Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
That Darn Assignment Part Trio
Interesting comment in my IVLE upload: 14 people commmented on my blog. Is that a good enough excuse to be later than 6.30pm?
So here's my response to the 14 comments individually. For a general one, please view the comments in Part Deux.
“I think you have a great storyline going on. The pictures in the beginning showed sadness (the letters, gifts, when were depressed). However i think the rest of your pictures didn't really portray it clearly enough? Were your pictures supposed to express loneliness?
Plus i realised that your pictures didn't contain any people in it. Is there a reason for it? Personally for me, i feel that one of the ways to express loneliness in a person is to take the picture of a person who looks lonely. Eg. a person sitting on a bench, or a person reading a book on his own? Basically, taking pictures of single people doing some form of activity on their own. =)” (Rebecca Oh)
Good point on that. However the intention was that these places where I used to go are now empty because… well, I’m alone.
“I think it's because these are specific memories shared by you and your ex. So to the rest of us we don't see much relevance of it to us.
I suggest you could 'hire' a girl to act as your ex? Like you two can sit on the benches together in one pic, perhaps in black & white, and then in the next pic, in color, the bench is empty. Think the feel of sadness would be stronger. :) (Anonymous)
Spot on with that one. Gotta remember that I’m making it for other people, not just myself.
“Hi Chris, I like your idea of finishing the video off with a scene similar to the opener. However, I feel that to make the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing, you should start off with your character staring into space and perhaps end with someone else shaking your character out of his daydreams.
Also, I agree with what Rebecca said. To portray loneliness, the best way will be to show a person being alone. In the pictures that showed at the end, I could only see various items/scenes and they do not seem to express any meaning.
Perhaps you could add people into the video? That would add a human touch and create empathy.” (Xueli)
Good point. That means there’s an obvious problem there. The pictures aren’t tell the story correctly. I’ll need to do something about that – better pictures or different pictures.
“Hi, I thought that probably you could have some text or some description going on at the beginning of the clip so that one could understand your video right from the start? Cause actually i didnt really understand the story in the beginning. but, nice song =)” (Anonymous)
Ok that sounds bad. The fact that you couldn’t understand the starting bit means there’s really a problem with it somewhere. I thought that of the whole video, that part would have been the most self-explanatory.
“Chris~ I don't like the music and then the narrative part butts in like the video you provided. It's distracting. May be you wanna narrate with the background music altogether? Contradictory to what Rebecca feels I think the empty spaces works out fine for your part. I could sense it. Someone commented on using an actress... I don't think you will do it right. And I would say not to use it. It's bad and the other is it's like the aftermath of a broken relationship so don't think you should include. And I guess what you want to portray is the emptiness more than recalling the good old times aye?” (Su Pei)
You’re spot on with that bit. But I dunno if the video is achieving that aim considering the other feedback I’m getting. Seems like intention differs from perception.
“Similar to what the rest have commented, I do not really get the feel of loneliness you are trying to portray. Especially the series of the benches pictures.
Perhaps you could get some one to pose as your gf and you sitting at the benches Followed by the next scene is her gradually fading away. Guess that will portray a better feel of loneliness and sadness.
In addition, i feel that currently your .mov has a lack of human touch, is very cold. Just a suggestion here, instead of ending the story with two paragraphs, you could narrate yourself. I believe this will make your .mov more meaningful and touching especially if you can narrate it with a sense of sadness” (Anonymous)
1. Ok that one, personally I thought was a bit of an issue as well. But I wanted them empty. Maybe need to portray better.
2. Really? That wasn’t the intention (but probably the perception). Might need to work on that. Then again this video is about painful memories of what was. So cold may not be such a bad perspective.
3. Narrating is definitely an option I think. I need to toy around with the idea more. Just that I thought it was more impactful for people to read. Maybe read AND narrate?
“I like the idea of your story because it's very different. Pictures wise, I am able to get the story in the beginning. I think the song played a huge role in telling your story:)May I know where did you get your song from? Perhaps you could let the music fate into silence than having it shut off all of a sudden.” (Ting)
Hmm that’s good. But if its only at the beginning then it doesn’t achieve the purpose because then after that if no one gets it then it doesn’t work.
Unfortunately the song won’t be appearing in the final. It’s just a placeholder. Though I really did feel that it was extremely apt.
“Although I think both ideas work, i.e. with or without actors, I say the choice is yours, I quite get the sepia transitions hmm but perhaps you could desaturate the photos at the second part to look sadder.
Also, I think that for some of the shots theres a odd black space, which are interweaved with the photos that are full screen, to me if feels just a little odd, maybe if u could put all the photos full screen or separate the two?” (Mark)
Hmm… well all the photos were just thrown in “as is”, no touch ups. So might need to do a bit of that. That might help achieve the desired effect
The space comes as a result of having portrait photos which don’t occupy the whole screen. The only way to fix that is either use all landscape pics, or zoom in. Need to play around with that a bit more.
“I can feel the sadness in your video. And i think without the girl charcter would be better. Does the empty spaces hold some memories to you? That's how I interpret the empty spaces and I think it works fine. The song is also nicely fit with the theme of your story.” (Rash)
Thanks so much Rash! And yeah that was the point of the empty spaces.
“Hey i think the music is nice, but convey a feeling of missing someone.. instead of the anger you tried to portray last week at Valentines Day... Perhaps the visuals can focus more about the end of a relationship, so that we can see the story better, and feel for the character better, instead of items that symbolizes the relationship, because it may not be known to the audience. =)” (Ozeona)
Well… I wasn’t exactly trying to portray anger I guess. While its true that I detest V-Day, the aim was always more about remembering what was. And even then it wasn’t supposed to be the happy type of reminiscing.
Point taken. Might need to work on that.
“I thought that your song is a little unsuitable cuz i was expecting something like a really sad, sad song. Also, I think there should be some shots of you interacting with the inanimate objects, like looking at the letter, with your chin resting on the table and sadness in your eyes?
But other than that i guess you story is working out well.” (Hui Ting)
That’s an interesting suggestion. There’s going to be a little of that at the end I guess. But maybe need to put more.
“Hey chris, i would say a good effort for a draft. The song fits the whole feel of the video in terms of its lyrics. The words at the end aptly summarizes your video. Which is a bittersweet kind of a first love experience.
However in terms of retaining attention and capturing my eyeballs : ) it din fare as good. It felt a little monotonous towards the middle and the reason for the monotony was that there were essentially only 2 types of photos. 1, letters and stuff that she gave you. 2, places which the both of you have gone before. You could try exploring using words and blank spaces to bring variety into the video.
: ) cheers mate” (Sam)
Now THAT’s what I call feedback. Haha. Good point about the monotony. Probably need to cull some pictures and replace others.
“i feel you need a bit of text to explain some of the photos. otherwise, i feel you will have to finish the entire video to get to know what do the photos mean in the beginning...
and also i saw the video ending... but the music just cuts off... not sure if it's just on my platform. maybe you wanna check and fine-tune that part?” (Jasmine)
Isn’t that technically the point? That you should watch the whole thing? But I can see where you’re coming from, on the assumption that not everyone can catch it right from the start. I’m thinking narration MIGHT be better than text, but that needs people to concentrate more. And if they miss it then that’s problematic.
“Hi Chris:
You can consider to have the song lyrics to display when you showcase the video. But knowing that we need royalty free music it will be tough.
Otherwise words would be good to have so that audience can understand the video better.
Are the quotes by you? You can consider putting like the opening and closing like " ".
Great work!” (Katherine)
Thanks Katherine. Truth be told, the quote is actually from a movie I watched (also about broken relationships).
p.s. Apologies to Jasmine if my reply came across as being a bit on the harsh side.
So here's my response to the 14 comments individually. For a general one, please view the comments in Part Deux.
“I think you have a great storyline going on. The pictures in the beginning showed sadness (the letters, gifts, when were depressed). However i think the rest of your pictures didn't really portray it clearly enough? Were your pictures supposed to express loneliness?
Plus i realised that your pictures didn't contain any people in it. Is there a reason for it? Personally for me, i feel that one of the ways to express loneliness in a person is to take the picture of a person who looks lonely. Eg. a person sitting on a bench, or a person reading a book on his own? Basically, taking pictures of single people doing some form of activity on their own. =)” (Rebecca Oh)
Good point on that. However the intention was that these places where I used to go are now empty because… well, I’m alone.
“I think it's because these are specific memories shared by you and your ex. So to the rest of us we don't see much relevance of it to us.
