D Lab - Final week

After the many weeks of hard work our project finally approaches it conclusion with a lot of success. The overall game plays really well especially thanks to the great work the team put into the final week of the game. During the final week of the game, we had completed the platform in which the game would build itself around as well as the voicing that was to be put into the game. Programming and interfacing with the rest of the lab was one of the few remaining tasks left in the game, which worked out great in time for the open house. Jesse was able to put together the entire game, and while some minor glitches occurred where a bonus game had to be made, the game worked successfully. The user will be able to navigate throughout the entire Stampede and enter one of six scenarios.
The open house represented our lab with a great display. It is definitely worth mentioning the poster that Lisa made which looks fantastic. Each of the individual games the lab made laced together neatly and effectively with its stampede theme and was definitely worth the showing.
Some changes that would have been nice to make would be some polish that could have added to the game including the sprites which could have used more detail to distinct some of the objects. The game’s simplicity in terms of appearance, however, did not take away from the experience. The dialogue in one part of the game did not flow completely with continuing conversation, but this was not changed because the user would still understand the point prove by that “decision” the user made. The integration could have been better, as some of the games looked a little different than the others, but overall, the game flowed very smoothly. In the end, the game we were able to create really satisfies what we intended to do and give to the Mustard Seed. It accomplishes the goal of teaching the clients a fun, engaging, and educational game of teaching social cues.

Final Blog - Black Lab 'B'

Black Lab 'B' - Final Blog Post

The Mustard Seed challenge has finally come to a close, with a very busy final week of work. With the Open House on Thursday, the Design Manual, Poster, and Presentations needed to be prepared, along with final changes to the game.

The Project Management Team had a meeting on the previous Friday during the lab session where a meeting to finalize any deliverables for the Open House would occur. The work was delegated to members of the lab. In the meeting on Tuesday, the presentation was prepared, and the poster was showcased to the rest of the Project Management Team.

Various final changes to the game were implemented, such as:

• After each lesson, be put back to the main menu
• Level Selection System added to Main Menu
• Minor edits such as inserting forgotten images
  

The Open House went really well, the poster looked amazing, and the reaction from the Mustard Seed representatives toward the game was very positive.

Some changes we would like to have made, would be:

• Changing the level selection method for the game to include a description of each level, such as the topics covered
• Incorporating various other XML documents with different subjects, to show how versatile the external file import could be for the Mustard Seed's needs
• Fix the issue with the Mac version of the game being unable to automatically open the Help Files
• Adding a feature where the user could open the Help File without having to wait until the timer runs out
• Adding mouse-controlled motion instead of only keyboard controlled motion

Figure 1: Schedule Progress

Final Blog

Completed:

During the last week of classes there were many areas that needed to be completed in ENGG 253. Everyone as a lab focused on lab cohesion testing, making sure all the games were together, and making all the music synchronized, and that all the scores were being passed on. Also a lot of hours went in to focusing on specific bugs in relation to specific, individual games. Another portion of our time went into fixing any problems with the transitions.

In preparation for the open house, many things had to be done. Work on the poster was started and completed. Also the design manual which told the user how to play our game was finished and each game had a description of it. The DVD’s were also made, which had our labs game on it.

After the poster had been made, and the game was completed it was time to officially be prepared for the open house. The presentation was written and practiced so that the open house would go smoothly. After everything was completed, the open house was done, and went very well.

Black Lab 'B' - Weekly Update

Black Lab 'B' - Weekly Update

Overview:

Accomplished This Week

• Beta version of the game released to certain members of the public, including the laboratory and various Experts, as defined in the familiarization presentations
• Tested the Beta version of the game and received various error reports which focus on Content, Game-Play, and general Game Design theory
• Project Management Committee distributed the work load for the Open House amongst members of the laboratory
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Progress to be made in Final Reports
• Meeting on Tuesday to confirm all aspects of Open House (Poster, Design Manual, etc) are completed
  
• Testing of the Game concluded, all concerns fixed within the game
• Beta to be re-released as full game
• Open House presentations

