Download First_Playable_Analysis

THE GAME
First playable – analysis
November 2014
CONTENT
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Current status overview
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Game-play
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Education
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High concept
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Visualisation
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User interface
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Next steps
CURRENT STATUS OVERVIEW
PLAYABLE GAME
WITH 12 LEVELS
LEVEL OBJECTIVES (ALL SAME)
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Make the measured current = target current
EDUCATION
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To succeed you need to understanding something of DC circuits
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The game tries to introduce the concepts before asking you to apply them
JUICE
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There is some juice:
• Short circuit a cell
• Complete a circuit (current flows)
• Complete a level
Click image to play video
GAME-PLAY
GAME-PLAY
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Draw circuits and see immediate feedback
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Goal: Get current current through Ammeter – don’t short circuit the battery
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Flavour is that of Bridge Builder/space-chem (rather than Minecraft)
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Skills:
• Understand how current behaves in different resistor/cell configurations
• Generate a specific number from limited number of adds and divides
• Countdown: Numbers game
GAME-PLAY: POSITIVES
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Has minimal set of components
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Has about right level of emergent complexity
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Good range of difficulties of puzzle possible
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Mechanics are rooted in the concepts to teach
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Shorting the battery adds an element of peril
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Is the Countdown: numbers game a useful skill?
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If not, is it fun enough to justify putting it in?
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Perhaps it has value for its generative qualities
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Issue is best summarized as “is the game fun enough?”
Resolution: Add complementary mechanics. E.g.
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Wider variety of things to power (lifts, doors, bombs , disable alarms etc.)
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Combat (with weapons that must be powered)
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Add in switches/relays (requires clear advantage of switch)
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Make 3D game where you “ride” the current to the correct place
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Add constraints (such as walls) that must be worked within.
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Requires familiarity with fractional maths
• (3/2 is same as 1½ , which is one over 2/3)
• This is a significant barrier
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Resolution:
• Make the numbers in the maths as simple as possible to understand
• E.g. Require use of whole numbers only
• Build up familiarity with fractions during the game
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Shorting a battery is by far the most satisfying thing to do
• We are rewarding the wrong thing
• End of level events all happen at once (connect last component, get current flowing
trigger ammeter, end of level) – easy to do by accident.
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Resolution: Make completing a level more satisfying
• Making it two step may help (get the right current, then activate the exit)
• Give circuit some context – see high concept later
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Level designs are a bit dry and ill thought out
• There are a few “interesting” things, most are a but dull
• Names are not sensible or inspiring
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Resolution:
• Focus on making some interesting levels
• Iterate on this
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: loops of zero resistance can be used in gameplay
• This is a problem because in reality the currents are undefined
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Resolution:
• Make ammeter readings UNKNOWN in this case
• Give ammeter a tiny resistance (so current stops as soon as you attach it)
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: “Limited wires” do not work correctly
• Due to components existing at vertices of grid, the counting of number of wires you
have left does not match intuition
• Resistors/cells etc. are always “capped” with wires, which is not obvious
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Resolution:
• Probably requires redesign of UI/grid system
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Baked cells can’t have more cells next to them
• The logic around adding a cell next to another baked one is unintuitive.
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Resolution:
• Needs some thought.
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Cells can supply infinite power
• This is useful for teaching basic principles
• Is counter intuitive if thinking of them as a power supply (esp. in combat game
scenario where energy should be limited).
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Resolution:
• Keep as is until it actually becomes an issue
• Then try 4 cells + resistor as a unit
GAME-PLAY: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Multiple cells/multipacek resistors looks messy
• There are good reasons for doing this, but surely we should be able to have resistors
with a 3 Ohms on them?
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Resolution:
• Maybe allow this.