I suggest you could 'hire' a girl to act as your ex? Like you two can sit on the benches together in one pic, perhaps in black & white, and then in the next pic, in color, the bench is empty. Think the feel of sadness would be stronger. :) (Anonymous)
Spot on with that one. Gotta remember that I’m making it for other people, not just myself.
“Hi Chris, I like your idea of finishing the video off with a scene similar to the opener. However, I feel that to make the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing, you should start off with your character staring into space and perhaps end with someone else shaking your character out of his daydreams.
Also, I agree with what Rebecca said. To portray loneliness, the best way will be to show a person being alone. In the pictures that showed at the end, I could only see various items/scenes and they do not seem to express any meaning.
Perhaps you could add people into the video? That would add a human touch and create empathy.” (Xueli)
Good point. That means there’s an obvious problem there. The pictures aren’t tell the story correctly. I’ll need to do something about that – better pictures or different pictures.
“Hi, I thought that probably you could have some text or some description going on at the beginning of the clip so that one could understand your video right from the start? Cause actually i didnt really understand the story in the beginning. but, nice song =)” (Anonymous)
Ok that sounds bad. The fact that you couldn’t understand the starting bit means there’s really a problem with it somewhere. I thought that of the whole video, that part would have been the most self-explanatory.
“Chris~ I don't like the music and then the narrative part butts in like the video you provided. It's distracting. May be you wanna narrate with the background music altogether? Contradictory to what Rebecca feels I think the empty spaces works out fine for your part. I could sense it. Someone commented on using an actress... I don't think you will do it right. And I would say not to use it. It's bad and the other is it's like the aftermath of a broken relationship so don't think you should include. And I guess what you want to portray is the emptiness more than recalling the good old times aye?” (Su Pei)
You’re spot on with that bit. But I dunno if the video is achieving that aim considering the other feedback I’m getting. Seems like intention differs from perception.
“Similar to what the rest have commented, I do not really get the feel of loneliness you are trying to portray. Especially the series of the benches pictures.
Perhaps you could get some one to pose as your gf and you sitting at the benches Followed by the next scene is her gradually fading away. Guess that will portray a better feel of loneliness and sadness.
In addition, i feel that currently your .mov has a lack of human touch, is very cold. Just a suggestion here, instead of ending the story with two paragraphs, you could narrate yourself. I believe this will make your .mov more meaningful and touching especially if you can narrate it with a sense of sadness” (Anonymous)
1. Ok that one, personally I thought was a bit of an issue as well. But I wanted them empty. Maybe need to portray better.
2. Really? That wasn’t the intention (but probably the perception). Might need to work on that. Then again this video is about painful memories of what was. So cold may not be such a bad perspective.
3. Narrating is definitely an option I think. I need to toy around with the idea more. Just that I thought it was more impactful for people to read. Maybe read AND narrate?
“I like the idea of your story because it's very different. Pictures wise, I am able to get the story in the beginning. I think the song played a huge role in telling your story:)May I know where did you get your song from? Perhaps you could let the music fate into silence than having it shut off all of a sudden.” (Ting)
Hmm that’s good. But if its only at the beginning then it doesn’t achieve the purpose because then after that if no one gets it then it doesn’t work.
Unfortunately the song won’t be appearing in the final. It’s just a placeholder. Though I really did feel that it was extremely apt.
“Although I think both ideas work, i.e. with or without actors, I say the choice is yours, I quite get the sepia transitions hmm but perhaps you could desaturate the photos at the second part to look sadder.
Also, I think that for some of the shots theres a odd black space, which are interweaved with the photos that are full screen, to me if feels just a little odd, maybe if u could put all the photos full screen or separate the two?” (Mark)
Hmm… well all the photos were just thrown in “as is”, no touch ups. So might need to do a bit of that. That might help achieve the desired effect
The space comes as a result of having portrait photos which don’t occupy the whole screen. The only way to fix that is either use all landscape pics, or zoom in. Need to play around with that a bit more.
“I can feel the sadness in your video. And i think without the girl charcter would be better. Does the empty spaces hold some memories to you? That's how I interpret the empty spaces and I think it works fine. The song is also nicely fit with the theme of your story.” (Rash)
Thanks so much Rash! And yeah that was the point of the empty spaces.
“Hey i think the music is nice, but convey a feeling of missing someone.. instead of the anger you tried to portray last week at Valentines Day... Perhaps the visuals can focus more about the end of a relationship, so that we can see the story better, and feel for the character better, instead of items that symbolizes the relationship, because it may not be known to the audience. =)” (Ozeona)
Well… I wasn’t exactly trying to portray anger I guess. While its true that I detest V-Day, the aim was always more about remembering what was. And even then it wasn’t supposed to be the happy type of reminiscing.
Point taken. Might need to work on that.
“I thought that your song is a little unsuitable cuz i was expecting something like a really sad, sad song. Also, I think there should be some shots of you interacting with the inanimate objects, like looking at the letter, with your chin resting on the table and sadness in your eyes?
But other than that i guess you story is working out well.” (Hui Ting)
That’s an interesting suggestion. There’s going to be a little of that at the end I guess. But maybe need to put more.
“Hey chris, i would say a good effort for a draft. The song fits the whole feel of the video in terms of its lyrics. The words at the end aptly summarizes your video. Which is a bittersweet kind of a first love experience.
However in terms of retaining attention and capturing my eyeballs : ) it din fare as good. It felt a little monotonous towards the middle and the reason for the monotony was that there were essentially only 2 types of photos. 1, letters and stuff that she gave you. 2, places which the both of you have gone before. You could try exploring using words and blank spaces to bring variety into the video.
: ) cheers mate” (Sam)
Now THAT’s what I call feedback. Haha. Good point about the monotony. Probably need to cull some pictures and replace others.
“i feel you need a bit of text to explain some of the photos. otherwise, i feel you will have to finish the entire video to get to know what do the photos mean in the beginning...
and also i saw the video ending... but the music just cuts off... not sure if it's just on my platform. maybe you wanna check and fine-tune that part?” (Jasmine)
Isn’t that technically the point? That you should watch the whole thing? But I can see where you’re coming from, on the assumption that not everyone can catch it right from the start. I’m thinking narration MIGHT be better than text, but that needs people to concentrate more. And if they miss it then that’s problematic.
“Hi Chris:
You can consider to have the song lyrics to display when you showcase the video. But knowing that we need royalty free music it will be tough.
Otherwise words would be good to have so that audience can understand the video better.
Are the quotes by you? You can consider putting like the opening and closing like " ".
Great work!” (Katherine)
Thanks Katherine. Truth be told, the quote is actually from a movie I watched (also about broken relationships).
p.s. Apologies to Jasmine if my reply came across as being a bit on the harsh side.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
That Darn Assignment Part Deux
Hmm ok. Now for part 2 of this (READ: The Update)
So i've actually got some new photos added in (be prepared for another video with the same annoying background music). HOWEVER, i've also stumbled upon another great idea - based on something i watched on Star Sports the other day. I'm thinking of following the background music dispersed with narration format. Comments please *grin*
Anyway, that aside, here's the latest version of the video. It includes other places outside of school. I also intend to finish it off with a scene similar to the opener (so that the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing).
p.s. if anyone needs inspiration check out this video and this one too. Its REALLY good (not to mention being my inspiration for my assignment - in terms of approach, not topic).
Tip: Press the play, then press pause to let it load. Go to someone else's blog to do your commenting and come back when its done (but don't forget to come back!)
So i've actually got some new photos added in (be prepared for another video with the same annoying background music). HOWEVER, i've also stumbled upon another great idea - based on something i watched on Star Sports the other day. I'm thinking of following the background music dispersed with narration format. Comments please *grin*
Anyway, that aside, here's the latest version of the video. It includes other places outside of school. I also intend to finish it off with a scene similar to the opener (so that the whole thing appears as 1 session of reminiscing).
p.s. if anyone needs inspiration check out this video and this one too. Its REALLY good (not to mention being my inspiration for my assignment - in terms of approach, not topic).
Tip: Press the play, then press pause to let it load. Go to someone else's blog to do your commenting and come back when its done (but don't forget to come back!)
That Darned assignment...
Ok. Truth be told, i detest V-day. I really do. That's why this assignment was so darn hard to do. But i figured out something in the end, controversial as it seems.
The low-down: do a 2 1/2 to 4 min photo slideshow on the theme of love, valentine's day, romance etc.
Requirements: make sure its your own photos (simple enough) and royalty-free music (dang!). oh and make sure there's a storyline.
