mee-Adventures

A journal about the latest love of my life; story telling by way of interactive apps. The narrative, the art, the animations, the music and sound design... oh! and the voice acting... the works in progress, the tools that assist the journey and some that...

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the history unfolds… the first big adventure presents itself... your role is to observe and assist the main character on his journey!

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Hmmm… lets take a closer look... an adventure in the offing!

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In "The Magical Place - Volshebney Les" the adventure levels weave in and out of the story, activated by turning a page at a particular point or interacting with objects/elements on a book page. Some adventures are just a puzzle to advance a page turn others are much deeper and take you on a journey of exploration before returning you to the main narrative.

Here is a low res video capture of the start of Chapter 2, a simple discovery challenge to turn the page...

Please note that the resolution/quality and colour depth is vastly superior on the actual device than reflected in this low res capture!

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DEV Tips: Feature creep!

An area of the design that has given me a little bit of concern recently is keeping to one of the rules that the features/interactivity should not detract too much from the story narrative.

It can be very easy to get caught up in trying to impress the reader/player with lots of features and in the process over extending some of the adventure tangents or just providing too much distraction.

But then again, I suppose I will need to break a few rules (a little) because this is an interactive adventure game book and not just an interactive illustrated book.

So I have reconciled myself such that as this is an experiment, I need to break new ground and should not be so concerned in rigidly following all the good advice I cited in a previous post about developing interactive books.

But must at the same time be cognisant not to branch too far from the core narrative or experience either... a delicate balance which has resulted in some design re-work and some editing already!

It's all part of the process... onward we go!

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My New Web Site

Time to update my main web site... here is my new web site and I am now using a service called Wix... it is free to start, inexpensive to upgrade (which I will be doing shortly) and very quick and easy to put together... impressed!

It's still under construction but you can email me from it.

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Today I would like to share with you the backing track I did for the "Wise Garden" scene in "The Magical Place - Volshebney Les" an interactive adventure book for the iPad... hope you like it :)

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You’re starting your own venture as a freelance artist or small business. A few things that the “experts” tell you is to get a website and then find every social platform you can get your hands on. To post frequently in order to generate new “likes” and “follows.”

So you go ahead and...

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MARKETING Tips: Crowdfunding

I have been contemplating raising funding to expedite the completion of my interactive adventure book for the iPad, as it is taking way longer than I had originally envisaged and that translates into a lot more money than I had first thought.

There are quite a few crowdfunding sites out now and the two most popular, it would seem, are KickStarter and Indiegogo... I will post a listing of all the others in another post as this will already be quite a lengthy one as it is.

I have personally 'invested' in about 10 projects between these two sites, mostly games, some books and some art projects. Some realisations have been a bit disappointing in terms of the authors follow up after successful funding, others have been a dream, like Double Fine and Stoic Studio which have returned the investment a thousand times over just by the education received in their follow ups and inside views of a working games studio and game development.

The main difference between these two fundraising sites is that KickStarter is an 'all or nothing' fund raising opportunity where you set your fundraising goal and the time frame in which to successfully raise it. If you don't achieve the full fundraising goal by the target date then you will receive nothing of the funds raised, even if the short fall is just a few dollars. However, Indiegogo gives you a choice of the KickStarter 'all or nothing' funding challenge OR you can choose an incremental feed to your bank account as the funds are raised in real time.  

Obviously, there is perhaps more comfort in an 'all or nothing' fund raise for potential investors (pledgers to be exact), as they will only be debited if the project is successful in terms of the full fundraising required... and lets be frank if the project doesn't raise all the funds it requires then there is a very strong chance it can't be completed!

However, that having been said, there are many 'incremental fundraising projects' on Indiegogo that have been successful, it all depends on the project, the amount sought, the credibility (or empathy) of the project and MARKETING!

If you are contemplating a project of your own then read on to learn from the experts.

With his permission (Mike McGannon), I would like to quote some excellent advice for anyone considering to start a KickStarter fund raising project, from the KickStarter Group in LinkedIn... read this to prevent yourself making a lot of mistakes that others have, thinking that crowdfunding is an easy option.

