As
you can see in the example below, objects fall
and are dragged by the user into the appropriate
category. There are three degrees of difficulty
and the aim is to drag a given target number
to the correct destinations.
Start
by thinking of a quiz relevant to your own subject.
The instructions below take you through how to
adapt the Flash document to your own context. The
number of categories does not have to be three,
it can be any number (although one would be a
bit easy).
Changing
the number of the categories
Less
Categories (i.e. 2)
The code checks the stage for movie clips beginning
with target as the movie starts. This means
that so long as you place them on the stage somewhere
and the instances are named conventionally e.g.
target1, the movie takes care of the rest.
Go to the stage and find the instance of
target3 called target3 (click on each target
and look at the instance name in the properties
window). Tap the delete key to remove it.
You could also delete the movie clip called
target3 from the library but you can safely leave
it there if you prefer.
You will need to alter the name of the categories
in code (see below).
More
categories (e.g. 4)
The code deals with any targets on the stage
automatically so go to the library (F11 toggles
the window on and off) and duplicate one of the
existing target movie clips (e.g. target1), making
sure that you rename the duplicate (target4)
and that the movie clip behavior is selected
before you click on OK.
Edit the new target movie clip in the library.
Single-click on the dynamic text box in its centre
and look for the var property in the properties
window. Alter its name to match the target it
is on (e.g. _root.targetText4).
Drag the new target movie clip onto the stage
onto the targets layer and arrange them all where
you would like the user to drag items onto them.
Changing
the names of the categories
In
the code on frame 1 of the scripts layer, scroll
down to find this bit of code.
Edit the values of the targetText variables.
The value of each is displayed in dynamic text
boxes in the target movie clips. You can also
delete the last one if you now have two targets
or add additional ones at the bottom if you have
more than three targets e.g.
At this point, you might find that the category
names you have chosen are too long for the text
boxes in the target movie clips. You might have
to edit the targets and alter the font size
or even, make the whole target bigger so that
you can fit a bigger text box inside.
Changing
the items that fall from the top
Find
this bit of code. It defines an array of variables
containing the text to add to falling boxes and
the correct destination for each one.
var item1
= ["Li",1];
var item2 = ["Na",1];
var item3 = ["K",1];
var item4 = ["F",3];
var item5 = ["Cl",3];
var item6 = ["Br",3];
var item7 = ["I",3];
var item8 = ["He",2];
var item9 = ["Ne",2];
var item10 = ["Ar",2];
var items = [item1,item2,item3,item4,item5,item6,item7,item8,item9,item10];
Edit
the items between the square brackets. The
first part (e.g. "Li") is the text
displayed in a falling object and the second
part (e.g. 1) is the target that it belongs
in (i.e. 1 is movie clip instance target1).
If
you want to add more objects, add them to the
bottom of the list, making sure that you name
the items properly (item11 etc). You can have
less items by deleting from the bottom (item10
upwards).
If
you have added or removed items you must finish
by editing the final part of the statement
e.g.
var items = [item1,item2,item3,item4,item5,item6,item7,item8,item9,item10,item11,item12];
or
var items = [item1,item2,item3,item4,item5,item6];
Altering
the comments and feedback
If
you scroll down through the code, you will find
the various pieces of text that provide feedback
as the game runs.
Each has the format - variableName
= "Piece
of text to be displayed";
The variables are given in the
list below.
var
openingComment = "Catch the falling
elements and put them in the correct group.";
var correctComment = "Well Done!";
var wrongComment = "Hard Luck!";
var feedback1 = " is an alkali metal.";
var feedback2 = " is a noble gas.";
var feedback3 = " is a halogen.";
var readyComment = "Get ready...";
var slowComment = "Too Slow!";
var finishComment = "Well Done - You have
completed the game.";
Put whatever you like between the quotes and
it will be displayed in the dynamic text box
at the top of the playing area. This is probably
the best way to find out the job that each does
in the movie.
Editing
the three levels of difficulty
Look for the function called setLevel().
It has three sections, each between a pair
of curly brackets ({}). These sections contain
sets of variables that determine how the level
runs. You alter the values of the variables to
change the level of difficulty.
Here are the variables and what they do in
red.
speed = 5; determines the
speed that the items fall - bigger value = faster
maxObjects = 3; the maximum number
of items that can be falling at once
intervalTime = 2000; the time
delay (in milliseconds) before the next item appears
and starts to fall
swapTargets = true; sets if the
targets can swap places - true = yes, false = no
swapTargetTime = 5000; the time
delay (milliseconds) before swapping target places
if swapTargets is true
rotateFlag = true; sets if the
items rotate as they fall - true = yes, false = no
rotateSpeed = 10; the speed
of rotation given as degrees if rotateFlag is
true (0 - 360)
holdTime = 2000; the time
limit that the user can hold an item before it
is marked wrong
maxQ = 20; the target number
of correct responses to complete the game
subtract = false; sets
whether to subtract 1 for wrong answers (including
timeouts)
Try some different settings and test the movie
to see their effect. The settings in the template
are definitely not appropriate and need testing
with a real whiteboard on some real students!