So... i figured... why not do broken relationships (hence the controversy)? considering how everyone else would probably be doing those normal, happy type of stuff. so... i present... my assignment draft for this photo slideshow
Since i'm at it... why not the video draft too?
(please note that the song in the background ISN'T the actual music. Blessid Union of Souls' "Light in your eyes" was used as a placeholder of sorts... to see if i could find something with the same type of "feel" to get the same effect.)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
So the story goes...
The challenge: grab as many pics as possible for a story, format them to a certain size and resolution, and stuff 'em onto a webpage and make sure it doesn't exceed 180kb. Sounds simple enough? WRONG!
Its perfectly fine when all your content added together hits 180kb just nicely, but is weird when your folder says you've got 320kb (what gives?). Apparently, its due to the thumbnail saving function (which produced a file that was almost as large as the folder it
So what did i learn then?
1. Hidden files like thumbnail files can be a real pain when you're tight on disk space. Best to disable it.
2. If you're doing something requiring pictures, make sure you take lots of them so that there's a good archive to work with
3. Cropping pics for perspective and focus helps get the message across
4. Anything is possible. Even at the last minute.
So to see the story for yourself, check out the pics below (from left to right then down).
[ed: another lesson also is that blogger can sometimes screw around with what you put in the post. on the blog itself all the pictures just appear as a single roll[
Its perfectly fine when all your content added together hits 180kb just nicely, but is weird when your folder says you've got 320kb (what gives?). Apparently, its due to the thumbnail saving function (which produced a file that was almost as large as the folder it
So what did i learn then?
1. Hidden files like thumbnail files can be a real pain when you're tight on disk space. Best to disable it.
2. If you're doing something requiring pictures, make sure you take lots of them so that there's a good archive to work with
3. Cropping pics for perspective and focus helps get the message across
4. Anything is possible. Even at the last minute.
So to see the story for yourself, check out the pics below (from left to right then down).
[ed: another lesson also is that blogger can sometimes screw around with what you put in the post. on the blog itself all the pictures just appear as a single roll[
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Now That's Surreal...
Poster for a theatre production with the theme of surrealism... now that's tough. Cos first you need to figure out the storyline to be reflected in the poster, then you need to make it fit the theme of surrealism.
according to wikipedia: "[the works] feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitr."
according to dictionary.com: "a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc."
So... it has to look fantasy / unreal / out of this world. Doesn't seem to hard right? WRONG.
So what i settled for was something along the lines of a "what if", since the play is about dreams and sacrifice after all. So...
Now... as a first draft this is fine. EXCEPT that after thinking about it and seeing the end product in print...
1. The details of the production don't follow typical theatre posters (so that needs to be fixed)
2. I showed it to some people and its not immediately obvious (hence making it a bad poster if i have to explain)
3. The more i stare at it i realise that the picture in the centre is the draw factor (and not the ones on the sides). I don't know if that's a good thing. On the bright side that means that people will see the title of the play right?)
So... need more tweaks.
according to wikipedia: "[the works] feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitr."
according to dictionary.com: "a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc."
So... it has to look fantasy / unreal / out of this world. Doesn't seem to hard right? WRONG.
So what i settled for was something along the lines of a "what if", since the play is about dreams and sacrifice after all. So...
Now... as a first draft this is fine. EXCEPT that after thinking about it and seeing the end product in print...
1. The details of the production don't follow typical theatre posters (so that needs to be fixed)
2. I showed it to some people and its not immediately obvious (hence making it a bad poster if i have to explain)
3. The more i stare at it i realise that the picture in the centre is the draw factor (and not the ones on the sides). I don't know if that's a good thing. On the bright side that means that people will see the title of the play right?)
So... need more tweaks.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Smoke, Mirrors and User Experience on the whole
Apparently this post is supposed to be a article that is considered as one that "die-die also must read". Well apparently i've read it and i'm not dead yet (ok sorry, bad joke).
anyway.... After reading through 5 parts of this article, i've got a few things to say about using scientific / objective research as a foundation of designing.
1. I finally understand what Mr Reddy means about "you will 'just know' if your product gives a2 good user experience" (but that doesn't mean that i understand his stories about samurais and attaining nirvana). In the article they talk about experienced designers not requiring hard research to know that they've done a good design (i.e. its all about intuition aka "just knowing").
2. User experience is just that - experience. it isn't something that you can quantify per se. And it's extremely subjective, varying from person to person. But I guess there's still something to be said for user experience's "scientific" research, in the sense that its more a case of providing a gauge for the general user feeling towards your product.
3. Though it may seem a little unethical at times, but i can agree that there's the possibility of needing to use "scientific" research about user experience to convince the "suits" about the validity and necessity of certain design implementations. Mostly because designers and execs think along different lines (or speak different "languages" so to speak).
Aaaaaannd.... that's about it. basically to sum up the article - user experience development is something that should not (and cannot) be solely based on "scientific" research alone.
So. enough about smoke and mirrors.
If you were to ask me about NM4210, I'd have to say I learnt a lot from it, and the times i (almost) applied it outside this module.
1. In the midst of taking this module I realised how badly-designed my CCA (NUS Psychology Society) blog is (ironical then since I was the one who designed the interface for it (disclaimer: but it was before i took this module).
2. I realised that I could have applied some of this in my TR3001 (New Product Development) module when we were coming up with the product, even though it was a physical one.
3. I've considered UX stuff in designing my game for CS4343 (Game Development Project) when designing the interface for my game.
4. I've become rather critical of website design suggestions in NM2219 (Principles of Communication Management) especially in the case where people suggest holding webpage design competitions to help improve user experience for users visiting the page.
so that's about it really.
anyway.... After reading through 5 parts of this article, i've got a few things to say about using scientific / objective research as a foundation of designing.
1. I finally understand what Mr Reddy means about "you will 'just know' if your product gives a2 good user experience" (but that doesn't mean that i understand his stories about samurais and attaining nirvana). In the article they talk about experienced designers not requiring hard research to know that they've done a good design (i.e. its all about intuition aka "just knowing").
2. User experience is just that - experience. it isn't something that you can quantify per se. And it's extremely subjective, varying from person to person. But I guess there's still something to be said for user experience's "scientific" research, in the sense that its more a case of providing a gauge for the general user feeling towards your product.
3. Though it may seem a little unethical at times, but i can agree that there's the possibility of needing to use "scientific" research about user experience to convince the "suits" about the validity and necessity of certain design implementations. Mostly because designers and execs think along different lines (or speak different "languages" so to speak).
Aaaaaannd.... that's about it. basically to sum up the article - user experience development is something that should not (and cannot) be solely based on "scientific" research alone.
So. enough about smoke and mirrors.
If you were to ask me about NM4210, I'd have to say I learnt a lot from it, and the times i (almost) applied it outside this module.
1. In the midst of taking this module I realised how badly-designed my CCA (NUS Psychology Society) blog is (ironical then since I was the one who designed the interface for it (disclaimer: but it was before i took this module).
2. I realised that I could have applied some of this in my TR3001 (New Product Development) module when we were coming up with the product, even though it was a physical one.
3. I've considered UX stuff in designing my game for CS4343 (Game Development Project) when designing the interface for my game.
4. I've become rather critical of website design suggestions in NM2219 (Principles of Communication Management) especially in the case where people suggest holding webpage design competitions to help improve user experience for users visiting the page.
so that's about it really.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Improving Learning Environment in LTs... the NIGHTMARE ASSIGNMENT
I was warned beforehand that this would be a nightmare assignment (damn right it is). but get this - the nightmare didn't come so much from the actual assignment, but from DOCUMENTING AND BLOGGING (which is this part of the whole thing).
So if you're wondering how my group did it, we used a mixture of 2 methods: laddering and enthographics (through observation and interviews).
if you want to see the laddering technique in action for my group's assignment, click here.
To put it simply, what happened is we went to go and observe what happened in lectures and what conditions there were like (seems rather simple, no?). We then took down our observations and put them in a cross-comparison table just to see how they would rate against one another in terms of the various aspects.
So here's some details about the modules we used in this assignment:
NM2219 Principles of Communication Management Wednesday 10am-12pm
NM3217 Publications, Graphics & Design Tuesday 12pm-2pm
SS2229 Nation Building in Singapore Monday 12pm-2pm
GEM2003/EU2219/HY2241 Why History? The Turbulent 20th Friday 4pm-6pm
LSM1301 General Biology Friday 2pm-4pm
CS3242S Hypermedia Technologies Thursday 8am-10am
So here's some of the cross- reference data from our slides:
The next thing was the interviews (because you need something to confirm your data against after all). Interestingly enough they brought up some issues that we might not have considered before (as well as providing greater detail and explanation for others).
