Week 5 Prac

The pracs this week were the beginning of our focus on Actionscript 3 and Flash. I spent the first session looking through Flash tutorials on Blackboard, on getting familiar with the Adobe Flash CS6 interface (the software used to develop in Actionscript). I experimented with creating a rectangle object and interacting with it via mouse to display a text message.

In the second prac, I began working through the Pong tutorial on Blackboard, which allowed us to create a simple Pong game in Actionscript 3. The tutorial also introduced us to classes and the use of them in object-oriented programming. 

Week 5 Contact

Today's contact continued our exploration with prototypes, with interactive prototyping.

Different prototype examples included:

Early prototype for Palm Pilot

Proxemic Interactions Video

FrogBre Microsoft Courier?

Globemasters

www.dontclick.it

Email Guitar

We also looked at the process in creating and developing interactive prototypes.

Design (What?)

generate/explore ideas and solutions

Refine ideas and solutions

Development (How?)

Prototype

Decides materials/methods

Evaluate

Check against your goals

Check your understanding

Does this solve the problem?

Analysis (Why?)

Research/discovery

Understanding the problems

There was also the ME310 Design process, another way to look at designing prototypes, in 5 flexible steps which could be traversed back and forth between each other.

After a few more prototyping concepts, the contact moved onto talking about Flash. We will be using Actionscript 3 (Flash code) in our next prototype to test the interface aspects of our concept.

Actionscript 3 is an Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) language, and the syntax is similar to that of Python, or Javascript.

Week 4 - Types of Prototypes

Today's contact was about types of prototypes.

Firstly there was a discussion between Low Fidelity and High Fidelity prototypes.

Low Fidelity Prototypes are usually created to illustrate a few main concepts , and are static, throw-away, and mostly non-functional, in terms of intended final functionality. An example would be most paper prototypes.

High Fidelity Prototypes are detailed, and interactive, and usually contain parts of a working model of what is intended to be the final product. These take longer to set up, but can provide a realistic indication of what the final product would look like.

Then, Exploratory, Experimental and Operational prototypes.

These reflect different stages in prototype testing.

Exploratory prototypes are on the low-fidelity end of the scale, usually throw-away, used to identify/examine/investigate certain areas of possible investigation.

Experimental prototypes delve further into these possible areas, to valid, and compare certain features.

Operational prototypes are iterative, and have working functions that will be scaled and refined into the final product.

Horizontal, Vertical and Diagonal Prototypes refer to the specifics of features and detail in defining prototype types.

Horizontal prototypes model many features with little detail, and are to gauge an overall interaction through the use of the majority of the intended features of a product.

Vertical prototypes focus on a few features in high detail, and are to explore a small slice of the whole structure of the product.

Diagonal Prototypes are in between and can explore a particular scenario that incorporates some features and some details of each feature.

Global and Local prototypes expand on the definitions of Horizontal and Vertical prototypes.

Global prototypes aim to encompass the entire system, and can cover multiple levels of the prototype.

Local prototypes focus on a single feature to test usability.

For this contact we had two exercises to complete:

Exercise 1

Functional components of a car dashboard include: Steering Wheel, Speedometer, Tachometer, Air-conditioner, heater, Stereo, CD, Radio, Light Indicators, Door Lights, Window Controls.

The components that are related to driving behaviour are ones such as the Steering Wheel, the Gear Shift, Indicator Lights, and more indirectly, the Speedometer and Tachometer.

The steering wheel is the direct input for controlling the direction of the car, the gear shift the speed range/mode the car operates, the indicator lights reflect behaviour of the car to other drivers, and the Speedometer and Tachometer reflect the speed of the car (controlled by foot pedals)

I would test the interactions of the driver between these components and how they affect the functioning of the car (speed, direction, indicators etc). They would be tested through horizontal prototypes, with many functioning features of the dashboard, and vertical prototypes, where single features of the car dashboard would be modelled as a prototype.

Exercise 2

Alarm clock application for your smartphone. 

Can set, edit & delete multiple alarms

Can daisy-chain alarms - if one is allowed to ring

out, another is activated automatically

Can set different tones for different alarms

Shake phone to snooze

Design & describe a horizontal, a vertical & a

diagonal prototype for this application

Horizontal Prototype: Most features included in the Alarm Clock App, however not much detail as to the user interface, visual style, but rather the interaction between the many features. I want to be able to snooze an alarm, hear several alarms, but in a horizontal prototype, it will be less about the specifics of exactly how to do this and more about how different alarms relates to daisy-chaining them, or snoozing them.

