New activity: Speak

[Joshua Minor]

On Jan 10, 2008, at 8:57 AM, Eben Eliason wrote:
> This is pretty fantastic.  I've enjoyed playing around with it.

I'm glad you like it :)

>   One simple change that I think would add a lot is some color.  More
> specifically, the XO uses a two-tone (stroke & fill) color scheme as a
> form of visual identity.
...
> Another nice touch would be to make the eyes follow the carat while
> typing, instead of remaining focused on the mouse

Two great ideas.  Adding color will be super easy.  I can make a  
toggle between black/white and the user's colors.  Is there a kid- 
friendly sugar or gtk color picker, like the box-of-crayons one on  
the Mac?  That would let them play with the colors too.

I'll see if I can get access to the carat location easily.

> Finally, a subtle but
> wonderfully effective technique that a professor of mine often used
> for characters with eyes is to periodically return the pupils to the
> center of the eyeball.  This creates a sort of dialogue between the
> character and the child, as it appears that the he is interested both
> in the movement of the cursor and in the individual moving it.

Neat!  I want to make the eyes blink at random also.

-josh