2013-08-03

【Aiden in English/红霞译文】

Mon. July 29, 2013

       Today was my first day of Lavner Video Game Design in Germantown Academy Summer Camp right after I had done Belfry Theater Camp in the past of 5 weeks. But I was only able to catch up with it for a week. After this week, there were no more camps I planned to go.

           At the beginning, we introduced ourselves to everyone else. There were 19 kids in total and 3 counselors as named David, Emily, and Jack. Holy cow! No any girls would like to join this camp, which probably meant that they didn't like the shooting games.

            Soon we had a naming game. Everyone had to list a food that began with the first letter of our name. We went around a circle stating food and naming the food of the person before us. By the time it reached the last person, he just started guessing all food that the previous people had given. Everyone laughed when he called Justin for Bustin and me for Aid. How embarrassing!

       To start off the camp program, we were introduced to our first game ChocoBreak. It looked like the same thing as Brick Breakers except the bricks were blocks of candies. The ChocoBreak's hardest part was creating the conditions for the ball. We had to make a separate one for each item the ball hit.

            The first step was to place all the items wherever you wanted on the screen. Then, we programmed the ball to move and bounce. Finally, we commended the game to destroy the brick it hit.

            In the afternoon, we advanced to the level two on our own. It seemed really hard because we didn't have a guide through the instructions.

            Just before we left, we saw a person's game that looked like super Mario, which was so terribly amazing that we could make a game like it.

星期一，二O一三年七月廿九日

      刚刚结束五个星期“钟楼剧院”夏令营，今天是我加入“拉夫纳视频游戏设计”的第一天，我在捷门堂的暑假生活也进入最后一周。

      我们先进行自我介绍，本周“拉夫纳视频游戏设计”夏令营共有十九位营员、三名辅导员分别叫大卫、艾米莉和杰克。天哪﹗清一色的男生，想必女孩子讨厌玩打打杀杀的视频游戏。

      接下来我们一起玩命名游戏，要求每人必须根据营员名字中第一个字母说出食物名称。于是我们围做一圈，借用自己前一位小朋友的字首，把它作为食物名称的开头。轮到最后一位时，他必须复述出前面所有人的名字和大家已经命名的食物。露怯时刻到了，这位伙伴把“贾斯汀”说成“巴斯汀”，而将我自己“艾顿”省略成“艾德”，逗得我们哈哈大笑。

      言归正传，我们要设计第一视频游戏──“巧克力砖块”。“巧克力砖块”看上去跟“消砖块”游戏差不多，只不过我们所使用的砖块是糖块而已。在这个视频游戏里，用什么样的球来打“巧克力砖块”可谓全部程序中最难的部分。

      首先，我们要把视频游戏所有的元素都集中在一起。然后，再开始编辑程序，安排球出击反弹。末了，我们还得下达指令，用球打碎砖头。

      午休回来，我们从初等水平晋升二级水平，自行设计频游戏。在没有老师指导提示的情况下搞软件设计，其实一点也不容易。

      回家之前，冷不丁看到一营员设计的类似“超级马里奥”一样的视频游戏，酷得了不起，我们很难达到他的水平。           

Tues. July 30, 2013

            This morning, we finished our level two of ChocoBreak. It was basically impossibly unless someone could cheat or hit 10 balls every two seconds.

            After lunch, we learned a new video game called Space Invaders. It's about killing all the aliens before you got shot by them. This game became much harder to be programmed than ChcoBreak. But it was awesome. There weren't many things that were hard, except for the Alternating Values. The alternating values were how many lives a boss got.

            When we tested the game, it was so easy that we passed the level without having to lose a life. I was trying to think of things and to make our game harder. But nothing came up eventually. I programmed the ball to multiply by two every time if bounced off the player. Justin, my partner, made an adjustment that every time the ball hit the player and it would multiply. We started to argue that when the ball hit a player, it would become impossible. But Justin counted by telling me to delete the multiplying part when it bounced off the player. Finally after the fuss, we decided to add a power up to give us 50 extra lines!

            What really stunk was that we were asked to pack up. I was absolutely enjoying it. Even more, Space Invaders was starting to look like a game. Unlike a moment ago, it was all in pieces. But all good things must come to an end. 

