Week 8

This Week: 
This week we focused on the feedback given within the paper prototyping activity and decided on changes for our application. We decided on allocation of tasks and what stuff had to be done to get the application working(well at least the Trove pages).  Within our contact time we were able to discuss what we had to do. 

Lecture:
Within the lecture we learnt about "web stuff" which focused on web design and & development practices. This included the:
Flow 

• focused on the flow of the wed design including the how appealing the website is, mental state and creating an optimal experience for the user
• it was really interesting how the "flow" develops on the mind and how it interprets an application 
• it needs to provide clear goals, sense of the control for the user, merging of action(things lead onto the next) and loss of self-consciousness

I found it really interesting how important the "flow" is and how you barely notice it when looking at the web; it is always there though, you don't notice it though. 

Within constructing a web site you have to make sure that all elements of the design flow together in a consistent manner and have the sam atmospheric feel throughout. 


Further development to the allocation of tasks:

This week we analysed the feedback given from the paper prototype and made changes to our final application. 

We each discussed what had to be done to get Part B finished by the start of next week. 
What my group is doing: 

Rachel: 
Will be working on making the game completely functional. I will be including obstacles, a high scores leaderboard, lives, the 'discovery list' (whatever you want to call it), and star boxes. All animation will be done by using Javascript to manipulate the HTML5 <canvas> element. Javascript will be used to keep track of the player's progress in the game (i.e. lives, scores, fish discovered). 

Nikhil:
Nikhil will be working on end level screen shall be using javascript for it along side with html and css and helping you with the document typing half of it if you want me to idm just give ze word. I shall also be working with Alisa on implementing progress tracker which detects where you are on the reef and how muuch of it you have explored, this will be done by first pulling google maps using their API and putting markers where the player is and has explored


Eric:
Eric will be responsible for constructing the database and accessing it using PHP and SQL queries. The database will store the fish data which cannot be extracted dynamically from Trove, such as the swimming speed and the size of the fish. Also, there will be a leader board in our game. It will be stored in a separate table too.
The PHP I construct will provide a open protocol to allow access from the Javascript application made by my teammates. Eric will discuss with Rachel about how to use that protocol is necessary.



Ailsa:
All the images that are to be displayed within the application will be drawn by Ailsa within Illustrator and Photoshop.

Me:
I will take leading role within the development of the Progress Report and setting up templates for the document. Everyone will still contribute to progress report but i will be doing the majority of the tasks

Application Mockups:

Main screen interface:

Main <canvas> where the game is played:

Trove Data page:

Week 7

This week we implemented our paper prototype to show to users a tangle representation of our application concept. 
We were able to ask the potential users about what they thought about our concept and what changes they would want us to make to the application to make it more enticing to potential users. We had to break down the initial concept and show the users a step-by-step approach to how the application was run and how the user experience would be conveyed.
Below shows our paper prototype:

General Feedback

• When a user is playing the game, there needs to be a button that allows the user to pause/go back to menu/view instructions of the application.
• Users did not want to read instructions – that want something more interactive
• Most of the users wanted to use the arrow keys to play the game. They preferred to use the mouse to click on links and other commands
• Users vocalized how they wanted to use the arrow keys to play the game, the mouse to do additional tasks
• One user said that our interface was quite interactive. He was instructed to get to a clownfish article and he said that playing the game ‘forced’ him in that direction
• Player wants to look at (or “discover”) the rock and seaweed
• Game needs something to show that star box is interactive – make it bright yellow or something (this should stand out more in a virtual version rather than on a black-and-white paper prototype)
• Users had difficulty telling what was and wasn’t interactive and edible (however this should be more obvious in the real version rather than on paper, as we will have moving fish and stuff)
• Users weren’t sure if the shark was edible – looks big and scary and like it should be avoided
• Potential obstacle: fishing hooks coming down, possibly add trove fishing data
• Users wanted to click on “clownfish” and other fish in the collected list, should be able to, user wanted to see data then
• Get data once it is ‘unlocked’ – i.e. view clownfish info when first clownfish is eaten, or at least a preview
• What happens if you die?
• The users want the game to be in multi-player
• Users want to be able to eat the biggest fish in that level.
• Star box, will they want to read the articles? Maybe more pictures instead of articles.
• Check list in the collector
• More images and articles on star box

