Team Meeting Monday
Monday The presentation was practiced this morning with a decision finalized on who would be doing what on the presentation. The presentation was also amended as some members felt it was too large.
Team Meeting Wednesday
All members presentDuring this meeting the presentation was showcased to Amanda and Claire. The team felt it went very well and Amanda and Claire praised us for its professional delivery.
Team Meeting Thursday
All members presentToday milestone four was delivered to the three supervisors. The team felt things went very well and had delivered it in much the same way as the day before. The rest of the day the team finalized the Design Document. This concluded the team workings with each member now focusing on their individual report. As Milestone Manager I felt this milestone had gone very well with all targets achieved. It was surprising amending the design document just how much work was done during the course of this year. Overall I have really enjoyed this year and have felt that I have gained a lot of knowledge. I feel that the team has worked well. Finally I also believe that the team report has been written to the best of our abilities and felt that we had produced a meaningful and valuable investigation.
Monday, 5 May 2008
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Project Journal Week 30
The main focus of this week was to continue refining the team report and also refine the presentation. During this week I constructed the presentation which was completed in rough form for the Wednesday. When constructing the presentation I found it difficult to strike a balance between getting all the information across as this was the last milestone, but also to keep it fairly short so it could fit into the presentation.
I ordered the slides in a similar way that the team report was organized as this seemed a good logical process. I also thought about who would be discussing the slides and that also helped form the process creation as well as the organization of it.
Wednesday 16th April 2008
The team went through refining the report on this date while I went through amending any points to the presentation. Initially I had 22 slides although many were very simple. After discussing it with the team it was decided it would be best to compact the slides.
Team Meeting with Supervisors - Thursday 17th April 2008
This meeting with the supervisors was very short. The meeting focused on the external examiner in the previous week and how the team had presented themselves very well. The only drawback came that each member could have emphasized what they each undertook during the milestone in better detail.
In the afternoon the team spent time refining the report even further. It was decided that the slides should be condensed even further. At the end of this meeting I delegated who would be doing what on the presentation.
I ordered the slides in a similar way that the team report was organized as this seemed a good logical process. I also thought about who would be discussing the slides and that also helped form the process creation as well as the organization of it.
Wednesday 16th April 2008
The team went through refining the report on this date while I went through amending any points to the presentation. Initially I had 22 slides although many were very simple. After discussing it with the team it was decided it would be best to compact the slides.
Team Meeting with Supervisors - Thursday 17th April 2008
This meeting with the supervisors was very short. The meeting focused on the external examiner in the previous week and how the team had presented themselves very well. The only drawback came that each member could have emphasized what they each undertook during the milestone in better detail.
In the afternoon the team spent time refining the report even further. It was decided that the slides should be condensed even further. At the end of this meeting I delegated who would be doing what on the presentation.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Project Journal Week 29
During this week the team amended the team report. For me this meant amending the changes that Amanda and Claire had highlighted in my Implementation section. Claire noted that my section was difficult to read as I had referenced a particular table on the next page, so with the joint decision from the team, the information was summarised without using the table.
Additionally during this week the team had a meeting with the external supervisor who we gave a brief account of our progress up to this point and then proceeded to answer his questions.
Additionally to this week I began preparation to the presentation. Nick firstly set out the style of the presentation. I then began bullet pointing all the information within the presentation and writing a summary of information to be discussed on each slide.
Additionally during this week the team had a meeting with the external supervisor who we gave a brief account of our progress up to this point and then proceeded to answer his questions.
Additionally to this week I began preparation to the presentation. Nick firstly set out the style of the presentation. I then began bullet pointing all the information within the presentation and writing a summary of information to be discussed on each slide.
Friday, 4 April 2008
Project Journal Week 28
During the easter break the team outlined a plan to rewrite the final team report. After showing it during the last week of term to Amanda and Claire, they highlighted many areas that needed adjusting. The plan was to rewrite the team dissenation with each member of the team heading thier own previous section and additional ones. For me this meant a complete rewrite of the Implementatin section. Additionally to this I was also given the task of writing an Objectives section and also the Abstract.