星期二，二O一三年七月卅日

            今天上午，我们完成二级“巧克力砖块”设计，可以说难度很大，每两秒钟就得发射十个球。

      午饭后，我们又开始学习新游戏“太空入侵者”，其宗旨无非先下手为强，要在外星人来犯之前彻底消灭他们。“太空入侵者”视频游戏要比“巧克力砖块”难得多，但相当有意思。“太空入侵者”基本设计比较简单，难就难在“变换值”上。这里所说的变换值，指的是一个上司要干掉多少对手。

      当测试游戏时，我们轻松过关，而且尚未损失任何兵力。我思忖如何提高游戏难度，但毫无结果。这时，我将球每次从对方弹回来乘上二写入软件程序。我的搭档贾斯汀把它改成“当球击到砖块则又增加一球”，我们为之争论起来，因为照他所说的去做，球不可能碰到对方。贾斯汀让我在球从对方弹回来时暂且不计算乘多少，看看结果如何。经过试验，我俩终于达到共识，决定把击球数增加，想不到我们最后竟多写出50行程序﹗

      其实，最出乎意料的不是编程，而是时间不饶人，转眼便到了我们收拾东西打道回府的时候。我非常喜欢游戏编程，尤其“太空入侵者”现已初具规模，谁曾想到，不久前它还是散沙一堆，零乱得一点不像游戏。这么说来，天底下真的找不出不散的宴席。           

Wed. July 31, 2013

             Today was the third day of Lavner Camp. So far, we completed two levels of ChocoBreaks and one for Space Invaders. Our main goal right now was to make the level two for Space Invaders.

            After lunch and recess, my level two was looking great except for one thing. It was too easy for correction. It was way, way, way too easy. So what I did was to make the aliens shoot three missiles every two seconds. The missiles could break through walls without getting destroyed and took out all three hearts in one gigantic Ka-Boom! What really made me go crazy was how the aliens wouldn't aim at us. Instead, they went firing in insane directions. I was so confused. The one time I lost a heart. I felt like giving the program a gold medal.

            After I gave the enemies some major upgrade, I thought this was harder than it looked. I had to program the computer to count for two seconds until it unleashed a barrage of missiles.

            When Justin tested it, he gave it a rating of impossible. I guessed great minds think a like because everyone else did it the same thing.

            Finally, it was time to go. I gave my level two one last try, and failed. I wondered what I should make next. Maybe I created an alien that shot particle beams vaporizing everything in its way.

星期三，二O一三年七月卅一日

      今天是“拉夫纳视频游戏设计”夏令营第三天。到目前为止，我们已完成二级“巧克力砖块”和初级“太空入侵者”两套游戏设计。现在，我们的首要任务就是主攻二级“太空入侵者”。

      午休过后，我的二级“太空入侵者”进展顺利，不过有一点要稍加改动，这点改动实在不算什么。我让外星人每两秒钟连发三颗导弹，并且导弹击穿墙壁后仍然完好无损，最后在一声震耳欲聋的巨响之后打中目标﹗让我按捺不住内心激动的是，无论外星人本领多么高强，也无法打中我们自己。他们疯狂扫射，倒令我疑惑不解。有一次，我失手脱靶。我觉得这个视频游戏够份有水平，完全可以荣膺金牌。

      经过对敌方做了一些重大改进后，整个编程难度也相应提高，要比表面看上去难出许多，我把程序改成每两秒钟就得密集发射导弹。

      贾斯汀测试过这个游戏之后认为奇妙无比，我深有同感，人人因之都会泉思若涌。

      回家前，我还想再改进自己设计的二级“太空入侵者”，但成效甚微。不知下一步该怎么办，也许我需要制造出一个能发射粒子束并能随意让世间任何事物蒸发消失的外星人。           

Thurs Aug. 1, 2013

            I couldn't believe it was already August. That meant the school would start in about a month and the summer camp would be almost over including video gaming.

        To set out, we learned a new game called the "Platform Game". It's about surviving and making it to the end. You could jump, walk, duck, and shoot. This game was supposed to be the hardest yet. We just couldn't make the game hard enough. Our boss could die with one hit, which was weird because it was programmed to have 20 lines. Also, our "person" wouldn't die at all. It was a nightmare over all, but it was really fun.

            After came back from the lunch break, we did the level two for our platform game. In the event editor, we had to program the person and alien to launch an object. For the person it's a bullet and for the aliens, particle beams, lasers, and bombs. We even had to program it to hit us. Then, we must make the platform a "platform" because we would fall right through and into the hot lava. Afterwards, we got to click on every platform and change Run-Time Movement obstacle to "Platform" in the Properties menu. Soon we had to add lives, score, and power-ups. We had three lives with a variable "Score" for each kill, and a bunch of awesome power-ups, such as rapid fire, extra lives, missiles, anything as needed.