Table Progress:

David's Group

Table: B6
Topic: Lessons 24-27

Accomplished This Week

• David released Beta version of the game to the laboratory and selective Experts, as identified during the Familiarization presentation, for testing

• Received testing results from the laboratory

• Fixed content material bugs and errors
  

  
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Begin work on the Final Report
• Prepare for Open House Presentation
• Fix any remaining issues with the game
  

Gavin's Group

Table:B5

Topic: Lessons 20-23

Accomplished This Week

• The team tested game looking for errors in assigned levels. any errors found were reported to david so he could fix them
• David fixed them
• Started design manual
• Divided labour for design manual and final report

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Finish design manual
• Finish final report
• Finish 253...yay!

Stephen's Group

Table: B1

Topic: Lessons 1-5

Accomplished This Week

• Help files were completed and submitted
• Game Testing, documented all bugs and errors on a Google Doc
• Sent error report to David

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Completion of Final Report
  
• Jason at open house

Christine's Group

Table: B-2

Topic: Lessons 6-10

Accomplished This Week

• The team tested their part of the game and pointed out the errors to be corrected by David
• The team gave a list of image sources that were used in the game for references
• Divide the work for the final report
  
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Finish the poster for the Open House
• Work on the Final Report that will be due on April 19th 2010

Brandon's Group

Table: B-3

Topic: Lessons 11-15

Accomplished This Week

• 1st version of game was finished and testing was done
• Issues found in testing reported to David
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Jimin, Chris, Curtis: Start final report
• Brandon: prep for final presentation
  

Jesse's Group

Table: B-4

Topic: Lessons 16-19

Accomplished This Week

• Sent finalized pictures and questions to David
• 1st version of game completed
• Tested it and reported any errors or glitches to David
• Retested the game in the short lab and reported any other errors (missed or new) to David
• Began working on Final Report

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Completion of Final Report

Figure 1: Current Schedule Progress

BLACK C Status Report for the Week of April 5th, 2010:

General Accomplishments

Accomplished this week:

1. PM committee set up a poster committee . Each group was instructed to forward their components to the poster committee, and they would combine their efforts in producing and publishing data graphics for the lab poster assignment.
2. All graphics, and score boxes used in each .gmk file were standardized and all duplications were either deleted or replaced.
3. Every group finished their component of the game maker file by the 9th April. The final compilation (using .bat data script) will be performed on 13th April, 2010.
4. Set up the design manual committee and delivered draft manual formatting expectations and internal deadline.

To be Accomplished next week:

1. Receive final design manual draft from the design manual committee on 13th April, 2010 and print it.
2. Receive poster from the poster committee.
3. Prepare five minute oral presentation and rehearse on the 14th April, 2010.
4. Present the final game product “ Supercow’s Adventures” to the Mustard Seed and other guests during the open house on the 15th April, 2010.

Figure 1.0: Project Status Gantt Chart

C1
Accomplished this week:

1. This week, our lab table completed both level one and level two of our game.
2. Following this, we performed the intermediate testing of our program. This included playing the game and recording all engineering requirements which were not met. Once this information was recorded we were able to create charts that displayed the testing information.
3. The programmers then utilized this testing information to alter the program and make sure it met the engineering requirements. The final report was started and is almost complete.

To be accomplished next week:

1. We still have yet to complete the final testing of the program. The Final Report is almost complete, we just need to include the final testing results once the testing is carried out and finish everything up.
2. We also have to complete this group’s portion of the design manual and email it to Monika. This will then be edited by her and passed onto Amie, who will then email it to Joe.
3. The lab also needs to complete the poster for the open house. Another important task is to integrate and connect all the games within the lab.

C2
Accomplished this week:

• Obtained test data and results for phase one of the game software. Tested for reaction time and incorporated software reaction time immunity in phase one of the game design.
• Two meetings were held to discuss more test parameters and design test procedures to evaluate functional performance in phase two of the game.
• Added and developed a graphical user interface (GUI) that would be used throughout our game component and possibly be carried over to the entire lab.
• Drafted design manual component expectations on 7th April, 2010.
• Drafted final report expectations and further refined task breakdown and deadlines on the 9th April, 2010.
• Designed sequencing order for playing executable files for the entire lab section.