At the start of this week each member of the team presented thier work and adjustments were made accordingly. The team felt that the Abstract that I had wrote needed to be more succinct and also have a better introduction, so Nick adjusted these elements. Additionally to this, both the Implementation section as well as the Objectives section were adjusted as the team felt they were also quite wordy. The Objectives section that i had wrote was cut out all together as the team were worried about the word limit, so the objective points were planted straight in.
The team presented a brieft summary of this work to Amanda who suggested that we email her the most important sections of report. The plan now is to begin the writeup of the individual reports until Amanda and Claire read the sections that we emailed them.
At the start of this week each member of the team presented thier work and adjustments were made accordingly. The team felt that the Abstract that I had wrote needed to be more succinct and also have a better introduction, so Nick adjusted these elements. Additionally to this, both the Implementation section as well as the Objectives section were adjusted as the team felt they were also quite wordy. The Objectives section that i had wrote was cut out all together as the team were worried about the word limit, so the objective points were planted straight in.
The team presented a brieft summary of this work to Amanda who suggested that we email her the most important sections of report. The plan now is to begin the writeup of the individual reports until Amanda and Claire read the sections that we emailed them.
Monday, 17 March 2008
Project Journal Week 25
Tuesday
The week began with a scheduled meeting with Steve Manning. The idea was to discuss with Steve our results and the tests we had done on our results to make sure we were along the right lines. However, the meeting proved to be very useful to our report as Steve not only discussed our results but also gave us more knowledge of the background. For example we learned about the two separations of data analysis, parametric and non parametric. Overall the meeting went very well and Steve helped guide us so that we did the correct data analysis on them (refer to team blog).
Wednesday
On the Wednesday the team had a short meeting with Amanda and Claire and showed the new revised structure to the document, which they agreed with the change in direction. In the afternoon the team prepared all the necessary graphs for the supervisors and made sure that each member knew exactly why we had done certain tests on either the HR results or the PAD results and that each member knew how to explain each graph.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors focused on presenting our graphs in an informal manner, and explaining the progress the team had undertaken during the week. We discussed with them the results and explained the graphs as best we could, with the supervisors agreeing that we had produced good quality graphs.
Unfortunately after this meeting I could not help the team for the rest of the day as I had tickets booked to return home for the first week of Easter, aiming to comeback the second week to make sure that our final write-up is completed over the week.
Speaking to my team members after Thursday I found out that they had had another meeting with Steve to discuss their progress and discuss some of the extreme data. Steve agreed that we had done the correct data analysis for both HR and PAD results. Steve also stated that we could remove some of the extreme data in our HR results as they were causing a bias.
Overall the week went very well with a great amount of work achieved. It must also be stated that Steven Manning has been an invaluable help to us this week and have really found his input to be very useful. The plan now is to have the final draft completed in the second week of the Easter break.
The week began with a scheduled meeting with Steve Manning. The idea was to discuss with Steve our results and the tests we had done on our results to make sure we were along the right lines. However, the meeting proved to be very useful to our report as Steve not only discussed our results but also gave us more knowledge of the background. For example we learned about the two separations of data analysis, parametric and non parametric. Overall the meeting went very well and Steve helped guide us so that we did the correct data analysis on them (refer to team blog).
Wednesday
On the Wednesday the team had a short meeting with Amanda and Claire and showed the new revised structure to the document, which they agreed with the change in direction. In the afternoon the team prepared all the necessary graphs for the supervisors and made sure that each member knew exactly why we had done certain tests on either the HR results or the PAD results and that each member knew how to explain each graph.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors focused on presenting our graphs in an informal manner, and explaining the progress the team had undertaken during the week. We discussed with them the results and explained the graphs as best we could, with the supervisors agreeing that we had produced good quality graphs.