So since this is about improving lecture styles (and its being improved for student's benefit) then it's important to find out what the students want, because that would make lectures more appealing to them (on top of that it would probably let us draw conclusions about the way they think. and when we know the way they think, maybe we can cater to them better).
Some hypotheses (resulting from information collection):
Handouts are very important to students, students want handouts that are handed out early and well presented/logical (easily digestible); -- Students are pragmatic
Lecturers who do not follow power-slides/handouts closely in their lectures, are less popular -- Students have rigid learning styles
Student goal in going to lectures revolve around exam specific issues (perceive note-taking as key to exam success); lectures where lecturers drop hints about exams tend to be more popular – Students are goal-oriented
Other suggestions / conclusions
Well obviously my group would only approach this situation from our own point of view. and its very obvious that others, though generally having the same point of view, may have alternative and addition viewpoints which could help us get a better understanding (in short: check out their blogs).
I have to agree with most of them - except the one about feng shui (sorry Chung Hau). Though most of us perhaps got around the same kind of responses (or the general feel of the situation), on our own perhaps we need to gather more data, if only for the fact that small sample sizes are rarely representative of the entire population.
I guess while we can rant and make suggestions about how to make LTs better, there're definitely limitations (some of which are beyond our control, others within our control but we refuse to follow through for various reasons - like... who wants to pay more school fees? surely not EVERYBODY... even if it means LT upgrading).
So maybe the disclaimer right at the start of the assignment was right - don't expect to be able to change things.
So if you're wondering how my group did it, we used a mixture of 2 methods: laddering and enthographics (through observation and interviews).
if you want to see the laddering technique in action for my group's assignment, click here.
To put it simply, what happened is we went to go and observe what happened in lectures and what conditions there were like (seems rather simple, no?). We then took down our observations and put them in a cross-comparison table just to see how they would rate against one another in terms of the various aspects.
So here's some details about the modules we used in this assignment:
NM2219 Principles of Communication Management Wednesday 10am-12pm
NM3217 Publications, Graphics & Design Tuesday 12pm-2pm
SS2229 Nation Building in Singapore Monday 12pm-2pm
GEM2003/EU2219/HY2241 Why History? The Turbulent 20th Friday 4pm-6pm
LSM1301 General Biology Friday 2pm-4pm
CS3242S Hypermedia Technologies Thursday 8am-10am
So here's some of the cross- reference data from our slides:
The next thing was the interviews (because you need something to confirm your data against after all). Interestingly enough they brought up some issues that we might not have considered before (as well as providing greater detail and explanation for others).
So since this is about improving lecture styles (and its being improved for student's benefit) then it's important to find out what the students want, because that would make lectures more appealing to them (on top of that it would probably let us draw conclusions about the way they think. and when we know the way they think, maybe we can cater to them better).
Some hypotheses (resulting from information collection):
Handouts are very important to students, students want handouts that are handed out early and well presented/logical (easily digestible); -- Students are pragmatic
Lecturers who do not follow power-slides/handouts closely in their lectures, are less popular -- Students have rigid learning styles
Student goal in going to lectures revolve around exam specific issues (perceive note-taking as key to exam success); lectures where lecturers drop hints about exams tend to be more popular – Students are goal-oriented
Other suggestions / conclusions
Well obviously my group would only approach this situation from our own point of view. and its very obvious that others, though generally having the same point of view, may have alternative and addition viewpoints which could help us get a better understanding (in short: check out their blogs).
I have to agree with most of them - except the one about feng shui (sorry Chung Hau). Though most of us perhaps got around the same kind of responses (or the general feel of the situation), on our own perhaps we need to gather more data, if only for the fact that small sample sizes are rarely representative of the entire population.
I guess while we can rant and make suggestions about how to make LTs better, there're definitely limitations (some of which are beyond our control, others within our control but we refuse to follow through for various reasons - like... who wants to pay more school fees? surely not EVERYBODY... even if it means LT upgrading).
So maybe the disclaimer right at the start of the assignment was right - don't expect to be able to change things.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
RMA
Name: Max
Age: 24
Occupation: student in NUS
Profile:
Max is a university student who is media- and tech-savvy. He professes to be "extremely attached" to his tech gadgets like laptop, digital camera, MP3 player and Xbox 360 game console, and claims he would "probably die" without them. With all his interest in technology, it is no wonder then that his area of interest in school is computer science, with a focus on interface (hence he can get rather anal about things with badly-designed interface).
Max is the eldest of 4 children and stays in the east side of Singapore. Hence he spends a lot of his time travelling to and from school via public transport, spending about a total of 3 hours a day commuting on the bus. He would rather do this than stay in hall because he believes he should spend time with his family every day. To him, people in his life are important. So apart from making the effort to stay home when he can to spend time with his family, he goes out with his close friends to do stuff together like play soccer or just go and "hang out".
As a hardworking and driven student who is gunning for 1st class honours, Max feels the constant need to be productive. He believes that good time management is essential, and that everything should be prioritised and organised so that there is maximum efficiency, then he can get as much free time as possible after focusing completely on his schoolwork. He is someone who definitely believes in working hard and playing hard.
Max is also a lover of music, and listens to many different genres. Often he can be seen "plugged in" to his MP3 player, especially when he does his regular jogs at east coast park on weekends. He is an avid gamer, and spends any free time he has playing sports games on his Xbox 360, claiming that it's his source of catharsis and relaxation. According to him, it's also because he gets an extra "kick" out of it because of the thrill of the games. Most of the time, he has enough discipline to know when to stop.
Some of his friends have been amazed at Max's ability to eat "anything". He isn't fussy about his food, and his favourite saying regarding this is "I don't care what it looks like. As long as eat already don't die then good enough" (i.e. He doesn't care what it looks like. As long as it's edible and doesn't kill him, he'll eat it). Some of this nonchalance is also evident when it comes to gadgets that Max gets. Things like size and colour of gadgets are secondary considerations to Max when he makes choices regarding his tech toys (unless they're in colours like shocking pink). To him, the functionality and features of any gadget, as well as the ergonomics of it are what matters (Max totally hates things that are badly designed ergonomically) , because he doesn't buy stuff because they look good or make him look good - he buys stuff to use it. Most of the time Max wouldn't splurge on a tech gadget unless he thought it was really worth it - so they have to have a certain appeal to him.
4-pleasure analysis:
physio
- Likes listening to music
- Keeps fit by running regularly
psycho
- plays sports games on his Xbox 360 to unwind and get a "kick"
- Likes to fiddle around with tech gadgets
socio
- Likes to make the effort to spend time with his family
- Likes to do activities like playing soccer with his friends.
- isn't image concious
ideo
- hardworking and driven
- efficient
- ambitious
- flexible and not fussy
- practical
- believes in the need for good design
- isn't a spendthrift
Product Benefit Specification (Aka a handphone for Max should have...)
1. many different functions
2. doesn't have to look fantastic
3. needs to be ergonomic
4. needs to have good interface
5. should not be too expensive
Reccommended product:
Nokia N73 Music Edition
Age: 24
Occupation: student in NUS
Profile:
Max is a university student who is media- and tech-savvy. He professes to be "extremely attached" to his tech gadgets like laptop, digital camera, MP3 player and Xbox 360 game console, and claims he would "probably die" without them. With all his interest in technology, it is no wonder then that his area of interest in school is computer science, with a focus on interface (hence he can get rather anal about things with badly-designed interface).
Max is the eldest of 4 children and stays in the east side of Singapore. Hence he spends a lot of his time travelling to and from school via public transport, spending about a total of 3 hours a day commuting on the bus. He would rather do this than stay in hall because he believes he should spend time with his family every day. To him, people in his life are important. So apart from making the effort to stay home when he can to spend time with his family, he goes out with his close friends to do stuff together like play soccer or just go and "hang out".
As a hardworking and driven student who is gunning for 1st class honours, Max feels the constant need to be productive. He believes that good time management is essential, and that everything should be prioritised and organised so that there is maximum efficiency, then he can get as much free time as possible after focusing completely on his schoolwork. He is someone who definitely believes in working hard and playing hard.