To be accomplished next week:

1. Implement game sequence according to the designed sequencing order on 13th April, 2010.
2. Forward game component screenshots to the poster committee on 13th April, 2010.
3. Print all source codes and append to our final report.
4. Proofread and edit final report by 14th April, 2010. Print and submit final report on the 15th April, 2010.

C3
Accomplished this week:

1. Finished finding all the sprites
2. Converted all the sprites to objects
3. Wrote all four levels of the game
4. Tested individual levels
5. Started writing the final report
6. Tried to put the two aisles in the game together

To be accomplished next week:

1. Finish final report
2. Test the whole game together
3. Final touch ups on the game
4. Poster evaluation

C4
Accomplished this week:

1. Finished all the objects for the game
2. Used a condition statement to drop object
3. Added a variable to control the maximum speed of the super cow
4. Changed the score system

To be Accomplished Next Week:

1. Finish the programming for the game
2. Finish the poster
3. Start the final report
4. Prepare for the open house
5. Work on design manual

C5
Accomplished this week:

1. Finished our program along with all necessary documentation of testing
2. Finalized roles for the open house and the final report
3. Designated a team within the lab to complete the poster for the open house, consists of 5 people, set deadlines for poster
4. Designated 3 people to do the final editing for the design manual, set deadlines for design manual

To be Accomplished Next Week:

1. Have all appropriate documents sent to editors by deadline
2. Complete final report by Thursday
3. Have design manual for our table ready to be sent to first editor by Sunday
4. Have all poster information given to poster committee by deadline.

C6
Accomplished this week:

1. Finished program as per schedule. Minor game format discrepancies were resolved with the consideration of the programming committee.
2. Tested program to identify any run-time bugs or errors. The test results were analyzed and later compiled to enhance performance.
3. Began drafting the design manual component of our group and refined report objectives and expectations
4. Chose game frames (screenshots) that would be forwarded to the poster committee for publishing.

To be Accomplished Next Week:

1. Commence final testing phase of the project and further analyze performance of the software component.
2. Compile, and proofread final report by the end of next week.
3. Finalize the design manual report.
4. Prepare for the oral presentation and rehearse with other presenters on Tuesday April, 14th, 2010.

C7
Accomplished this week:

1. Dissected the Tetris code that was found on line so that we could use parts of it in our game.
2. Made the sprites for the Tetris game.
3. Found background image for the Tetris game.
4. Finished programming the Tetris game.
5. Tested the Tetris game.
6. Fixed bugs in the Tetris game.
7. One member of group is on poster committee.

To be accomplished next week:

1. Finish our section of the instruction manual
2. Finish Final Report

Lab A Weekly Update

Progress since last update:

A1

• Discussed the split up of the work for the final report
• Cam helped finish the skeleton for the games
• Split up the work for the presentation
• Tested our level with Paul

A2

• Did the audio voice overs again to increase the volume
• Touched up the graphics for the level
• Met and made a meeting time to do the final report
• Completed job interview skills level and polished up main application graphics

A3

• Finished drawing all 7 sprites
• Thomas' file crashed, but managed to finish the program
• Jordan looked at sounds for level 4
• Worked on presentation: divided the work

A4

• Title page reworked to match standard
• Improvements other graphics too.
• Edited facial expressions photographs
• Divided work for final report
• Discussed about design manual and distributed work.

A5

• Kevin N, together with Jerry Yang (from Team A7) worked on completing the game level of Appropriate conversation training
• Kevin N finalized the making of the level before handing it to Paul Coyle
• Formatted the questions
• Error and glitch fixing for the game
• Did testing of audio files and their quality and did editing with audacity
• Made how to play screen and did the animation for the tutorial.
• Edited targets graphics and also changed background of the game and changed colours and buttons

A6

• Organized the remainder of the content to be done in the project.
• Delegated tasks regarding the final poster and the manual.
• Ben and Jose continued to work on the programming with difficulties due to computer problems.
• Divided up the remainder of the final report and collected money from the lab to print the poster.
• Completed graphics this week including all pictures, audio and video which were sent to the programmers.
• Designed the poster to present at the open house.