Unfortunately after this meeting I could not help the team for the rest of the day as I had tickets booked to return home for the first week of Easter, aiming to comeback the second week to make sure that our final write-up is completed over the week.
Speaking to my team members after Thursday I found out that they had had another meeting with Steve to discuss their progress and discuss some of the extreme data. Steve agreed that we had done the correct data analysis for both HR and PAD results. Steve also stated that we could remove some of the extreme data in our HR results as they were causing a bias.
Overall the week went very well with a great amount of work achieved. It must also be stated that Steven Manning has been an invaluable help to us this week and have really found his input to be very useful. The plan now is to have the final draft completed in the second week of the Easter break.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Project Journal Week 24
Monday
On Monday the team had a short meeting to schedule the week ahead. It was decided to continue testing which would begin again on Tuesday. It was also decided to email John Charlton.
Tuesday
The team continued with testing today bringing the total number to around 85. The team held a brief meeting towards the end of the day discussing when to finish testing, as the statistical analysis would be a very lengthy process. The idea was to achieve a good amount of testing subjects so that are data would be reliable, achieving around 100 subjects. However the team felt we had achieved a good amount of subjects and had a set of results that was reliable.
In the afternoon Nick and Phil had a meeting with Roger Jackson who went through the data we had collected and went through some of the techniques to analyse our results (refer to team blog for more detail).
Wednesday
The team showed the draft copies of the write-up to Amanda and Claire who analysed our document highlighting sections that needed changing. The team then scheduled the second week of the Easter semester break to really concentrate on producing a good quality final piece.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors focused on statistical analysis, with the team presenting our results. Andrew Williams also discussed some of the ways that we could analyse our results. The final Milestone date was also agreed.
Meeting with Dr John Charlton
Probably the most influential meeting of the week was with Dr Charlton. We showed him our results and he advised us on two methods that would help us present our data. He also gave us a quick guide on how to use the SPSS software.
Overall this week has been very productive, with testing finally completed and statistical analysis now becoming the focus of the work.
On Monday the team had a short meeting to schedule the week ahead. It was decided to continue testing which would begin again on Tuesday. It was also decided to email John Charlton.
Tuesday
The team continued with testing today bringing the total number to around 85. The team held a brief meeting towards the end of the day discussing when to finish testing, as the statistical analysis would be a very lengthy process. The idea was to achieve a good amount of testing subjects so that are data would be reliable, achieving around 100 subjects. However the team felt we had achieved a good amount of subjects and had a set of results that was reliable.
In the afternoon Nick and Phil had a meeting with Roger Jackson who went through the data we had collected and went through some of the techniques to analyse our results (refer to team blog for more detail).
Wednesday
The team showed the draft copies of the write-up to Amanda and Claire who analysed our document highlighting sections that needed changing. The team then scheduled the second week of the Easter semester break to really concentrate on producing a good quality final piece.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors focused on statistical analysis, with the team presenting our results. Andrew Williams also discussed some of the ways that we could analyse our results. The final Milestone date was also agreed.
Meeting with Dr John Charlton
Probably the most influential meeting of the week was with Dr Charlton. We showed him our results and he advised us on two methods that would help us present our data. He also gave us a quick guide on how to use the SPSS software.
Overall this week has been very productive, with testing finally completed and statistical analysis now becoming the focus of the work.
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Project Journal Week 23
Monday
The meeting on Monday was mainly involved around two things. Firstly we set the agenda for the week about scheduling when to come in and when to book rooms etc, and the second half was having a quick read of each of the members sections they had completed for the write-up.
Tuesday
The day was again split into two, with the editors of the final document, Matt and Nick, highlighting areas in each individuals section that needed amending. The second part was spent testing subjects. Today was the first day the team starting encountering problems with testing, such as unable to book rooms , or test participants. Despite this we managed to obtain 7 subjects during the day.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors was very short due to the simplicity of the tasks we were undertaking, which are testing and report writing. The only point raised was about the stat analysis we were doing on our results, which Andrew told us about a few books in the library that could help.
