that the user can use in their construction of games. Anima-gadgets are animated
representations of behaviours that are classified as belonging together (groups of
behaviours related to bouncing, or bombing, or direction of movement, and so on).
Toontalk behaviours have two ‘states’; these are called the ‘action-state’ and the
‘edit-state’. The action-state of the three bouncing behaviours in the ‘bouncing’
anima-gadget is shown in figure 5.6 a. The edit state of the horizontal bounce
behaviour is shown in figure 5.6 b. The default ‘action-state’ shows an animated
multimodal representation of the behaviour. The ‘edit state’ reveals a static
multimodal representation of the behaviour.
Once a behaviour is selected it can be ‘flipped’ over by the user and the user can
move between the ‘action-state’ and the ‘edit-state’.
Behaviour ‘Action-State’
The concept ‘bounce’ is represented in the behaviour ‘bouncing’ in three modes. The
mode of writing is used in the form of the word ‘Bouncing’. The mode of still image
is used in the form of two images of a spring and an image of a ball. The mode of
movement, in the form of three animated sequences, one of a spring moving up and
down between two bars, another of a spring moving sideways between two bars, and
a third sequence of a ball moving at angles within a square. These three modal
representations provide different resources for the construction of the concept
‘bounce’.
The mode of writing is used to lexically name and classify the three behaviours
depicted as aspects of ‘bounce’ in everyday terms. This everydayness is emphasised
in the font used, Helvetica, which is often used in publications (books, web sites, et.)
targeted at children.
The images, taken as a set, classify the character of the concept of bounce - it is a
conceptual image. However, when taken individually the images are narrative
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