Here is a link to my Final Design Project Proposal:
Final Project PDF
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Experiment Plan In Progress
Ed James Evangelista
DAI 627
Spring 2009
Digital Worlds Experiment Plan
1) Experiment Title: MusicWorld
2) Experiment Scenario:
The experiment takes place in an open area wide enough for a large number of people to exchange and arrange music samples (all attached to objects shaped like notes).
3) Experiment Mechanics:
Players will all start off by choosing one musical note object for themselves, with each object containing a different sound. The players will then interact with one another and share their chosen notes so that they may increase their collection of musical sounds. Then the players will arrange their collection of notes into a “song” by laying them out on the public sandbox in a linear fashion. At the end of the time limit, a group of critics will go to each player and review the players' songs.
4) SL Location:
I'll be using the land provided by Chris Selig, Laura Munoz, and Steve Tse (thanks a lot for the use, you guys). 198, 175, 21 - DAI 627: Design of Virtual Worlds. (on Paradisiac)
5) Roles:
Players (testing single musical note objects) – This group of players will be using objects that are shaped like musical notes, all of which play the sound of a single note. After all of the single-note players obtain one note each, they will have a time limit of 15 minutes to share and collect more notes from other single-note players. The single-note players will then have 15 minutes to arrange a 10-second song with the notes they have collected. After the time limit is reached, players will each be called upon to “play” the songs they created.
Players (testing music sample objects) – This group of players will be using musical note objects that play a sample DJ sound. Just like the single-note players, the DJ-sample players will have 15 minutes after choosing their own musical notes to share and collect more notes from other DJ-sample players. The DJ-sample players will then have 15 minutes to arrange a 10-second song with the notes they have collected. After the time limit is reached, players will each be called upon to “play” the songs they created.
Documenters – The documenters will record all of the players' actions in the game, making sure to take snapshots of their activities and write down notes of their interactions with other players and their objects.
Critics – These are the participants who will review the songs that are created from the arrangement of the notes, providing constructive criticism and opinions.
6) Role Assignments:
Player (for testing single-note objects):
1) Karen Chan (SL Name: Karrie Bloobury)
2) Joshua Greutzmacher (SL Name: JD Mint)
3) I Wuen Wang (SL Name: Jackie Aljon)
4) Jade Liang (SL Name: Rococo Carami)
5) Zachary Rose (SL Name: Russel Skizm)
6) Kimberly Radich (SL Name: Bojangles Copperfield)
Player (for testing DJ-sample objects):
7) Danny Pan (SL Name: Spaceape Cryotank)
8) Delonzo Pope (SL Name: Pingwu MacFanatic)
9) Xiaomin Zhou (SL Name: Starlit Zimmer)
10) Laura Munoz (SL Name: Bomber Oller)
11) Chris Selig (SL Name: Endo Chrome)
12) Alisa Lemberg (SL Name: Aleezza Steamweaver)
Documenters:
13) Ed Evangelista (SL Name: Hugh Frostbite)
14)Stephen Zito (SL Name: Leif Ulrik)
15) Grant Chen (SL Name: Hisame Rae)
16) Martha Renneisen (SL Name: Cassandra Avedon)
17) Brandon Wong (SL Name: Tsuyoshi Kimono)
18) Tara Phettaphong (SL Name: Adele Oximoxi)
19) Zhen Tan (SL Name: Holypig Tigerfish)
Critics:
20) Jane Veeder (SL Name: Jane Valentino)
21) James Molgaard (SL Name: Jamesdaniel Juneberry)
22) Colleen Straw (SL Name: Momo Mohindi)
23) Steve Tse (SL Name: K2 Donogal)
24) Jose Ramirez (SL Name: Oengus Beeswing)
25) Micah Cash (SL Name: Wrest Aldrin)
7) Assets Provided:
Musical note objects will be laid out and awaiting pick-up by the players, who will all be limited to one note object each at the start. Then the players will interact with each other and share note objects at their own discretion to potentially increase their collection for music creation.
8) Participation Preparation:
Other than keeping in mind that the duration of all the sounds attached to the musical note objects is one second, no other preparation is needed.
9) Production Plan:
Not much will be necessary for the purpose of this experiment outside of the musical note objects and land space. The sounds for the musical note objects will be recorded from my own keyboard and uploaded onto Second Life with my Linden Dollars. The sounds will then be attached to notes, which I will build myself and distribute at the start of the experiment.
