I was 7 years old noong first time kong pumunta sa Tuguegarao, kaya naman excited ako noong na pumunta para makapunta ako sa jolibee, kasama ko noon ang parents ko at si lola, naglibot muna kami at noong nagutom na ako saka kami pumunta sa jolibee, pagpasok palang namin marami nang tao kaya naman naghanap na kami ng mauupuan habang si nanay naman ay pumuntang nag order, pagkaràting ng pagkain ay talaga namang ginanahan ako lalo na at ang sarap ng spaghetti pero maya maya lang ay nagkwento si lola yung experience niya noong first time niya dito may muntikan na daw siyang nakaaway dahil sa hindi sila nagkaintindihan nung babae dahil iba ang linggwahe niya kaya bigla akong napatawa at kasabay non ay ang paglabas ng spaghetti sa ilong ko natigilan si lola at tumingin sa akin, marami ang nakatingin sa akin kaya nahiya ako pero ang mas ikinahiya ko ay yung hinugot ni lola yung spaghetti mula sa ilong ko, hindi ako nagsalita hanggang sa natapos kaming kumain at noong paglabas namin saka ako pinagtawanan nila nanay. Nahiya talaga ako doon, dahil yung first time ko sa jollibee may nakakahiyang nangyari
Now at the end of our two-week journey through Erik Qualman’s Socialnomics, I must say, my perspective on social media has changed drastically.
I never knew the sheer amount of tools available! Chapter 13 was full of things I’d never even heard of, and will remember to reference in the future.
Originally, I didn’t realize there was much...tactic, to social media. I believe my original thought was, “oh, you just go at it and promote yourself!” I seemed to think it was easy. Little did I know there’s actually a lot of strategy involved!
My biggest takeaways were:
1) Social analytics are your friend, and it’s very important to know how to use it to your advantage.
2) One should not create content with the intentions of “going viral.” One should create for the audience, make it quality, and attempt to fill a niche that hasn’t yet been filled. Never, ever set out with the intentions of “going viral” though, because you’re sure to fail.
3) Odd numbers! If you’re writing a blog with a list, go with strange numbers other people don’t frequently use! 5 and 10 are extremely common; [almost] everyone lists 5 or 10 things. Go with something like 7, or 11. Few people use those.
4) Surprise your good customers! Don’t just focus on fixing items of complaint; do nice things for your customers who haven’t complained, out of the blue. The more unexpected the better!
5) Deliver one message to your audience. Keep it simple, keep it understandable...and keep it singular! Don’t overload them with information.
6) Always always ALWAYS engage your audience! Reach out! Don’t be afraid to get creative and do something that really grabs their attention! Whatever you do, don’t have a one-sided conversation. Encourage interaction.
Erik Qualman truly did a wonderful job with this book; it’s easy to understand and tells you exactly how to apply the knowledge he shares. I would recommend it to anyone who intends to go into social media management, or just wants to learn more about socialnomics! Qualman is a frequent tweeter (@equalman) and maintains a YouTube Channel--just to name two of his platforms. Both outlets are worth following.
I sign off with this: never brush something off as simple...or as absurd. I admittedly thought socialnomics was kind of ridiculous to study until I started reading. Never brush things off as stupid--educate yourself and then make an educated guess of whether or not the thing in question is stupid.
Because I stand entirely corrected.
--
So what were your biggest takeaways? What did you expect this book to be, and did it surprise you or meet your expectations? Please, tell me in the comments!
How are your locations? Did you do a tech scout? What did you discover?
As the film is very abstract in its design, all of the sets will have to be created on a soundstage. As such, we have far more control over our shooting environment in nearly all aspects. What’s also cool is that we get to shoot on campus which is 1) convenient to everyone 2) doesn’t require hurdles of permitting 3) doesn’t require budgeting for transportation of persons and materials. I’m very glad we were able to secure our location as we did and am looking forward to all the amazing things we can pull off.
Do you have crew? Are you deficient in any area? What’s working and what is not?
I am currently in the process of assembling crew. Assembling was difficult at first because, although I personally knew people who performed roles that I sought, many of them were already attached to other projects or too busy.
However, since I posted cast and crew listings, our numbers are steadily increasing. It’s not only amazing to see how many students are actively involved in the film school, but also to see how many people are genuinely interested in helping me realize my idea. We are hosting demos with various crew members to see their compatibility with the crew, but other than that I have good faith in them.
