zaynenguyen-blog - Tumblr blog

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Game Usability and Testing

For my Game Usability and Testing class, my mastery journal is to write the conclusion on my mastery topic. 

My journey through the program exposed me to VR applications used in various settings such as military training, medical therapy, theme park simulations, and educational lectures. The AR/VR Lab I’m currently working at for my capstone has developed the AR Whiteboard to teach game math to students and the instructor, Daniel Mapes, has been using it in his classroom for a few months now. Based on student feedback, the lessons in VR was easier to understand because of the 3D environment versus a 2D whiteboard.

Further research suggests that virtual reality is slowly being adopted in schools. As virtual reality lessons are easier to understand and grasp for students, I believe that educators will be able to teach high school material to middle school and middle school material to elementary students. This will aid in the development of students at a much faster pace and could change the educational system in the U.S.

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Asset Management

INDIVIDUAL POSTMORTEM

My Asset Management course focused on managing assets in a project including people within a team. This course is the continuum of the Prototype and Content Creation course. Based on experience working with the same team members, I decided to approach the team issues of conflicts and work ethics differently. Tasks are assigned to individuals and if work is not completed, it will be presented as such. This has helped the team overall.

One noticeable different from the previous continuum course is that the schedule, tasks, work, and documentation is reviewed during class and each member is held accountable for their work. We graded ourselves with the work delivered which points out any low-quality work or incomplete work by members of the team. This has helped motivate the team and each passing week, work delivered increased in quality, content, and completeness.

Overall, my experiences this time was better than the previous course working in teams. I look forward to more team projects in the future. 

TEAM POSTMORTEM

Project

❖    Description

➢    Project Name: ASM Bombers

➢    Client: Roy Papp

➢     Project Manager: Michael Buck and Mitchell Ford

➢    Start Date: 11/19/18

➢    Completion Date: 12/16/18

Project Overview

❖    Discuss the project charter

➢    This project is meant to provide a lesson on how to manage a team’s assets as well as how to document a team’s progress while measuring goal attainability. The goal of the project is to create a digital product that meets the scope and goals the team agreed upon in post-production while also meeting all the requirements of the class. 

❖    What was the project success criterion?

➢    A game that met all the tasks and features that the team laid out while also meeting the specifications laid out in the classroom.

1 level

Local networking

Bombs that move the players and damage them

Performance

❖    Key Accomplishments

➢    What went right?

Development tasks that concerned the player were met

Networking was accomplished

The team was able to resolve repository issues (albeit     late in the sprint)

➢    What worked well?

Player shooting

Player movement

Explosions

Networking*

Pickups

Powerups

*After networking was implemented some issues arose but networking technically worked. 

➢    What was found to be particularly useful?

The repository

Discord

Clear timeframes 

➢     Project highlights

Getting all of the player tasks completed

Getting networking to work

❖    Key Problem Areas

➢    What went wrong?

Lack of effective communication through the team     outside of actual class time.

Conflicts between sections of code caused some     confusion and set back primarily for the third milestone presentation.

➢    What project processes didn’t work well?

Hour tracking.

Task integration

➢    What specific processes caused problems?

Allowing everyone to track their hours separately     almost always lead to some level of confusion come the time to present     information to the instructor.

Due to a lack of a quality checking before work was     integrated into the build we ran into many conflicts in our code. These     conflicts would often make one or more of the team members work from the     week unusable for that milestone.

➢    What were the effects of key problems areas (i.e. on budget, schedule, etc.)?

Because the team had such poor communication, all     members were unsure of what the final version of the game was supposed to     look like. Additionally, there were problems like poor formatting, work that     didn’t meet specifications, unfinished work, and misconceptions about     things getting done.

Allowing people to complete record their own hours was     a problem as phantom hours would appear all at once from members of the     group that would throw off information presented in the PowerPoints or     what was recorded on the schedule.

Not having a proper testing format to catch bugs and     issues with the game allowed many problems to make it to the presentations     but also into the latter milestones. 

➢    Technical challenges

Networking was a definite issue. Only one member knew     how to work in networking and it took time to get things networked and     completed. This was a pipeline plug and caused errors later. All of this     stemmed from networking.

