Feb 28, 2010

Worked on final Test results and posted them. Too much to do, too little time.

Feb 21, 2010

Took a moment and updated the site with the sketches for this week. I've got almost all of the pieces of the project built, but I still have to tie them together. I've got other homework and home work to get to today though.

Feb 19 2010

Ive been working on the logistics side of my final project. Sound generation in flash is something new to this version of the Flash player and there's not a ton out there about it. The documentation is horrid. But, that said, I'm figuring it out. You can see my experiments at Audizer. I've spent a good chunk of time this week working on those technicalities and I think I have most everything I need to assemble a working prototype this next week. But we'll see.

Feb 15, 2010

I wrote my review of the Microsoft Surface today. I had a bit of a problem coming up with the topic. I finally settled on the surface not because I believe it's a great product, but because I think it has had a positive impact on the Multi-touch industry as a whole. I think Microsoft's endorsement of multi-touch and the hardware technologies involved as a viable business communication tool is very important. I'm fairly up to date on the industry as a whole. Hopefully my review tells a fair story while giving some historic context.

Feb 14 2010

This week has been a beating, but I'm posting the beginnings of project B and the final Exercise 3.

Feb 3 2010

I just finished my Midterm Project (Project A) - check it out. I think it looks good and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

On a side note, I'm really getting excited about gaming. I don't want to do 3d digital games. I'd rather do "serious" or educational digital games with simple graphics or paper gaming. I also want to explore a hybrid of paper and digital gaming.

Woot!

Feb 1 2010

Well, yesterday I posted a little bit more on the forum to be sure I had met the discussion requirements. I find that there's only so much I have to say about anyone's project from a peer perspective. I have this "Who am I to be saying xyz" thing going off in the back of my head.

Today I'm getting my files ready to go to print and finalizing my proposal, giving reasoning for my changes, etc.

On a side note, right before bed I usually play a game on my iPhone. Tower Defense games are by far my favorite. I'd like to make a tower defense game sometime whether on the iPhone or computer. Perhaps I can do that for one of my grad school classes.

Jan 27 2010

I'm finishing up my prototype this morning then I will hopefully be testing the prototype this evening with a family I know. They have a son who is autistic, who I designed the digital version of Begins With... for. They also have 3 daughters of varying ages 7 and under. My target audience is young children, mothers and teachers, so I'm going to try to get their mom involved and a another woman I know who taught 4th and 6th grade for a number of years. We'll see if I can coordinate all of it. I've yet to find a good feedback form, but I'll try to whip something up once my prototype is finished.

Jan 25 2010

The deadlines this unit seem exceptionally difficult given outside responsibilities. To have my game prototyped in a working fashion, and then user tested by day 3 will be difficult. I wish I would have looked ahead and began working on it this weekend. The prototype is not so bad, but finding the time to synch up with moms and kids in the next 3 days could be challenging. We'll see how it goes though. I'm excited about creating the working version of the game. Just a little nervous about time.

As I'm developing my prototype I'm realizing the game play is too complex for small children. I'm going to simplify the game play for my prototype and testing to see if it'll be good. Basically I'm going to take out the spinner and the idea that each player holds a certain number of cards. Instead, I'm going to have each player draw a card each round and they must say the letter that completes the card. If they get it right, they roll the dice and move that many spots forward. Because the spinner is now gone, I've revised my layout. From beginning to end spot, there are 21 spaces (20 spots to move to). I just need to find a big dice that won't be a choking hazard.

Jan 24 2010

Well, I submitted my official sketches for the mid-term project. There were some suggestions of a 26 sided die as a game mechanism, but I don't think I could make one very easily and I could only find 30 sided die online. So I'm going with a spinner model - which will be nice because I can just build it into the board. I'm trying to figure out what materials I'm going to use - I'm tempted to use wood for the base but I'm not quite sold on it yet.

I also submitted by Speed Chess Revision paper the other day.

I'm looking forward to getting grades and feedback so I know where I stand in this class. I think some of that will happen Tuesday. Unfortunately, I work Tuesday nights so I doubt I'll actually be able to attend a review. We'll see what happens though. Hopefully it'll all be recorded.

Jan 20 2010

Well, I've done plenty on this class in the last few days but I've found myself too busy to take the time to update the journal as a result.

