Steve - Week 28

Preparation for the winter break was done by the team by sharing out sections of the report for each team member. My section is the Test Theory part of the report which I aim to have near completion when we get back from the Christmas break. We also received our result for the final Milestone presentation; A 80%, which was a big lift for the team,

Steve - Week 27

This week has consisted of preparation for the final milestone delivering the results. The presentation went exceptionally well with the majority of the content covered such as; the results, the comparison of player types and the refined questionnaire we used. The lecturers were please as a whole and credited the enitre team for once again pulling the project back from the brink.

Next week will begin rough construction on the final report, beginning with the contents page to go over with Andy and Amanda

Steve - Week 25 + Week 26

These past two weeks have been entirely dedicated to testing, so far the team have tested over 50 candidates, double the first weeks number. Each candidate was invigilated by a solo team member as well as handed exit and entry questionnaires

I have aided in the testing of the candidates this week with testing them and politely requesting people to come and test for our project

After getting our results from the test, we arranged a meeting with Steve Manning to assist in collating out data and what it states. we left him a copy of our results and are meeting him again soon to see what he says about the results. along with this I have been working with Kyle and Lee on the final presentation

Steve - Week 24

This week the will be strictly testing carried out by the entire team. We aim to be in the university as frequently as possible in order to get the maximum amount of candidates required to have comparable results. The testing phase will last 2 weeks.

Due to level creation set backs, tasks we're delegated to the team in which I created textures for the level build in order for it to look more believable; as recommended by the lecturers

We also received positive feedback from both Brian and Andy on our refined questionnaire after finding an immersion questionnaire created by the university of York's Department of Computer Science

Steve - Week 23

During this week was the Milestone 4 presentation, which as agreed earlier in the project, would be the demonstration of the final completed build of the level so we could then move onto testing. Much to the disappointment of both the team and lecturers the Milestone wasn't as successful as the previous week's. Due to the slow progress of certain team members, tasks weren't complete which lead to the deliverance of an unfinished level with missing textures and lack of population.

The was a silver lining to this week as we received marks from the lecturers on Milestone 3, the news was better than predicted. Lecturers were happy with the teams progress and methods for testing although more though is needed in terms of Questionnaires which I aim to look into after their feedback. Our Grade was A(70) which was a boost for everyone, although it was soured by the fourth milestone.

A poorly lead Milestone and lack of preparation was a shock to the team, hopefully it's a reality check which can produce fast, successful progress for the testing phase

Steve - Week 22

The main event of this week was the presentation for Milestone 3 which covered research, test plan and other work completed by the team. the draft of the document was complete and is now going through refinement after we're given feedback. The Milestone 3 presentation went very well, a confident deliverance of research and test plan with good referencing; the team also took the feedback well and handled the questions well. It was something that was sure to sure high marks.

We got constructive feedback from Brian and Phil, I felt they were overall happy with the direction after a slow waiting period for the final level build, it's still a far way off completion after all summer when the tasks were delegated.

Steve - Week 21

In this week we've mainly been trying to get the Level Build finished along with paying attention to the upcoming milestones.

Due to the delays on the level we have had to move the test plan milestone forward. I have been working along side Lee on the document for the test plan. The presentation for the milestone is almost complete which can then be rehearsed for a dry run with Amanda and Andy; with than we can get feedback on the actual milestone with Brian and Phil. The document will discuss factors such as our initial test, measurement and other elements backed up by previous research.

The focus now is to ensure we have a very successful Milestone 3 and recoup marks lost in previous milestones. The document will be finished in the next couple of days which be completed soon by Myself, Lee and Kyle.

Steve - Week 20

After a difficult week dealing with shingles, I arrive back in Bolton and back to work. I still managed to have some input on the start of the test plan along with Lee; while the the rest of the team are working to get the final build up to scratch.

I also had a discussion with Lee about the upcoming milestone. We agreed on with what we need to include to put forward our test plan with full justification and have it backed up by our research. The powerpoint will be completed by the next blog post so we have time for refine it along with a dry run to Amanda and Andy for feedback. Progress will also be made on the test plan.

Steve - Week 19

We have regained our momentum as a team following the second milestone criticism and are already preparing for the next milestone on 4th November. After listening to the lecturers advice we decided to cover the test plan in the next milestone so we can get feedback on anything that could be improved before we actually start testing subjects.

Due to coming down with something I am unable to work in Bolton for the next 2 weeks according to the doctor but will maintain contact with the team and try my best to keep up to date with everything, mainly the test plan as I am researching Lennart Nache's take on various ways of testing and types of measurement tools.

Steve - Week 18

This week was the milestone 2 presentation. Because of the slow progress the milestones were split again in order to us to have complete things to show. Overall the presentation didn't reflect work conducted by the entire team, similarly to the first milestone. Lack of preparation and content mentioned in the presentation meant the delivery of the Alpha build, and research to go with it, left the lecturers with a lot of questions to ask. The theme of the level wasn't shown to its full effect either due to technical issues.

This week the team will discuss the criticism given by the lecturers. I will also aid Lee in testing research as we have to soon start turning our attention to the test plan and the team document.