"So you launched your Kickstarter campaign, but nobody can find it, now what?"

So you had that big idea for a project, you put together a write up, maybe even come up with a basic plan or even make a video, you send it to Kickstarter for approval and you did It, you have an approved project and can go live, you launch and then the waiting begins. WAIT a minute! you forgot to tell people about your project, or maybe you thought just being on Kickstarter or similar site would be all the advertising you need and this is where the real work begins. I can’t say that this applies to all the categories across Kickstarter as my contributions have been limited to the Game, Food, Film and Publishing categories, but it seems pretty evident within the game category that marketing/advertising prior to launch or even after launch is an after thought. This got me thinking that the whole point of crowdfunding is that it requires a crowd, so where do people think that crowd comes from? Kickstarter is not going to generate any followers for you, the whole purpose of your advertising needs to be focused on not only driving people to your kickstarter project page once it goes live, but people need to be intent on pledging to your project. They should really already know what your project is about before going to kickstarter. That’s not to say you won’t get some random pledges from people just browsing the the site, but you’re talking about a small percentage off pledges here, your first few days of pledges should come from your personal network and the rest is going to come from your advertising and from the people who have pledged who are out there on the web talking about your project. Project Creators should consider the following: 1. Website is your central hub 2. Facebook: General Campaign updates, when you launch, calendar of events, announcing stretch goals, etc 3. Twitter: Live updates ex Campaign countdown, 4. Youtube: demos, reviews 5. Linkedin/Google +: company page and personal account and industry specific groups There are some other tools like path or instagram that could be used effectively, but it depends on your experience with social media and your project category. One thing to consider when naming your project and product and creating your social media accounts is name recognition. This is easier if you are starting from scratch but if you already have a few accounts you’ll want to have conistency with your names.Use a site like http://knowem.com/ to check name availability. It covers every major social media site, domain names as well as the trademark database. If you are creating a brand new product and brand, its important to line everything up from the beginning, even if you do not use all the accounts during the crowdfunding campaign."

So the BIG point not to be missed is you need to MARKET, MARKET, MARKET your KickStarter project just like you would market any product or you are unlikely to be successful.

Here is another excellent article on how to maximise your success potential on a KickStarter project, written by a successful project author... "Being a KickStarter" by Julie Covert

As you can see, crowdfunding is not a quick fix to your funding needs and requires careful planning, professional content, dedication and resolve... and lots of pre-marketing and follow through... the potential can be life changing and failure can be very demoralising (or very educational) ... so good luck if you are going to travel this path. 

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I have now set up an account on SoundCloud where I will be uploading some on the music creations for "The Magical Place - Volshebney Les" so that if you feel pre-disposed to listen to them, then you can do so easily by clicking this link... and please be my guest:) Wear headphones for the best experience!

For those that don't know, SoundCloud is a very popular freemium audio service where you can upload your personal audio files, keep them private or share them with the world. 

It is designed around the social networking concept, where people can listen and like your tracks, share them, download them (an optional setting by you). If someone likes your creations then they can follow you like they do on Tumblr or Twitter and you can also discover other musicians and their work, like it and follow them if you so desire... it's a great service and simple to setup and use.

All "The Magical Place - Volshebney Les" project files begin their names with "VSL" for easy identification.

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DEV Tips: Tips on creating your interactive story book app

One of the lessons I learned from others is that it is very important to start your marketing campaign well before you complete and publish your app, game or book. You must try and build a network of interested people in you and your product well before you publish your work.

One of the best places I think for this and a great educational platform too are the Groups in linkedIn. I have joined quite a few groups in various genres of music, art, illustration, children's books, game professionals, authors, ebooks, app developers etc. etc.

Just today I was exposed to this blog from one of the groups and I want to share it with you because the author knows through experience what she is talking about and I absolutely agree with her 5 rules to take into consideration if you are going to develop your own Story Book App... here are the first 3 rules (with her permission) and a link to the full article follows:

1. Story is king.

This is true for any type of writing, and apps are no exception. No number of whizz-bang features can make up for a substandard story. As much as our job as authors and illustrators may be changing, so too it is staying the same. We must write great stories worth reading.

