Winners of Spirit Lake: The Game as of May, 2014 are listed below. Teachers – we have prizes so if you recognize your student’s username below, please contact us with a mailing address to send their awards. BETSYOHS BRISSA DGALVEZ EVAORTIZ100 HAWK10 HAWK20 HORSE 11 LELLIS RUTABAGA SHAR14 SHARK15 SHARK18 SHARK2 SHARK21 SHARK23 […]
AnnMaria De Mars
Since I mentioned the idea of an anti-hackathon – the format for people who have stuff going on in their lives but would still like the fun of knocking out a new project – I’ve had quite a few people contact me. Here is what I have so far and […]
Crowd-sourcing the anti-hackathon
I have attended a data hackathon once, as a mentor. I’ve never participated in a hackathon and only briefly considered it a few times. Here are my reasons why not: I have a perfectly comfortable office with a really good desktop with a huge monitor, all kinds of technical books, […]
My Anti-Hackathon
No, I don’t mean that kind. Well, sort of, I mean, Hoksinato is a main character in our game, and he is Native American and digital. No, actually, I mean this kind. These are the teachers at Tate Topa Tribal Elementary and Middle Schools in  training learning to use our […]
Making Digital Natives – for Real
Not everything we do makes it into the games. Sometimes we start out with an idea that we think will capture students’ interest and teach a concept, but it just doesn’t work out. For example, I thought I could demonstrate the ideas of probability, certainty, impossibility using the office guinea […]
Guinea pigs make poor co-stars
We have a new research associate coming into the office today – welcome, Jessica Bueler – and part of her task will be getting some organization around here. As I’ve said before, there are thousands upon thousands of parts to a video game. One of Jessica’s tasks as she learns […]
Spring Cleaning as We Grow
Overall, life has been progressing relatively smoothly here at 7 Generation Games, but “overall” is the key word in that sentence … Every parent is probably familiar with this scenario – You are in a restaurant, airport or other public place and it seems to you that your child is […]
We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties …
North Dakota: Come for the weather, stay because your car won’t start * When you read those stories about how Ben & Jerry drove up and down the state of Vermont giving free samples of ice cream to stores, or how the guys from Snapple drove around the northeast with […]
I Wonder If Ben & Jerry Had Days Like This
Here at 7 Generation Games, our jobs can change from week to week. As a small company, our work is decided not by title but by what most needs to be done. For the last few weeks, Dennis has been working on the 3-D game, making an application that does […]
Adding the juice
Hey, you! Yes, I’m talking to you! You couldn’t be like everyone else, could you? You just had to be an individual. Yes, you, with your shiny brand new laptop running the latest version of Chrome on Windows 8. You, too, Mr. Our-School-Must-Upgrade-Computer-Security. And, I’m talking to you, person running […]
Why It’s Amazing Anything Ever Works At All
In January,  we spent two weeks in North Dakota talking to teachers and observing  teachers and students playing Spirit Lake: The Game and Fish Lake. For weeks, we have been working on the changes they recommended and more suggestions that came in as students played the game. Drum roll, please […]
It’s here! It’s everything you asked! Spirit Lake 2.2
Answers – 50 cents Answers, requiring thought – $100 ———————————————- My favorite joke: The military had purchased a piece of machinery for a cost of $100 million. There was just one problem. It had quit working. After trying everything they could possibly think of without success, they called in a […]