Vertical Prototype: A prototype focused on the daisy chaining alarms feature. How long for each alarm to ring out? What alarms should be played out in sequence? What should be displayed while the alarm is ringing?

Diagonal Prototype: Moderate use of features with important details in a scenario-based prototype. Example Scenario: You set your alarm so you can get up for work the next morning. What features should be allowed so that you can wake and get up at the right time? Snooze feature? How about being able to set a 'work' alarm in this diagonal prototype? Here, for a diagonal prototype, the user interface won't be the highest priority, but basic functionality would be required to use these features.

Week 4 - Video Prototype Testing and Evaluation Prac B

With our Video Prototypes due yesterday, in today's prac, we were to share our video with other DECO2300 members to see what they thought of it. I ended up showing my video to at least 5 people.

Feedback I received included that the audio was of good quality, good explanation of the rules supported with appropriate diagrams, however some were confused when I tried to explain the flagging system in my video. In Mines Between the Lines, you can avoid a mine penalty by placing a flag on a square. Then when the square is uncovered, the player suffers no penalty.

Mines Between the Lines Game Rules

Mines Between the Lines Rules

Overview:

Players: 2 players

Game Length: 20-30 minutes

Type: Strategy

Setup:

At the beginning players begin with an empty square grid of dots. The size of the ‘Dots Grid’ is determined beforehand. Standard sizes include 10 x 10 dots, 17 x 17 dots.

Hidden at the start of the game is a second grid, which uses the squares in between the dots, resulting in standard sizes of 9 x 9 squares, 16 x 16 squares. This second grid, known as the ‘Minesweeper Grid’, contains mines placed similar to classic minesweeper, with squares around the mines denoting the number of mines in adjacent squares.

Taking a turn:

At the beginning of a turn, players have several options. They are only allowed to choose 1 option per turn:

1. Add a horizontal or vertical line

Players play their turn by adding a single horizontal or vertical line between two unjoined adjacent dots on the ‘Dots Grid’. When a player has all 4 sides of a ‘box’ created using the horizontal or vertical lines, they claim that square and subsequently reveal the hidden minefield square. If the square reveals a number, which in Minesweeper denotes the number of mines in adjacent boxes, then the player adds that number to their score.

If the square revealed is a mine, then the player loses 5 points. The mine is also added to a separate tally of mines exploded by the player.

They are then able to take another turn.

2. Flag a square as having a mine underneath it

If a player knows where a mine is, and the square has not been revealed/uncovered, they are able to mark a square with a flag that is placed on top of an uncovered square. This flag is only visible to the player who placed the flag. If a player claims a box that has a mine, and has previously flagged that particular box, they receive no penalty for uncovering that mine.

Points Scoring Summary:

Box Uncovered	Change to Score	Change to Mine Tally
Box that is empty (0 mines)	No Change	No Change
Box that has a 1	Add 1 point	No Change
Box that has a 2	Add 2 points	No Change
Box that has a 3	Add 3 points	No Change
Box that has a 4	Add 4 points	No Change
Box that has a 5	Add 5 points	No Change
Box that has a 6	Add 6 points	No Change
Box that has a 7	Add 7 points	No Change
Box that has a 8	Add 8 points	No Change
Box that has an Unflagged Mine	Subtract 5 points	Add 1 mine
Box that has a Flagged Mine	No Change	No Change

End of the Game:

Play continues until every horizontal and vertical line has been drawn, every box claimed, and both players cannot take another turn.

Whoever has the highest score is the winner.If the score is a tie, then the player who exploded the least number of mines is the winner.

More Details:

For 10 x 10 dot and 17 x 17 dot grids, the number of mines is:

Number of squares/8.1

Quick Rules Summary:

Combination of Dots and Minesweeper.

Players play on the dot grid, minesweeper grid is hidden at start.

Squares claimed net the player points, unless if it is a mine, in which they lose 5 points.
Players can flag a square they think is a mine and will receive no penalty for claiming that square.

Variations

Have one player set the mines beforehand, the mines and surrounding squares with numbers will be visible throughout the duration of the game for both players.

Players that reveal a square with a number lose that number of points. Capturing Mines gains 5 points, while exploding mines grants no penalty.

