[=;27962]
My 10 year old brought home a paper from his teacher stating they have a volcano project due by the end of the school year. She said one of the options was a 3D model of a volcano, Hehe. My mind of course jumped to our version of 3D models, not the paper or foam versions you always see in class. Since my told his classmates I’m working on making video games (even though I told him not to), they’ve called him a liar and teased him relentlessly. I hope this will help stop the nasty comments. Even if it don’t, I know I’ll enjoy working with my on something we both enjoy.
I called the teacher and got permission to bring in a video game version of a volcano model. There’ll be a cut scene about the caldera under Yellowstone erupting followed by a 2-3 min game where the character will be running to safety. I have to remember this is just a 5th grade science project, not a AAA title. We’ll be the only ones with a computer model as well so we’re setting the benchmark ourselves.
I’m going to use the lava and smoke assets from the Elemental demo and tweak the appearance to fit in with the style I’m going for. This is as much about me learning new tricks as it is helping my boy. I have about two weeks to complete the project. I figure doing a side scrolling run would be the easiest option for a quick game and I’ll study the elemental and reflection demos to see the best way to go about creating the cut scene. If I can make something worthwhile, I’d like to share this with the community so other people can download, make tweaks and help their own kids with similar science projects.
I’m completely new to every aspect of game creation/design so I’m not sure how everything will perform when its all finished. I’ve already spent the past month learning as much as I can and experimenting so this’ll be a good test of my skills. Thankfully I’m retired so I’ve been able to commit around 12 hours a day to understanding the different programs we’ll be using. I hope to have something to share with the community by the first week in June.
[/]
This is awesome, and we will give you as much tips and pointers as we can, just post some shot of what you got working and we will give you tips and advice 
Good Luck