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
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Attempts to teach key DC circuit concepts:
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V=IR
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Kirchov’s node law (current in = current out)
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Kirchov’s Mesh law (voltage drop around loop = 0)
Tries to lead by creating “rules of thumb” (may tie together with key principles later)
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Resistors in series make the current slower
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Resistors in parallel make it faster
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If the wire splits, the current splits too with more going down the wire with less resistance
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Current flows when there is a voltage difference
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Current around a loop is constant (sort of) e.g. it doesn’t matter where you put the resistors and cells
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Current won’t flow somewhere if it can’t flow back
EDUCATION: POSITIVES
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Visualisation of current/voltage helps communicate concepts
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Feedback is immediate, so rapid flow of information about model sent to player
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The approach is “constructivist” you must figure out the rules yourself from playing with it
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...and “constructionist” in that you actually build circuits
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…and “problem lead” – i.e. You are given a goal and must figure out how to reach it
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EDUCATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Issue: Not enough “construction” to get the basic principles
• Often just connect a wire in simple levels, but this can be done mindlessly
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Resolution:
• First connect wires (show it is possible)
• Then give them blank canvas to make it themselves (with cells etc.)
EDUCATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Issue: Need to communicate quantitative behaviour:
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Resistors are shown to reduce current, but do they subtract or divide?
Resolution: Show it with patterns
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1 resistor = 12 amp
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2 resistors = 6 amps
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3 resistors = 4 amps
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4 resistors = 3 amp
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Etc.
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1 resistor = 1
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2 resistors = ½
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3 resistors = 1/3
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Etc.
EDUCATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Issue: No communication of equivalence of resistor configuration to single resistor
• Thevenin equivalent circuit
• Norton equivalent circuit
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Resolution:
• Make Ohm-meter? (not sure if this is easy hen current is flowing)
• Make “Balancing circuits” a mechanic “i.e. must match this resistance”
• Recreate the black box by measuring?
EDUCATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Issue: Voltage should be taught first but we don’t even communicate voltage at all
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Resolution:
• Create volt meter (infinite resistance) and related levels
HIGH CONCEPT
HIGH CONCEPT (WHAT WE HAVE NOW)
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You are a circuit designer with tools to let you build as easily as you can draw
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The style is kept abstract (similar to SpaceChem) and the scale is undefined
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You must (for some reason) make an ammeter read a certain value
HIGH CONCEPT: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Issue: There is no coherent high concept/skin for the game
• Am I building real circuits or just designing them?
• How big are they?
• Why do I have to activate the ammeter?
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Resolution:
• This just needs designing
• Brainstorm lots of ideas (to understand difficulty)
• Pick a very simple low hanging fruit to implement first
HIGH CONCEPT: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Some high concept ideas:
• Prisoner trapped in a dungeon and must escape each room by solving puzzles
(trigger door release, distract guards by setting off alarm)
• Must build a robot to accomplish tasks, each level builds on tasks of the last
• Civilisation has been destroyed due to air pollution blocking out the sun. Must get the
plants growing by connecting up lights to electricity and save the planet (nice
visualisation of decimated ruins, to luscious growth).
• Silicone based life forms are at war – it is played out on a circuit board where each
player must destroy the other player’s battery component using various powered
weapons.
HIGH CONCEPT: ISSUES / RESOLUTION
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Issue: Levels are not intriguing
• I don’t look at a level and think “oo this is interesting”
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Resolution:
• It needs context
• This will prompt us to put other interesting objects in the scene.
• Perhaps need spatial element to game-play (like walls).
VISUALISATION
VISUALISATION
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Circuit elements:
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Shape of components mirror circuit diagram conventions
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They show numbers indicating their specs (e.g. 1 ohm resistor)
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Numbers are shown as fractions (since all rational)
Electricity:
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Wires have equally spaced “blobs” of electricity in
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Current is shown as flow speed of blobs
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Voltage is shown as number of blobs in a row
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Resistance is visualised as a thinning of the wire
VISUALISATION: POSITIVES
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It is much more informative than seeing a static circuit diagram
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Can see qualitative differences:
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This current is higher than that one
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The current flows this way
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There is a voltage difference here
These let you see phenomena directly:
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Current prefers path of least resistance
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If no way back then current will not flow
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Etc.
VISUALISATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Voltage quantities are misleading
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We try and show absolute voltage values (1V, 2V, 3V etc.) however:
• We are forced to round down
• It is the voltage differences that is important
• This can be misleading:
• Diff of 1.9V and 3.1v = what? 1V – 3V = 2V? = no it is 1.2V
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Resolution:
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First make voltage a gameplay feature and reassess
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Make visualisation non-quantitative?
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Put numbers around the circuit? Or at the junctions of circuit elements?
VISUALISATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Cannot gauge current quantities at all
• Can see that this is faster than that, but is it 2X, 3X, 1.5X?
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Resolution:
• Get numbers placed around the circuit somehow
VISUALISATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Resistance, current and voltage numbers all look the same
• Thought they are different colours, there is nothing in their representation hinting at
what they do
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Resolution:
• Create unique representations for each (e.g. amps always surrounded by spinning
cog?)
• Tie it in with the blob based visualisation (somehow)
VISUALISATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Components are not intuitive
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Ammeter is very unintuitive - not clear what it is measuring, what the target is or that it is the end of
level goal
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Not obvious that cell is adding oomph
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Not obvious that resistor is restricting
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Voltages change outside the components
Resolution:
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Fix these things (need some motion tying in with the blobs)
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Ammeters with spinney wheel/ Cells which push stuff, resistors radiate heat
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Voltage drops inside the components
VISUALISATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Baked/Anchored components are unintuitive
• Some components are anchored to the scene (baked in)
• Which they are and how much you can connect to them is not obvious
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Resolution:
• Replace anchor points with “walls” around them
VISUALISATION: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Aesthetics are jarring
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Colouring of resistors (red), Cells (green), wires (blue),Grid (yellow and grey) has no underlying
scheme
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UI text (font and colouring) is not in keeping with the game and uses all primary colours
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Buttons just have text on and are generic buttons
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Effects are stock effects
Resolution: Create visual language
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First settle on high level concept/skin
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Ensure fonts ,colours, icons, effects and graphics are consistent and congruent with skin
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Replace buttons with icons and tooltips
USER INTERFACE
USER INTERFACE
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UI is based around a drawing paradigm (left mouse + move)
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Fixed to a grid
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Components must sit at vertex of grid
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Component
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Navigation is with scroll, right mouse and move
USER INTERFACE: POSITIVES
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Quick to draw stuff and see results
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Grid means it is easy to connect things up
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Unpredictable behaviour when placing components
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Since everything must be placed at grid vertex, but man components are really
connections, this yields complex logical behaviour (unpredictable)
Resolution:
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Quick hack:
• Tutorial on how to use it
• Ghost image of where a component WOULD be placed
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Proper solution:
• Redesign the UI fundamentals
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: No undo
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Resolution: Make an Undo
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Cannot Bake/Anchor in sufficient detail
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Resolution:
• Make the baking a tool like the eraser
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Can accidentally draw components when trying to press UI buttons
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Resolution: Make a UI area and do not draw components if inside it.
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Navigation around the grid is hard
• Right mouse on Mac is often mis-detected as left mouse (causing a draw)
• Zooming is a bit tricky
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Resolution:
• Stop all navigation (make grid only as big as screen)?
• Make navigation automatic?
• Model on touch screens (pinch, two fingered scroll etc.)
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Rotating elements
• You can rotate a cell through 180 degree by clicking
• Hard to rotate through 90 degrees (similarly wirh resitors, amaters etc.)
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Resolution
• ?
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Changing values
• Some things (like Ammeters) require more control over their parameters
• E.g. their target value.
• Have to do this via the inspector at present.
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Resolution:
• Perhaps leave as is for the moment
• Can we select correct element in inspector during editing?