2. The format should fit the story – not the other way around.

It can be tempting to let the technical capabilities of the format drive the story (ooh it would be so great to show rain falling on this page since it’s raining in the scene).Resist the temptation. If it’s raining on your page, it’s also difficult to read it!

If a straight narrative is the best way to tell your story, or it requires exquisite illustrations in full-page spreads that would be compromised on a screen, don’t shoehorn interactive elements in. Interactivity should be as considered and purposeful as every word and should only be included if it moves the story forward or deepens meaning or comprehension.

Although it wasn’t originally written as an app, a great example of a story that became better as an app is The Monster at the End of this Book. Many of us remember this story from our own childhood, and it was already interactive, since Grover speaks to the reader. In the app, the children get to actively defy Grover by cutting ropes and breaking down the brick wall he builds to keep them from turning the pages. The reader becomes an active and critical participant in moving the narrative to its satisfying conclusion.

3. Non-linear elements should enhance, rather than detract from, the story

Perhaps the biggest difference between a book of any format and an app is that apps make use of non-linear storytelling. These are elements that are separate from (but related to) the main narrative. Examples include animation, alternate endings, musical interludes, separate dialogue between characters, games, etc.

The best non-linear storytelling is so relevant to the narrative arc that these features create a reading experience that is greater than the sum of the parts. All without compromising the integrity of the underlying narrative.

A great example of how to strike this balance is Beware Madame la Guillotine. The app’s primary narrative tells the story of a young woman who murdered a key figure in the French Revolution. At the same time, it is a walking tour of Paris as seen from the protagonist’s eyes. At different points on the tour (story), readers can take quizzes or learn more about the historical context. There is even a recommended bistro where users can eat lunch! Alternatively, all the extra features can be shut off and users can either read or listen to the story in English or French.

Read the full article by Julie Hedlund here

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DEV Tips: Why Composer Pro compliments my Adventure book concepts.

I think it is time to give the main authoring tool I use some more focus as without it my iPad creation would not be possible without some hardcore programming, which, as I have previously mentioned, is something I no longer want to have to do in order to get the creative ideas out my head and onto an interactive canvas.

Composer, is specifically crafted to author interactive books and provides efficient workflows to do just that. It runs on the iPad so you get an immediate feel for how your creation is taking shape; the same feel that the end user will experience. This is key and has immediate advantages over developing on a desktop and running your app through a simulator.  

Authoring an interactive adventure game book is a very reiterative process and some events and interactions can be quite finicky to finesse, so feedback and speed of realisation is an important workflow requirement and Composer Pro satisfies these challenges very well.

In addition, because of the ease and speed of editing and review, I often find that new ideas that always come to light, just by the act of reviewing some new addition of event script or animation, will be incorporated there and then without a second thought because it is so quick and easy to do... no need to make notes about future changes, I just climb into them straight away. 

(a work in progress page in editing mode in the Composer Pro workbench)

Composer has a very well designed event behaviour system in place that makes it very easy to script behaviours for objects. These action behaviours allow you to do a whole bunch of actions which are triggered by events, for example:-

'If objectX is Shown' then 'Play AnimationY at normal speed' and 'Stop AnimationZ'

'If thisPage DID Appear' then 'Play this audio track' and 'Fade in ObjectY over 5 seconds'

One trigger can have as many actions assigned to it as you desire, so one touch of an object can set off a myriad of resulting actions.

There are trigger events available for most events you can think of like:

Object Interactions: User touch begins, User Touch Ends, Double-Tap Gesture, Pinch-In Gesture, Pinch-Out Gesture, Swipe-Up/Down/Left/Right Gestures, Object Hidden, Object Shown

Page Events: Page Will Appear, Page Did Appear, Page Will Disappear, Page Did Disappear, Portrait Orientation, Upside-Down Orientation, Left/Right Orientation, Face-Up Orientation, Face-Down Orientation, When Shake Ends.

