Lee's University Blog - Welcome!

Welcome to my University blog! Here you can find all of my work completed during the Final Team Project module alongside a variety of other units I have taken part in during my time at University.

Please select the desired area of the blog you wish to view by using the links below, or simply continue to scroll down the page to view the work as it was posted.

- Individual Work Index - Team Project. (Includes a list of all the work completed by me during the module as well as links to documentation / presentations.)

- Weekly project journals - Team Project. (Includes a list of all posts marked with a team project journal tag, displaying journal posts for each week of the project.)

- Level 3 Team Project. (Includes a list of all posts marked with a level 3 team project tag, including all work / discussions related to the module along with the weekly journals.)

- Games Business. (Includes short reviews of all industry related guest lecturers held during the games business module.)

-  Games Portfolio. (Includes weekly diaries and a project conclusion / evaluation of the games portfolio module.)

- Games Design 2. (Includes a short post uploaded during the second games design module outlining my first impressions of the Source SDK.

- Games Reviewing. (Includes a download link and a synopsis of my games magazine created during the reviewing module. The magazine includes reviews, previews and industry related articles and comes to a total of 57 pages.)

- Games Scripting 2. (Includes conclusions for several assignments completed during the second games scripting module along with a short task on defining Machinima.

- Intro to Visual Technology. (Includes a short overview and screen shots of an early task completed during the start of the module.)

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 29 (Christmas Overview)

During the two week Christmas break, I spent time working with both the groups final report and my own individual report. During this time I decided to prioritise the group report, as doing this will allow more time for group feedback to be given and also as it is handed in several days earlier than the individual one.

Before the break began, team members met up to discuss who would be doing what tasks and what writing style to stick to. It was made clear to all members what tasks they should be working on, with Steve Austin posting up a summary of these tasks on the group blog.

The sections I was assigned to work with were the following; Project Overview, Hypothesis, Project Methodologies, Evaluation Approach and Analysis of Results. I made sure to make a start on each section before the holidays, continuing  them once moved back home during the lead up to Christmas. We decided to leave the Conclusion, Critical Assessment and Future Studies sections unassigned, so that group members could work together on these final parts when back after Christmas.

I met up with Steve during the two week break, spending some time with the group report Test Theory section. I also had Steve look over the work written by me during the break so far, making alterations where appropriate. Several emails were sent detailing the work completed by myself  to other members of the team, also requesting a status update of their own work. Unfortunately however, no return emails were received and the status of certain other members of the teams work is still currently unknown.

In the next week, I plan on contributing more to the groups final report, working alongside the others to complete the project conclusion section. I also hope to spend more time with my individual project report, of which will be 100% completed by this time next week.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 28

In our final week before the three week Christmas break, the team spent time working with the final group report; discussing what sections need to be completed and by who. Alongside this, our report writing style was decided upon, with each team member knowing how to format the document in order for it to be kept consistent throughout.

As scheduled, the team met up with Amanda and Andrew on Wednesday morning and received feedback on one section of the report, Project Methodologies. This section was written by myself and discussed what software development processes we considered, which we decided to use and how we used it. The feedback given by both lecturers was extremely useful, with lots of changes being made to both this section and the Abstract once the meeting was over.

As mentioned last week, the next meeting with Brian and Phil has been postponed until after Christmas as currently, no discussion is needed. The team was however happy to learn that for our final presentation, Milestone V, we have received an A (80) grade.

The project Gantt Chart is now 100% completed and can be viewed by clicking here!

Over the Christmas break, I plan on working extensively with both the individual and group project reports. Both documents are handed in the week commencing the 10th of January, with Vivas following the week afterwards. No more weekly journals will be posted until after Christmas, with Week 29 acting as a summary of all work completed over the holiday!

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Work Index Updated!

As the team have now finished all milestone presentations, I have updated both the group and my individual work indexes with .pdf versions of each slide show. In addition to the presentations, all research documentation written during the teams testing and analysis phase has also been uploaded.

The work index pages are intended to aid lecturers in reviewing and marking both our group and individual work. By creating these pages, links to all work completed can be accessed from one source making it far easier to access lots of different areas of the project.

To view my personal work index page, either use the link found lower down in the bar on the right or click here.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 27

This week, the team spent time analysing our data and writing it up in a presentable format ready for the teams final milestone presentation on the 9th of December. The presentation itself was monitored by both Brian and Phil; not only being the final group presentation of this module, but the final presentation we were to perform at the University of Bolton in general.

