Archive for April, 2013

Newslettr 14: A Softs Bulletin

Newsletter for project Heidegger Week 14 in PDF Format

This Week

Soft Opening occurred this week, and our shared time and energy was channeled toward ensuring that our project–as gargantuan and abstract as it is–was easily understandable, and that it showcased well. We were heartened to observe the great amount of interest expressed about our project (we had a booth set up within the vast atrium of EA’s 250 building) from passersby from varied departments. The enthusiasm radiated by our hosts here at EA shall sustain us during our final week and a half here in Redwood Shores.

In Detail

Prior to Softs, Emmanuel–whose service and determination I’d like to honor and immortalize here–spent untold hours bearing the burden of editing our two promotional videos, one being three minutes in length, the other being 30 seconds. He also composed the script, and was able to birth his singular creative vision. Your team thanks you, Emmanuel! Concerning Softs, our initial plan was to construct a makeshift playtesting area, in which two members of the public could play our modified Dead Space 3 level cooperatively, as Martin and Nathan conducted live player type analysis. Unfortunately, due to uncertainty as to whether we’d receive the number of televisions necessary for this setup (we ultimately did), and because we weren’t wholly certain whether visitors would be willing to sit, play, and remove themselves from their work routines for times exceeding twenty minutes (they ultimately weren’t), we settled on a more conservative arrangement. In the end, we had one television equipped to run our level, one television running the playtesting demo reel that we’d created for Halves, one television running a slideshow of data processing methods and results, and one monitor which displayed an interactive version of our Origin module. Truly, the visual bombast of four screens simultaneously exhibiting unique information pertaining to our project was an ocular spectacle unlike any other in the history of ETC SV, and persuasively enticing to observers. We’re proud of what we accomplished over the course of the semester, and what we showed during Softs.

Next Week

Next Friday, we’ll deliver an individual presentation to Rich, summarizing our project and explaining our outcomes. Prior to that, we’ll work on authoring our documentation reports for our mini-teams (Playtesting, Data, and Origin), then standardize their formats and compile them into a single report. On Monday, we’ll also begin creating the spine for our three upcoming presentations — one to Rich, one to Visceral/Origin, and one for ETC Finals — in an effort to complete these obligations as early on as possible.

Newsletter 13: The Osprey of hope

Newsletter for project Heidegger Week 13 in PDF Format

This Week

For Week 13, we continued to push toward realizing our miniteam goals of concluding our playtests and databasing our data, analyzing the data we’ve collected, finalizing our algorithm and running our data through it, and creating a functional Origin module. Though we inched ever-closer to these conclusive milestones this week, along with beginning preparation for Softs, we also ventured to the San Francisco Bay for the traditional, evershifting ETC SV field trip: this year, we sailed.

In Detail

Martin and Nathan, the Playtesting Team, concluded their weekly efforts, and effectively captured data from 36 individual testers–a meaningful number given the time and resource constraints of our project. Our final week of playtesting was successfully executed after realizing that we were unable to collect telemetry data the previous week due to procedural conflicts that were a byproduct of the custom Dead Space 3 level being uploaded to our Xboxes. Around these playtests, Martin proceeded to work on the Playtesting documentation report, and Nathan logged all existing data from these sessions into a comprehensive spreadsheet. All in all, we’re proud of our playtesting accomplishments, and both the quantity and quality of our acquired data. Meanwhile, on the Data Team, Vera continued to record and log quantitative data from our playtest videos so they can be included in Star and Shaveen’s parsing work. On Monday, we met with Zachery Anderson from Analytics for the second time this semester, and though we (particularly Star) had hoped to utilize Mahout, Hadoop, or Apriori to find data patterns and outcomes in an automated manner, Zachery stressed that we should instead use simpler methods to guarantee results. Consequently, Star built his own comparison tables to locate broad correlations amid our data (in addition to further researching the feasibility of the more complex algorithms, and assisting with playtesting), and Shaveen constructed, in C++, a simple, custom, classification algorithm based on observation that will be used to predict player types. On the Origin Team, Anabelle, having completed her most pressing art responsibilities for the module, assisted Vera with tabulating video data results. Emmanuel fully implemented the radar chart into the module–complete with seamless, real-time cell phone control integration–and ensured that the module can be fluidly launched instantly from any computer, rather than solely his own. Regarding sailing, Project Heidegger, in conjunction with our faculty and peers here at ETC SV, had a wonderful and relaxing sailing experience on the leisure vessel known as the “Osprey,” which was helmed by the affable (and not fictitious, in this instance) Captain Kirk. We were fed fresh fruit and vegetables–and later lunch and light desserts–and were served our choice of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as we basked like over-blubbered seals on the Osprey’s deck, romanced by the trifold pleasures of the sun, breeze, and soporific rocking of the waves. Perhaps reality in the wake of our voyage has been but a shared dream, and we all remain in a states of somnolence upon the bobbing Osprey; perhaps the reality in which this newsletter is being written is the truth.