Max is also a lover of music, and listens to many different genres. Often he can be seen "plugged in" to his MP3 player, especially when he does his regular jogs at east coast park on weekends. He is an avid gamer, and spends any free time he has playing sports games on his Xbox 360, claiming that it's his source of catharsis and relaxation. According to him, it's also because he gets an extra "kick" out of it because of the thrill of the games. Most of the time, he has enough discipline to know when to stop.
Some of his friends have been amazed at Max's ability to eat "anything". He isn't fussy about his food, and his favourite saying regarding this is "I don't care what it looks like. As long as eat already don't die then good enough" (i.e. He doesn't care what it looks like. As long as it's edible and doesn't kill him, he'll eat it). Some of this nonchalance is also evident when it comes to gadgets that Max gets. Things like size and colour of gadgets are secondary considerations to Max when he makes choices regarding his tech toys (unless they're in colours like shocking pink). To him, the functionality and features of any gadget, as well as the ergonomics of it are what matters (Max totally hates things that are badly designed ergonomically) , because he doesn't buy stuff because they look good or make him look good - he buys stuff to use it. Most of the time Max wouldn't splurge on a tech gadget unless he thought it was really worth it - so they have to have a certain appeal to him.
4-pleasure analysis:
physio
- Likes listening to music
- Keeps fit by running regularly
psycho
- plays sports games on his Xbox 360 to unwind and get a "kick"
- Likes to fiddle around with tech gadgets
socio
- Likes to make the effort to spend time with his family
- Likes to do activities like playing soccer with his friends.
- isn't image concious
ideo
- hardworking and driven
- efficient
- ambitious
- flexible and not fussy
- practical
- believes in the need for good design
- isn't a spendthrift
Product Benefit Specification (Aka a handphone for Max should have...)
1. many different functions
2. doesn't have to look fantastic
3. needs to be ergonomic
4. needs to have good interface
5. should not be too expensive
Reccommended product:
Nokia N73 Music Edition
Features:
- has up to 2GB of memory
- plays MP3s
- can sync with PC to manage music
- takes videos and photos
- can share photos, photos and video can be edited either in phone or on computer
- big screen with easily navigable user interface (according to nokia)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Visceral, Behavioural, Reflective - a Reflection
your friendly UX designer was asked this week to go hunting around for examples of visceral (initial impact / appearance), behavioural (functionality), and reflective (message it gives about owner's taste). it has not been an easy search i can assure you (considering how each of them overlaps, and how the companies try to sell them with all 3 design emotions in mind)... but i've tried to find something (and hopefully its a good comparison)... and awaaaaaay we go!
Subject of comparison: LAPTOPS (i.e. laptop BRANDS and the images they portray)
Brands being compared: Apple, IBM (or is it Lenovo?) and.... Sony? (ok the last example was pretty difficult to find).
so now that we have the participants, let's play a little guessing game...
The Apple Macbook
I've had friends who've been DYING (and i do mean DYING) to get their hands on a Macbook, the black one especially. One particular one had this reaction when she saw a black Mac at the co-op "AHHHHH!!! i WANT!!!" which in my opinion is rather representative of most people who want a Mac (a rather insightful friend pointed out designers don't count. they use Macs for functionality, not cos it looks "cool"- you gotta be pretty "cool" to begin with if you wanna be a designer, so they don't need that extra boost).
So... based on the dominant reaction of all those people lusting after Macbooks (the black one especially), i'd say that the dominant design characteristic would be VISCERAL (though reflective could come in a close second because of the "cool" factor").
IBM / Lenovo
A quote from a friend about IBM / Lenovo laptops: "Reliable, no-nonsense and hardy. but its damn ugly lah!!!!"
Ok. After asking around for a few people's opinions, this is my conclusion about the impression (and "reputation) of IBM / Lenovo laptops: No-nonsense, reliable, can take all sorts of hits and maintain intact (i have a friend who's laptop has taken major abuse and still works pretty fine). Functionality wise, it comes with all sorts of stuff that you get with every other laptop, but is built to take more hits (and more importantly, survive them). So... i guess that would make it a BEHAVIOURAL-type design (i can't say much for visceral or reflective elements...)
Sony Vaio
Subject of comparison: LAPTOPS (i.e. laptop BRANDS and the images they portray)
Brands being compared: Apple, IBM (or is it Lenovo?) and.... Sony? (ok the last example was pretty difficult to find).
so now that we have the participants, let's play a little guessing game...
The Apple Macbook
"AHHHHH! MACBOOK BLACK!!!! I WANT!!!!"
I've had friends who've been DYING (and i do mean DYING) to get their hands on a Macbook, the black one especially. One particular one had this reaction when she saw a black Mac at the co-op "AHHHHH!!! i WANT!!!" which in my opinion is rather representative of most people who want a Mac (a rather insightful friend pointed out designers don't count. they use Macs for functionality, not cos it looks "cool"- you gotta be pretty "cool" to begin with if you wanna be a designer, so they don't need that extra boost).
So... based on the dominant reaction of all those people lusting after Macbooks (the black one especially), i'd say that the dominant design characteristic would be VISCERAL (though reflective could come in a close second because of the "cool" factor").
IBM / Lenovo
A quote from a friend about IBM / Lenovo laptops: "Reliable, no-nonsense and hardy. but its damn ugly lah!!!!"Ok. After asking around for a few people's opinions, this is my conclusion about the impression (and "reputation) of IBM / Lenovo laptops: No-nonsense, reliable, can take all sorts of hits and maintain intact (i have a friend who's laptop has taken major abuse and still works pretty fine). Functionality wise, it comes with all sorts of stuff that you get with every other laptop, but is built to take more hits (and more importantly, survive them). So... i guess that would make it a BEHAVIOURAL-type design (i can't say much for visceral or reflective elements...)
Sony Vaio
the PC vs Mac vs Vaio advertisement (the "non-pc pc"? er... right. a PC by another shape or colour is still a PC):
So anyway... At first when i took a look at this ad (and the sony Vaio in general) i wondered to myself... is this more reflective? or visceral? I mean, i could easily file this under REFLECTIVE and end off my post, but i want to elaborate a little on the difficulty in this area (the other 2 were pretty much no-brainers). Reflective design is supposed to say something about the owner of the product, no? and the only way to get that across is to build brand image and perception. If that's the case, i can very easily just take one of those HP laptops as an example (especially with their "The computer is personal again" ads (which are rather well done i should think).
Then i realised unlike Visceral and Behavioural design, REFLECTIVE design is not only personal, but also a matter of how that perception is built (like through advertising). And I think Sony's above-shown ad would be an example of trying to push for the idea that it classifies as REFLECTIVE design in the sense that it makes you "cooler" than a dude who owns a mac (which would DEFINITELY say something about you).
Sunday, January 14, 2007
NM4210: Badly-designed Learning Report
If there's something i can think of that's badly designed, its definitely got to be the doors to those classrooms along the AS1 walkway.... and if you wonder why....
Most (or a rather large majority) of door handles are designed to be pushed down in order to open the door. The door handles for classrooms at the AS1 walkway however have to be pulled upwards in order to open them, effectively meaning that by pushing them downwards (like you would for normal doors), you're locking yourself out instead of opening the door.
This makes it a bad design in the sense that its non-conventional. I admit it's unusual (perhaps 'cool' even to some), but when you're late, rushing to a classroom and trying to open the door, the last thing you need is a door handle which doesn't follow the standard conventions.
I'm pretty sure most people who have had lessons in the AS1 classrooms have either personally experienced or at least witnessed a harrased student trying to rush into class, only to be unable to open the non-conventional door, which would probably lead to a lot of frustration for them because it makes them even later than they already are.
After a few unsuccessful attempts (and some help from students in the classroom), they would finally be able to open the door.... and probably learn that the door handle is supposed to move up instead of down. Since the door has no "brand", it would hard to actually figure out a user's impression of the brand (except maybe if you consider comments like "why on earth did anyone design doors like this?" to be a negative impression of the architecture firm that designed the doors).
So what do i personally think of this product (if you could consider it a product)? I think that while it seems like a unique idea, it is a bad design in the sense that it works totally opposite to conventional designs for similar items. People have conceptual (mental) models about how things should work (which generally are conventions followed by the majority), and if a design goes against these conventions and conceptual models, it will be difficult for people to understand and use these products.
As for the user reaction, i would think that it is normal and understandable. Given the circumstances where the evidences of this atypical and bad design occurs, they have every reason to feel frustrated. When someone is in a hurry or under stress, they rarely think about the exceptions to the rules (such as the way this particular door handle works), often resorting to those conceptual models they know and which have become habitual, so naturally they would try opening the door by pushing the handle downwards (and get frustrated when it achieves the opposite result of locking them out of the room).
