Apr 25, 2025
From a corporate annual report for CONDEC, the conglomerate owner of Unimation, the world's first company dedicated to manufacturing industrial robots, July 31, 1969. Via @salem_elzway
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From a corporate annual report for CONDEC, the conglomerate owner of Unimation, the world's first company dedicated to manufacturing industrial robots, July 31, 1969. Via @salem_elzway
57 Oct7 // Further Development 1
The Adventure Game
Personal Evaluation of the Potential Outcome:
What features do you like most about this design?
This was more of a research based outcome, but I feel that there is a really solid base now for a great and comprehensive adventure game to be created on top of. As with outcome 2 the main thing left is to develop a story, which this outcome will definitely have as opposed to outcome 2 which could have a story or a curriculum progression. Also I really like that character, as it completely fulfils everything I had in mind for the character. It’s ramping up to be a tough decision between this and the other outcome as they are both live up to the brief well.
What aspects of this design do you think need improving?
I think the next step for this outcome would be to improve the flow of the levels. This doesn’t only mean the progression of the story, which needs to be developed on its own, but the actual elements of a level which contribute towards the player moving on in the game. Take a single board of the game, I have to find a good flow for all of the elements in that board.
Stakeholder Feedback:
What features did they like most about this design?
They love the character too! The oldest one, Marija, mentioned how she liked the change in the character’s palette when they were in different environments. I showed them the research for the outcome as well. and they have all played Machinarium before and said that if the game is like that then they would be very happy.
What aspects of this design do they think need improving?
They were slightly disappointed that I hadn’t put the colours on the levels yet. After telling them that I wanted to add the different light levels into the puzzles they pretty much said “Do that!” so that’s something i need to improve on the outcome.
What other functional aspects and aesthetic elements does your stakeholder want from this design?
They just wanted to see the puzzle mechanics come to fruition, like in the example of Machinarium, how when you click on a panel a detailed view of that panel appears on the screen and you solve the puzzle from there.
Initial decision on Fitness for Purpose:
What needs developing to make sure that the design could be fit for purpose?
The puzzles absolutely have to teach the subject well and not confuse the player. Along with this, the player needs to be able to access any puzzle immediately while also being able to play the game normally. This makes the game more of a tool for learning than just a game. If a student finds a puzzle difficult or gets through one on a fluke, they need to be able to easily go back to that puzzle or its mechanic and be able to practise it to their minds content. This also ties into the menu system and what is available to the player at any one time. Do they unlock the puzzles individually? Or are they all available to go to at the start and you just play the game anyway? This needs developing to make the design fit for purpose.
What testing/trialing/ongoing research do you need to do now (at least 4 things to research): eg size/positioning, materials, languages, dimensions, joinery/fastening, ergonomics, functionality, componentry, portability, durability etc
Menu and interface flow, story, practising puzzles, and teaching the concepts through the puzzles properly.
56 Oct5 // Character development
Main character design over time. The ones from before weren’t meeting the criteria I had in mind from doing the research on characters. They were sort of simple but they lacked lovability. Using inkscape to sketch wasn’t working so I moved to paper and pretty much immediately thought up the quaver character. Along with the fact that it meets my criteria, it also opens up new opportunities for spontaneous transformations which could be solutions to certain puzzles, such as the semiquaver going super fast or the semibrieve being strong. Adds more fun to the concept of playing a musical note. Could also use the character in puzzles, so all in all I thought it was a great design for the concept.
55 Oct5 // Messing with colour
This is not the final character at all, but instead colour tests for different environments of the game and how the characters colours would change accordingly.
54 Aug13 // Further Development 2
The Music Theory Program
Personal Evaluation of the Potential Outcome:
What features do you like most about this design?
I really like the identity this outcome is starting to develop. Mim as a mascot seems perfect, and keeps true to the previous developments and the goal of the game. Seeing the interface in a more final look is really exciting as it has turned out exactly as I saw it would be. Also the animation looks great so far and there is heaps of room for expansion in the area. Along with this there is still more colour schemes I can devise, which is awesome.
What aspects of this design do you think need improving?
I still need to devise a progression or story for the game. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a classic story, but there needs to be a full list of what the user can learn from the program. Also, if this is the design I pick to move into the final stage, I need to review my brief in full to see what else I have specified for the final outcome. The UI could still do with improvement, as it isn’t working with what I had in mind for buttons and the like. I also need to devise a main menu and sub menus, along with proper mock ups of what the mini games will look like.
Stakeholder Feedback:
What features did they like most about this design?
They still really like the rainbow screen transition and were totally stoked to see it in action. They also really liked the sound of the mini games, and mentioned a game which recently came out called Cuphead and how some of the drawings I had done reminded them of it.
What aspects of this design do they think need improving?
They thought that Mim looked creepy from head on but looked good in the sketches, and that some of the colour schemes looked worse than others on Mim, so to improve that will be something else I need to work on in the final piece.
What other functional aspects and aesthetic elements does your stakeholder want from this design?
They just wanted to see more colour schemes, more question types, more drawings of Mim, and a full game.
Initial decision on Fitness for Purpose:
What needs developing to make sure that the design could be fit for purpose?
The outcome needs aligning with all of the brief aspects, and needs a more comprehensive look at all of the questions and menus required to use the game, which would make it fit for purpose. Currently, it is lacking in those areas as I have only focused on the smaller aspects of the game leading up to the final development.
What testing/trialing/ongoing research do you need to do now (at least 4 things to research): eg size/positioning, materials, languages, dimensions, joinery/fastening, ergonomics, functionality, componentry, portability, durability etc
Menus and good UI design, color theory for color schemes and just more color schemes in general, and of course the progression of questions/story.
53 Aug13 // Mascot design
Developing an iconic character has been on my mind for most of the time i’ve been developing this outcome so it is good to finally get to it. I looked to musical symbols which everyone knows, the main ones being the notes everyone knows. I liked Breve the Bird, but the fact that Breve was in fact a semibreve made them feel misleading. I liked Mim for their extra-minimalism, and I found it fit with the game better. I thought that some people may find it creepy, but I wanted to put my creative stance forward on the mascot, and only people who find Totoro creepy will find Mim creepy. Mim will be the face of the minigames, the icon of the product, and will appear to give hints and tutorials when needed. I kept to the principals of my research and used basic shapes, and kept it as simple and identifiable as possible.
52 Aug13 // Outcome 3: Question length, variation in question length
This post title is slightly confusing, but what I am getting at is how long a topic will be. Say I am looking at scales, there could be 3 subtopics for major, minor, and other scales. However, if I only had these 3 subtopics with a set of 10 questions, that would be limiting to the user as they may not be learning enough about the topic. To solve this, there will be an easy, moderate, and hard difficulty for the subtopics. This provides a wide range of knowledge for the user to learn, and helps cement the concepts into their brain. I also want to include special question rounds like rapid fire lightning rounds with 15-20 questions which have to be answered in quick succession, or a marathon round where there are 50-100 questions, with a overall time limit. Things like these make questions more enjoyable and give the player something to look forward to.
51 Aug13 // Outcome 3: Take a Break!
Something which has appeared in various Nintendo developed games in the past is a screen saying something along the lines of “You have been playing for a while, take a break!” which is something that has been on my mind for a while for both of these developments. I don’t want players of the game to be playing for unhealthy numbers of hours trying to beat classmates at the game purely for the sake of lording it over the class. These screens provide an unintrusive way to remind the player that they are playing a game, don’t get too lost and immersed the the world of the game, remember to drink water, get a snack, things like that. They are easily skipped over if someone doesn’t care, but even then they are a good subliminal reminder to consider their health and safety while using the outcome.