|
|
Post by Peer on Apr 5, 2020 4:46:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by TrekMD on Apr 5, 2020 11:08:11 GMT -5
Very nice! Will definitely keep an eye on it!
|
|
|
|
Post by hcmffm on Apr 5, 2020 15:37:26 GMT -5
Good to see that the Vectrex Academy 2020 does take place! My hobby is cycling so sure enough "Climb it!" is my favourite, atm.
|
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Apr 10, 2020 13:29:59 GMT -5
Very excited to see what is developed this year! Please keep us updated during the different phases  |
|
|
|
Post by eyelyft71 on Apr 15, 2020 11:56:48 GMT -5
Any updates on your game the Count? Looks amazing so far! Been enjoying Vec-Man immensely btw. Wish You the best with the new students and games this year!
|
|
|
|
Post by Peer on Apr 16, 2020 5:06:19 GMT -5
Greetings everyone! First of all, many thanks for your posts here, and for your kind words and your support for the class. This, as always, is highly appreciated. My apologies for not having posted earlier. Right now, due to the Corona situation, things are more busy than ever. Yes, I guess that sounds like my all-time excuse  Just a few words. Here at Pforzheim University we were lucky. We were well prepared for switching to online-teaching, as far as the necessary technical infrastructure is concerned. We managed to do so within a few days. So, for us and for our students, the semester started without any delay. Online-teaching from home-office itself is a whole new experience and requires a lot more preparation than usual. My wife is also teaching, same way as I do. We have rotational schedules, and whoever of the two of us is not teaching, is caring for the kids, as kindergarten and all other child-care facilities are also closed down currently. So, during the day, I am either teaching, or playing  But not playing Vectrex. And once the kids are in bed, I am digging my way through all the emails and the other to-do-stacks that have piled up over the day. I guess many of you are in similar situations right now. I will (hopefully) post again soon and report more details about this year's course and about the current status of the projects. And I will also answer the questions about "The Count" (still haunting me...) and write about some other things. All of you, stay safe! Many Cheers, Peer |
|
|
|
Post by VectorX on Apr 16, 2020 11:56:18 GMT -5
Here at Pforzheim University we were lucky. We were well prepared for switching to online-teaching, as far as the necessary technical infrastructure is concerned. We managed to do so within a few days. So, for us and for our students, the semester started without any delay. Yes, definitely lucky there, as my sister's a teacher and it's been a disaster for her, staying up until 1 a. m. trying to get things to work (but then she's not a tech person or anything). Her college is still not really back to teaching classes yet, I don't think. By the way, I've stickied this thread for now and the ensuing weeks. |
|
|
|
Post by Peer on Apr 19, 2020 10:25:14 GMT -5
Make sure to probably click the refresh button of your browser to see the recent changes and additions.
More to come soon. Many Cheers, Peer
|
|
|
|
Post by TrekMD on Apr 19, 2020 11:51:21 GMT -5
Fantastic!
|
|
|
|
Post by Peer on Apr 25, 2020 13:19:43 GMT -5
Greetings everyone, here is a short, but long overdue update of the current course status: There are five students participating in this year's Vectrex programming class. This number is significantly less than in the past years (averaging between 12 and 16 students), but I think it is futile to speculate about the reasons. Might be due to the current Corona situation, might be due to my web server not being externally visible in the weeks before the start of the semester, might be due to just no specific reason at all, who knows. Actually, I don't care. I am happy that there is a course this semester This class is definitely different compared to the previous ones. We have to make do with online-teaching, and the fact that unfortunately the students do not have the opportunity of directly working on a real Vectrex console. Thus, progress is a bit slower than usual. Then again the C programming skills of all students are really good, and they have all already progressed from the prototyping phase to implementing their project ideas. The last topics we discussed in class were the design and efficient programming techniques of state-machines, and the usage of function pointers in C. Cheers, Peer PS: I will probably open up a new thread where I will, as requested, report on the current status of "The Count" and on some other Vectrex related things, as those are not directly related to the 2020 academy course. |
|
|
|
Post by D-Type on Apr 25, 2020 14:03:02 GMT -5
Great to hear it's all getting into gear.
Fewer students means more 1:1 time, so they should get better results!
And maybe they do have the chance to use a real Vectrex...if they'd like take their chances on eBay, get a VecMulti and set it up with a usb serial cable.
|
|
|
|
Post by Peer on Apr 26, 2020 0:22:22 GMT -5
... it is rather 1:5 time constantly At least during the online teaching sessions. In a real classroom, during the implementation phases, there are usually small groups or pairs of students forming, and I am walking from group to group. There is also always lots of offline communication (well, not really offline as this usually means emails) , and this is indeed 1:1. And managing just 5 different projects is of course easier for me than 10+ projects.
During our online sessions, I have my webcams activated, and one of them points to my real vectrex console, which I also use to demonstrate various things. So we have that at least.
As for buying their own consoles, well, those are still rather expensive. And for the students money might be a bit tight, especially right now with many student jobs or internships being cancelled . I had one student in the past, an expert in Electrical Engineering, who obtained even two consoles, and another one who was lucky to have an uncle who discovered a console in his attic. But except for those two, although all students so far consider this course to be a real cool endeavor, they usually do not get that crazily addicted like me or the rest of our community 
Cheers, Peer
|
|
|
|
Post by D-Type on Apr 26, 2020 2:15:37 GMT -5
But surely, buying a Vectrex is like buying books for a course?
When I was at Uni, I had to buy lots and they cost a fortune, but they were sold on at the end, so not so out of pocket!
But that was years ago...I guess all the books are online now...and so is the Vectrex, via emulation :-D
Does anyone even live in the physical world anywhere???
|
|
|
|
Post by Peer on Apr 26, 2020 2:31:50 GMT -5
Yes, that is a big problem. The large majority of today's younger generation is used to everything being available online in digital format. And they are also "used to" everything on the internet being available "for free"...  |
|
|
|
Post by Peer on May 1, 2020 7:41:46 GMT -5
Latest modifications - Screenshots of project Silver Surfer updated on 05/01/2020 at 14:35
- Screenshots of project Rush Defense updated on 05/01/2020 at 14:25
- Screenshots of project Climb It updated on 05/01/2020 at 14:15
Cheers, Peer
|
|
