Dev Blog

week 13

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Looked into the low level API of iRobot and successfully implemented a higher level abstraction for basic control of iRobot, (e.g. Turn left, Turn right, Move Forward, Move backward.) Also, Fan wrap it with a TCP Connection and create a tool called robotBerry, which will enable iRobot to receive command remotely together with an raspberry pi.
His plan for next week
1. try to calibrate the iRobot with the virtual robot and tuning the parameter. When everything is ready, start integrate real robot into virtual robot.
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Implemented function control feature into game 2.
2. Finished a path finding feature in game 2.
3. Fixed several bugs.
His plan for next week
1. Adjust game 2 base on last Friday playtest.
2. Polish game 2 for the soft opening.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1. Further refinement based on Jessica’s feedback on Monday’s adviser meeting.
2. Playtest in EFSD.
His plan for next week

1. Join second game’s development process
2. Develop prototype of real robot communication.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Organized Playtest
2. Interviewed Math teacher
His plan for next week
1. Join second game’s programming development
2. Prepare material for 30s, 3min video
3. Update website

week 12

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Looked into the low level API of iRobot and successfully implemented a higher level abstraction for basic control of iRobot, (e.g. Turn left, Turn right, Move Forward, Move backward.) Also, Fan wrap it with a TCP Connection and create a tool called robotBerry, which will enable iRobot to receive command remotely together with an raspberry pi.
His plan for next week
1. try to calibrate the iRobot with the virtual robot and tuning the parameter. When everything is ready, start integrate real robot into virtual robot.
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Implemented function control feature into game 2.
2. Finished a path finding feature in game 2.
3. Fixed several bugs.
His plan for next week
1. Adjust game 2 base on last Friday playtest.
2. Polish game 2 for the soft opening.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1. Further refinement based on Jessica’s feedback on Monday’s adviser meeting.
2. Playtest in EFSD.
His plan for next week

1. Join second game’s development process
2. Develop prototype of real robot communication.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Organized Playtest
2. Interviewed Math teacher
His plan for next week
1. Join second game’s programming development
2. Prepare material for 30s, 3min video
3. Update website

week 11

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. researched on the type of Robot the team should use for game 2 and contact David about what robot projects they’ve experimented on, what’s the ideal type of robot we should use and what’s the best practice when using the robots. Then, the team decided to use the iRobot which has a great support for wireless connection and hopefully it will arrive next week and we can do experimental on it.
His plan for next week
1. focus on programming for game2, a working prototype is already done by Allen and I’m helping him building a xml/JSON tool for parsing the game map information.
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Finished the basic game mechanism of Game 2
2. Designed and implemented a command queue struct, that allow control virtual robot step by step.
His plan for next week
1. Adjust game play based on playtest result.
2. Finished communication section between robot and unity application.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1.Refinement based on this week’s adviser meeting.
1.1 Progress Bar
1.2 Adaptive Difficulty
1.3 Minor changes
His plan for next week

1.Finish the refinement
2.Join second game’s development process
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Researched on Robots
2. Modeled a robot for game2
3. Prepared interview questions for teachers
His plan for next week
1. Keep research on Robots
2. Prepare another playtest to EFSD
3. Prepare material for 30s, 3min video

week 10

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. helped the team doing refinement on the first game basically by improving the UI interface based on the feedback from midterm and after the faculty’s play test. 
2. included some bug fixing and some performance improvement.
3. added various kind of sound effect into the first game.
His plan for next week 
1. mainly focus on developing a working prototype of game2 and start doing experiment on the real robot.
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Fixed several bugs in Game1.
2. Added ending scene and score board.
3. Implemented a command queue system for Game 2
His plan for next week
1. Finish the basic game mechanism of Game 2
2. Start making the control interface at Unity side.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1.Playtest at an elementary school other than EFSP. Get good feedback on
the latest version of game design.
2.Fix bug, refinement based on the playtest.
3.Discuss design about programming game
His plan for next week

1.Build the prototype of second game
2.Keep refining cupcake game
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Organized playtest on Friday
2, Discussed with Mike about the first game
3. Consulted robot control details with Robomatter
His plan for next week
1. Discuss robot control example made by SMALLab with David
2. Invite faculties to play game 1

week 9

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Prepared for the half presentation
2. Merged the level1 and level2 of the cupcake war game and had a play test on Saturday
His plan for next week 
1. Finish up the reset of the first game and start coding the next game
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Polished and added new art assets for the halves presentation.
2. Presented our game in Wednesday presentation.
3. Fixed several bugs include number conveyor doesn’t showing correct number and picked fruits still moving.
4. Merged two levels in cup cake game and Adjusted gameplay for Saturday ETC play test.
His plan for next week
1. Start to build second game include doing research on Robot API and designing the main game architecture.
2. Polish the first game. Adding more visual and acoustic feedback in the game.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1.Prepare for the half presentation and playtest day.
2.Refine cupcake game.
3.Discuss with the team about design choice and detail of programming game.
His plan for next week

1.Start the implementation of programming game.
2.Playtest cupcake game, make changes according to the feedback.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Prepared for 1/2 presentation and updated presentation materials
2, Organized playtest on Saturday and started to analyze playtest data
His plan for next week
1. Keep analyzing playtest data
2. Prepare for final playtests for game 1

week 8

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Further improvement on the game play of level1 in the cupcake war game. 
2. On Friday, the whole team went to ESFD and gained a lot of useful experience by doing play test with the students there.
His plan for next week 
1. Working on the 1/2 presentation and finalize the work on level1 of cup cake war and merge level 1 and level 2. 
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Implemented Number conveyor script base on new design of latest iteration
2. Added some feature on food material, now all foods will roaming in the scene, which make it more dynamic.
3. Adjusted UI panel, now all food material’s healthy factors are showing on the UI panel
4. Fixed several bugs.
His plan for next week
1. Integrate two game levels together.
2. Adjust and update game scripts base on the result of play test
3. Do research on the robotic game
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1.Whole team went to EFSD for playtest. Get a lot feedback on the 3rd iteration of game1.
2.Help Allyn build level2. Including iteration3 implementation, UI redesign and feedback enhancement,
3.Prepare for the half presentation
His plan for next week