Most (or a rather large majority) of door handles are designed to be pushed down in order to open the door. The door handles for classrooms at the AS1 walkway however have to be pulled upwards in order to open them, effectively meaning that by pushing them downwards (like you would for normal doors), you're locking yourself out instead of opening the door.
This makes it a bad design in the sense that its non-conventional. I admit it's unusual (perhaps 'cool' even to some), but when you're late, rushing to a classroom and trying to open the door, the last thing you need is a door handle which doesn't follow the standard conventions.
I'm pretty sure most people who have had lessons in the AS1 classrooms have either personally experienced or at least witnessed a harrased student trying to rush into class, only to be unable to open the non-conventional door, which would probably lead to a lot of frustration for them because it makes them even later than they already are.
After a few unsuccessful attempts (and some help from students in the classroom), they would finally be able to open the door.... and probably learn that the door handle is supposed to move up instead of down. Since the door has no "brand", it would hard to actually figure out a user's impression of the brand (except maybe if you consider comments like "why on earth did anyone design doors like this?" to be a negative impression of the architecture firm that designed the doors).
So what do i personally think of this product (if you could consider it a product)? I think that while it seems like a unique idea, it is a bad design in the sense that it works totally opposite to conventional designs for similar items. People have conceptual (mental) models about how things should work (which generally are conventions followed by the majority), and if a design goes against these conventions and conceptual models, it will be difficult for people to understand and use these products.
As for the user reaction, i would think that it is normal and understandable. Given the circumstances where the evidences of this atypical and bad design occurs, they have every reason to feel frustrated. When someone is in a hurry or under stress, they rarely think about the exceptions to the rules (such as the way this particular door handle works), often resorting to those conceptual models they know and which have become habitual, so naturally they would try opening the door by pushing the handle downwards (and get frustrated when it achieves the opposite result of locking them out of the room).
Monday, January 01, 2007
oh WOW! DOTA!
i don't really post here much anymore (not since i ended NM3216), but as i've always said "There's some things you can never really run away from."
so anyway... had dinner with mum's side of the extended family, on the table with all the cousins who have a minimum age of 18 (going on 19). Funny how at one point the conversation swung in the direction of DOTA and WOW (like i said... there's just some things you can't run away from).
I found it funny how this particular cousin of mine has now become somewhat of a DOTA fanatic (when about this time last year i recall him saying he could never understand why all his friends were persistently playing that game).
Well one year on, and things certainly have changed haven't they? on an even more interesting note, there seems to be a little inter-family DOTA competition going on (where Dota-playing siblings team up against their similarly teamed-up cousins), and where they seem to be playing for bragging rights (like my cousin said, "We have t PWN them so that at the next family gathering we can rub it in their faces!").
The other topic of interest was WOW (World of Warcraft) - mainly because i brought up the recent Season 10 episode of South Park called "Make Love, not Warcraft". Its interesting to see how immersive the game is, and how people are aware the level of immersion can reach. My cousin said that when the original WOW came out, he "lost all his friends" except when it was tuesday night (only because the server is down for maintenence). Now that most of them hit level 60 or so, he's got his friends back (or at least till the expansion comes out some time this year). The most interesting bit of all i thought, was when he said that "there's no way he's going to start on WOW, because i know once i start i won't stop." Such is the level of immersion (the guys at Blizzard Entertainment are geniuses i tell you).
so anyway... had dinner with mum's side of the extended family, on the table with all the cousins who have a minimum age of 18 (going on 19). Funny how at one point the conversation swung in the direction of DOTA and WOW (like i said... there's just some things you can't run away from).
I found it funny how this particular cousin of mine has now become somewhat of a DOTA fanatic (when about this time last year i recall him saying he could never understand why all his friends were persistently playing that game).
Well one year on, and things certainly have changed haven't they? on an even more interesting note, there seems to be a little inter-family DOTA competition going on (where Dota-playing siblings team up against their similarly teamed-up cousins), and where they seem to be playing for bragging rights (like my cousin said, "We have t PWN them so that at the next family gathering we can rub it in their faces!").
The other topic of interest was WOW (World of Warcraft) - mainly because i brought up the recent Season 10 episode of South Park called "Make Love, not Warcraft". Its interesting to see how immersive the game is, and how people are aware the level of immersion can reach. My cousin said that when the original WOW came out, he "lost all his friends" except when it was tuesday night (only because the server is down for maintenence). Now that most of them hit level 60 or so, he's got his friends back (or at least till the expansion comes out some time this year). The most interesting bit of all i thought, was when he said that "there's no way he's going to start on WOW, because i know once i start i won't stop." Such is the level of immersion (the guys at Blizzard Entertainment are geniuses i tell you).
Friday, October 27, 2006
Cowboy X REDUX
hmm. so we've got some problems with the core mechanics of our game. as its been mentioned during a consultation session we had, the very nature of the core mechanic is what gives us problems. the whole premise about the game is controlling without giving the player control - and the lack of the player's sense of control is the biggest concern.
So its back to the drawing board for the crew of Cowboy X.
Stay tuned...
So its back to the drawing board for the crew of Cowboy X.
Stay tuned...
Thursday, September 07, 2006
The module formerly known as Gaming Culture 2
thought of the day:Game Design 2 (NM4209) - aka the module formerly known as Gaming Culture 2
Welcome to another entry in the blog of your friendly neighbourhood gamer. today we touch on... NM4209 - Game Design 2 (or more affectionately known to me as 'the module formerly known as Gaming Culture 2). it's been interesting these few weeks to say the least. considering how the module is now 100% CA (meaning we have NO EXAM!!!! bwahahahaha)... BUT, that also means we have to come out with a fully-developed game at the end of the semester (using the program known as GameMaker).
the friendly neighbourhood gamer has taken a crack at GameMaker, and come up with a very rough game of his own. its not fantastic, but at least touches on the basics of how the program works - its something like BreakOut.
so... ideas for the project revolve around Cowboys X (say it really quickly over and over....hahahahahaha). its a bit like a top-down version of Metal Slug-meets-Lemmings-meets-Sims. that's taking into account the 3 major aspects:
1. you go around killing people
2. there's no direct control over the character (which we shall refer to as Cowboy X)
3. you influence his survival is indirectly via strategically placing power-ups etc in his path as he goes on his rampage.
a few things to think about (which are nothing more than aesthetic elements till the final game is out):
1. 'customised' or varied character traits (ala RPG character creation).... which would mean you could have a super-conservative or even a super-reckless Cowboy X.
2. a level structure resembling 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1,2.2, 2.3 etc, with each sub-stage having a different objective.
3. variation of level objectives - play to time, play to kills etc
let's see how Cowboy's X (say it fast over and over... hahahaha) turns out at the end of the sem. should be quite a game.
Welcome to another entry in the blog of your friendly neighbourhood gamer. today we touch on... NM4209 - Game Design 2 (or more affectionately known to me as 'the module formerly known as Gaming Culture 2). it's been interesting these few weeks to say the least. considering how the module is now 100% CA (meaning we have NO EXAM!!!! bwahahahaha)... BUT, that also means we have to come out with a fully-developed game at the end of the semester (using the program known as GameMaker).
the friendly neighbourhood gamer has taken a crack at GameMaker, and come up with a very rough game of his own. its not fantastic, but at least touches on the basics of how the program works - its something like BreakOut.
so... ideas for the project revolve around Cowboys X (say it really quickly over and over....hahahahahaha). its a bit like a top-down version of Metal Slug-meets-Lemmings-meets-Sims. that's taking into account the 3 major aspects:
1. you go around killing people
2. there's no direct control over the character (which we shall refer to as Cowboy X)
3. you influence his survival is indirectly via strategically placing power-ups etc in his path as he goes on his rampage.
a few things to think about (which are nothing more than aesthetic elements till the final game is out):
1. 'customised' or varied character traits (ala RPG character creation).... which would mean you could have a super-conservative or even a super-reckless Cowboy X.
2. a level structure resembling 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1,2.2, 2.3 etc, with each sub-stage having a different objective.
