Fluxx Mod Project Blog: 11/19/17

Summary: 
Fluxx is a complex game in which the goals are rules are always changing. While creating my very own Fluxx deck my partner and I set out to use this platform to educate others about the Water Cycle. Some main concepts of we included were accumulation, condensation, evaporation, precipitation, etc. Accumulation is when water gathers in large bodies such as lakes, seas, and oceans. We should this through a goal in which you needed lake and rain because the rainwater accumulated into the lake. Precipitation is when water drops onto the earth in ways like snow, sleet, hail, and rain. We incorporated this into our Fluxx deck by having the goal of 'Package Arrived' which required hail and atmosphere because hail precipitated atmospheric water to earth. When liquid water vaporizes into a gas is known as evaporation and the goal that explained this was 'Love is in the air.' In this goal, the connection was water vapor was in the atmosphere. 

Backwards Looking - What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them?

One problem that I encountered during the project was lining up the cards so the front and back matched up. Unfortunately, this problem was never solved and soon enough I learned this was a problem for other groups too. I did, in fact, ask other classmates and peers for advice, but most people didn't know how to fix the issue themselves. Finally, my partner and I agreed to cut our cards based on the front so we could preserve the important information it contained. This was a smart move on our part and I am glad it turned out well. In addition to this, another problem I came across was finding a colored printer. Neither of us had current access to a working colored printer which brought upon a debacle. To fix this issue we asked around and eventually, we got them printed. The reason we were able to work around this problem with such ease was that my partner an I didn't get angry with each other and together we brainstormed ideas to solve the problem.

Inward-Looking: Find another piece of work that you did at the beginning of the year to compare and contrast with this. what changes can you see? How did those changes come about?

Another piece of work I completed was the Geologic Time Scale Project. Something I noticed was on this project my group and I applied some of the collaboration skills we learned during elective. In the other project, we let peoples' issues slide and just ignored the problems we were facing whereas with this project we worked together to fix some of the problems listed above. On this particular project, my group and I went the extra mile which is something I did on my Designer Species Project. The reason we made a box to hold our cards was that we had the time to do so. In both the Designer Species Project and the Fluxx Mod my group worked efficiently and followed a specific timeline giving us the extra time to add some bells and whistles to our project. From now on I will remember that time management and solving conflict in a noble manner is the best way to end up with a good end result.

Outward-Looking: Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?
My partner and I followed the crowd when it came to artwork seeing as we used online images. Although this took away from our originality it was the safest bet because hand drawing all the images requires patience, good artists and a lot of time. We may have gone through the same process as others, but it worked for us and didn't depart from the requirements and that's all that matters. Something we did differently was creating a box for our cards. Every deck of cards comes in a box and we thought we would use our extra time to add some flare to our project. We were the only group that did this and it made our deck of cards stand out which is something I'm proud of. All in all my partner and I had some pieces of our project that stood out and others that didn't, but in the end, it turned out well. 

Forward-Looking: What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time?
One goal I would like to set for myself on future projects is to finish the project one day before it is actually due. This would not only give me some cushion if something goes haywire but would leave me some time to add something extra to my project. Like I mentioned above, when you have good time management you can add improvements to your project and have time to revise it. As well as that, having this goal would force me to make a timeline or calendar for each and every project and keep my group and I organized and be ready to turn certain components of the project in if necessary. This goal is very important because when I set a goal in writing I will most definitely follow it or at least work towards it.