❖    Risk Management

➢    Project risks that have been mitigated:

Scope

Networking

➢    Outstanding project risks that need to be managed:

Certain scripts were not created to be implemented as     they are into a networked game. These scripts need to be modified to create     a better experience for the players and the team while continuing to work     on the project. 

❖    Overall Project Assessment

❖    Criteria

❖    Score from 1 - 10

❖    Performance against project goals/objectives

❖    7

❖    Performance against planned schedule

❖    5

❖    Performance against quality goals

❖    5

❖    Performance against planned budget

❖    3

❖    Adherence to scope

❖    7

❖    Project planning

❖    5

❖    Resource management

❖    4

❖    Project management

❖    6

❖    Development

❖    7

❖    Communication

❖    1

❖    Team cooperation

❖    1

❖    Project deliverable(s)

❖    2

❖    Additional Comments:

➢    Other general comments about the project, project progress, etc.

The game is technically up to date with what was     planned but things need to be looked at again now that networking is in.

The team needed to be better acquainted with what the     final version of the game was going to look like.

❖    Key Lessons Learned

Communication is vital.

Always plan for someone not to finish their work.

Only people that need access should have access.

Complete testing with enough time to fix issues found. 

❖    Post Project Tasks/Future Considerations

➢    Ongoing development and maintenance considerations

Should the project continue the end product of the game     should be reconsidered. Currently, the final vision of the game is too     fluid and is not shared consistently throughout the group. For the project     to continue in any meaningful way the final vision needs to be solidified     and a vision holder of the group should be established.

The members of the team should also be reconsidered if     the project was to continue outside the jurisdiction of education. Certain     members of the team have proven to be uncooperative and unproductive. It     is not vital for each member to be a master at all areas of development,     but it is necessary that they are willing to work as a team.

➢    What actions have yet to be completed and who is responsible for them?

UI: Emilio

Fix networking: Zayne

Player controller: Antonio

Audio: Zach

Levels: Gary

Animations: Toby

Complete the production plan to specification: Michael     and Mitch 

➢    Is there anything still outstanding or that will take time to realize? (i.e. in some instances the full project deliverables will not be realized immediately)

The levels were not completed as the team wanted.

Audio was never implemented.

Player controller and networking need to be worked on     to be compatible

UI needs to be worked on as there are redundant buttons     and stock components

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Prototype and Content Creation

My Prototype and Content Creation course emphasized on rapid prototyping a game set within a team which consists of everyone in the class. As with all teams, there exists conflicts, disagreements, and the motivation to do work. This holds true in student teams. This is not my first experience as well, however, I’ve learned in past experiences that it is difficult to motivate students because the stakes are not high enough to warrant their attention. The only thing that would affect them is their grade, however, it is the course director’s decision. Usually, this is not enough for a student to fail. Thus, the whole issue of people who do not carry their own weight still passing exists in an educational setting.

With that being said; I spent a great deal of time working on the prototype and put in my best effort to deliver quality work despite team members lack of motivation to do any work whatsoever. At the very least, I gained more team work environment experiences, improved current tangible skillsets, and learned what will help motivate people to work. Students who do not wish to excel cannot be motivated. I continued through the course with a positive attitude and emphasized on communication. The work I did were communicated to the team upon completion. Despite my efforts, those who were not actively involved ignored all team communications.

My efforts did reach out to most of the team members and at the end of the course experience, we were able to deliver a quality product that was praised by the course director.

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Methods and the User Experience

My Methods and the User Experience course emphasized on usability and play testing methodologies to determine usability and playability on applications. Usability tests refers to user-based evaluations. These tests are usually conducted to meet short-deadlines and occurs early in the design process in which controlled experiments cannot be conducted. It measures how user-friendly a product is regarding human-computer interaction.  Methods used in these tests include but not limited to heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, designer observation, recording of sessions, verbal reports during tests, follow-up interviews, questionnaires, ethnographic methods, diary studies, and focus groups (Procter & Zandt, 2018, p. 40). Play testing is the measurement of user engagement. In general, the consensus is that engagement may be operationalized in terms of various attributes. An attribute is a characteristic of the user-computer interaction that influences or is a component of engagement. It involves the characteristics of focused attention, positive affect, aesthetics appeal, endurability, novelty, and richness and control (Lalmas, O'Brien, & Yom-Tov, 2014, p. 25). I practiced these methods in testing a game called Legends that is currently in development from students in the Game Development Bachelor’s program at Full Sail. I utilize self-report methods to test for playability and fun since the developers requested those aspects be explored in the current build. In addition, I also applied these methods to my current capstone project in the AR/VR Lab. These methods allow me to test for not only usability and playability, but also cybersickness in VR which is currently my mastery research topic. Also, it taught me to consider the scientific methods of research and its limitations regarding validity threats when designing the testing methods. My overall mastery plan has not changed since month two in pursuant of VR game development including its challenges of addressing cybersickness.