Friday
The team spent the whole day testing . We struggled to get a room again in the morning, but after speaking to Andrew Williams, we had the room d204 up until 12 o clock. We also struggled to obtain test subjects but in the afternoon things ran very smoothly, and managed to obtain 22 subjects after moving to the room d108.
I felt this week the team made some great progress towards reaching the hundred subjects and as Milestone Manager I tried to make sure that each member had roughly the same amount of time testing subjects, as recoding the data is very boring. I also tried to make sure that I did as much testing as possible when compared to my team members, as my role of MM to me dictates that I should take more responsibility during the milestone, so during the week and particularly on Friday, I spent a significant amount of time testing.
The meeting on Monday was mainly involved around two things. Firstly we set the agenda for the week about scheduling when to come in and when to book rooms etc, and the second half was having a quick read of each of the members sections they had completed for the write-up.
Tuesday
The day was again split into two, with the editors of the final document, Matt and Nick, highlighting areas in each individuals section that needed amending. The second part was spent testing subjects. Today was the first day the team starting encountering problems with testing, such as unable to book rooms , or test participants. Despite this we managed to obtain 7 subjects during the day.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors was very short due to the simplicity of the tasks we were undertaking, which are testing and report writing. The only point raised was about the stat analysis we were doing on our results, which Andrew told us about a few books in the library that could help.
Friday
The team spent the whole day testing . We struggled to get a room again in the morning, but after speaking to Andrew Williams, we had the room d204 up until 12 o clock. We also struggled to obtain test subjects but in the afternoon things ran very smoothly, and managed to obtain 22 subjects after moving to the room d108.
I felt this week the team made some great progress towards reaching the hundred subjects and as Milestone Manager I tried to make sure that each member had roughly the same amount of time testing subjects, as recoding the data is very boring. I also tried to make sure that I did as much testing as possible when compared to my team members, as my role of MM to me dictates that I should take more responsibility during the milestone, so during the week and particularly on Friday, I spent a significant amount of time testing.
Monday, 25 February 2008
Project Journal Week 22
Monday
The meeting was mainly focused around organising the upcoming weeks and co-ordinating the tasks so that each member had roughly the same amount of work to do. The main task was to ensure the testing phase went smoothly this week as the team really needed to test as many people as possible , with the aim of hitting at least 50. This week also saw the transfer of the Milestone Manager role from Nick Rathbone to me. The plan for the next morning was to begin testing using Brian Morris’ class.
Tuesday
This morning was scheduled to have the class in b1-5 with around 20-30 subjects tested. Unfortunately without Brian being away, who was away attending the GDC, this resulted in a very poor turnout with around only 4 students turning up. However, during the morning we managed to speak to Karl Gregory, another lecturer which enabled us to obtain around 7 subjects. In the afternoon we continued testing in another lab and managed to again test around another 7 subjects. The group was very pleased with the amount of subjects we had already tested and it had really taken any worries we had previously had away about achieving the minimum 50.
Wednesday
This meeting was mainly focused on Amanda and Claire speaking to each group about their progress. For our team it involved a discussion of the testing we had done and the plans for the next weeks. It was also a good time for us to demonstrate our work to Claire and to make sure it was written in the correct style and was on the right path.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors in the morning went very well. As things were going very smoothly and well for us there was little for us to discuss (for further information refer to the team blog). The afternoon testing continued where the team managed to obtain another 16 subjects. It must be stated that this large number was really attributed to the help received by the lecturers who were willing to participate i.e. Steve Manning, Andrew Williams and two lecturers from the Intro to Synthesis and Midi module.
The plan for the weekend was to continue the refining of the write-ups. Overall my role as MM this week has been a fairly easy task because the focus is mainly on testing.
The meeting was mainly focused around organising the upcoming weeks and co-ordinating the tasks so that each member had roughly the same amount of work to do. The main task was to ensure the testing phase went smoothly this week as the team really needed to test as many people as possible , with the aim of hitting at least 50. This week also saw the transfer of the Milestone Manager role from Nick Rathbone to me. The plan for the next morning was to begin testing using Brian Morris’ class.
