nearly finished!!!!

Well, it's 3/2/'09 and the N.F.T.E International finals are tomorrow!!!! And I can proudly say, we are almost finished!!!!!!!!

After days upon days of mind bogling work,we finally came up with an almost finished game!!!

The game has come from an 'Error around every corner' game to an honestly good looking game that we both feel deserves to win the competition( and we are very confident, right Gavin??!!:) )

The features of the game include:

• colourful interface
• very user friendly interface
• fun for all ages questions
• 2 minigames(X's & O's and Hangman)
• student profiles
• teacher profiles
• built in .Net framework
• stylish screens and buttons
• fully functioning question editor
• small in size
• sounds

Update

Hey,

Sorry for the lack of updates, it was caused by the recent holidays and our love of relaxing and being some-what lazy. But, we will make up for this through a very exciting update in which we hope you enjoy.

Yesterday me and Andrew got together to work on the game at a very fast rate, trying to meet our deadline for a prototype for N.F.T.E., which is unfortunately on Wednesday afternoon, four days away. After arriving at my house, I fired up my, well, seemingly ancient computer (its not how old it is that counts, it what it can achieve) , which can achieve alot of work in a short space of time due to its speed, but, it has low stamina before it crashes in a dramatic way (last time the screen got really bright before making the sound a cat makes).

After the computers loaded, we started our work. My work was basic programming work (which looking back, seems alot more advanced than basic) which includes linking controls together, launching events and creating functions for the game. Andrews work on the other hand, was more of the visual nature which included creating stylish buttons and amazing themes for the game, which I hope to implement in the game really soon, as soon as Andrew finishes it complety and emails the images to me.

The look and feel of the game we're going for is colourfull and interactive, but not overly colourfull, we dont want to blind the children, we dont have the money to cover law suit cases (unless of course Bill Gates does give us that million that we've been asking for ;) ).

On that note (the design of the game, not the million by Bill) we hope to post up a few screenshots of the game really soon and we hope to hear some feedback :)

Stay tuned,

G.A. Learning