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