Tuesday
This morning was scheduled to have the class in b1-5 with around 20-30 subjects tested. Unfortunately without Brian being away, who was away attending the GDC, this resulted in a very poor turnout with around only 4 students turning up. However, during the morning we managed to speak to Karl Gregory, another lecturer which enabled us to obtain around 7 subjects. In the afternoon we continued testing in another lab and managed to again test around another 7 subjects. The group was very pleased with the amount of subjects we had already tested and it had really taken any worries we had previously had away about achieving the minimum 50.
Wednesday
This meeting was mainly focused on Amanda and Claire speaking to each group about their progress. For our team it involved a discussion of the testing we had done and the plans for the next weeks. It was also a good time for us to demonstrate our work to Claire and to make sure it was written in the correct style and was on the right path.
Thursday
The meeting with the supervisors in the morning went very well. As things were going very smoothly and well for us there was little for us to discuss (for further information refer to the team blog). The afternoon testing continued where the team managed to obtain another 16 subjects. It must be stated that this large number was really attributed to the help received by the lecturers who were willing to participate i.e. Steve Manning, Andrew Williams and two lecturers from the Intro to Synthesis and Midi module.
The plan for the weekend was to continue the refining of the write-ups. Overall my role as MM this week has been a fairly easy task because the focus is mainly on testing.
Friday, 15 February 2008
Project Journal Week 21
This week was mainly involved practising the presentation. It was decided that I would be helping Nick with the presentation, which was a result of me being given the task of completing the prototype lighting investigation. It was very difficult to condense my document into the presentation as it was around 3000 words once it was completed. My section on the presentation was eventually cut down to around 4 slides and I made sure that the text on screen gave enough information to the viewer as well as prompt me to discuss them further. The week was mainly involved with me and Nick extensively practising the milestone presentation. We felt this was a very important milestone presentation, perhaps more so that others, as it was a showcase of our artefact and research up to that point.
Wednesday
On the Wednesday we presented to Amanda and Claire and we thought the presentation went very well. Amanda and Claire gave us many compliments on our presentation and research up until this point. They also highlighted some areas of our presentation that needed changing. In particular amendments to the SAM form and some of the picture slides (for more information on this refer to the team blog).
Thursday
The presentation to the supervisors went very well and I thought as a team me and nick represented it very well. All major points were put across in a professional manner and the presentation ran smoothly. There were some points brought up by the supervisors which are explained in more detail in the team blog.
Overall this week has ran very smoothly and the hard work the group put into ensuring the presentation was as good as it could be really paid off. The plan for the weekend is to separate the team write-up so each member has certain section/s to do. The plan for the next week is to begin the testing phase, where I will be heading the Milestone Manager role.
Wednesday
On the Wednesday we presented to Amanda and Claire and we thought the presentation went very well. Amanda and Claire gave us many compliments on our presentation and research up until this point. They also highlighted some areas of our presentation that needed changing. In particular amendments to the SAM form and some of the picture slides (for more information on this refer to the team blog).
Thursday
The presentation to the supervisors went very well and I thought as a team me and nick represented it very well. All major points were put across in a professional manner and the presentation ran smoothly. There were some points brought up by the supervisors which are explained in more detail in the team blog.
Overall this week has ran very smoothly and the hard work the group put into ensuring the presentation was as good as it could be really paid off. The plan for the weekend is to separate the team write-up so each member has certain section/s to do. The plan for the next week is to begin the testing phase, where I will be heading the Milestone Manager role.
Monday, 11 February 2008
Project Journal Week 20
Team Meeting Tuesday 5th Feb 08
During this meeting a variety of things were discussed and planned. The main point concerning me was how my lighting investigation could be implemented into the presentation. After many changes and discussions it was decided that I should present my findings in the presentation as I would represent my work the best.