Video Prototype - Release Post

My Video Prototype showing the concept of my new prototype: Mines Between the Lines.

Video Prototype - Statement of Delivery

The concept is a game that takes aspects from Minesweeper, a classic game on PCs, and Dots and Boxes, a classic game on pen and paper, to create a new game with new strategy, and new ways to win. The game is called Mines between the Lines. Detailed game rules can be found here: http://jasonh-deco2300.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/mines-between-lines-game-rules.html

The prototype is designed to challenge people with a game that requires some new strategies, but is familiar to many people. In other words, a new way of looking at 2 classic games. In incorporating aspects of both games, aspects were changed such as acquisition of points, and uncovering mines resulting in you losing points instead of ending the game.

The game is played with two players, and since Minesweeper is a 1 player game, the incorporation of Minesweeper aspects allowed players to be competing for the lines used in Dots and Boxes, as well as the squares and mines in minesweeper. Players place horizontal or vertical lines between two adjacent dots. When players surround all 4 sides of a single square area, they claim that box and any number that is within that box. For keyboard/MakeyMakey inputs, the arrow keys will be used to move the line in 4 directions, while a 5th key will be used to rotate the line from horizontal to vertical and vice versa.

During testing, I will be evaluating how balanced the overall gameplay is. Is the acquisition of points too easy, is losing 5 points for detonating a mine a balanced number, and how strategies in this game will differ to those of the two separate games, eg: Will a strategy of a chain of squares, common in Dots and Boxes, work in Mines Between the Lines? Will a players knowledge of how to spot mines in Minesweeper be too much of an advantage to someone who has not gotten very far in Minesweeper? Logic, and process by elimination will be a big part of this game.

There were limitations with sticking to a paper prototype, while possible, it required many different pieces of paper as there are two separate grids, one which must be progressively revealed as the game is played. A graphical digital prototype, made in Adobe Illustrator served this purpose.

Week 3 - Video Prototype Examples!

Today's contact began with watching a series of videos, each about a specific product.

For each video we were to answer the following questions:

First Impression (good or bad)

Can you really understand the concept?

What questions does it raise?

What could they do better?

What do they do well?

Is there a better way to show certain things?

Quality of the video? Audio?

Video 1 - Brisbane Parkfinder: This video consisted of a man standing in front of the camera and talking about a product that could find parks in and around Brisbane. My first impression wasn't that good, the majority of the video was static and didn't deviate much from the talking man as the focus. The questions it raised included things like what is the real form of the Brisbane Parkfinder? Is it a website app (I assume because there were a few screenshots of it on a web page). Does it have GPS tracking for when you are walking around Brisbane?

They could have improved the video by actually showing the Brisbane Parkfinder in action, being used by several people, (e.g: walking around Brisbane with a tablet, referring to the Brisbane Parkfinder as they travelled around Brisbane), rather than have a man standing in front of the camera talking and having only occasional screenshots of the Parkfinder. The talking could have been supplemented with change-of-focus to images that directly reflected to what the man was talking at that point in time.

What they did well was illustrate the basic concept of what their product is, and that it was a poorly created video. The audio quality wasn't that great either, as there was significant background noise, and no other background music to offer a little variety.

Video 2 - Plain English Google Docs: Illustrating the concept of Google Docs through movement of interactive paper cutouts.

My first impression was that this was a well thought out video. It illustrated several concepts of Google Docs (versions of documents, differences between Docs and Email, multiple computers and sharing between people), quite visually, using paper cutouts. Questions it does raise include while the paper demonstration was very handy, what does the actual interface on computer actually look like? There were lots of concepts floating around, but not so much on the actual Google Docs interface. So adding in just a few mockups on computer could have been handy. Paper cutouts are relatively easy to prepare, and illustrated the concept effectively in its basic form. The video and audio quality were quite good.

Video 3 - Pegasus: Video shows a demo of the board game (?) Pegasus. My first impression of this video was that it was very confusing. Besides just showing the name of the game at the start, the rest of the video was an extended playthrough of two players playing through a game of Pegasus. As the video continued, the biggest question I had was HOW DO I PLAY THIS GAME? What are the specific rules? Although the game began with a square grid and the two players placing black and white squares, sometimes weird cross shapes would appear, and I'd be wondering, what does that mean? What kind of move allows you to place those kinds of shapes? A better way of illustrating what Pegasus is, is to have the playthrough running, but stop/slow down at specific points where something different happens and requires explanation, this allows the audience to gradually build up an understanding of how to play Pegasus as the video continues. Towards the end, the video felt too frustrating to watch, as the game continued with no change.