There has been an instance where an assigned and vital crew member was not performing their task adequately. The backed-up work has unfortunately fallen to me and while it is indeed affecting my work schedule, I am hopeful that we’ll find a new individual to take the reins and get production back on track.
So, earlier today, Odds and Ends got its first true test-of-merit: in-class playtesting. However, looking back on today, I'm a little annoyed with myself (and to a lesser degree, the team as a whole) with the product we put out there for testing. I don't really feel like it was a "complete" prototype; for the most part, the results of the tester surveys (filled out by each person that came over to try out Odds & Ends) seemed to agree with my general sentiment. Our game was good for where we are in the course, but there's a lot more work to be done.
Fortunately, we got a great amount of feedback to look over (we had twelve testers in all give the game a shot), and I've been able to compile some notes about what we did right with this build, as well as what we messed up on. Altogether, it proved to be more than enough data to create some goals for the next playtest.
Of course, I won't end this post just yet; the only reason you're probably even bothering to read this is because you want to know details. Well, I've got them for you... just follow the jump.
Disclosure: Anyone from my GDD2 class, including Prof. Jacobs, will see the following information (in a slightly modified form) as part of our Playtest #1 Report presentation during Thursday's class.
What did we do right with our "alpha" build of Odds & Ends?
The game's controls and core mechanics
(minus the physics "engine") were more polished
than most of our testers were expecting.
The overarching level design also proved to be a strong point,
especially once testers were informed that the levels
they were playing were deliberately designed as tutorials.
Our art team (Danish & Sean) received a lot of kudos for
the quality of the art assets & animations. Only one tester
made any negative remark about our visuals, and it was a
minor point at that (the robot's head didn't bob when walking).
The ability to maintain a degree of control whilst in mid-air
proved to be a common highlight among the testers.
On the other hand, what did we screw up with this build?
With only two levels to play through, the demo
was disappointingly short.
We weren't able to get power-ups working in time
for Playtest #1, and as a result we had multiple testers
tell us that our demo levels (esp. Level 02) were "too
simplistic."
In general, the lack of power-ups hit us pretty hard.
The physics engine had some issues; a common complaint
was that our 'bot built up momentum too quickly, and it
was very hard to control when trying to navigate a drop.
This one was actually caused by our friction system not being
re-enabled before testing... glaring oversight on my part.
In its current state, despite the fact that the character can die
upon colliding with an obstacle, there's no real penalty
included to discourage the players from purposely dying
to restart the level.
A lack of backstory for the game, as well as a lack of a clear,
overarching objective, made Odds & Ends a lot less engaging.
As part of the survey, I also asked each tester to rate Odds & Ends on a scale of 1-10 for each of three criteria: playability (how easy was it to "pick up and play?"), intuitiveness of the control scheme (self-explanatory), and the most important criteria of all... how fun was it?
After testing was done, I took all the surveys, and averaged the ratings each responder gave us; our alpha build of Odds & Ends got an average rating of 7.8, 8.1, and 5.9 for each criteria respectively.
So, where do we go from here? (or, what's on tap for Playtest 2?)
Like I said earlier, there was a lot to work with here... nevertheless, I was able to put together a set of seven goals that the team needs to complete before Playtest #2 rolls around sometime before Thanksgiving. Specifically, here's what I want us to get done by then:
Implement five to seven levels for testers to conquer.
Get all of our art assets completed (even ones we
don't plan to use for Playtest 2, but want in the final game),
and polished to a "near-final" degree.
Get a partial set of sound effects up & running.
Something around 40-50% of all the sounds we'll need
should be incorporated into the "beta" build for Playtest 2.
Massive improvements to the game's UI; this includes
an in-game HUD and multiple screens to transition between
(e.g. title, instructions, inventory, pause menu).
Implementation of a scoring/ranking system; the idea of a
simple death counter has been floated a few times, and it's
the prime candidate for what we'll end up going with.
Strong improvements in level design; more specifically,
we need a wider variety of obstacles, and at least
three power-ups to play around with.
The game's backstory needs either hefty expansion
or a near-total rewrite. The latter of these is more likely
to occur.
Well, that's all from me for tonight; gotta incorporate everything I
just discussed here into a PowerPoint presentation by the start
of Thursday's class. And on that note, I'm planning to give you
readers another update sometime after the presentation,
because there's a fair chance that something I just told you
(in the Playtest 2 goals, especially) will end up changing.
Until next time....
~ This is Edward "ShadowSage" Finer, signing off. ~