Next Week

Next week will bring with it Softs, on Wednesday, and all SV teams will gather in the grand atrium of the 250 building here at Electronic Arts Redwood Shores, in which we’ll discuss our projects with whomever shall happen by our booths. We’ll make final preparations for equipment acquisition and the showcasing of our work early in the week. Then, after Softs, we’ll begin work on finalizing our project and prime ourselves for our upcoming, semester-closing presentations.

Newletter 12: Going Full-Bartle

Newsletter for project Heidegger Week 12 in PDF Format

This week

Project Heidegger made continued, steady strides this week in all three of our mini-teams–Playtesting, Data, and Origin–and we’re gearing up to represent our effort at Softs in the most assured manner possible. Although this week saw no major victories or travails, we steadfastly forge ahead, toward our milestones, and we strive to elevate each other from amid these post-Halves/post-GDC gulleys of exhaustion. Thus far, we are succeeding!

In Detail

We conducted two more lucrative rounds of playtesting this week, and Martin and Nathan have settled into using our custom Dead Space 3 level and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel as bases from which to draw their subject player analyses. Further, the inclusion of the online Bartle Types survey at the close of each session has lent invaluable–and almost uniformly affirming–perspective on the veracity of their observational data. Amusingly, Jiyoung volunteered to participate as a playtester this week, and her animated posture when playing, coupled with her shrieks of terror when confronted by necromorphs, should provide extraordinary mirth to whomever on our team processes the video of her session. And surprisingly, given Jiyoung’s purported inexperience, she was able to coordinate and strategize successfully enough with her partner to so very nearly clear the most vicious of our level’s choke points. Bravo, Jiyoung! Additionally, Martin authored a comprehensive summary of our playtesting findings to this point for submission to Ben. On the Data front, Vera has been working to composite the three simultaneously recorded camera feeds (front, side, and gameplay capture) of each of our playtesting subjects into a single, frame, and then manually tabulate the significant metrics from each session that Martin and Nathan are unable to in real time when administering the playtests; Shaveen and Vera have also been assisting with this task, and we aim to have 12 fully processed videos completed by Monday of next week. Shaveen has further been refining the database and parser scripts he created last week so that they can be used harmoniously with the algorithms to which Star has devoted his time. Though Star had previously been solely investigating the usefulness of Hadoop and Mahout, their complexity has turned him toward Apriori, an Eclipse-based frequent item set mining algorithm. We’ve been attempting to run a sample batch of processed data through one algorithm for the past couple of weeks, but the elaborate nature of these algorithms–which Star has never before used but has,most impressively, learned solely for the sake of this project–has prevented us from doing so: next week, however, we are on target for conducting this test. In working as a liaison for the Data Team, Emmanuel installed both Hadoop and Mahout on a computer that will be utilized singularly for algorithm exploration, as we intend to use one or both of these libraries in conjunction with Apriori; previously, Star had to reboot his computer and run Unix when experimenting with Hadoop or Mahout, and Emmanuel’s logistical contribution here will streamline Star’s process. Further, Emmanuel, for his Origin Team responsibilities, finished designing the radar chart for use in our module, and set up the web server which will allow that chart to be updated dynamically. Anabelle, in addition to assisting Vera wtih video processing, worked with Ben to secure a final graphical design for the aforementioned radar chart.

Next Week

Next Monday, we’ll consult again with Zachery Anderson, who we met with very early in the semester, so the Data Team can receive feedback on their pipeline and the type of data that we’ve been collecting. As mentioned, we’ll also be running a preliminary batch of data through one algorithm to test outcome results. Emmanuel, Shaveen, and Anabelle will also be working together to create team promotional videos in preparation for our Soft Opening, which is the week after next.

Newsletter 11: System Shock 2

Newsletter for project Heidegger Week 11 in PDF Format

Week Overview

This was a week of relative quiet for the project, a useful respite after the pressure of Halves and the successive blitzkrieg of networking and education that was GDC. Though convalescent, this week saw us make substantial progress in all departments toward our ultimate goal.

Anabelle, cagily working on a radar chart.