Actions are split basically into classifications of 'Transform' or 'Function' with an additional one which is a 'Wait for X seconds' which you will use all the time (no pun intended).

'Transform' actions basically cover movement of objects by X,Y co-ordinates over time, changing Opacity of objects over time, changing the width and height of an object over time, changing the rotation of an object over time. These actions can be performed with absolute values or relative values, e.g 'Change X Position to 512' or 'Change X Position By -120' 

The movement transforms also have 'easing' properties to assist in the graduation of the movements like: Linear, In/Out Cubic, In/Out Exponential. In/Out Sine, In/Out Elastic, In/Out Bounce, In/Out Back.

'Functions' are many (too many to mention here) but they cover:

Playing and controlling Audio over 16 Channels, muting effects/music/speech

Page Navigation/Linear next and previous to non-linear jumping around with page return tracking,

Animation controls: playing / stopping/ jumping to specific frames / forwards / backwards / speed etc.

Hiding and Showing Objects

Ignoring or Activating touch response on objects

Playing and controlling movies

Suspending/Restoring Physics

(a preview of the work in progress page shown above... you can switch in and out of editing and review at the touch of a button)

Did I just say Physics ??? ... Yes! Composer has a physics engine built in that allows you to define the world gravity for a book and what objects act under the law of physics. You can group objects (max of 8 groups currently) so that you can determine which objects can collide with others and which objects co-exist without collisions.

You can specify object by object whether it is a 'static' or 'dynamic' physics object. You can specify its 'weight' in relation to gravity and other object masses, so you can control which objects push around others and how quickly they will fall. You can specify how slippery or sticky an object is and how bouncy or rigid it is for collision reactions.

Composer Pro has just introduced 'Physics Spring Joints' so you can easily do things like Rag Dolls and suspended objects that are anchored to the canvas but are affected by physics and object collisions and can stretch out of position and return under property control of the object's joints you specify.

So perhaps you can see why I love this authoring product now. There is nothing better on the iPad or Desktop, in my experience (and I have tried most, if not all) for creating sophisticated interactive books and with the action behaviour system and physics I can craft intelligent scripts and behaviours without having to write a line of code which allows me to take interactive books to the next level of Interactive Adventure Game Books... wonderful stuff!

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Audio Tips: Audio Tools I Use cont..

Sounding off again:)... a new discovery that joins my iPad production toolset!

DrumJam: from Pete Lockett and Sonosaurus the developers of the magic Thumbjam app I spoke of earlier comes this recent entry onto the app store... which I recently purchased and adore!

"DrumJam is a whole new world of percussion and drums fro the iPad..." says the manufacturers and they are not wrong... it is amazing... if you want really authentic percussion and drum sounds... building fantastic loops and super authentic drumming articulations then this is the app for you. In fact, you won't need or want any other percussion app after you have played around with this app... it is stunning!

This will now be my mainstay drum/percussion/rhythm app tool from now on for my interactive adventure book projects and it also supports Audiobus for smooth integration into other apps to make our music production that much easier... love it!

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DEV Tips: Hints away... cont...

Further to my earlier post about "how much hinting is good for an adventure game book", I would like to expound a bit more on what I do in "The Magical Place - Volshebney Les".

Firstly, after the normal intro help, I have provided a section which introduces the "Helpers" that the reader/player will find in their journey.

Aside from inline text hints that appear in the adventures as the scene develops, to give the player clues (cryptic or otherwise), there are currently 4 additional helpers.

Pingers:

The Watchers: 

Meerka, a naughty Elvine helper: 

The Navigator:

That's what's in so far and then there are a smattering of 'Observations' that pop into the experience, which can be red herrings too!... later I will talk about a neat augmented reality addition that may follow release! ... So now you are a "Volshebney Les Adventurer" :)

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You have heard me mention it in a prior post, well here is a YouTube video showing the new Audiobus app in action. It's a great app for tying together your iPad music and sound processing apps (provided they support the Audiobus API) in realtime. This makes it much easier to patch together your music apps, insert some effects apps in line and then record your creations... all in one go without messing with import and exports of sounds and tracks to your various apps... a great workflow improvement on the iPad and one that will enhance your creativity!

