When terms or expressions are like, then they can be shortened into a smaller size. Everyone enjoys having a simpler and easier equation so why not take the time to condense it. These are called like terms and they are the magic behind the math. We learnt many terms to better understand and complete this. With this knowledge, we created a project using like terms with a driving question, “How can we code a 2D game that involves like terms and algebra tiles?” My group (Matthew and Angelo) wanted to create a 2D “.io” C# game using like terms, polynomials and algebra tiles.

Understanding and solving:

In our project we had to understand and solve two parts of the project building, creating the game and having a detailed competency of the math. With any math subject, practice is key to understanding which we had a lot of it. Using the correct mathematical operations for combining like terms were necessary for an accurate and successful project. We also had to solve problems by adding the math into our game. We had three areas where the math would be used; as you level up, you answer a question that would add or subtract score, polynomials would be used as how many barrels the character had and finally, algebra tile was going to be the different sizes of food where they give more points (1, x, x). With any new program, there is always a giant learning curve and a huge set back in the time taken. We spent around 10-20 hours on the production of the game through school days, after school and on weekends.

Communicating and representing:

Once we had a complex understanding of the equation we needed to represent and communicate our ideas through our project creations in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic ways.  After creating our project we needed to present our project to the class and share our game and the problems/glitches while still being enthusiastic and telling. We showed the front end (UI), back end (coding) which was everything from our working game, its functions, coding and the ideas going into the project. Despite showing everything we tried to do before the time limit we did not use the correct terms that we learnt through our practice.

Connecting and reflecting & Applying and innovating:

Angelo, Matthew and I are all interested in coding and new software so we had thought it would be a good idea to create a game involving math. We used Unity, a game platform for creating the UI (user interface) and Visual Studio, an extension of Unity for coding C#. Creating our game we used agar.io and diep.io for inspiration. Going out of our comfort zones, we devoted our time to this game to make it work. I used all my time when I didn’t have my laptop planning for the production or completing other work to free up space for coding at home. I contributed to the work equally even though some or most of the code wasn’t incorporated.

I learnt a lot about mathematical ideas and operations during this project and the textbook practice. Creating a game showed what I love to do, learning new software and expanding my skills. We were able to make a working game based on our original idea, however, we only had minimal math and no combat. This was a really fun project creating our idea and having creative freedom.