Team Meeting with supervisors
The first part of this meeting was spent discussing the recent handouts for the final group write-up and the individual write-up. It was noted that it had caught the team and many others in the final year by surprise as the final hand in dates for both of these were much earlier than expected. We also highlighted the fact that it would conflict with our final milestone so something had to be done about this.
The second part of this investigation was to show our artifact off to the supervisors and give them a full walkthrough of it. We discussed some of the issues that had been affecting the construction e.g. lighting issues.
Control Group Testing Thursday 7th Feb 08
This date was scheduled for the group test in which we tested 6 people on the artifact. It was mainly to make sure everything ran smoothly and see if the results obtained were similar to what we expected.
The plan for next week is to practice the Milestone Presentation and begin the testing.
During this meeting a variety of things were discussed and planned. The main point concerning me was how my lighting investigation could be implemented into the presentation. After many changes and discussions it was decided that I should present my findings in the presentation as I would represent my work the best.
Team Meeting with supervisors
The first part of this meeting was spent discussing the recent handouts for the final group write-up and the individual write-up. It was noted that it had caught the team and many others in the final year by surprise as the final hand in dates for both of these were much earlier than expected. We also highlighted the fact that it would conflict with our final milestone so something had to be done about this.
The second part of this investigation was to show our artifact off to the supervisors and give them a full walkthrough of it. We discussed some of the issues that had been affecting the construction e.g. lighting issues.
Control Group Testing Thursday 7th Feb 08
This date was scheduled for the group test in which we tested 6 people on the artifact. It was mainly to make sure everything ran smoothly and see if the results obtained were similar to what we expected.
The plan for next week is to practice the Milestone Presentation and begin the testing.
Monday, 4 February 2008
Project Journal Week 14 to 19
Project Journal Week 14 and 15
Weeks 14 and 15 were spent revising for the exam in Games Design Theory and no group work was undertaken.
These were the weeks over the Christmas period which were spent developing the level and doing the appropriate research so that the lights and fear elements in the game could be referenced.
Project Journal Week 16
7th to the 13th of December
This week was spent initialising the first steps of the artefact with each member undertaking various roles in development. I, with the group’s approval, was allowed to stay home for another week in East Anglia. I felt I needed some time to relax before I began work. The team agreed with this decision and stated themselves that this week was going to be fairly slow paced so that each team member could do a good amount of work but also enjoy their time off. As I was home it would have been difficult for me to work on the map so the team decided it was a good idea for me to do the write-up of the lighting investigation. My deadline for this was the Friday, and was given three questions to answer. The team decided that this document should initially be around 1500 words in draft form, and then around 3000 once various other parts were inputted into the document e.g. picture descriptions , conclusion. The three questions that were chosen for me to investigate were;
1.Write a short piece on how films elicit fear through lighting Roughly 300-400 words.
2. Then write the next section on how games create fear/tension using lighting. Roughly 300-400
3. Then write how we can use the lighting systems or types (static/dynamic) in HL2 can be used in our level to elicit fear based on the last two paragraphs.
I managed to finish the draft copy of the document on time and the weekend was spent amending the document for errors or highlighting parts that needed changing. The plan was for me to come back the next Monday to help with the level construction and also refine the document that I had written.
Project Journal Week 17
14th to the 20th of December
This week was spent finalising the light prototype write-up and the work on the artefact shifted from primarily being worked on by Phil and Nick to me and Matt. The first few days the team sat down and discussed the changes that needed to be made to the lighting document. The rest of the week the time was split between me and Matt working the level. The main focus for when I had the map was to implement objects in the corridors and apply decals where I felt they were needed. Additionally to this me and Matt prototyped the first lighting system.
