Recently I watch a film called The Prestige which was on BBC2 (20th February 2011).
The film is a period thriller set in Edwardian London where two rival magicians, partners until the tragic death of an assistant during a show, feud bitterly after one of them performs the ultimate magic trick - teleportation.
His rival tries desperately to uncover the secret of his routine, experimenting with dangerous new science as his quest takes him to the brink of insanity and jeopardises the lives of everyone around the pair.
The film describes how a magic act consists of 3 Acts. The first part is called ‘The Pledge’ where the magician shows the audience something ordinary. The second act is called ‘The Turn’ where the magician takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. The third act is to bring back the extraordinary back to its original state.
Having watched this film I could help but wished we created our structure of the level based upon these 3 acts that were described in the film. This also got me thinking that with better research into the topic of Magicians, this idea could have been used much earlier in the process of creation.
Instead now, we have created a structure that is purely based upon location. Having found this Neo Tokyo Mod and being allowed to used the assets for our project, meant that focus on creating a level based with that in mind on not towards the idea of misdirection which is the main focus on the project.
It’s easy to look back at what should have been done, but at the time ideas about Tokyo and the setting were getting the team excited towards the project with everyone coming up with ideas. It was always said that the team could play on the idea using misdirection with the use of a different culture, which lead to us finding the Neo Tokyo Mod, however ideas on misdirection on the whole have been difficult to create effectively as of now.
It seems that the teams desire to go ahead and create a Tokyo setting without fully understanding how to implement misdirection into a test that would record meaningful data may have a negative outcome for the project on the whole, which worries me right now.
Write ups for the First Draft Reports should be completed this time next week, along with the new Design Document. Team input towards both is needed, which will be done in tomorrow’s meeting (22nd February 2011)
Monday, 21 February 2011
Friday, 18 February 2011
Week 2 - Semester 2
This week has been updating the Design Document for the project. I've been trying to note down the hard facts about our game to help with the development of the levels everyone else is doing.
This really should have been in place before when went on to create these levels look back at it from this stage. However I think at the time of the first draft of the Design Document, we had a rough idea of how we wanted to implement features into our game and wanted to take the time over Christmas to spend creating the levels and worry about the details later.
I think this approach hasn't worked for the team, well for me personally at least. This is because without considering the details of the level before creating them, we don't really know how the pacing of the game will work right now. Right now looking at the Street Level in particular, though our paper design looked much bigger, it feels really small for the kind of experience we want to have in this section.
Also since all 3 other members have been creating the levels, leaving me with document work, I have been left in the dark in terms of the progress. Details such as puzzles are being added into the levels without my knowledge at times.
Right now I have but as much detail as I can right now, though if the team can respond quickly I can add much more detail towards the design document which the team can follow.
We were also given Assignment sheets about the reports (Group and Individual) that need to be completed towards the end of the project. I'll be working to get a rough draft completed of them by this time next week. Since the team will be working towards making the details of the levels soon, I guess work towards these reports.
This really should have been in place before when went on to create these levels look back at it from this stage. However I think at the time of the first draft of the Design Document, we had a rough idea of how we wanted to implement features into our game and wanted to take the time over Christmas to spend creating the levels and worry about the details later.
I think this approach hasn't worked for the team, well for me personally at least. This is because without considering the details of the level before creating them, we don't really know how the pacing of the game will work right now. Right now looking at the Street Level in particular, though our paper design looked much bigger, it feels really small for the kind of experience we want to have in this section.
Also since all 3 other members have been creating the levels, leaving me with document work, I have been left in the dark in terms of the progress. Details such as puzzles are being added into the levels without my knowledge at times.
Right now I have but as much detail as I can right now, though if the team can respond quickly I can add much more detail towards the design document which the team can follow.
We were also given Assignment sheets about the reports (Group and Individual) that need to be completed towards the end of the project. I'll be working to get a rough draft completed of them by this time next week. Since the team will be working towards making the details of the levels soon, I guess work towards these reports.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Week 1 - Semester 2
It has been over 2 months since the last update. The reason for this long break was because of the Christmas holiday cause disruptions with the work flow. Also assignments and exam were needed to be completed for the end of the first semester causes more disruptions with the work flow created at the start of the project.
That said a lot of work has been done within those weeks, it’s just smaller weekly tasks such as updating this blog have been put to one side in order to complete the work.
Building Levels
Last Blog entry talked about how the team was planning on creating a paper based design for in order to make sure the team understood what the level design were going to be for gully help get the best results for our test on misdirection and immersion.
Since then the team has been split up so the work on creating those designs in Hammer. The productions on those plans are in full swing since a plan was organised before the exam period (10th January 2011).
To date the plans for a Train Station, City Streets and an Office Building have all been blocked out with textures to be added shortly.
Updating the Design Document
Feedback from lectures about our hand-in of our Design Document (11th January 2011) was that more detail was needed to help get our points across on what is needed for our Design/Project Goal.
It has been my task to write up documents such as this, so I have been trying to gather enough metrics to help us with designing our game. This process has been quite hard with the lack of structure in recent weeks; not being able to meet the team on a regular basis. However that should soon sort itself out with the start of the second semester beginning this week.
Looking into Usability Testing Techniques
In recent weeks I have been reading up on Usability Testing to help with our final testing for this project. I found a book in the University Library called "Game Usability by Katherine Isbister and Noah Schaffer" Usability is about creating a better and deeper experience with less unnecessary interruptions or challenges for the player, which can have an effect immersion within a Video Game.
I've also found a Gamsutra Article today by Sauli Laitinen a Game Designer and Usability Specialist
Better Games Through Usability Evaluation and Testing
That said a lot of work has been done within those weeks, it’s just smaller weekly tasks such as updating this blog have been put to one side in order to complete the work.
Building Levels
Last Blog entry talked about how the team was planning on creating a paper based design for in order to make sure the team understood what the level design were going to be for gully help get the best results for our test on misdirection and immersion.
Since then the team has been split up so the work on creating those designs in Hammer. The productions on those plans are in full swing since a plan was organised before the exam period (10th January 2011).
To date the plans for a Train Station, City Streets and an Office Building have all been blocked out with textures to be added shortly.
Updating the Design Document
Feedback from lectures about our hand-in of our Design Document (11th January 2011) was that more detail was needed to help get our points across on what is needed for our Design/Project Goal.
It has been my task to write up documents such as this, so I have been trying to gather enough metrics to help us with designing our game. This process has been quite hard with the lack of structure in recent weeks; not being able to meet the team on a regular basis. However that should soon sort itself out with the start of the second semester beginning this week.
Looking into Usability Testing Techniques
In recent weeks I have been reading up on Usability Testing to help with our final testing for this project. I found a book in the University Library called "Game Usability by Katherine Isbister and Noah Schaffer" Usability is about creating a better and deeper experience with less unnecessary interruptions or challenges for the player, which can have an effect immersion within a Video Game.
I've also found a Gamsutra Article today by Sauli Laitinen a Game Designer and Usability Specialist
Better Games Through Usability Evaluation and Testing
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