A7

• Alex: design the intro for the conversation game and also designed a tank to be used in the game
• Jerry: programed and compiled the components for the conversation game
• Noah designed the back ground of the game for A3

Figure 1: Project Progress Chart

To be accomplished during the next week:

A1

• Cam putting in all content into the games
• Al will be working on testing the levels
• Abdel will be working on the design manual for the presentation
• Putting all finishing touches to the project / getting it ready

A2

• Testing the software
• Work on the poster / operation manual
• Complete the final report
• Integrate levels into full application
• Build final deployable application with copy of Zinc generously gifted to the lab by MDM Ltd.

A3

• Completely finish the game
• Add color to sprites
• Improve background graphics
• Find all sounds for music
• Successfully compile the program
• Get 5 screenshots

A4

• Finish a complete test of our product.
• Refine the product prior to open house

A5

• Fix up anything in the game if necessary.
• Karim is working on "estimated game play time" for the instructor manual
• Rob is working on "overview" of the instructor manual
• Canaan is going to take screen shots of the game for the poster and have captions
• Kevin is going to help update us of his testing this following week so we can help him write up that section on the final report
• Group meeting on monday to discuss final report!
• This weekend need to figure out what we are including for final requirements and testing and how to organize them

A6

• Finish the final report, the poster, the game and the manual
• Open house presentation
• Finish our portfolios
• Wrap up our logbooks.

A7

• Final report
• Work on the poster and the game manual if assgined

Black Lab D – Week 5

Accomplished This Week

· This week, all teams in the lab are completing their games and finishing the testing on the games so that they are ready to be compiled this weekend.

· The goal for this week was for each table to complete their game and submit it to be compiled. Since the final game is due next Thursday at the open house, it was crucial for each table to have their portion of the game submitted by the end of Friday’s lab.

· Since today (Friday) is the last lab before the open house, there are certain aspects needed at the open house that need to be decided before the end of the lab. For example the breakdown of the design manual and the poster.

· Someone was chosen to complete the poster that will be used in the open house. This poster should be finished by next Wednesday.

· It was decided that each table will submit a portion of the design manual to one member of the lab who will compile it and have it completed by next week, before Thursday. Each table will submit screen shots along with an explanation of their own individual game.

· Four people were chosen to represent the entire lab at the open house and give a presentation to explain the video game. They will decide who will take which shift during the open house.

Lab A Weekly Update - Week 3

PROGRESS SINCE LAST WEEK

A1

• Met with content creation team A on Sat. Mar 27 from 11am - 3pm
• Shoot video clips of mock interview (actress Brenda Bartos)
• Video download, troubleshooting video edit software, video editing
• Graphic design work for level
• Completed level 1 intro screen
• Built gameplay portion of Facial Expressions level
• Finalized code for application shell, title screen, main menu and credits
• Updated framework code for level creation adding new narration related methods
• Wrote unit tests for critical objects and interactions in main application code - all tests passing (see Figure 1)

Figure 1: Main Application Unit Testing Results for Critical Objects & Interactions

A2

• Finished audio scriptng
• Finished video recording and worked on format conversion/editing
• Graphics have been worked on and Title screen and crossbow is done
• Converting files to flash format has been completed

A3

• Imported images
• Recorded sound files
• Created images
• Drew sprites
• Decided a couple of sprites had to be redone

A4

• Background screen
• Title screen
• Crosshair(aim)
• Sound effects
• Buttons(A B C D options)
• Feedback screen
• Lock(for main screen)
• Main screen background
• Houses for each level