            It was CRAZY hard I programmed. The enemies shot lasers every second. Justin who kept insisting me to make it easier laughed like nuts when I said it was impossible. Not long before I tried it and failed big time, I made a prediction out loud that it was gonna be a piece of cake.

            We stopped 30 minutes before usual and let some people show their video games. All of us were good, but Kiran's was outstanding. He had 11 levels of intense fighting combat of a Platform Game, with 4 boss levels that almost no one could beat it but himself.

星期四，二O一三年八月一日

      令人难以置信，今天已进入八月。这意味着大约再有一个月时间，学校很快就要开学，夏令营一去不复返，视频游戏同时宣告结束。

      今早我们学编新程序“平台游戏”，与生存及坚持到底有关，通过跳、走、猫身、射击等具体动作来充实游戏内容。这套编程本应目前我们设计的全部游戏中最难的一个，但因为能力受限，一下子很难叫它复杂起来，即使我们写下20行程序，游戏中不该死的上司不堪一击，而该死的家伙反倒活得好好的，真是莫名其妙。这让我们大伤脑筋，正因如此，才倍觉游戏刺激好玩。

      下午，我们继续设计二级“平台游戏”。利用事件编辑软件，设置敌对双方(譬如地球人和外星人)发射不同的东西﹕地球人发射子弹，而外星人发射粒子束、激光、炸弹。我们甚至要让自己成为被打击的目标，再为“平台”搭平台，这样才能穿过去进入热熔岩里。接着，我们点击每一个平台，并在“特属性”菜单中，将运行时间移动障碍改成“平台”，外加人力、积分以及像速射、后备军、导弹等所需的出击手段。

      怪我设计得太复杂，敌人每秒钟都在发射激光，不停劝我做简单一点的贾斯汀听我为游戏叫绝时笑个没完。没过多久，我测试了一下，结果惨不忍睹，要知道就在此前，我还大言不惭地说它不过是小菜一碟。

      我们抽出30分钟展示自己的设计成果，大家做的都不错，但凯瑞最棒，其“平台游戏”激战程度高达11级，除设计者本人能够掌控所有游戏人物命运之外，四个级别不同的上司每一位都文武双全，战无不胜。 

Fri. Aug. 2, 2013

        Today was the last day of summer camp. The time flew by faster than I wanted. But there seemed a kind of tension as if the kids wanted time to slow down. It felt like the end of the summer, but it was only for the camp. I really wanted to stay because I wouldn't see my friends for another year. Maybe I wouldn't even remember them. It made me shiver. I wished the school year ahead to be over quickly and I couldn't wait to come back.

         I had to bring over my computer to download my games onto my CD. I eagerly took it and read everything through. I couldn't believe that I made a video game on my own. I was still in shock after I walked outside to leave. I was so in wonder that I nearly missed my car. It seemed as if my eyes were glued to my game. I just couldn't resist opening up the CD case because the piece of paper might fall out. I could only grit my teeth and wait for my mom to pick me up.

          We said our final goodbyes. It was truly sad to say farewell. On the other hand, I was able to sleep all day long from now on and play my video game any time I intended to. Maybe I would make one at home. But what I know is that I'm going to come back next year.

星期五，二O一三年八月二日

      今天是夏令营最后一天，时光飞逝，完全不以我个人主观意愿为转移。同伴们竭力想挽留光阴，生怕暑假一去不复返，尽管谁都知道此刻不过是夏令营的终结。我真想留下来跟朋友们呆在一起，不然大家要等到明年方能见面，到时也许我记不清楚他们每一位名字。联想起这些，禁不住令人心酸，但愿新学年很快过去，我巴不得早点回来。

      我得将计算机里自己设计的游戏下载到袖珍镭射光盘上，赶紧好好回顾一番。简直难于置信，我能做视频游戏了。走出大楼，我仍然沉浸在惊奇之中而不能自拔，险些忘记乘车。此时，我两眼聚焦游戏，要不是担心光盘盒子里的纸头会掉到地面，我真想打开盖子拿出来再看一看。我咬紧牙关，等待妈妈接我回家。

      我们终于互道告别，令人难过至极。不过换个角度来看，从现在开始，我可以睡觉睡到自然醒，想什么时候玩游戏就什么时候玩，没准儿我在家还能再做出一个游戏光盘。至少有一点我敢肯定，明年将重返故地。