Steve - Week 17

After the long summer break the team was settling back in at university. We went over the work done over the summer and progress reports on both level builds. As predicted a lot of the work wasn't as complete as we had planned over the summer so this week will consist of tieing up all the loose ends we had before summer.

Steve - Week 16

During this week the team have been spending time together discussing work for the summer along with delegating tasks to various members. After both time team meetings with the lecturers, we discussed the dates of our milestones long with editing the date of the second milestone.

Both Milestone 2 and 3 have currently merged to save presenting in during the summer along with them relating to each other very well in terms of content. During the summer I have arranged to meet with Brian during to show him the the work conducted by the team so far and the progress made.

Over the summer I shall be conducting research into various different testing methods for games along with aiding in the creation of the levels.

Steve - Week 14 + Week 15

As predicted last week, our progress has slowed down due to our commitments to other modual assignments that are due in the next 2 weeks. With Claire on Holiday we've had meetings with Andrew Williams over the past 2 weeks; which were productive as he gave constructive feedback along with crediting out Source Bible, that we've been constantly updating with new references.

Although our time for team project is limited due to other deadline, the team have started discussing our summer plan and what needs to be done; along with research that would aid our knowledge further.

Steve - Week 13

Week 13 was the start of Milestone 2 which began with a team meeting on the Monday to maintain the positive momentum of the project. Another open discussion was had about the project in setting work and managing our workload to suit the Gantt Chart.

The work load will be slowing down by the team considerably as we have other commitments to other assignments that are due in the next 2 weeks, however our positive start has put us in a comfortable position to be able to do that. It also fits nicely into our project methodology SCRUM as we have just completed a "sprint" stage of work.

Steve Week 12

This week was the delivery of the first milestone presentation which was on 30th April overall the presentation didn't go as well as planned. Some elements were missed in terms of pitching the important research conducted by some of the team members consistently which docked us marks.

I felt members who did more of the research should have also spoken in the presentation as more information would have been included which would have narrowed the questions at the end which should have been answered in the presentation.

Overall it's something the team can learn from and correct in the next up and coming milestones. Milestone 2 is next and the team already has some very good ideas so we're all confident in the direction the project is going.

Steve - Easter (Week 8 + 10) + Week 11

Over the past few weeks the team have looked into various elements such as methods of testing, level setting, level aesthetics .etc.

The main elements of our testing strategy was narrowed down to to Observation, Video Logging the Playthrough, Exit and Entry Questionnaires, which were the most valuable methods of getting valuable data.

Our attention is also directed towards the first milestone presentation and having something we're happy enough with to have a successful dry run on Tuesday along with it being editable with the feedback given for Friday's formal presentation.

Steve - Week 7

After receiving feedback from both pairs of lecturers, the team then had an open discussion addressing any problems and how we could alter and refine our project based on the feedback given.

Factors such as testing have still been a difficult issue to approach in terms of getting useful feedback so at some point extensive research will have to be conducted to get more of an idea of what to measure. A lot of things to consider while we have our Easter break including the first milestone on the 30th April.

Steve - Week 6

During week 6 we have been concentrating on the pitch presentation, due to be conducted on the 19th to Brian and Phil. The team communicated well and adequately involved themselves so everybody had an equal say in the project.

One obstical the team needs to get round is how to get relevant feedback from the player that both useful and aids into answering our overall testing question.Another criticism that we were given was to limit the number of presenters in order to maintain the flow of the presentation and save time.

Steve - Week 5

 Most of this week the team have dedicated their time to completing the design document pitch and plan. The whole team collective contributed equally to the 10 page document in which we pitched to both pairs of lecurers in both time slots we were allocated.

My contribution to the document was to include and identify the most relevant research the team had conducted, including my own,  on specific topics on books we had written reports on.

Steve - Week 4

For week 4 the main focus for the team was working on our design document pitch and plan. I wrote up the crucial sources that we had found in previous weeks that contributed elements that would assist out project in terms of development and testing. Each source looked at a different aspect to consider, with a brief desription of each, when designing our artefact focusing on things like the visual appearence of NPCs along with their chemistry. 

Steve - Week 3

At the start of week 3 I was analysing the book “Understanding Emotions”, by K. Oatley, to try and add to the existing research we already had on various aspects of our topic. After finding some potential useful sections in the book, I wrote up a research document so the team could see if there was anything I found that could contribute to our project. The research document can be found here

I also organised our “Source Bible” and updated it in in excel format so it can be easy to add any other sources we come across along with having easy access to them.

My aim for this week is contributing to the completion of the design document along with a character study of the character “Zevran” from Dragon Age: Origins.

The first 2 weeks

Over the past 2 weeks I've been researching elements that could benefit out project and bring vital ideas that could aid us further.

Creating Emotions in Games: book research here

and

Game Character Study: Elika here

After our meeting with Brian and Phil, they recommended we look outside the industry for research such as books on human behaviour, in terms of Emotions or Psychology. To aid the existing research I have already conducted, I'm going to look into a book called "Understanding Emotions" by Keith Oatley, Dacher Keltner and Jennifer M. Jenkins in order to get a wider outlook. I aim to have a research document written up, with beneficial information that could aid our project, by Friday at the latest.