In Detail

On the playtesting front, Blade was able to upload the custom Dead Space 3 level he’d built for us into the development Xbox 360s we’re using to collect telemetry data from during our testing sessions. Martin and Nathan were able, at last, to play through and evaluate the level, and we’ve implemented it into our playtesting routine for this week’s round. It affords us a much wider range of in-level “beats,” or points from which we can reliably gather information pertinent toward making Bartle Type predictions, than the release level with which we’ve been testing, as well as the opportunity to collect deeper telemetry data. Beginning this week, we’ve also incorporated the retail version of Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel (the third game in the series) into playtesting, as it is now commercially available; to this point, we’ve been using Army of Two: The 30th Day (the second game). We’ve also modified our end-of-session survey process: we’ve included an interactive Bartle Type survey that players take so as to help verify Martin and Nathan’s subjective predictions, and, based on Star’s recommendation, a questionnaire concerning genres of games that testers enjoy most, which will aid us in making more complex recommendations to them via our Origin module that will hopefully exceed simply whether or not they’ll enjoy Army of Two as deduced from how they played Dead Space 3. The Data Team was also busy this week. Shaveen devoted his time and energy toward creating scripts in SQL and PHP to, respectively, store the telemetry data the we’re gathering from our Dead Space 3 tests, and then parse the data so that it can be easily collected and exported in a convenient format for the algorithm that Star is in the process of finalizing. Additionally, Star, Shaveen, and Vera met several times during the week (and once with Ben) to solidify the metrics to be gathered by Vera from the video captures of our playtesting sessions–a process that she’s begun this week. The Origin Team has continued their work on beautifying and expanding the functionality of our module. Anabelle created mockups of the radar chart which will be used to visualize for players their specific type, and is polishing them so that Emmanuel can then implement this feature. And Emmanuel came to the important realization that, given the time constraints of our project, it will be impossible to replicate all the cosmetic elements of actual Origin in our module (such as the ability to drag the sidebar). Concerning the aforementioned radar chart, Emmanuel’s been experimenting with the Tornado Web Server, the utilization of which will allow us to change the values of the charts in real time, and with little effort.

Next Week

In the week ahead, we plan to, of course, continue playtesting, parsing data, and refining the Origin module, but, perhaps most excitingly, we hope to run an initial batch of data through Star’s algorithm by Wednesday. Needless to say, we are eager to behold the results.

Newsletter 10: GDC 2013

Newsletter for project Heidegger Week 10 in PDF Format

Week Overview

This week was the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and all members of Project Heidegger were in attendance. Due to the madcap pace of the conference, and because it necessitated that most of us be away from the OCCO for the majority of the week, progress on our project all but halted, as it did for all other ETC project teams. Regardless, we each attended panels and discussions which proved inspirational for either our goals on the project, or our careers (and, in some cases, both).

Hideo Kojima, father of Metal Gear, as captured by Shaveen

In Detail

Martin saw Jason VandenBerghe from Ubisoft deliver a talk about his highly specified player type research, which is similar to the focus of our project, and which validated our direction. As a result of this talk, Martin suggested that we incorporate a 30-question Bartle Type survey into our playtesting process, so as to better support the subjective predictions we’re making about each player. Concerning videogame storytelling, Anabelle was impressed by much of what she saw during the Narrative Summit in its GDC San Francisco debut, but was perhaps most moved by Japanese developer Kotaro Uchikoshi’s discussion about Virtue’s Last Reward, a visual novel available on the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. Uchikoshi’s concept that game narratives should be driven by discomfort stuck with Anabelle, who is currently creating a visual novel game for her independent study. Further, she thought Uchikoshi adorable (as did Nathan, who was also present). Jenova Chen’s lecture about the design of Journey (which won six Game Developers Choice Awards this year) made Star more conscious of the emotional capacity of videogames as an art form, and made him consider the potential of genres beyond the standard fare of FPS, RTS, MMO, MOBA, and so forth. The GDC Awards were the most memorable conference event for Shaveen, who was charmed by the hosting prowess of Tim Schafer, and who was vitalized by the enthusiasm and passion displayed by the winning developers during their acceptance speeches. Emmanuel was fascinated by a talk delivered by Luke Muscat, CCO of Halfbrick, who found that a new game he was prototyping caused his friends to conspire against each other in reality. For Emmanuel, this was an illustration of how powerful games can be, and that game design comes with some responsibilities. Vera received most from the Career Expo, and was able to gather much useful information about Kojima Productions–one of her dream companies–in both Tokyo and Los Angeles. Last, Nathan found the three Japanese developer talks, about Tokyo Jungle, Dragon’s Dogma, and Virtue’s Last Reward, respectively, to be refreshingly antithetical in both tone and intent to those delivered by Western developers, and restored his hope that humility and creativity can co-exist within the industry.

Next Week

Looking ahead, we plan implement both our custom Dead Space 3 level and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel into our playtesting process next week. Our Data Team will be preparing to run our first batch of data through our algorithm, and our Origin Team is making visual refinements to the module as well as expanding its functionality.