AnnMaria De Mars

book — Note: While this is a positive review of a resource, no one paid me to write it and I would not know the founders of livebinders if they charged at me with a sharp stick. I just thought I’d provide a helpful suggestion to readers of this blog who are […]

A tool for teachers (and students): livebinders

March 16, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM by AnnMaria De Mars

map — Where are all of the good educational games? Seriously, if you compare the games used in an average classroom and mainstream games like Grand Theft Auto or World of Warcraft, there is a pretty dramatic difference. Don’t even go with the GTA and WoW and other games with a seven-figure […]

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things in Educational Gaming

March 15, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games by AnnMaria De Mars

rabbit — TRUE STORY: When I was in the seventh grade, our school had a speech contest. I wanted to win simply because I was that obnoxious kid who had to win EVERYTHING. So, I worked really hard, did research, followed the exact format, practiced in front of a mirror, all of […]

Ed Tech, Investors and Bunnies

March 14, 2016 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

COME OUT AND MEET THE 7 GENERATION GAMES TEAM 7 Generation Games is preparing to get on the road starting next month, to attend various conferences and expos. Our calendar of events is filling up as we spread the word on how entertaining our games are to play; and the […]

Meet us as 7 Generation Games Hits the Road!

February 21, 2016 in Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Door leading into the jungle — We’re knocking off the last few edits on our grant proposal, we completed the pretest of math scores with 125 students with another 150 to take the test next week. We have hundreds of players participating in the beta tests for Forgotten Trail and Aztech. So, now that we have […]

The week of 1,000 changes

February 21, 2016 in AnnMaria / Game Progress / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Iowa map, with corn inset — I don’t think a lot of video games are set in Iowa. Our game under development, Aztech, begins in Iowa. We didn’t pick Iowa for any specific reason. We just wanted a state that was rural and far away from central America. Very early in the game, our heroes are […]

Here’s to you, Iowa

February 19, 2016 in AnnMaria / Game Progress / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

house — So … this is what I am working on today …. In short, and this is a rant for another day, we found through our pretests that the average student needed FAR more remedial help in mathematics than we had expected. Each time you go up a level in the […]

Game Design: Reusable Code, Part 1

February 17, 2016 in AnnMaria / Code Talk / Game Progress / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Dog — If you are thinking of joining a start-up, take this advice to heart: There is no room for specialists here! This weekend (yes, I know it is the weekend and Valentine’s Day, but we’re a start-up) – as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted – this weekend, […]

Variety is the spice of start-up life

February 16, 2016 in 7GenGames / AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Adam, me and others — What can a start-up learn from a comedian? Why did I start a series of youtube videos on free advice to make you smarter? Why is it Adam Hunter’s fault? Calm down and I will explain. A few weeks ago, after Adam’s latest show, we were talking about my idea […]

What can a start-up learn from a comedian?

February 2, 2016 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Julia is shocked — We are very fortunate to have volunteers who assist us with game testing, advice on game design, and sometimes I am sure they wonder to themselves. Are you people stupid or what? I gave you these great ideas three weeks ago and you still haven’t done hardly a thing! You […]

Are you dumb or what? What.

January 26, 2016 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

little kid in a business suit — I was wrong. Like many people, I thought teachers objected to standardized testing because it highlighted their inadequacies and held accountable those who weren’t doing their jobs. Of course, if you were one of those slacking government workers, you wouldn’t want anyone pointing out that you were falling down on […]

The Teachers Are All Right

January 24, 2016 in AnnMaria / Math by AnnMaria De Mars

Having a startup is a lot like being a mom. There are all kinds of people telling you that you’re doing it wrong, not doing enough, if you ONLY spent 30 minutes a day reading to your child, having dinner with them, exercising, out in nature, checking their homework, discussing […]

99 Start-up Tasks on the Wall

January 22, 2016 in AnnMaria / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

Games That Make You Smarter