I feel like I need to start posting more. There are a lot of cool things i’m currently taking part in (developing /studying games, drawing, writing), and so little time to just reflect on what I’ve done. So here’s the deal. I’m going to try to write one new post a week on what i’m …
Kurt’s Book
My Advisor, Kurt Squire, has written a new book… and it is awesome. I should probably write a little bit about why it’s awesome, but for now you can buy it here.
Batman doesn’t know math
I was disturbed when playing “Batman Multiply, Divide and Conquer”. The experience doesn’t make sense. I’m not saying it’s a bad game, some of the side scrolling parts where you control batman are fun, but then you get to a point where you have to solve a math problem to move on. Even when there …
Gripe of the day
Cost does not necessarily give you grounds to write a bad review. Content, gameplay, etc.
On prototyping.
Lately, I’ve been upset with the way that playtesting and prototyping are received in an academic environment. While most designers appreciate the value of getting something reviewed in it’s rough form, others do not. I’m a true believer in prototyping and feel that showing off unfinished products early and often saves you time and headaches. …
Statement of purpose (2011)
To me, video games are experiences. Just like we can have good and bad experiences, however, we can also create good and bad games. This is especially true with educational games. While making educational games it seems that most designers miss the forest for the trees. They become so focused on having the curriculum apparent …
Pulse Paper Prototype
During our prototyping we hoped to solidify our designs while at the same time identifying and correcting any flaws that we encountered. We chose to create an oversized representation of our interface to achieve a better simulation and to allow for better observation. Had we kept the prototype the same size as an actual ipod …
Pulse Video Prototype
The video prototype was very useful in placing our idea in a time perspective. Since we are creating a game, the physical time you’ll spend using our application is by far longer than a simple mobile app. Because, Pulse requires the player to physically go somewhere, the time issue is multiplied. From this video prototype …
MuSe design
Design was also an important part of the MuSe project. Each member of the MuSe team sketched detailed sketches of possible prototypes which would later be developed and tested.
MuSe development
The most challenging part of creating muse was designing for our specific age group. The Muse prototype itself underwent 10 different iterations before we happened upon the Idea of Pitchpads.