Project Journal Week 18
21st to 27th of December
This week the shift again swapped to Nick and Phil. It was primarily spent optimising the map, adding audio effects and refining the level. It was decided that some extra research was needed in order to create a map that was showcasing the best of our abilities. This meant for me researching some academic papers I had previously read, in particular Zammitto’s Colour Emotion. The team also discussed the next stages of what was needed in the prototype lighting system and how they could be documented in the write-up. This meant detailing all the parameters of all the lights available in Half Life 2. Additionally to this, it was decided to take a section of the artefact, the top floor, and showcase the differences between having white, static lighting, and coloured, dynamic lighting. This was then shown in the document in the form of pictures showcasing the differences in each room of the top floor.
To show that each light/ room had been thought about, it was decided that each light be recorded into a table into the document. Overall the lighting document took a vast amount of time to complete, but as nick has stated on his blog, it was done so that each member had equal amounts of work to do. Although I did not have as much input into the level as other members, I made up for this with my lighting write-up. It should also be noted that Matt was given the task of assisting me in prototyping the lighting system and I found his help to be very useful.
Project Journal Week 19
28th of December to the 3rd of February
This past week saw the finalising of my document, the prototype lighting system that I had created and also the refining of the level. The time spent was mainly used to make sure that each light was placed in the correct place and had the appropriate object placed near it e.g. a lamp. The aim was to have the map completed for the Friday so that Nick could render the Maps on a full compile which would be a very lengthy progress. We were thinking of the maps taking around 24 hours to complete but thankfully they only took around an hour to fully compile. That weekend nick spent capturing the two different lighting prototypes and also placing the level recordings side by side to show the differences. On a personal note it must be stated that I had proposed to the team that I be able to go back home this weekend as it was my Aunties birthday 40th Birthday. My reasoning behind this was the fact that during the next semester break it would be unlikely for me to return home as I would be undertaking the Milestone Manger role and the testing phase would be quite lengthy. So my thinking was that it would be nice to see my family at least once until I finish University.
Overall I felt the progress made during our time off and the first week of semester two has been fantastic. I believe the level has been constructed to a professional quality and all members have worked extremely hard. This next week plan is having the preliminary tests done on a select few individuals.
Weeks 14 and 15 were spent revising for the exam in Games Design Theory and no group work was undertaken.
These were the weeks over the Christmas period which were spent developing the level and doing the appropriate research so that the lights and fear elements in the game could be referenced.
Project Journal Week 16
7th to the 13th of December
This week was spent initialising the first steps of the artefact with each member undertaking various roles in development. I, with the group’s approval, was allowed to stay home for another week in East Anglia. I felt I needed some time to relax before I began work. The team agreed with this decision and stated themselves that this week was going to be fairly slow paced so that each team member could do a good amount of work but also enjoy their time off. As I was home it would have been difficult for me to work on the map so the team decided it was a good idea for me to do the write-up of the lighting investigation. My deadline for this was the Friday, and was given three questions to answer. The team decided that this document should initially be around 1500 words in draft form, and then around 3000 once various other parts were inputted into the document e.g. picture descriptions , conclusion. The three questions that were chosen for me to investigate were;
1.Write a short piece on how films elicit fear through lighting Roughly 300-400 words.
2. Then write the next section on how games create fear/tension using lighting. Roughly 300-400
3. Then write how we can use the lighting systems or types (static/dynamic) in HL2 can be used in our level to elicit fear based on the last two paragraphs.
I managed to finish the draft copy of the document on time and the weekend was spent amending the document for errors or highlighting parts that needed changing. The plan was for me to come back the next Monday to help with the level construction and also refine the document that I had written.
Project Journal Week 17
14th to the 20th of December
This week was spent finalising the light prototype write-up and the work on the artefact shifted from primarily being worked on by Phil and Nick to me and Matt. The first few days the team sat down and discussed the changes that needed to be made to the lighting document. The rest of the week the time was split between me and Matt working the level. The main focus for when I had the map was to implement objects in the corridors and apply decals where I felt they were needed. Additionally to this me and Matt prototyped the first lighting system.