DAI 627
Spring 2009
Digital Worlds Experiment Plan
1) Experiment Title: MusicWorld
2) Experiment Scenario:
The experiment takes place in an open area wide enough for a large number of people to exchange and arrange music samples (all attached to objects shaped like notes).
3) Experiment Mechanics:
Players will all start off by choosing one musical note object for themselves, with each object containing a different sound. The players will then interact with one another and share their chosen notes so that they may increase their collection of musical sounds. Then the players will arrange their collection of notes into a “song” by laying them out on the public sandbox in a linear fashion. At the end of the time limit, a group of critics will go to each player and review the players' songs.
4) SL Location:
I'll be using the land provided by Chris Selig, Laura Munoz, and Steve Tse (thanks a lot for the use, you guys). 198, 175, 21 - DAI 627: Design of Virtual Worlds. (on Paradisiac)
5) Roles:
Players (testing single musical note objects) – This group of players will be using objects that are shaped like musical notes, all of which play the sound of a single note. After all of the single-note players obtain one note each, they will have a time limit of 15 minutes to share and collect more notes from other single-note players. The single-note players will then have 15 minutes to arrange a 10-second song with the notes they have collected. After the time limit is reached, players will each be called upon to “play” the songs they created.
Players (testing music sample objects) – This group of players will be using musical note objects that play a sample DJ sound. Just like the single-note players, the DJ-sample players will have 15 minutes after choosing their own musical notes to share and collect more notes from other DJ-sample players. The DJ-sample players will then have 15 minutes to arrange a 10-second song with the notes they have collected. After the time limit is reached, players will each be called upon to “play” the songs they created.
Documenters – The documenters will record all of the players' actions in the game, making sure to take snapshots of their activities and write down notes of their interactions with other players and their objects.
Critics – These are the participants who will review the songs that are created from the arrangement of the notes, providing constructive criticism and opinions.
6) Role Assignments:
Player (for testing single-note objects):
1) Karen Chan (SL Name: Karrie Bloobury)
2) Joshua Greutzmacher (SL Name: JD Mint)
3) I Wuen Wang (SL Name: Jackie Aljon)
4) Jade Liang (SL Name: Rococo Carami)
5) Zachary Rose (SL Name: Russel Skizm)
6) Kimberly Radich (SL Name: Bojangles Copperfield)
Player (for testing DJ-sample objects):
7) Danny Pan (SL Name: Spaceape Cryotank)
8) Delonzo Pope (SL Name: Pingwu MacFanatic)
9) Xiaomin Zhou (SL Name: Starlit Zimmer)
10) Laura Munoz (SL Name: Bomber Oller)
11) Chris Selig (SL Name: Endo Chrome)
12) Alisa Lemberg (SL Name: Aleezza Steamweaver)
Documenters:
13) Ed Evangelista (SL Name: Hugh Frostbite)
14)Stephen Zito (SL Name: Leif Ulrik)
15) Grant Chen (SL Name: Hisame Rae)
16) Martha Renneisen (SL Name: Cassandra Avedon)
17) Brandon Wong (SL Name: Tsuyoshi Kimono)
18) Tara Phettaphong (SL Name: Adele Oximoxi)
19) Zhen Tan (SL Name: Holypig Tigerfish)
Critics:
20) Jane Veeder (SL Name: Jane Valentino)
21) James Molgaard (SL Name: Jamesdaniel Juneberry)
22) Colleen Straw (SL Name: Momo Mohindi)
23) Steve Tse (SL Name: K2 Donogal)
24) Jose Ramirez (SL Name: Oengus Beeswing)
25) Micah Cash (SL Name: Wrest Aldrin)
7) Assets Provided:
Musical note objects will be laid out and awaiting pick-up by the players, who will all be limited to one note object each at the start. Then the players will interact with each other and share note objects at their own discretion to potentially increase their collection for music creation.
8) Participation Preparation:
Other than keeping in mind that the duration of all the sounds attached to the musical note objects is one second, no other preparation is needed.
9) Production Plan:
Not much will be necessary for the purpose of this experiment outside of the musical note objects and land space. The sounds for the musical note objects will be recorded from my own keyboard and uploaded onto Second Life with my Linden Dollars. The sounds will then be attached to notes, which I will build myself and distribute at the start of the experiment.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Second Life Cool Places, Features, Objects, and Scripting
Cool Places in Second Life:
1) PUBLIC SANDBOX Platform - Advert, Mauve (104, 106, 34)
This place was interesting because it was one of the first relatively empty sandboxes I visited, which allowed me to toy around with a lot of things. Plus, there were a whole bunch of freebies and objects left around for visitors to try around (from free clothes to a bicycle to ride in the area). And it had furniture shaped liked Tetris blocks, which was funny.
