Games That Make You Smarter

AnnMaria De Mars

maze pyramid background — I call this a maze game because the challenge is to get from point A to point B. It is a really simple game to make, requiring only 513 lines of code, plus another 103 on the instructions page.The only library it uses is jQuery. You can play the game […]

How to Make a Simple Maze Game

March 29, 2017 in AnnMaria / Code Talk by AnnMaria De Mars

I was asked to speak at not one, but two, different youth summits over the weekend. On my personal blog, I wrote the first part of my keynote address, about being handcuffed to a bed in juvenile hall, in foster care, and getting to the point where I am now. […]

What Urban Youth Need to Know: The Rest of the ...

March 24, 2017 in AnnMaria by AnnMaria De Mars

Ronda and Tom — We’ve never had a formal investor meeting at 7 Generation Games, but we got lucky today with two of our investors dropping in at the same time to give us advice. Tom was in town from the Midwest to enlighten Maria and me on the new Sales Statistics and Marketing […]

Sales, Marketing and Mini-Investor Meeting: Hire a clone

March 23, 2017 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

teaching subtraction — Whether it’s a class presentation, at a conference or a teacher presenting a lesson, you’ve probably seen this PowerPoint fail. The presenter is all excited about showing you their new, cool explanation of subtraction with re-grouping or how to improve aquaculture. It doesn’t matter the topic because you never see […]

To Animate or Not to Animate, That is the Powerpoint ...

March 21, 2017 in AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Truck covered with 6 inches of snow — No, it’s not the beginning of a joke, How can a game developed HERE be optimal for HERE In fact, there was a reason I was on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago last week, and it wasn’t the beaches and perfect weather (although I did not hold that […]

What Do a Caribbean Island and a North Dakota American ...

March 18, 2017 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

Sometimes, it’s flattering to be insulted. No, wait, hear me out. We have parents and some kids telling us that our games are not as interactive as Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto or World of Warcraft. Our world is not as big. The graphics are not as amazing. They […]

No One Gets Better at Math from Call of Duty

March 10, 2017 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

7 Generation Games baseball jersey — It’s International Women’s Day and kudos to those of you who are supporting women in any way. You never know how far your efforts will reach. Some of you are staying home to support Day Without a Woman. Others have decided not to spend any money except in women- and […]

4 Ways to Support Women-Owned Business (besides hashtag)

March 8, 2017 in AnnMaria / Women in Tech by AnnMaria De Mars

picking herbs in woods — First of all, to everyone who backed us on Kickstarter early on, invested in our company at the very beginning, played our games when they were still buggy, piloted our prototype: THANK YOU I just can’t say that enough. If you have not seen our games lately, please take another […]

Show me the money! (And I’ll show you the game)

March 7, 2017 in AnnMaria / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

dreamcatcher — You might think teaching at a tribal college wouldn’t prepare you for running a start-up. You’d be wrong. Can you make a million dollar game for $100,000? No? Me, neither. No one can. Some angel investors have wanted to see that before they were willing to invest. (Not OUR investors […]

How a Tribal College Helped Me Make Video Games

March 6, 2017 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

As I mentioned previously, we took a ton of pictures and we recorded a bunch of audio to be used in our next game, Aztech. We were extremely fortunate to hire a guide to the Mayan ruins who had worked on the archaeological digs for a decade, and whose mother […]

What I learned in Belize: Part 2

March 3, 2017 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

mother says that was the wrong number — Another one of my ‘picture-says-1,000-words’ posts. Just another sneak peek at the improvements we’re making. Old page when you brought back too many herbs: New page when they miss the herb question SPIRIT LAKE: THE GAME – Runs on Mac and Windows computers. You can get it now […]

Spirit Lake Update: Picture-Perfect

March 1, 2017 in 7GenGames / Game Progress / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Ronda on Facetime — Much of my time is spent in hotel rooms, as I travel from state to state providing teacher in-services, presenting at conferences and generally promoting 7 Generation Games as a great educational tool and a way for kids to learn and have fun(adults ,too – we won’t judge you – […]

My Life as a Reality TV Star

February 28, 2017 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars