Making significant process considering our time limit, as well as are creating quality work. I feel as though my documention for this section is also well done.
I was a part of the desk research section of the team, when it came to researching our target audience, as well as justifying our product choice for the Night of the Nerds event. A quick summary of my research was- Defining our target audience, creating personal research questions, and overall getting a better understanding of loneliness in young adults. I used library literature research and field problem analysis to create a research document comprising my research as well as findings. I would also consider this the start of our use of the double diamond method, as we decided to define our problem and dive into exactly what loneliness means. Attached is a document summarizing my findings
Loneliness Research
Report and documentation in regards to my research on loneliness
Research Document
After research, we began to brainstorm our product. Using the double diamond method, we wanted to start as broadly as possible and come up with as many ideas as possible. We decided to use the Lotus Blossom Method for brainstorming, where we start with 8 ideas, then create 8 solutions for those ideas. This was an incredibly helpful method of brainstorming, as we each came in with our own pre conceived notion of what the project should look / be like and were then forced to think of ideas for not only our own ideas, but others as well. We then marked our favourite solutions for the ideas, the ones I favourited being marked by a pink box within the diagram. I have marked which ideas and solutions I came up with in the picture provided, however all ideas / solutions are named within the Figma if you need a higher quality image.
We then proceeded to figure out our exact idea by picking out our favourite aspects of each of the solutions, comparing these to our research, and figuring out what would be best for our target audience. We had a group discussion to talk about specific theming, mechanics, as well as what the game would consist of in general. The pokemon Go idea was very appealing to us, not only because Jan had mentioned he had a map API he worked on which means we had someone to ask for help- But also pokemon Go as a whole was a big way people found a way to socialize in person through a game. Creating a game where people have to actively move around outside of their home was an idea we all mutually agreed would be good to enforce online and offline contact. I had pitched the idea of an ‘isekai’ or another world game, a large trope in anime, games, and manhwa that entails someone from our world being transported / born into another world- usually a fantasy one. I then began defacing a whiteboard in order to explain what I meant through doodles and an on the spot pitch. By taking advantage of a ‘cozy fantasy / medieval / both themes world we would be able to sell the idea of going into another world with your phone to be able to help those of the other world. You could travel between your world (offline contact) to meet, trade, and collect resources from people. You would then bring them into the isekai world (online contact) to help people, build your land, or something similar. I also pitched the idea as able to work in either a medieval or modern fantasy world, depending on what kind of theming we wanted to go for. Also, for a cozy theming for the game- We could take advantage of a ‘chibi’ style for models of the characters which would make creating the characters much less complex when it came to either 3D-Modelling them or creating 2D Sprites. In the end we iterated as a group on the idea some more, and kept the travel between worlds ideas- But instead to solve mysteries in a medieval version of Eindhoven. By keeping it to one city, we are able to scale the game for now to create a working prototype for the night of the nerds event.
To help guide the visual design of our game we decided to each create a mood board based on our individual vision of the game. We then discussed each one within the group and held a public vote inside of the OIL to get a better idea of what people liked or didn’t. I had also pulled four people aside to get specific thoughts on each mood board, then having people rank their favourite and least favourite mood board. Attached is a document summarizing my findings.
Moodboard Documentation
Report and documentation in regards to the moodboard voting, creation, and interviews.
Moodboard Research DocumentI assisted Yoshua in creating the design for our Player Character in the game Bonds. We did character silhouettes, more detailed sketches, clear drawing of the character (Yoshua only), and a finalization of the character alongside a turnaround (Charlotte Only)- Totaling four iterations on the character. Attached is a document detailing iterations and steps, as well as the final PSD of the character turnaround.
Character Documentation
Report and documentation in regards to the iterations of the design of the main character of bonds.
Documentation LinkWe conducted and created a poster presentation for our concept of our game Bonds. We received important questions regarding our work such as how we would handle safety concerns between players and how we would encourage communication within the game. Attached is a process and research document about the creation of the poster as well as the feedback received.
Poster Presentation Documentation
Report and documentation in regards to the poster presentation feedback and presenting.