USER INTERFACE: ISSUES / RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Can’t move a component
• Often I place components and then want to move them
• Or I want to shift a whole block over to make room
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Resolution:
• Design…
MISCELLANEOUS
MISC: AUDIO : ISSUES AND RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: the sound of electricity is very arbitrary and not nice to listen to
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Resolution:
• Make sound more tonal
• Perhaps try to construct rhythms/chord progressions from circuits which background
music can adapt to?
• Make the timbre change based on voltage (e.g. more harmonics) or increase white
noise or resonant filter or distortion as component get hot
MISC: PLATFORMS: ISSUES AND RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: Not widely compatible
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Only works on high end Mac or PC
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On web player the UI does not work well (navigation)
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On phone, the navigation doesn’t work AND too slow AND shaders don’t compile
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Doesn’t work on some screen resolutions
Resolution:
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For purposes of prototype, we only need to work on PC or Mac
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Should test on various resolutions etc. to ensure it can work on full screen on all
computers
MISC: TELEMETRY: ISSUES AND RESOLUTIONS
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Issue: No telemetry is recorded
• Must rely on verbal feedback – cannot watch people play
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Resolution:
• Record file for each game play-though and record:
• Game state and time after each move
• Stats how long spend on each game, how many pieces used
• Create a viewer to visualise and navigate the data
• Maybe create an edit-box at the bottom for people to write comments in?
NEXT STEPS
GOAL OF NEXT PHASE
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Create a demo which allows us to evaluate the game’s potential
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Do the minimum amount of work possible to achieve this
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Gather user testing data
HOW…?
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Split into three phases:
1. Do uncontroversial improvements
2. Create and apply a meaningful high concept/skin
3. Do user testing
HOW…?
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Split into three phases:
1. Do uncontroversial improvements
2. Create and apply a meaningful high concept/skin
3. Do user testing
Why split?
WHY…?
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The lack of coherent high concept/skin is the most gaping hole in the current prototype. But….
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Applying one is likely to:
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Have a large affect on how the game is perceived
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Effect every part of the game (it is not a small localised addition)
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Be one of a huge number of very different possible avenues
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I.e. it will be controversial
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So:
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Do the minimal set of uncontroversial things first
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Use this “best unskinned” version to gather ideas about possible high concepts
1. UNCONTROVERSIAL CHANGES: TASKS
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UI: take out complex orientation logic – 1 day
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UI: Add a ghost of where elements will be placed – 1 day
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Gameplay: Add volt meter – 1 day
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Gameplay: Trial switches and relays (low hanging fruit) – 3 days
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Gameplay: Design a coherent level progression – 3 days
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Gameplay: Add plain English text explaining intuitions after the patterns are learnt – 1 day
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Testing: Create web-based telemetry recording – 3 days
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Visualisation: 1 st pass improvement of end-of-level triggers (agnostic of high concept) – 2 days
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Platforms: Ensure compatibility with different resolutions and full-screen on Mac and PC – 1 day
2. HIGH CONCEPT/ SKIN: TASKS
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Create high concept: - 5 days
• Brainstorm ideas
• Send skinless demo to people to get ideas
• Flesh out some candidates
• Pick one
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Implement it – 5 days
3. USER TESTING: TASKS
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Develop telemetry analysis tool – 3 days
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Test build internally/with Issac physics people
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Do full testing: 2 days
• Put on IWTSE website for user testing?
• Put on internal CUED website
• Just send to people we know
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Then analyse results and write report – 5 days
SCHEDULE
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Phase 1 – uncontroversial tasks: 16 days
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Phase 2 – High concept: 10 days
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Phase 3 – User testing: 10 days
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Total 36 days = ~ 2 months
POSSIBLE THINGS TO DO AFTER THAT
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Try out other game mechanics around electricity (such as 3D version where you ride
currents around the place)
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Or
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Move onto something else entirely
THE END