Category: Assignments

Final Project – Reflection & Conclusion

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Working on the final project was a tremendous learning experience.  Ultimately, I wasn’t able to get the Unity game to my satisfaction (good thing I had a contingency plan).  I am not sure how to post the game because DropBox no longer lets users render HTML content.  I would like to share so my peers can view my progress and provide feedback, however, I feel like it is somewhat glitchy as a standalone export.  I worked on this roughly 2 weeks and worked solo on it.   With additional time I can make a solid mobile game using the Unity engine.

I worked on an Interactive HTML Narrative with partner Chris Rivera and we developed “Last Call.”  The most important factor was ensuring functionality, appropriate images, and a story line that is easy to follow, and relatable to our target audience.  In this HTML story, the user makes selections to help the character Ariel Combs get to class on time.  It was hard figuring out what things did at first, but once I got in the pattern and learned how to navigate using the Wix platform, it was easy and straight-forward.

Final Project – Progress & Challenges

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

I am going through the process of creating the road, environment and character.  The final product should have one button play to start.  I am trying to develop a basic game.  I am still toying with ideas for a name.

This process is actually harder than I thought.  It’s very time consuming and challenging, especially in a time crunch.  Some developers work on projects for months, even years before publishing.  I have been reading articles, watching videos and spending hours trying to configure what will ultimately be a quite basic game.  I will figure out how to publish on a website, since I won’t be able to display a mobile interface to the class.

Unity 3D: Final Project Proposal & Game Idea

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments

I started to develop a game in Unity 3D.  I wasn’t familiar with the game development engine prior to doing research for this class, but I was astonished to learn about half of the existing mobile games were developed using this platform.  I’ll admit I am still toying with the idea of doing a narrative, and possibly even finding a partner. However, as of right now … I am moving forward solo with my game idea.

I will have a lot of work over the next couple weeks familiarizing myself with the interface and developing a functional game.  I am working on creating am arcade-type, endless racing (or infinite runner) game.  This will feature simple gameplay and one motive: to keep going.  I’d like to make it colorful and fun.  I am still trying to figure out to how implement a character and so forth. There are several apps that are comparable, such as Minion Rush, Temple Run and Subway Surfers.  Nonetheless, I am looking forward to gaining proficiency in this platform and can imagine loads of future uses.

Project Snapshot:

  • Working Solo
  • Using Unity
  • Infinite Runner model
  • Building visual design elements in Photoshop

Feel free to share insight with how you feel about my idea.  I am reading through peer blogs and can see quite a few interesting proposals.  Best of luck to you all, I am eager to see what you all come up with.

HW – Research Review – Unity3D

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Unity is the creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform.  Over the week, I looked into the various ways Unity3D has been used in the industry.  The first version of Unity was created in Denmark and launched in 2005.  The creators were determined to generate an affordable game engine for amateur game developers.  Several major versions of Unity have been released since its launch, the engine can be used to create simulations, as well as 2D and 3D games.  The platform gives developers around the world technology working with the likes of Facebook, Google, and Microsoft for the latest releases.  It offers an easy workflow, simple asset pipeline, and drag-and-drop interface of Apple’s Final Cut Pro product.

One of the things I find most appealing and interesting about the possibilities and uses of this platform is mobile technology.  Unity3D accounts for 50% of mobile games – Source: https://unity3d.com/public-relations.  There are hundreds of games, and some of the ones I recognized include Angry Birds 2, Angry Birds Epic, Sonic Dash and Pokemon Go.

Basketball Bust -About Me [Scratch MIT]

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Check out one of the animated interactive story I created on Scratch.  On the attached link, click on the green flag to start the script.  Or, you can view it in action by clicking PLAY on the video below.  I’ll be sure to share some other creations and provide feedback on the Scratch creations from my peers.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/260476214/

Brainstorm – Scratch Ideas

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

For my scratch project, I’d like to expand on the “About Me” exercise.  I am thinking about creating a character on a city background on perhaps a basketball court.  When I was in elementary school and junior high, I was on a basketball team.  I started in Playworks based in Newark, NJ under Coach Wynn.  I wasn’t that great of a player, and mostly enjoyed the teamwork and travel aspects.  I may incorporate some humor, and perhaps some additional details about my food preferences and such.

Be sure to follow up on my progress to see how the project comes along.

Animated Character – Jade Critch – Fuse CC x Mixamo

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments

Check out this brief animation clip where Jade Critch, the character I created in Adobe Fuse CC comes to life in Mixamo.  Feel free to share your thoughts!

Character Design – Jade Critch – Adobe Fuse CC Character – 360 Visual Display

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

Meet Jade Critch! This is the character I created using Adobe Fuse CC (Beta).   I designed this character to be a bad-ass, similar to the types of characters you’d find in first-person shooter video games.  She is tough, and has lots of personality.   The outfit is a blend of casual wear and tactical gear.  I decided to give her a brown complexion, and silver braids … similar to mine.  I also designed her with a slightly heavy, curvy figure.

Feel free to share your thoughts!

 

Reading Response #2 – Interaction Design Best Practices

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

For this week’s reading response homework, I read pages 13-55 from Interaction Design Best Practices: Mastering Words, Visuals, Space.  This reading featured a lot of valuable information about communication best practices.  One of the things that pointed out immediately was the overlap of lessons I’ve learned in Communication, Public Relations and Advertising courses.  There is an emphasis on what is known in other industries as the MAC triad – message, audience and channel.   The reading emphasized questions that need to be answered in order to strengthen the message delivery.  You have to take into consideration the following questions:

  1. Who will read it?
  2. When will they read it?
  3. What do they need to know
  4. What is the format?
  5. What is the best tone?

I learned about the 5 Pillars of Interactive Design while reading this passage and why interactivity matters.  Overall, this reading explained how interactivity relates to human connection and behavior. Our goal, as designers is to get the user to inevitability spend less time trying to figure out how to use a site or platform and more time accomplishing the task at hand.  For this reason, clarity should be our top priority.  I think many artists can appreciate an abstract work of art, however, ambiguity is the enemy of good design.  Some best practices for usability that I extracted from this reading assignment that I plan to apply to future blog posts and design projects it to opt for a clean design with less clutter, offer directives with suggested site actions, be clear, concise and specific, use proper titles and the avoid buzzwords.  One of the strongest takeaway messages I received from this passage is that each of us are artists and have creative ability.  The most important thing is focusing in the message you are looking to communicate.

 

HW WK 4 | Reading Response 1 – Visual Storyteller Guide

by Briana M. Andrews, posted in Assignments, New Media Production

For this week’s reading assignment, I read the supplied UXPin PDF entitled The Visual Storyteller’s Guide to Web UI Design. What I gathered from the first two chapters is that visuals provide an immediate and longer lasting impression than other modes of communication. For instance, when a person reads, it makes a moment to process and things are left to interpretation. However with visuals, you can improve retention, evoke instant emotions, and ensure the information is processed faster overall. A picture is said to be worth a thousand words. Likely, videos and animations are worth even more words.

An important message I learned from this reading is “knowing your audience” and the importance of user research. This relates to some other lessons I learned in other communications classes. You have to factor in the message, audience and channel in order to develop a story. I also learned about iconic images, which are images that are immediately recognizable and you’d know what it means whether or not it’s been explained to you. These vary from symbolic images where there is an abstract representation, but it isn’t a direct interpretation.