3. variation of level objectives - play to time, play to kills etc
let's see how Cowboy's X (say it fast over and over... hahahaha) turns out at the end of the sem. should be quite a game.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
The only game possibly played by (almost) the whole of NUS...
thought of the day: possibly the most perverse MMORPG ever (unintentionally) created...
ok. so i bet you're asking the friendly neighbourhood gamer how that is possible (THAT in this case referring to:
1. a game played by possibly the whole of NUS
2. the most perverse MMORPG ever (unintentionally) created
ready to find out more? and awwwaaaaaaaay we go...
just so that you know... before every semester begins, NUS students (most of them anyway) go through the wonderful practices of bidding for modules through the *cough cough accursed cough cough* system called CORS. since this blog is read most by NUS students anyway, i won't bother to actually go through the whole mechanics of it.
the friendly neighbourhood gamer has (as a result of having too much time on his bored mind) come to the conclusion that CORS essentially is like a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) which coincidentally involves the whole of NUS (ok fine most of it, saving the prescence of medicine, law and dentistry students). in short, CORS is a perverse version of World Of Warcraft or Maple Story (i'm soooo gonna get bombed for this).
now before you (and the rest of your angry mob) decide to drag me off to burn me at the stake for heresy, HEAR ME OUT. Do you not agree with the following:
ok. so i bet you're asking the friendly neighbourhood gamer how that is possible (THAT in this case referring to:
1. a game played by possibly the whole of NUS
2. the most perverse MMORPG ever (unintentionally) created
ready to find out more? and awwwaaaaaaaay we go...
just so that you know... before every semester begins, NUS students (most of them anyway) go through the wonderful practices of bidding for modules through the *cough cough accursed cough cough* system called CORS. since this blog is read most by NUS students anyway, i won't bother to actually go through the whole mechanics of it.
the friendly neighbourhood gamer has (as a result of having too much time on his bored mind) come to the conclusion that CORS essentially is like a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) which coincidentally involves the whole of NUS (ok fine most of it, saving the prescence of medicine, law and dentistry students). in short, CORS is a perverse version of World Of Warcraft or Maple Story (i'm soooo gonna get bombed for this).
now before you (and the rest of your angry mob) decide to drag me off to burn me at the stake for heresy, HEAR ME OUT. Do you not agree with the following:
1. Just like in any other game there are veterans (read: seniors) willing to help out n00bs (read: freshmen and whoever else can't figure out the system). Seniors not necessarily referring to those who are older, but those who have more skill at the 'game'.
2. it involves a considerably large population being online and interacting
with one another through figurative battles (read: throwing bid points to kill
each other)
3. people band together to form teams / guilds of sorts (read: you gang up with your 'kaki' to take the same modules and watch each others' back during bidding rounds)
4. it contains elements such as challenge, risk vs reward, resource allocation, strategising etc
5. someone should write a guidebook / walkthrough on how to surive the horror of CORS bidding (maybe i should do it... i've been asked quite a few times)... i mean, there's books on how to excel at WOW right? ok so maybe if no guidebook the seniors are like some real-time customised CORS FAQ forum.
6. you gotta pay to play
ok if you don't agree with ALL of the above, THEN you can burn me at the stake. if not, shut yer trap (and put down that pitchfork - you could poke someone's eye out with that).
the only difference between MMORPGs like WOW or Maple Story as opposed to CORS is that in those MMORPGs you can sell your in-game currency, or whatever items you purchased. unfortunately, the same can't be said for CORS. i bet everyone in engine wishes they could sell their points. selling modules? now there's a thought. imagine flogging NM1101e on ebay.
so yes that comes to the end of my ranting. this is your friendly neighbourhood gamer, signing out.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
outside of normal time?
ok i know this is weird (it IS a homework blog after all), but i'm actually voluntarily posting today (hard to imagine, no?)
anyway, i've been given the task to come up with some games for my church retreat (me and my big mouth about taking gaming mods). sad to say i didn't manage to come up with anything from scratch (instead 'kopping' games from some other camps i've been to).
and before someone decides to kill me with the "but i thought you spent a whole semester learning how to develop games, how can you NOT come up with any of your own" argument, i must say that i still do remember some stuff (like how i was explaining flow and positive feedback to my friend in the course of rationalising why i couldn't implement certain rules though i thought it would make things more interesting).
and here's the gist of it...
i'm sure most people know the newspaper game. you know, the one where everyone tries to squeeze onto a sheet of newspaper and every so often the paper gets folded into half? well i wanted to use questions as a means to get the newspaper folded. answer wrongly and your newspaper shrinks. answer right and well... nothing happens. its 2 groups competing against each other, so that makes things interesting.
so then i thought of this brilliant 'double or nothing idea'. your group gets a hard question. the decide to go for a double or nothing by throwing it to the other team. they get it wrong, and their paper gets folded in half. they get it right, and your newspaper becomes 1/4 its original size (in other words double penalty. 1/2 of 1/2 is 1/4). this obviously leads to too much positive feedback (i'm guessing most of you should be able to see why).
so yes, believe it or not, i've been having to apply this stuff outside of NM3216 (in a camp no less). at least its something usable, unlike other stuff (which i'm not implying isn't. just that its not as usable).
anyway, i've been given the task to come up with some games for my church retreat (me and my big mouth about taking gaming mods). sad to say i didn't manage to come up with anything from scratch (instead 'kopping' games from some other camps i've been to).
and before someone decides to kill me with the "but i thought you spent a whole semester learning how to develop games, how can you NOT come up with any of your own" argument, i must say that i still do remember some stuff (like how i was explaining flow and positive feedback to my friend in the course of rationalising why i couldn't implement certain rules though i thought it would make things more interesting).
and here's the gist of it...
i'm sure most people know the newspaper game. you know, the one where everyone tries to squeeze onto a sheet of newspaper and every so often the paper gets folded into half? well i wanted to use questions as a means to get the newspaper folded. answer wrongly and your newspaper shrinks. answer right and well... nothing happens. its 2 groups competing against each other, so that makes things interesting.
so then i thought of this brilliant 'double or nothing idea'. your group gets a hard question. the decide to go for a double or nothing by throwing it to the other team. they get it wrong, and their paper gets folded in half. they get it right, and your newspaper becomes 1/4 its original size (in other words double penalty. 1/2 of 1/2 is 1/4). this obviously leads to too much positive feedback (i'm guessing most of you should be able to see why).
so yes, believe it or not, i've been having to apply this stuff outside of NM3216 (in a camp no less). at least its something usable, unlike other stuff (which i'm not implying isn't. just that its not as usable).
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Newgrounds.com 'Problems Of The Future, Today!"
topic of the day: case for the digital game
welcome to another entry by your friendly neighbourhood gamer. today the topic is the digital game. and my example is crazy steven, a rather violent and gory game from newgrounds.com (my favourite haunt. it really IS very good for getting game examples).
so what's the core mechanic for this game involving a psychotic sword-wielding fireman who rides a flying magic donkey and goes on a killing spree? well, by conventional game genre standards, crazy steven would be considered a side-scroller, where there's the element of continuous motion and changing landscape (think like a cinema reel thing). not to mention the element of response time and reflexes.
and speaking of cinema reel style, that's one way someone would (try to) convert it into a board prototype. the only problem being that it would be SUPER-slow (if the minimum specs for crazy steven were pentium 5, then it MIGHT run at 386). and the fact is that the obstacles and targets are continuous. a bit hard to co-ordinate if you ask me. especially when you've got to collect some (like cash and timers), kill others (like people) and avoid the rest (like fallen trees and concrete blocks). all those aspects would make crazy steven a nightmare to prototype / simultate. and that's it i guess - the fact that you need the computer to do the processing at a reasonable speed in order to have the desired experience (especially when it comes to response time and reflexes).
then again maybe i should try a real life simulation to see how much the game is able to translate. the only problem is that now i need a sword, a fireman's uniform and a magic flying donkey.
p.s. the friendly neighbourhood gamer bears no responsibility whatsoever for any crazy fool who decides to undertake the suggestion mentioned above (assuming he / she can get his / her hands on a magic flying donkey of course).
p.p.s. this kinda goes back post title. except that the problem of a sword-wielding, pyschotic fireman riding his flying magic donkey and killing people is not a problem in the near future (i hope). not till someone can get donkeys to fly anyway.
welcome to another entry by your friendly neighbourhood gamer. today the topic is the digital game. and my example is crazy steven, a rather violent and gory game from newgrounds.com (my favourite haunt. it really IS very good for getting game examples).
so what's the core mechanic for this game involving a psychotic sword-wielding fireman who rides a flying magic donkey and goes on a killing spree? well, by conventional game genre standards, crazy steven would be considered a side-scroller, where there's the element of continuous motion and changing landscape (think like a cinema reel thing). not to mention the element of response time and reflexes.