Project Journal Week 18
21st to 27th of December
This week the shift again swapped to Nick and Phil. It was primarily spent optimising the map, adding audio effects and refining the level. It was decided that some extra research was needed in order to create a map that was showcasing the best of our abilities. This meant for me researching some academic papers I had previously read, in particular Zammitto’s Colour Emotion. The team also discussed the next stages of what was needed in the prototype lighting system and how they could be documented in the write-up. This meant detailing all the parameters of all the lights available in Half Life 2. Additionally to this, it was decided to take a section of the artefact, the top floor, and showcase the differences between having white, static lighting, and coloured, dynamic lighting. This was then shown in the document in the form of pictures showcasing the differences in each room of the top floor.
To show that each light/ room had been thought about, it was decided that each light be recorded into a table into the document. Overall the lighting document took a vast amount of time to complete, but as nick has stated on his blog, it was done so that each member had equal amounts of work to do. Although I did not have as much input into the level as other members, I made up for this with my lighting write-up. It should also be noted that Matt was given the task of assisting me in prototyping the lighting system and I found his help to be very useful.
Project Journal Week 19
28th of December to the 3rd of February
This past week saw the finalising of my document, the prototype lighting system that I had created and also the refining of the level. The time spent was mainly used to make sure that each light was placed in the correct place and had the appropriate object placed near it e.g. a lamp. The aim was to have the map completed for the Friday so that Nick could render the Maps on a full compile which would be a very lengthy progress. We were thinking of the maps taking around 24 hours to complete but thankfully they only took around an hour to fully compile. That weekend nick spent capturing the two different lighting prototypes and also placing the level recordings side by side to show the differences. On a personal note it must be stated that I had proposed to the team that I be able to go back home this weekend as it was my Aunties birthday 40th Birthday. My reasoning behind this was the fact that during the next semester break it would be unlikely for me to return home as I would be undertaking the Milestone Manger role and the testing phase would be quite lengthy. So my thinking was that it would be nice to see my family at least once until I finish University.
Overall I felt the progress made during our time off and the first week of semester two has been fantastic. I believe the level has been constructed to a professional quality and all members have worked extremely hard. This next week plan is having the preliminary tests done on a select few individuals.
Project Journal Week 13
Week 13
Milestone Help
This week was focused on helping Nick and Matt deliver the final presentation. This was particularly difficult due to the fact that other modules had deadlines this week. The idea for this presentation was to go with a visual theme, something that the team had concluded after receiving a B grade and deciding where there might be some room for improvements. After watching a small presentation of another groups work, we noted that it was presented with the highlight being on a more visual style e.g. graphs and pictures, so subsequently it was decided for us to do something similar.
Milestone Two Presentation
The milestone presentation we thought went very well. Both Nick and Matt represented the team very well and I felt they handled themselves in a very professional manner. Hopefully the supervisors were able to see the work and preparation that went into making this milestone presentation as professional as possible and showcasing the best of our abilities.
Conclusion
This concludes the end of semester one where the team have worked extremely hard. There were many times during semester one that the team were put under considerable pressure but thankfully due to having a strong commitment we thankfully delivered all of our deadlines on time and I believe to the best of our abilities.
Milestone Help
This week was focused on helping Nick and Matt deliver the final presentation. This was particularly difficult due to the fact that other modules had deadlines this week. The idea for this presentation was to go with a visual theme, something that the team had concluded after receiving a B grade and deciding where there might be some room for improvements. After watching a small presentation of another groups work, we noted that it was presented with the highlight being on a more visual style e.g. graphs and pictures, so subsequently it was decided for us to do something similar.
Milestone Two Presentation
The milestone presentation we thought went very well. Both Nick and Matt represented the team very well and I felt they handled themselves in a very professional manner. Hopefully the supervisors were able to see the work and preparation that went into making this milestone presentation as professional as possible and showcasing the best of our abilities.
Conclusion
This concludes the end of semester one where the team have worked extremely hard. There were many times during semester one that the team were put under considerable pressure but thankfully due to having a strong commitment we thankfully delivered all of our deadlines on time and I believe to the best of our abilities.
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