References

Proctor, R., & Zandt, T. (2018). Human factors in simple and complex systems (3rd ed., p.40). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Lalmas, M., O'Brien, H., & Yom-Tov, E. (2014). Measuring user engagement (p. 25). N.p.: Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Game Design

I further conducted research regarding Virtual Reality in my Game Design course. The topics I explored are interface usage based on motor imagery and effects of high heights exposure in virtual reality. These areas of research are important to the game industry regarding virtual reality game development because it addresses the concerns of effects in using virtual reality headsets for gaming. In my research, interface training based on brain-computer interface can help to improve motor imagery (Xiaoxia, 2018). In addition, people who are acrophobia (fear of heights) will have a problem playing virtual reality games that involves heights. Based on conducted research, people exposed to such heights have an increase in heart rate and induces stress (Peterson, Furuichi, & Ferris, 2018). Virtual reality games that relies on interface and heights to create an immersive experience would need to consider these effects on players. I intend to conduct additional research regarding virtual reality effects on players and their experience in games in upcoming months. During this time, I was accepted in the AR/VR Lab capstone track. My intended career has shifted from developing games in usual platforms to developing games in virtual reality ever since my exposure to VR in Research in Team Dynamics course. Thus, keeping up to date with new research regarding virtual reality will help me design around effects in my current virtual reality projects.

References

Peterson, S. M., Furuichi, E., & Ferris, D. P. (2018). Effects of virtual reality high heights exposure during beam-walking on physiological stress and cognitive loading. Plos ONE, 1-17. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0200306

Xiaoxia, P. (2018). Brain-machine interface training system of motor imagery based on Virtual Reality. Neuroquantology, 16(6), 715-719. doi:10.14704/nq.2018.16.6.1639

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Project and Team Management

My Project and Team Management course experience took me through the process of developing a project plan for a project I’m interning at the VR/AR Lab. My objective was to obtain the necessary skills and knowledge in project planning and team development. The course has taught me the necessary steps to creating a project plan, specific research to back-up the plan overall, methodologies, and personality types.  Project Management Methodologies include Adaptive Project Framework, Agile, Benefits Realization, Critical Chain Project Management, Critical Path Method, Event Chain Methodology, Extreme Programming, Kanban, Lean, Prince2, Prism, Process-Based, Scrum, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, and Waterfall. My project deals with Virtual Reality so the Agile methodology, which allows for quick adaptation to new technology, deals with VR uncertainty, and easily modify design elements to address current and future concerns. Research is also important for a VR project because of its uncertainty and capabilities (Hendershot, 2016). I also learned about team management pertaining to personality assessments and conflict resolution styles. I am a DISC type, MBTI is ENFP, and conflict resolution style is avoiding-turtle with collaboration being the 2nd highest. Details of the assessments can be found here: DISC, MBTI, and CRS. The assessments are accurate to the extent of the accuracy of the answers provided. The assessment provided a greater understanding of my own personality and I recalled past experiences that resonated from it. I always thought that in a work or professional setting, feelings are unimportant and getting the work done is the priority. However, according to Zaval and Wagner, personal feelings can interfere with performance (2011). Overall, I have learned to become a better project manager and have the knowledge to apply certain strategic problem-solving approaches depending on the situation.

Albert Einstein states that play is the highest form of research, and I find this intriguing. As someone who stopped playing games due to time constraints, this has changed my perspective overall to allocate sometime into games again for research purposes.

References

Hendershot, S. (2016). Reality check: Virtual Reality gaming teams get agile to cope with fast­changing requirements. In PM Network, 30(10), 52–57.

Zaval, L. K., & Wagner, T. (2011). Project Manager Street Smarts: A Real World Guide to PMP® Skills, Second Edition (2nd ed.). N.p.: Sybex.