2) Chaos - Home of Phobos Design & , Chaos (27, 225, 67)
I thought this place was cool because of the futuristic designs applied to the many buildings there. It had a futuristic hotel with a pool, a store filled with various clothes for purchase, and other interesting things.
3) Magicland Park, Bracket (252, 72, 30)
This place was cool because it was an homage to theme parks like Disneyland, going so far as to recreate the Magic Kingdom. There were a good number of rides that did a good job imitating the kind of things you would see at Disneyland.
Cool Features:
1) Building Objects (How To Link = http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Sculpted_Prims)
Just being able to build your own custom items is a very awesome ability to grant to a user of this game. If you have the patience to learn, you can make all sorts of things that express your personality and interests.
2) Scripting for Playing Sound (How To Link = http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlPlaySound)
This feature was particularly useful for me to learn, because it will provide a way for me to test out my Musicworld game concept through Second Life. I've managed to attach two different types of musical note sounds to two objects, and hopefully I'll be able to do more when I get more notes.
3) Creating Teleport Links (How To Link = http://cterport.ed.uiuc.edu/technologies_folder/SL/teleport.html/)
Being able to run and fly in Second Life is great, but for people like me (who tend to get sick after roaming through 3D game realms for long periods of time), teleporting is a great help. It saves time from looking around for places by movement and lessens the amount of motion sickness I suffer.
Building Exercises:
1) My Hat (Made with Wings 3D)
2) My Glasses (Made with Prims in Second Life)
3) My Glowing Music Note (Made using Particle Script)
Scripting Exercises:
1) Musical A Note
After recording an A note onto my laptop using my family's keyboard piano, I uploaded the sound onto Second Life. Then I used the PlaySound script from the tutorial and attached it to a note-shaped object. The script was fixed so that the A Note would play when the object was touched.
2) Musical G Note
The same process from the A Note was used here. I recorded a G Note onto my laptop and uploaded the sound onto Second Life. After typing and attaching the appropriate PlaySound script to another note-shaped object, I had the new note play the G Note when it was touched.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Virtual World Idea 2
Idea: Music World
Target: Casual game players from 12 to 25 who look for free access games
The game will consist of 2D graphics in an isometric-view world. Everyone starts off as a note of their choice, and each one produces the appropriate sound. The point of the game is to make friends with other notes to create songs. Friends made are recorded on friends lists, where their sounds are accessed. The more friends you make, the more variations become available on the notes you've collected (i.e. sharps, flats, notes made with different instruments). Every note that becomes a user's friend generates a random variation of that note (you will never have the exact same sound from multiple users with the same note). Songs created have no time limit, they can be as short or long as the user wants. You can share songs created in-game for all other users to listen, and there will be a message board for help topics and users to chat. Social events will consist of periodic song contests, where users submit songs that match each event's theme (i.e. Rock Battle, Country Battle, etc.).
List of Challenges:
-How to make avatars capable of interacting with each other
-Creating entire environments on Flash
-Creating a way of collecting sounds
-Creating a music composer that will save songs and allow for sharing with other users
-Making loading time fast and smooth for players
Target: Casual game players from 12 to 25 who look for free access games
The game will consist of 2D graphics in an isometric-view world. Everyone starts off as a note of their choice, and each one produces the appropriate sound. The point of the game is to make friends with other notes to create songs. Friends made are recorded on friends lists, where their sounds are accessed. The more friends you make, the more variations become available on the notes you've collected (i.e. sharps, flats, notes made with different instruments). Every note that becomes a user's friend generates a random variation of that note (you will never have the exact same sound from multiple users with the same note). Songs created have no time limit, they can be as short or long as the user wants. You can share songs created in-game for all other users to listen, and there will be a message board for help topics and users to chat. Social events will consist of periodic song contests, where users submit songs that match each event's theme (i.e. Rock Battle, Country Battle, etc.).
List of Challenges:
-How to make avatars capable of interacting with each other
-Creating entire environments on Flash
-Creating a way of collecting sounds
-Creating a music composer that will save songs and allow for sharing with other users
-Making loading time fast and smooth for players
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Bartle Test Results
Here are my results for the Bartle Test of Game Psychology, with all questions answered as my Second Life Persona - Hugh Frostbite.
______________________________________________________________
And here are the results for the same test, but this time answered as myself.