Feedback for Scoring 

The user vocalized how each user will get the same high score at the end of the game. There is no way for a user to loose points, so all user scores at the end of the game will be exactly the same. The user said:

“ Users should be able to compete for high scores. If the game always has the same number of fish and no way of decreasing points, then all users will end on the same score. This does not encourage competition”

• One way of decreasing scores is to add obstacles, e.g. floating pollution, to decrease scores
• Otherwise scores should decrease when a life is lost, +100 points for hit box to make “discovering” more enticing
• Ranking system / high scores leaderboard
• Different fish should be worth more, i.e. points for rarity of fish (i.e. rare in terms of # trove results)
• Time constraints could be added for possible scoring variation, however this could give users disincentive

Lecture

In this weeks lecture we learnt about Design Patterns and how important design patterns are within designing a concept.
An important quote:
"Patterns are abstract, core solutions to problems that recur in different contexts...The actual implementation of the solution varier with each application. Patterns are not, therefore, ready-made 'pluggable' solutions.
It was interesting how many times we actually use design patterns in creating an application. We use it within writing code and designing applications.

Week 6

This week i was sick during the contact session, but what i gathered from our group meeting is that we discussed our final implementation for our application and what task had to be done to complete these steps.

The lecture comprised of prototyping. The lecture explained what the product is, the benefits, the problems that may occur, when it is used and the anatomy of the prototype.

I found it interesting to see how important prototyping is when implementing a finial concept.  Prototyping allows the user to see a representation of the application and shows to user step by step how the application is being run.

From this, we are able to retrieve vital feedback to develop our final application.

In our additional meeting, we discussed what has to be developed in the next few weeks to benefit our part b assignment and constructed our paper prototype.

What i plan to do this week: 

1. start part b report 
2. make sure everyone is organised for the application

Portfolio - Mockups 

Home Page 

About Me 

Week 5

Activity

This week, "The Bikini Bottoms" worked on their design document and decided on the final concept for their major project.

Experiences in the Poster & Pitch

When we demonstrated our pitch and poster, i felt that i was somewhat unprepared with my speech. There was a miscommunication with the printing of the poster as well, so everyone in the group was a little uneasy with how everything was organised. 

The poster was constructed well, but with miscommunication from the group, the poster was printed off in a pixcelated format and lacked professionalism. The tutors were unimpressed with this and marked us accordingly. 

I did the speech individually, while the group stood around me. Next time i think we are going to do the speech together, as it portrays more of a group environment instead of being individual. 

I was very nervous when i did the speech, and for some reason didn't bother reading my speech cards. This hindered my performance because it made the pitch look some what unprepared. 

Overall though, i felt that i described the concept well and was able to sell our concept. 

Next time, i hope to speak lower and read my speech cards accordingly. 

What did I learn about our concept / the project / the brief / the design process...

from the feedback received?

From the feedback received i learnt that our concept does not include enough Trove data within the application.  We need to incorporate more aspects of Trove into most of our application by thinking about where we can incorporate the more links, articles and images to the Great Barrier Reef. 

from seeing other teams’ concepts?

From seeing everyone else's concepts, i was able to see the diverse range of subjects the other students are covering and how diverse the applications were represented. 

Other teams were unable to present a well presented pitch by not talking to the audience well, but overall i thought everyone did a really good job with presenting a good concept. 

Everyone also seemed very organised with getting everything in order for the presentation. 

How have these realisations affected my/our own concepts & process since? 

From the pitch and poster assignment, i have stressed the importance of being organised to my group. We all need to be able to co-operate together as a team to get our work done. 
I feel from the feedback given that we have to come up with more ideas to incorporate into trove and work more effectively as a team. 


Our poster from this week:

Lecture:

This week we learnt about Web Application Technologies

We learnt about how we use API's to develop our application

To use Server Side Technologies we can use:

• PHP 
• Perl
• Java
• Python

For server storage we can use:

• mySQL
• SQLite 

Building a Web App:

• AJAX
• collection of other technologies including HTML/CSS. DOM, JSON and XMLHTTPRequest

I found it really good to found out what technologies we can use. In the future i hope to use some of these technologies to develop our application. 

This Week:

• i contributed to constructing the application and creating mockups for our application 
• started my website mockups