Documentation LinkI assisted in testing a paper prototype created by some of the other members of our group. I observed and interviewed 5 pairs who tested the group. I followed research questions we created to look for specific things happening during testing. Attached is a research document to help explain the process as well as the specific notes I took attached.
Paper Prototype Documentation
Report and documentation of the paper prototype testing, research questions, and results. I interviewed and observed testers.
Documentation Link
I am the current contact person for Jacqueline Pijcke from Night of the Nerds. I scheduled the first meeting with her on 12 / 3, a second meeting scheduled 9 / 4 with both being done through teams. I have begun handling all communications with Jacqueline and keep her updated through each step of the process. I have also sent out an email to discuss the findings of our last few weeks, specifically after having our last presentation to test our paper prototype. We had originally agreed to discuss progress after every milestone point and will hopefully have one more meeting right before the Night of the Nerds presentation, leaving two meetings left.
For Night of the Nerds, our group Bonds presented our concept at the Fontys Strijp location. I assisted in setting up the event, testing to make sure everything was set up correctly, as well as observing our target audience in testing our product. We did a triangulated method of prototyping our product, doing a pitch of our work, and then observing how people interacted with our product. I wrote a report about my personal findings, as well as the group findings and how they compare to my own work.
NON Testing Doc
Further documentation of results and findings from the testing at NON
NON Test DocumentAlongside presenting at Night of the Nerds, I also went around to all of the areas that were presenting work. I played a few games at klokgebouw, looked at projects regarding technology with teaching, and really focused on looking at student projects at Fontys itself. The most interesting projects were the ones about combining technology with teaching. One group created a board game about teaching quantum mechanics while another in conjunction with the Van Gogh museum created an interactive exhibit where you made your own blacklight to find `hidden` details in a painting. I am very interested in teaching one day, it`s a passion of mine to help and teach others which is something I want to continue with one day. I love what both of these projects were trying to do, however I think the Van Gogh museum exhibit did a better job. While the board game is interesting and does its best to explain a difficult concept, I believe it simplified things far too much. It turned large complicated movements that particles make in an extremely simplified manner, that I didn`t understand what was actually happening. With the blacklight project, its very nice that it explained interactions with batteries in not only a simplified manner but in a way that was more interactive. Since i needed to physically build the light it added a step of physicality that really helped me understand things a bit better. I want to try creating or prototyping physical solutions for students to understand topics, similar to apps or websites that help children learn to code. Something I think is interesting is applications such as garage game builder or even baba is you, in a more theoretical sense. Things that teach you general logic of programming is always handy to learn, especially when people are just getting started. I think it would be really fun to create a game that explains how HTML and CSS work, as a lot of websites use these systems to decorate profiles but not many people know how to work them. Night of the Nerds was very inspiring for me in this aspect.
I tried to create Menu UI and dialogue box UI in unity for our game Bonds. I was able to get collision detection working, and created mockups for what the dialogue boxes would look like. However, because of Unity`s lack of free version control, and issues setting up gitignore.io I was unable to get version control working. I also had issues finalizing the implementation of both of these, which is documented in the attached document. Next time, I need to not underestimate how long a task will take, set more time for working, and ask for help sooner even if I think I know what I am doing.
UI Research Doc
Further documentation of results and findings from the testing at NON
UI Documenation Link
To finalize the project with Bonds, I wrote an advisory report that summarizes our work for the game alongside recommendations on how to proceed with the project if we end up agreeing to continue having work done on the game. I attached relevant project files in the email, such as art, game files, research summarizations, etc. Inside the advisory report is also a guide to understanding the present files in the zip attached.
Full Zip Download
The full zip file sent to NON and Join Us containing the relevant material for the game
Download LinkDuring the NON testing event, we had discussed major concerns that Join Us had about the safety of our game in regards to not only data regarding minors, but the prspect of minors being able to meet up with strangers at all. After discussing, we devised a new concept on how the in person version of the game would work, and I was tasked with writing the safety section of the concept document. Attatched is the full concept document we gave to Join Us, which I wrote the second half of regarding safety concerns.