Sunday I did most of the work, I did all my reading and responding to the discussions and worked on my take one speed chess, though I did not post them. The speed chess problem was fun. I enjoyed working on it. The interaction articles were tougher - there's a point in which I find something over-thought and over-explained. I think I'm a functionalist at heart. I want to know how it impacts the function of whatever we're building or making. Too much theory without grounding is hard for me to accept patiently.

I posted my discussions and speed chess on Tuesday because Monday I was out of commission all day. I'd also been thinking more about my mid-term project and made some revisions to that. I started sketching and envisioning the dynamics and mechanics of the game. I really think the game will work best with a facilitator. It's meant to be played with a teacher of sorts who can help guide the students through - it's not meant to just be played by a group of children. And I'm ok with that. I think it'll be a good teaching tool. I just need to figure out exactly how things work, and exactly what it will look like. I also changed the name to Begins With to match my other project (the other started out as starts with but I changed the name by the end): http://deptof.com/vignettes/

Jan 16 2010

I normally don't do school work on Saturdays, but I was inspired as I sat down at my computer. So I updated zBinder a bit graphically and put my proposal in the Project A section.

Jan 15 2010

I must have missed the instructions for zBinder somewhere along the way because I didn't have all the categories and everything done. I just had to add them. So I have quite a bit of content missing.

I added my birdcam yesterday. I don't have any birds yet because I just got the feeder for Christmas, but I expect to have a whole flock soon because it's winter and food is harder to find when it's cold outside.

Working on schools stuff today. Plan on hitting up the discussion boards and working a bit more on my binder to get it up to par.

Jan 13 2010

I'm having trouble getting into the groove of posting regularly on here. I probably just need to make a daily grad school checklist. So a few updates:

On Monday I did my research on my early digital artifact which is defined as pre 1979. I decided to do the Magnavox Odyssey because I had never heard of it, but it was the first home game console every commercially released. Tuesday I realized we covered the console in later chapters - oops. But I didn't know that at the time - information on the console was a little hard to come by. There are some really good sites, but books and articles were a little harder to find. I did find some, but I had to go to the online library databases and most of what I found was in retrospective articles about the origins of gaming, etc. Each one had a few tid-bits that I was able to use though. I pieced the whole thing together in the end.

Also on Monday I posted 3 ideas for my midterm project. Coming up with non-digital interactive artifacts to actually produce is hard for me. I find I need a problem to solve rather than just trying to come up with something out of thin air. But it's a start, I can always come up with more later if I need to based on the responses.

Tuesday I read the articles we were given to read and wrote my responses. The articles were good, great in fact, and very insightful. I get excited about this class and this program every time I read stuff like that.

Today (Wednesday) I don't plan on doing much of anything with this class other than posting this and browsing the forum. I have other responsibilities to worry about today. But again, overall, I'm really excited about grad school. When people ask I smile because I'm glad to be doing this. I love learning.

Edit: Also updated the theme. Woot.

Jan 8 2010

I've been thinking about my midterm project. Thinking of each of these projects is difficult. I have one idea for a slide calendar - it's an idea I had a while back but I've never actually created it. I think this would be a really perfect time to do so. But we'll see.

So the slide calendar is really a product idea. I've been trying to think of a story-telling or game related idea but have yet to think of much. I am interested in games, but I'm not over-the-top game-ho! by any means. I'm more of a passive gamer. I believe gaming can aid other things - specifically education. But I have yet to think of a game. Mostly, probably, because I'm starting in the wrong place. I really need to start with a problem then work toward a solution. But it's hard to have a set range of solutions to start with... it's easier to start with a blank canvas.

I have to think up two more ideas, so I'm focused on that right now. And trying to find an early digital artifact as well.

Jan 7 2010

Was just playing the wire sculpter video on http://www.pitaru.com/ - dreaming of what the mona lisa sounds like as Andrew Twomey suggested and talking with a friend about the logistics of actually pulling something like that off. I think it's possible in Flash.

Jan 6 2010

I'm figuring out this journal thing. About to write up my initial draft for exercise 1. I might be off my rocker with my idea, but I think I can justify it given the reading and research we've been doing. We'll see if I can pull it off.