The background music was relaxing and fairly suitable. The Pegasus board graphics were simple but clean.

Video 4 - FormLabs 3D Printer: This video I personally found really well made. The talking from several different people, each offering a piece of the explanation, was complemented by sweeping camera views of the 3D printer, sculptures and objects, design and collaboration process, and the people talking. Unlike Video 1, which featured a single person talking with relatively static video footage, this video felt dynamic, slowly revealing piece by piece, just what this 3D printer concept that FormLabs was creating, and towards the end revealing, that it was time for them to bring their idea to life and start manufacturing, reflecting their purpose of their Kickstarter page, in that they needed funding. The music was quite relaxing as well. Overall, they illustrated their purpose and intent very clearly, backed up with engaging content in their promotional video.

Afternote: Later on, I went and visited the Kickstarter pages for the last two videos. The Pegasus project reached nowhere near its $300,000 goal, while the FORM 1 3D Printer, received massive support and easily exceeded its goal tenfold. The video could be a significant reason why the Pegasus Kickstarter failed as much as the FormLabs Kickstarter succeeded.

Overall these questions and examples will help significantly in creating and evaluating my own video for my prototype due next Wednesday (20 August).

Week 2 - Mixed-Reality, different ways of using an everyday device

At the contact today we were shown different examples of prototypes. Then for our exercise we were shown several videos illustrating different mixed-reality products such as Google Glass, mixed-reality from Canon, a mixed-reality washing machine and a mixed-reality interface, using physical objects to control things on a computer screen. Below is the exercise:

A device that I regularly use at home is my alarm clock. My current interactions with it including pressing specific buttons to set the alarm and clock time. In the morning, I have a habit of pressing the large snooze button to stop the alarm for 10 minutes. Instead of pressing buttons on the alarm clock to control it, there can be many other ways to interact with an alarm clock. Firstly, by sound, either speaking to the alarm clock, or clapping, the alarm clock could be made to carry out certain actions. The alarm clock could even create a projection on the wall with the current time in large digits.

Additionally it could force me to get up by forcing me to solve an intricate puzzle through the use of moving various 'puzzle pieces', something similar to the Mixed Reality interface.

I also like the idea of having to move across the room, forcing me to get out of my bed, to interact with a virtual object, (similar to the virtual washing machine, or the technology from Canon), in order to turn the alarm off.

So, in a summary, a prototype example (not sure how much detail should be put into this):

Name: Mixed Reality Alarm Clock

Description: Invigorate your waking up process by solving an intricate time-based puzzle in order to turn the bleeping sound of your alarm off.

The user will be able to set the time of the alarm, and clock by moving certain small physical objects around on a self-contained surface, which will then manipulate the numbers  required to set the alarm and clock times on the alarm clock screen. Below is a crude example.

Upon alarm activation, the user will be required to move these objects around to solve a puzzle. An example puzzle is to form the current alarm time by movement of the objects, similar to previously setting the clock and alarm time. This gives the user motivation to move these objects swiftly as the alarm ticking to the next minute will require a different configuration of objects. By the time the user has solved the puzzle, they will hopefully be awake enough to get up and enjoy their day.

Week 1 - Prototypes! What are they?

Prototypes are in-progress models used to demonstrate basic concepts of a final product. They are not usually in a finished state; rather the important functions are highlighted.

Prototypes can take many forms, from flat, to 3D, to digital; the main purpose is to convey the overall concept of the idea to people. For projects such as car parts, physical moving parts may constitute part of a prototype, where as a prototype for a website could include a hand-drawn wireframe.

The most basic prototypes can be simply drawn with pen and paper. Depending on the detail and complexity required, prototypes could be made out of clay or wood, or digitally created using software.

Prototypes are an important part in determining if the final product will work. Prototypes simplify a product down to the core concepts so that if something isn’t suitable, it can be spotted easily and fixed. They help determine strengths and weaknesses in the product design.

Without prototypes the designer could lose a bit of focus on the practicality of the core concepts of their idea. They might create something that is almost useless in real-life, even though it may stem from a solid idea.