______________________________________________________________
And here are the results for the same test, but this time answered as myself.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Virtual World Idea
Idea: Giant Robot Battles Online
Target Users: Male gamers from age 13 to 25 with high-speed internet access
The story of this game would be set in a sci-fi post-apocalyptic future overrun by giant monsters of varying appearance. Humans have been isolated into various domes all over the planet in order to continue living without fear of monster attacks. Teleportation devices allow mass numbers of humans and objects to travel from dome to dome, but traveling outside of the domes proves extremely dangerous due to the monsters. In order to reclaim the planet, armies of giant robots from every dome are created to participate in missions to wipe out the monsters.
Players would all create fully customizable human avatars, which serve as the pilots to their giant robots. All giant robots will have the same build at beginner levels, but when players gain more experience, they are able to upgrade and customize parts and weapons for their robots with in-game money (earned from beating monsters). Every server for the online game represents different domes to which players and their robots can teleport. Their robots are only used outside of the domes, where they either gain experience from fighting monsters or take on quests assigned from various non-player characters inside the dome. The only exception to this is in player-versus-player battles, which are done by having two or more players enter the training simulators inside the domes. Within the domes, players' avatars are free to interact with one another and form groups for missions, monster fighting, or player-versus-player simulator battles.
List of Challenges:
-Creating an entire 3D game engine from scratch
-Working out the most effective HUD
-Designing for both the human environments and the robot environments
-Making avatars and robots capable of interacting with each other
-Clarifying what actions players can take when in or out of their robots
-Figure out how to make customizable builds for robots and avatars while still using the same basic animation models for all
-Testing and balancing battle mechanics
-Creating and balancing in-game economy
-Determining learning curve of game and adjusting it to make it more reasonable for new and experienced players
-Determining values for the powers of different weapons, attacks, and parts without making any of them broken
-Creating methods of player to player communication (i.e. chat system, headset use, etc.)
-Creating moderation system to address player complaints
-Testing for fast and smooth loading of the game with large numbers of users online
Target Users: Male gamers from age 13 to 25 with high-speed internet access
The story of this game would be set in a sci-fi post-apocalyptic future overrun by giant monsters of varying appearance. Humans have been isolated into various domes all over the planet in order to continue living without fear of monster attacks. Teleportation devices allow mass numbers of humans and objects to travel from dome to dome, but traveling outside of the domes proves extremely dangerous due to the monsters. In order to reclaim the planet, armies of giant robots from every dome are created to participate in missions to wipe out the monsters.
Players would all create fully customizable human avatars, which serve as the pilots to their giant robots. All giant robots will have the same build at beginner levels, but when players gain more experience, they are able to upgrade and customize parts and weapons for their robots with in-game money (earned from beating monsters). Every server for the online game represents different domes to which players and their robots can teleport. Their robots are only used outside of the domes, where they either gain experience from fighting monsters or take on quests assigned from various non-player characters inside the dome. The only exception to this is in player-versus-player battles, which are done by having two or more players enter the training simulators inside the domes. Within the domes, players' avatars are free to interact with one another and form groups for missions, monster fighting, or player-versus-player simulator battles.
List of Challenges:
-Creating an entire 3D game engine from scratch
-Working out the most effective HUD
-Designing for both the human environments and the robot environments
-Making avatars and robots capable of interacting with each other
-Clarifying what actions players can take when in or out of their robots
-Figure out how to make customizable builds for robots and avatars while still using the same basic animation models for all
-Testing and balancing battle mechanics
-Creating and balancing in-game economy
-Determining learning curve of game and adjusting it to make it more reasonable for new and experienced players
-Determining values for the powers of different weapons, attacks, and parts without making any of them broken
-Creating methods of player to player communication (i.e. chat system, headset use, etc.)
-Creating moderation system to address player complaints
-Testing for fast and smooth loading of the game with large numbers of users online
Monday, February 23, 2009
Not Much to Do on There...
So...is this a party or what?
Human contact! Praise be to the Internet!
Wait...what? Where did everyone go? Did I just get teleported?
The word bubble says it all.
Either There has a small number or I just happened to log in at emptier hours. After going through social event after social event filled with nobody, I finally settled on the chat area viewed in my pictures. There were only two people there, but I only managed to get one sentence to them before they disappeared and I was teleported elsewhere in the area. Apparently, I was teleported because the system was busy repairing itself. Second Life, by comparison, was a much more stable experience. I was rarely ever randomly teleported in Second Life, which still ran smooth despite having a larger number of users and much more detailed environments than There. I'll give credit to There for having a simple enough HUD to explore and use, but Second Life is the better experience due to its greater deal of options.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Second Life: Meet Hugh Frostbite
Hugh Frostbite
Persona:
Hugh Frostbite is a stoic-natured man who lives up to his name. Hugh hardly ever shows any emotion, keeping the same dour and stony expression on his face at all times. Rarely does he ever speak in anything beyond two-word sentences and gravelly murmurs. He does exhibit some signs of kindness on occasion, but most of the time, his intentions are difficult to read.