A5

• Finalized idea of the game and divided up tasks for content creation
• Karim worked a bit with flash to figure out the graphics/drawing tools
• Drew a few trees which will be used in the background of the game
• Refined the questions, recorded the audio for the intro to, how to section, the questions and answers and all the explanation
• Also finished the drawing for targets
• Kevin and Jerry from time to time to work on making the level
• Kevin worked on making the game itself, while Jerry made all the necessary screens

A7

• The whole content creation group was divided into four groups.
• Each group was responsible to finish their assigned work by Sunday

Figure 2: Project Progress Chart

PLANS FOR NEXT WEEK

A1

• Finish video editing
• Finish graphic design tasks
• Completing development requirements for game level
• Complete instructions for level
• Complete programming for interview skills level

A2

• Finish all graphics for the game
• Finish video editing
• Integrate video and sound
• Group meeting to write final report

A3

• Import sound files
• Finish creating and importing images
• Import buttons from content creation
• Begin testing
• Finish sprites

A4

• Test level
• Start working on final report

A5

• Finish drawings for background: buildings, trees, cars, sidewalk, grass
• Write up the technical details for our game, as well as writing up details we're responsible for to be included in the manual

A7

• Start thinking our final report
• Make sure the component work with appropriate quality

BLACK LAB 'B' WEEKLY UPDATE

Overview:

Accomplished This Week

• Completed basic game
• Completed majority of subject material content for the game
• Completed several lesson's worth of images and help files
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Update game graphics from "something to visualize the code with" to "makes graphic designers cry tears of joy"
• Integrate all help files, images, and subject material XML files into game framework
• Test game
  
• Prepare for Open House
• Design Poster
• Prepare presentation

Table Progress:

David's Group

Table: B6
Topic: Lessons 24-27

Accomplished This Week

• Completed basic frame of the game

• Completed subject material XML files and sent to Jason Craft (VP Software)
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Complete all image/help files
• Update game graphics
  
• Test game
  
• Prepare for final presentation

Gavin's Group

Table:B5

Topic: Lessons 20-23

Accomplished This Week

• Finished all questions and placed them in an xml format
• Bugs in xml formatting fixed with krafts help
• Help documents worked on
• Lesson 22 help document completed

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Finish help documents
• Test game

Stephen's Group

Table: B1

Topic: Lessons 1-5

Accomplished This Week

• Finished all questions for all 5 of our chapters.
• XML files have been completed.

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Finish PDF help files.
• Begin writing final report.

Christine's Group

Table: B-2

Topic: Lessons 6-10

Accomplished This Week

• Each member of the team did a set of questions (each set being 15 questions each)
• Danial compiled the questions into an xml file to send to Jason

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Make a pdf hint/solution for each lessons with sample problems
• Send them to Christine by Sunday at the latest to be sent to David to put into the computer game.
  

Brandon's Group

Table: B-3

Topic: Lessons 11-15

Accomplished This Week

• Xml files completed

• Help files started
  

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• Finish help files and send to David.
• Begin to work on final presentation and report.
  

Jesse's Group

Table: B-4

Topic: Lessons 16-19

Accomplished This Week

• XML files were completed
• Began work on the help files.

To Be Accomplished Next Week

• XML files will be sent to Craft for finalizing.
• Help files will be completed and sent to David.
• We'll begin work on our final presentation.

Figure 1: Schedule Progress

Black Lab D - Week 4

Accomplished this week:

Well this week we got the short end of the stick because we only have one lab period, and Friday is of course good Friday which means we lost that day to further work on the project. As for what has been done this week in the lab is essentially developing the early stages of the game, exploring different ideas, communicating with the other groups , and further working on finishing up the game. Having talked to other groups in the lab we can see that every group is pretty much at the same progress level, every group is trying to finish up their game and get it started for testing. The theme of the video game is the Calgary stampede as mentioned before in the other blog, and each group is trying to take different components of this theme and imbedding in their video game. The lab also started to talk about who we will as a lab decide to send to the open house, but we are still thinking of that and there has been no volunteers yet. One important thing we should mention is that the whole lab decided that it be wise for us to integrate each component of the game together before the open house so we can see that it is actually working correctly. The lab committee decided that they would like to see the game completed no later than next Thursday, this way we can see everyone’s game and try to see whether or not it works nicely when put together. So that is pretty much what was done in the lab this week, like i said we kind of got the short end of the stick this week as we missed out on some time to work on this on Friday lab period.