and speaking of cinema reel style, that's one way someone would (try to) convert it into a board prototype. the only problem being that it would be SUPER-slow (if the minimum specs for crazy steven were pentium 5, then it MIGHT run at 386). and the fact is that the obstacles and targets are continuous. a bit hard to co-ordinate if you ask me. especially when you've got to collect some (like cash and timers), kill others (like people) and avoid the rest (like fallen trees and concrete blocks). all those aspects would make crazy steven a nightmare to prototype / simultate. and that's it i guess - the fact that you need the computer to do the processing at a reasonable speed in order to have the desired experience (especially when it comes to response time and reflexes).
then again maybe i should try a real life simulation to see how much the game is able to translate. the only problem is that now i need a sword, a fireman's uniform and a magic flying donkey.
p.s. the friendly neighbourhood gamer bears no responsibility whatsoever for any crazy fool who decides to undertake the suggestion mentioned above (assuming he / she can get his / her hands on a magic flying donkey of course).
p.p.s. this kinda goes back post title. except that the problem of a sword-wielding, pyschotic fireman riding his flying magic donkey and killing people is not a problem in the near future (i hope). not till someone can get donkeys to fly anyway.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Seriously speaking
yes. i have lots of catching up to do. lagging quite badly actually. but we'll get there. somehow.
topic of the day: you can't be serious...
today, our friendly neighbourhood gamer reports on serious games. what's that you say? serious games? isn't that a paradoxical situation?
but yes. seriously speaking... there ARE serious games out there. like 'the McDonalds game'. its basically a game where you take control of 'the evil corporation' that is McDonalds (if you don't believe me, check this out - proves that not just the creators of the McDonalds videogame have that sentiment).
so the game aims to 'educate' players about the fast-food industry (i put the inverted commas for the simple reason that throught the gameplay you can more or less deduce their intended message and views).
so does it pass the test of being a good game? not really. its more of a sim rather than an actual game i think. there isn't much of a win condition per se. the only goal you have is to not go broke. the fact that in attempting to do 'bad' things to increase your profits result in more negative effects, your options for gameplay are rather limited in that sense, even though you get to control the various aspects of running a fast-food corporation. most of the time when you play you're more into survival than maxing out profits. so the fact that it perpetually frustrates players (i had to experiment with it for hours before getting an 'equilibrium' situation) doesn't make for very good gameplay.
as a serious game (trying to spread a message / educate people), the message doesn't quite get across either. they don't explicitly tell you what they're trying to say (then again if they did then they could get sued by the golden arches). that's the problem with an implicit / indirect message - not everyone will get it. and that's why it will not really succeed as a serious game (the bad gameplay might actually turn players off before they can understand the intended message).
and with that, your friendly neighbourhood gamer gives the mcdonalds game 3 out of 5 stars for its success rate.
topic of the day: you can't be serious...
today, our friendly neighbourhood gamer reports on serious games. what's that you say? serious games? isn't that a paradoxical situation?
but yes. seriously speaking... there ARE serious games out there. like 'the McDonalds game'. its basically a game where you take control of 'the evil corporation' that is McDonalds (if you don't believe me, check this out - proves that not just the creators of the McDonalds videogame have that sentiment).
so the game aims to 'educate' players about the fast-food industry (i put the inverted commas for the simple reason that throught the gameplay you can more or less deduce their intended message and views).
so does it pass the test of being a good game? not really. its more of a sim rather than an actual game i think. there isn't much of a win condition per se. the only goal you have is to not go broke. the fact that in attempting to do 'bad' things to increase your profits result in more negative effects, your options for gameplay are rather limited in that sense, even though you get to control the various aspects of running a fast-food corporation. most of the time when you play you're more into survival than maxing out profits. so the fact that it perpetually frustrates players (i had to experiment with it for hours before getting an 'equilibrium' situation) doesn't make for very good gameplay.
as a serious game (trying to spread a message / educate people), the message doesn't quite get across either. they don't explicitly tell you what they're trying to say (then again if they did then they could get sued by the golden arches). that's the problem with an implicit / indirect message - not everyone will get it. and that's why it will not really succeed as a serious game (the bad gameplay might actually turn players off before they can understand the intended message).
and with that, your friendly neighbourhood gamer gives the mcdonalds game 3 out of 5 stars for its success rate.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Social Games?
before we begin, its quite obvious this blog has been neglected for a while. ironical considering it counts towards the grade.
topic of the day: games with the social premise...
today our friendly neighbourhood gamer presents his long-overdue viewpoints on the phenomenon known as social games (more specifically, Little Max and mafia). incidentally both games are variations of existing ones (but aren't all games?) - little max is the dice version of bluff, and mafia's just another version of polar bear.
but anyway... back to observations and viewpoints. our gamer noticed that social games (such as little max and polar bear) have elements of social interaction (which somehow brings to mind a question - don't ALL games involve social interaction?). The whole premise behind mafia and little max is the idea of deception - in mafia trying to convince people that you're not who they think you are, and in little max basically whether you're just bluffing to survive.
so what happens in the whole process of social interaction? you tend to start to make judgements about people, based on how they interact with others involved in the game (like how everyone has associated wei ren with being a good liar to the point they don't want to believe him anymore - even when he's telling the truth).
and since the nature of both games depends on how well you can convince others of a particular viewpoint (in order to ensure your survival in the game), "people skills" become important. the ones who have more are better at it, the ones who have less (and don't speak up to defend themselves during accusations) are more easily eliminated (and when they make the mistake of wrongly eliminating a quiet person, one question that never fails to arise is : why you never defend yourself?!). but that's what social games are about right? interacting actively with other game participants.
here's a thought about gamer classification - gamers in little max and mafia probably fit the standard player type (then again it really depends what you deem to be 'standard' player type), since everyone more or less plays the same style (especially for little max, considering there's only 1 way to play the game. unlike bluff you can't resort to telling the truth all the time - the dice rolls don't allow for it). but i guess maybe cos we're playing among friends (or at least people who we're somewhat familiar with).
here's another thought (this one about mods): what if you modified little max such that you HAD to tell the truth? like say we had an "immunity" thing. then whoever had it die-die had to tell the truth and show his dice roll (but wouldn't get eliminated since it was immunity), and the value was reset from there? what effect would that have on the game do you think? of course it could be good or bad depending on what happened, but most likely it'd be a help than a hindrance (unless of course the guy with immunity called a double-6 - then the next guy would be really in for it). would be interesting don't you think?
this is your friendly neighbourhood gamer signing off...
topic of the day: games with the social premise...
today our friendly neighbourhood gamer presents his long-overdue viewpoints on the phenomenon known as social games (more specifically, Little Max and mafia). incidentally both games are variations of existing ones (but aren't all games?) - little max is the dice version of bluff, and mafia's just another version of polar bear.
but anyway... back to observations and viewpoints. our gamer noticed that social games (such as little max and polar bear) have elements of social interaction (which somehow brings to mind a question - don't ALL games involve social interaction?). The whole premise behind mafia and little max is the idea of deception - in mafia trying to convince people that you're not who they think you are, and in little max basically whether you're just bluffing to survive.
so what happens in the whole process of social interaction? you tend to start to make judgements about people, based on how they interact with others involved in the game (like how everyone has associated wei ren with being a good liar to the point they don't want to believe him anymore - even when he's telling the truth).
and since the nature of both games depends on how well you can convince others of a particular viewpoint (in order to ensure your survival in the game), "people skills" become important. the ones who have more are better at it, the ones who have less (and don't speak up to defend themselves during accusations) are more easily eliminated (and when they make the mistake of wrongly eliminating a quiet person, one question that never fails to arise is : why you never defend yourself?!). but that's what social games are about right? interacting actively with other game participants.
here's a thought about gamer classification - gamers in little max and mafia probably fit the standard player type (then again it really depends what you deem to be 'standard' player type), since everyone more or less plays the same style (especially for little max, considering there's only 1 way to play the game. unlike bluff you can't resort to telling the truth all the time - the dice rolls don't allow for it). but i guess maybe cos we're playing among friends (or at least people who we're somewhat familiar with).
here's another thought (this one about mods): what if you modified little max such that you HAD to tell the truth? like say we had an "immunity" thing. then whoever had it die-die had to tell the truth and show his dice roll (but wouldn't get eliminated since it was immunity), and the value was reset from there? what effect would that have on the game do you think? of course it could be good or bad depending on what happened, but most likely it'd be a help than a hindrance (unless of course the guy with immunity called a double-6 - then the next guy would be really in for it). would be interesting don't you think?
this is your friendly neighbourhood gamer signing off...
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