Event Report:
As Hugh Frostbite, I attended an event on Second Life's Community Calendar called the Midnight Valentine's Ball on Angelic Island. It was an event set up for Second Life couples to dance or have Second Life singles find matches to dance. There were few people actually present, and there was only one unpaired dancer there other than Mr. Frostbite. Sticking to character yielded minimal response, especially since Hugh left very little room for conversation in his simple responses. The other couples were busy dancing while the only other unpaired person got bored talking to Hugh after three verbal exchanges.
Non-Event Report:
The non-event place I visited was the Welcome Area of Morris Island. There was a considerably larger number of people present in comparison to the Midnight Valentine's Ball. However, only two people were engaged in audio chat while three people talked amongst themselves in text-based local chat (mostly to comment on the audio chatters). I had Hugh sit down on a bench on say “Yo” to anybody that passed him by, which incidentally was not a lot of people. For the most part, Hugh went ignored while everyone else chatted amongst themselves or stood idly.
The lesson here is being stoic does not equal cool - for crying out loud, speak!
Persona:
Hugh Frostbite is a stoic-natured man who lives up to his name. Hugh hardly ever shows any emotion, keeping the same dour and stony expression on his face at all times. Rarely does he ever speak in anything beyond two-word sentences and gravelly murmurs. He does exhibit some signs of kindness on occasion, but most of the time, his intentions are difficult to read.
Event Report:
As Hugh Frostbite, I attended an event on Second Life's Community Calendar called the Midnight Valentine's Ball on Angelic Island. It was an event set up for Second Life couples to dance or have Second Life singles find matches to dance. There were few people actually present, and there was only one unpaired dancer there other than Mr. Frostbite. Sticking to character yielded minimal response, especially since Hugh left very little room for conversation in his simple responses. The other couples were busy dancing while the only other unpaired person got bored talking to Hugh after three verbal exchanges.
Non-Event Report:
The non-event place I visited was the Welcome Area of Morris Island. There was a considerably larger number of people present in comparison to the Midnight Valentine's Ball. However, only two people were engaged in audio chat while three people talked amongst themselves in text-based local chat (mostly to comment on the audio chatters). I had Hugh sit down on a bench on say “Yo” to anybody that passed him by, which incidentally was not a lot of people. For the most part, Hugh went ignored while everyone else chatted amongst themselves or stood idly.
The lesson here is being stoic does not equal cool - for crying out loud, speak!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Run, Dusty, Run!
13. What features did you find the most difficult to use and why? How would you redesign them to operate better?
I found moving difficult because using the left and right arrow keys to turn with only the up arrow key to propel me forward a slow endeavor. It kept me from getting where I wanted to go faster and even got me stuck in a few places. If I could redo movement, I would have a function that would let you move to a spot on-screen by clicking on it with the mouse.
Read a Book
12. Chose ONE of the Book features and briefly describe/sketch how you would redesign it to be part of the HUD, i.e. omnipresent in the user’s view. Design both a compressed and expanded form. Add notes to your sketch to convey how it would work.
Rather than having my inventory of gags for Cog fighting in my book alone, I would have a side menu with icons displaying the gags at my disposal. It would be a two-column and vertically-oriented menu kept to the side of the screen, and the menu would be a grid of square icons representing my gags. Gags that I don't have would have gray icons while gags I do have would have colored icons and a number displaying how much of them I have.
Not Quite All for One and *select phrase*...
10. Attempt some collaborative actions such as EZ Chat and teaming up to fight Cogs. Describe the basics of what you did and the results. What were the limitations you experienced?
When it came to teaming up to fight Cogs, all I did was pay attention to my own items and attack when my turn came up. I assumed the other players knew what they were doing, and since the whole battle was turn-based, I concerned myself only with my status. Plus, there was little incentive to help my teammates since they were hardly having any difficulty fighting. EZ Chat limited me to only a number of specific phrases and emotions expressed through my avatar's movements. While I understand these limitations were put in place to 'protect' children, it was frustrating to not be able to say quite what I wanted to say.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Quack, Quack, Quack...
So this is what it's like being a duck...no wonder Donald and Daffy complain so much.
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