To Be Accomplished:

As for what we need to accomplish by next week is pretty simple. We would like to have the game done by next week, which is we need every group in the lab to have their respective components of the game done so that we can start testing and integrating the whole game together. Two things can either happen after this stage. The first thing is that the testing and integration goes well and the game functions as it was suppose to from there we can just make some minor changes to make the game more appealing. If the integration and testing do not go well and the game is functioning poorly we go back and try to analyze where the game is failing and try to improve upon it. By doing these two things we can ensure that the game functions properly on the open house day.

Black Lab C, Update for Week of March 29

Table C1

Accomplished this Week:

• Discussed with interface group on how we will connect from our program to theirs
• Designed all sprites necessary for program
• Split up roles for Final Report

For Next Week:

• Complete program early next week, and begin testing on Friday
• Have all background music chosen and objects compiled

Table C2

Accomplished this week:

• Prepared a sprite list and sent it to all members of the programming committee to ensure no sprites are repeated within the lab
• Formalized final report guidelines and interim deadlines
• Finalized test parameters to be run on the game as a group (to validate functional engineering requirements)
• Testing schedule was delayed 3 days due to compatibility issues with Game Maker 5 and Game Maker 8

To be Accomplished Next Week:

• Two meetings will be held outside of the lab on Tuesday and Wednesday to make up for the delay in the testing schedule
• Start running the experiments to test functional requirements on Tuesday April 6
• Draft initial design and testing results into a Design Manual by Friday April 9
• Meet on Saturday April 10th and Sunday April 11th to finalize the final report and begin all editing no later that Monday April 12th

Table C3

Accomplished This Week:

• The team has gotten a good start on desiging the game, and has begun to integrate with other groups to ensure smooth connections in the game
• Software coding portion of game is nearly finished

To be Accomplished Next Week:

• Will begin work on poster for Open House
• All teams in lab expected to have their games completely done and ready to integrate with other groups at the start of next week
• Once integrations are complete, will start final testing report

Comments:

Our team has lots of catching up to do with the lab as we were behind schedule this week but we are now caught up. The programming and game making is now on schedule and we have almost entirely completed out portion of the game.

Table C4

Accomplished This Week:

• Got all images for the game, including the background
• Figured out how to make the avatar (Supercow) move around in the game
• Finished the objects, and figured out how to get Supercow to move them around

For Next Week:

• Finish all objects
• Create a condition statement to drop the objects
• Add a variable to control the maximum speed of SuperCow
• Figure out the exact timing of the game
• Calculate scores based on the time it takes to finish the task

Table C5

Accomplished This Week:

• Finished all sprite icons for our program
• Integrated all of our parts with the interface group and have begun designing ways to connect the programs
• Decided who will be presenting at the open house
• Decided to have 3 people from the lab (who have artistic abilities) to be in charge of the poster due for the Open House

To be Accomplished next Week:

• Meet outside of the lab with our group's programmer, while he does work on the program another group member will document all testing that occurs
• Have program completed by Thursday; ready with all documentations of testing
• Begin working on final report

Table C6

Accomplished this week:

• Collected images for each background and compiled them into program
• Selected ambience music and sound effects for game
• Mapped out the complete story plan for lab program

To be Accomplished next week:

• Have a functioning program running by Monday, rest of week used for testing and improvements on program
• Splice music loops together from program to program
• Split up roles for final report

Table C7

Accomplished this Week:

• Determined how grocery items would be used in Tetris game
• Decompiled a Tetris game program to use as a reference when designing our Tetris game
• Designed all necesarry sprites

To be Accomplished next Week:

• Finish the program for the Tetris game
• Test the game
• Fix any errors in the program