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Research in Team Dynamics

My Research in Team Dynamics course experience had exposed me to several topics outside of the team dynamics. I started visiting the VR/AR lab and decided to start on the project proposed by Daniel Mapes during this course. This lead me to conduct more research on virtual reality and used it for my research papers in this course. In my research, I discovered that virtual reality is quite new to the video gaming industry and not all companies are on board in creating AAA VR titles just yet. I concluded from research that the cause of this is related to the side effects of VR usage in video games. The short-term side effects are clear when using VR, however, long term side effects are still unknown. According to Lewis (2018), the negative side-effects are the loss of spatial awareness, dizziness and disorientation, seizures, nausea, and eye soreness. These side-effects are the cause of motion sickness because the five senses are not in sync when in VR (Lewis, 2018). My emphasis was on studies conducted to measure violence, addiction, and real behavior manipulation in virtual reality. Research indicates that violent games in virtual reality was less apparent versus violet games played on a desktop (Arriaga, Esteves, Caneiro, & Monteiro, 2018). Addiction is also increased in virtual reality games (Shin et al., 2018). In addition, it is possible to manipulate real behavior in a virtual environment (Kozlov & Johansen, 2010). This course has redirected a part of my mastery plan to focus only on VR games. I have developed a keen interest in this area of video games and pursue development of VR games specifically. The challenge is to design around the side effects caused by VR.

References

Arriaga, P., Esteves, F., Caneiro, P., & Monteiro, M. B. (2008). Are the effects of Unreal violent video games pronounced when playing with a virtual reality system?. Aggressive Behavior, 34(5), 521-538. doi:10.1002/ab.20272

Shin, Y., Kim, J., Kim, M., Kyeong, S., Jung, Y. H., Eom, H., & Kim, E. (2018). Development of an effective virtual environment in eliciting craving in adolescents and young adults with internet gaming disorder. Plos ONE, 13(3), 1-13. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195677

Kozlov, M. D., & Johansen, M. K. (2010). Real behavior in virtual environments: Psychology experiments in a simple virtual-reality paradigm using video games. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 13(6), 711-714. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0310

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Design is a way of life, a point of view. It involves the whole complex of visual communications: talent, creative ability, manual skill, and technical knowledge. Aesthetics and economics, technology and psychology are intrinsically related to the process.

Rand, P. (2018). Paul Rand Quotes. In BrainyQuote. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/paul_rand_542775 (via zaynenguyen)

[zaynenguyen-blog]

undefined

Mastery Journey Timeline

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.

Voltaire Quotes (2018). In BrainyQuote. Retrieved April 19, 2018, from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/voltaire_133391

[zaynenguyen-blog]

LinkedIn

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Mastery Journal Logo

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Feedly Reader

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Papaly Link

[zaynenguyen-blog]

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

Native American Proverbs and Wisdom. (2017, August). In Legends of America. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-proverbs/

[zaynenguyen-blog]

Intentions

During my Mastery Journey, I intend to put forth my best efforts to obtain the skills and knowledge to utilize towards becoming a successful Game Designer. What I hope to learn over the next 12 months is how to manage game projects, effective communication, and smart design choices for games. In the first month, I was challenged to find my true passion. Is game design really what I want to do? Is it my passion? How do I confirm this? As I searched for answers, I realized that designing games in my favorite genre, role-playing, for people who have the same interests to enjoy is my passion. Games have always pulled me from reality and allowed me to experience a fantasy world that nothing else can achieve. However, aging brings forth new responsibilities in life, thus, I am unable to fully enjoy a game to its full potential since role-playing games are in depth and requires one to invest a great deal of time. A great deal of new role-playing games has been released over the past years and I have yet to dive into any of them due to time constraints. What I hope to achieve is to design and develop games that will fix this issue for gamers like myself. It sounds impossible because playing a game will require one to invest time, so how is it possible to play a game that will also not interfere with life’s responsibilities? Currently, I do not have an answer. Casual games are probably the closest games that are trying to achieve this, however, they lack depth and content. Therefore, my track of choice in the master program will lean towards project management with secondary choices in game development. What I want to achieve after my time at Full Sail is to start a game studio to realize my dream.