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DEV Tips: How much is enough... hint away

Something that has presented me with more than a little concern is "how much help should one provide in an adventure scene or puzzle.

This I think is more amplified when you are trying to appeal to a wider market with your game and when you overlap genres. 

For example, I am trying to appeal to an audience composed of the young, the teenager and the adult, and as I said before this presents an interesting challenge in producing the right mix of content so as to at least have something that appeals to all the consumers.

The same adage applies to the difficulty level of the puzzles and the degree of help one offers the seeker of assistance.

I liked the game Myst, and the original version basically just left you to solve the puzzles without any assistance to speak of. It became a cult experience, where players would get stuck and then go about their lives, discussing it with friends, then resuming the game play trying to crack the puzzle/level. Then someone published a hint manual with a controlled release of spoilers for those unable to crack the puzzle on their own bat.

Today with the ease at which one can both publish, search and retrieve information, any popular game will soon have someone publishing spoilers without any concern about spoiling the experience for others. But then again one doesn't have to read the spoilers does one... but you get my drift I'm sure.

My concern is more that I want to provide enough challenge to entertain those that enjoy the challenge but, at the same time, not frustrate those that want to advance because they more like the story, or more enjoy the visual scenes or the soundmospheres.

I am aware to put in just enough help to get people going but I have decided not to put too much help into the app itself. Because if the answers are easily accessible then the temptation will be to just go to the cheat sheets and in turn lose out on the sense of accomplishment that comes with solving the puzzle oneself. 

So how to do that? 

I have a couple of ideas on this front which make the cheat sheet access more interesting than just putting up a cheat sheet in a blog or on the main web site in a FAQ or forum.

Augmented reality is one area I am exploring.

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Audio Tips: Audio Tools I Use cont..

I have over 60 sound and music apps on my iPad which I like and some I just adore. Here is a mention of a couple more I adore. I won't mention prices because they change all the time, but just let me say they are for nothing for what they do!

Thumbjam ... brilliant app, one of my favourites. The sample/sound quality is superb and the playing board is very conducive for expressing the nuances of different types of instruments, e.g. tremelo on shaking the device, blowing or singing into the microphone to express the envelopes of wind instruments, vibrato on subtly moving your finger on the note pads, positioning the sound in the stereo field by the position of your finger on a note pad or increasing the amplitude of a note by finger position etc etc.  So many different ways to combine realtime interactions into note articulation and expression.

Select or setup the playing board to any scale you like... select from a myriad of pre-defined scales or setup and save your own. No excuses for playing the wrong notes now!

Sample and edit to create your own sounds and instruments, or modify the factory sounds... get new sound libraries, in app or on-line, for free!

It has all the standard interfaces, like external Midi control devices for DAWs or Midi hardware; CoreMIDI where you can control other CoreMIDI compatible apps on the iPad in realtime, effectively chaining and multiplexing sound channels. It even has it's own recorder where you can record and mix multiple tracks and sessions. Import/Export samples, sessions, sequences and so on... a wonderful app that should be in anyone's iPad music arsenal.

It now has AUDIOBUS compatibility, a great new way for apps to talk and process and record output from one music app into another without any import/export needs... I will talk about this in another post.

Too many features to repeat here, suffice to say it is a really great music tool... I use it all the time as a compositional tool and a sound reinforcement tool especially when it comes to playing a traditional instrument and I want the best articulation of the original instrument possible on an app... Thumbjam rules!

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here is a small edit of some sections of the adventure scene "Hollow Earth" in the 'Magical Place - Volshebney Les'... have to be careful not to ruin the real experience by exposing too many 'spoilers', so there will always be a heavy edit in these samples but they should give you, hopefully, a reasonable taste of the scenes... this is alpha and the content is likely to undergo change before the official release... please note: the quality on the original device is greatly superior to these sample and the jumpiness is my video capture and not indicative of the experience in the app!