[kde-edu]: Number Munchers

[Alex Berry]

That is a good point but I still don't know what the official policy on 
such matters is.  I've worked on open source projects that were very 
strict in recognizing licenses, copyrights, etc. and others that were 
much more "laissez-faire" about these things (ie if we don't get sued 
there's not a problem).  Regardless if you were to give me specs I'd be 
more than glad to work on such a project whether or not not it becomes 
part of kde-edu.  I think that educational games (computerized or not) 
are a very important facet of education.

So please feel free to send to me details of how you envision an FOSS 
version number munchers.  I always enjoy working on software that will 
actually get used!

Quoting "T. J. Brumfield" <enderandrew at gmail.com>:

> I can't speak for any KDE developer as I'm not one, but KDE does
> feature other clones in the kde-edu and kde-games projects.
>
> kbounce, kbreakout, kdiamond, kgoldrunner, klines, ksame, bovo,
> kbattleship, kmahjongg, kreversi, kshisen, kfourinaline, kpat, klspat,
> kirki, katomic, kmines, kmines, ksquares, ksoduku, ksirk, ktuberling,
> bomber, kapman, etc. are all clones/derivative games.
>
> If you wanted more explicit details for what I envision, I could
> certainly provide them.
>
> -- T. J.
>
> On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 2:23 PM, Alex Berry <berry3 at indiana.edu> wrote:
>> I love this idea.  I actually wrote a clone of Number Munchers (creatively
>> called Digit Crunchers) for a Java design patterns class last semester and
>> would be more than happy to port it to Qt/KDE if the conditions for what a
>> KDE version of number munchers would entail were made a bit more explicit.
>>  If that explicitness is merely write it and we'll go from there that's fine
>> too.
>>
>>
>>
>> ps I'm not really sure how rights play into clones and how KDE handles such
>> matters.
>>
>> Quoting "T. J. Brumfield" <enderandrew at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> First off, I want to say thank you for all the developers who have
>>> worked on the kde-edu project.  There are some really great apps in
>>> there.
>>>
>>> I have a young daughter, and she loves playing computer games with me.
>>> Honestly, I'd love to see some more FOSS educational apps.  One of
>>> the biggest issues I see in education apps, is that some of the apps
>>> are so specific, that they somewhat only pertain to students of a
>>> specific subject, or children at a very specific age range.  I would
>>> like to see a remake/clone of Number Munchers.
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_Munchers
>>>
>>> It was developed by MECC, which is no longer in business, and they
>>> haven't taken action against clones of Oregon Trail, their most
>>> popular app.
>>>
>>> Number Munchers has many nice things going for it as a concept.
>>> * It is simple to learn and play.
>>> * It should be simple to code.  I say that as a non-programmer, but
>>> someone made a DHTML version in under 5k of code here:
>>> http://www.numbermunchers.org/
>>> * The app doesn't need much from an art perspective, unless you wanted
>>> to add nice animations or cut scenes.
>>> * The game mechanic appeals to children of varying age ranges.
>>> * You can use different types of math problems to appeal to children
>>> of varying ages.
>>>
>>> I was thinking a KDE version could use Konqi to munch the numbers to
>>> get away from completely copying the original app.  Perhaps gameplay
>>> could even be expanded by allowing Konqui to breathe fire to deal with
>>> the Troggles.  Correctly answer X number of math problems, or munching
>>> X number of correct solutions awards Konqui with one flame.
>>>
>>> -- T. J. Brumfield
>>> "I'm questioning my education
>>> Rewind and what does it show?
>>> Could be, the truth it becomes you
>>> I'm a seed, wondering why it grows"
>>> -- Pearl Jam, Education
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> kde-edu mailing list
>>> kde-edu at mail.kde.org
>>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-edu
>