1.Final refinement of game1. The remaining part is adding value of each fruit on it to make value easier for kid to get.
2.Start the prototyping of game2.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Went to EFSD on Friday and playtested the 3rd iteration of game1
2. Prepared presentation materials
3. Refined the design of Game2
His plan for next week
1. Half Presentation
2. Organize another playtest to other school district and ETC playtest day
3. Research more on Game2

Week 7

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Further improvement on the game play of level1 in the cupcake war game. 
2. On Friday, the whole team went to ESFD and gained a lot of useful experience by doing play test with the students there.
His plan for next week 
1. Working on the 1/2 presentation and finalize the work on level1 of cup cake war and merge level 1 and level 2. 
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Implemented Number conveyor script base on new design of latest iteration
2. Added some feature on food material, now all foods will roaming in the scene, which make it more dynamic.
3. Adjusted UI panel, now all food material’s healthy factors are showing on the UI panel
4. Fixed several bugs.
His plan for next week
1. Integrate two game levels together.
2. Adjust and update game scripts base on the result of play test
3. Do research on the robotic game
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1.Whole team went to EFSD for playtest. Get a lot feedback on the 3rd iteration of game1.
2.Help Allyn build level2. Including iteration3 implementation, UI redesign and feedback enhancement,
3.Prepare for the half presentation
His plan for next week

1.Final refinement of game1. The remaining part is adding value of each fruit on it to make value easier for kid to get.
2.Start the prototyping of game2.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Went to EFSD on Friday and playtested the 3rd iteration of game1
2. Prepared presentation materials
3. Refined the design of Game2
His plan for next week
1. Half Presentation
2. Organize another playtest to other school district and ETC playtest day
3. Research more on Game2

Week 6

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Met with the mentor on Monday and gained a lot of useful feedback. Later, discussed the feedback with the group and redesigned the gameplay mechanism, which divided the game into levels.
2. Joined the game play programming. Implemented the gameplay control mechanism of the first level.
His plan for next week 
1. Continue working on the game play, make it fully playable.
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Update the gameplay mechanism to our new design. Now player need to do more Arithmetic。
2. Changed the data structure to fit new game design.
3. Implemented basic UI for the new game mechanism.
His plan for next week
1. Polish current game and add more dynamical game element.
2. Adjust the game play code base on the result of play test.
3. Looking for some visual effect that could make the game looks better.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael

1.Went to EFSD last Monday. Find a lot useful information which we don’t realized before but critically important. For example, kids in 5th grade is capable of calculating quite hard equation, but not able to build the equation by themselves without pen and paper. Based on this, our design changed to build the equation all the time for them.
2.Create several visual effect to enhance the experience of game.
His plan for next week

1.Keep doing VFX stuff, there are several needed for different event and level change such as when the math is done correct or not.
2.Help Allyn to finish the first prototype on SmallLab integration. The 1st prototype is 90% done but not tested on SmallLab yet.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Visited EFSD on Monday, based on ‘control variate method’, observed and analyzed the paper playtest with several 5th graders. 
2. Made a report concerning the key factors noticed in the playtest and discussed with the team.
3. Redid the art assets for the game, including fruits, cakes and etc.
His plan for next week
1. Go to EFSD on Wednesday or Friday with the team to do another playtest with the latest design.
2. Make presentation materials and prepare 1/2 presentation with the team.
3. Refine the current art assets and made necessary assets for special effects.

Week 5

Fan You:

During this week, Fan 
1. Designed the data sterilization protocol and the data structure of game configuration file.
2. Implemented the customization tool for the first game.
His plan for next week 
1. Wrap up the raw code to start build the frame work for the customization tool.
2. Join the game play development if there is anything needed.
 

Allyn Chen:

During this week, Allyn
1. Designed and implemented UI framework.
2. Implemented IO port to read xml file from the customization tool.
3. Implemented basic game mechanism: to pick foods and see if it satisfy the requirement.
His plan for next week
1. Improve and iterate UI.

2. Improve code by introducing Finite State Machine. So that will be easier for future customization.
 

Michael Zhang:

During this week, Michael
1. Read through the new SmallLab Unity package, integrate the current game with it. Test it on the local SMALLab in ETC.
2. Helped Allyn build the scene and gameplay of cupcake war game. 
His plan for next week
1. Go to ESFD on Monday to test the prototype in hardware part, and discuss with programming teacher about our design of the teaching-programming course. Also plan to have a paper playtest for our cupcake war game with students.
2. Finish the first version of prototype in next week.
 

Aaron Li:

During this week, Aaron
1. Experimented several different art style for cupcake wars
2. Made a paper prototype for the latest design to test at EFSD
3. Read and analyzed the math exam samples for Grade3,4,5 from Todd
His plan for next week
1. Go to EFSD on Monday with Michael to check whether our game is compatible with their system and do a paper prototype play test.
2. Start to model the robot and scene for the 2nd game.
3. Based on the feedback on Monday, iterate the design for the 2nd game.
4. Research the bluetooth protocols between Unity and other devices.
 
Thank you for your attention.

Week 4

This week, our team mainly focused on preparing the quarter presentation. We also did some paper game play test inside our test. The first prototype of our cupcake war game is being build and the data transforming protocol between customization tool and game has been designed.

Also, we are scheduling a play test next week with student in EFSD.