After three extremely useful meetings with Stephen Manning, the team was able to analyse the data we'd connected from our pre and post-test questionnaires with no major problems. Using an alpha level of 0.05, team members calculated the mean of a variety of 'engagement' related questions and compared them using a student two-tail analysis method. On some occasions, the null hypothesis has rejected and on others, it had to be accepted. We did however find that, for the most part, all of the hypothesis statements we had to accept fit perfectly in line with our original project hypothesis; something we felt was a fantastic achievement.

The presentation itself was performed professionally, with team members meeting up before-hand to discuss what needs to be said and who plans on saying it. Included in the slide-show was a summary of the project, an analysis of our test process (including the questionnaires), an analysis of our collected data and also a short project conclusion. Brian and Phil seemed generally happy with the performance and had some good feedback to give after the teams twenty minute performance was over.

Click here to view a .pdf version of the presentation.

In the next week, I plan on helping out with the teams final group report and also plan on beginning my individual report, setting up the contents page and report abstract. By 1pm on Monday, Andrew and Amanda wish for an example of report writing to be emailed to them in preparation for the 9am meeting on Wednesday; something I will work alongside the team to achieve.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Data Analysis Meeting

To aid our data analysis process, team members met up with Computer Software and Development module leader Stephen Manning this week to receive advice on what data to analyse, what methods we should use to analyse it and how we should present it to peers.

During our third and final meeting with Steve, I took notes on various items discussed throughout the meeting and broke down as much of the terminology used as possible. I have decided to write-up these notes and post them here in .pdf format for the teams own benefit.

Click here to download the document in .pdf format.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 26

As with the previous week, all of the teams time spent in the past seven days have been dedicated to testing. Today marked our final day of testing and has left us with well over our original goal of fifty candidates, with the final amount being sixty. Now that all of data has been recorded and collated, we're to next analyse this data with assistance from Stephen Manning, the leader of the Computer Software and Development course at the University of Bolton.

A meeting was arranged with Steve via e-mail last Friday and took place on Wednesday morning at 11am. We gave Steve a brief overview of our project and the types of data we've been collecting, with him giving his opinion on what data should be analysed and what shouldn't. We left Steve with a copy of our post-test questionnaire and plan to e-mail him with the final Excel spreadsheet containing all of our post-test data tomorrow afternoon. Steve has kindly offered to look through this spreadsheet and will meet up with us again early next week to give us advice on what methods we can use to analyse the data, all of which will be complete ready for the dry-run Presentation on Wednesday.

Both meetings were cancelled this week to allow for us to spend more time testing. Meetings will however resume as normal next week, with the team giving a dry-run presentation of our final milestone to Amanda and Andrew on Wednesday.

In the next week, I plan on helping out analyse our test data after our meeting with Steve on Monday. I also plan to work alongside Stephen Austin and Kyle Cherry, creating and practising our final milestone presentation. I have already created a basic template for this presentation and I plan on meeting up with Stephen on Sunday to discuss what can be added / altered and to decide who wishes to say what sections.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 25

This week, the team has spent each available day testing people with our final level artefact. So far, we have tested a total of twenty-five candidates and hope to have reached thirty by the end of the week. Each test candidate has been invigilated by a single team member, with four being taken at a time (maximum.) The pre and post-test questionnaire data is also currently in the process of being collated in an Excel file ready for analysing at the end of next week.

Alongside our testing, Andrew and Amanda have been taking a look at some of our written documentation and have provided formative feedback in how it can be improved. The final group report has been amended after seeing this feedback and work is still being completed on the document despite being in University testing.

In the past week, I have spent my time exclusively testing people and arranging the ability to go into lessons with lecturers. Brian, Andrew, Craig, Tim and Pete have all agreed and replied to my e-mails, being a massive help in aiding us gather test candidates. After our testing phase, I plan on e-mailing these lecturers thanking them for their compliance and help.

In the next week, we'll be gathering more test candidates to hopefully reach our aim of fifty tests completed by next Friday. This will allow us to analyse the data and discuss it at the weekend in preparation for our Presentation with Brian the week following.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 24

Slightly behind schedule, the team spent this week finishing out test artefact and researching / writing questionnaires. After booking the project room today, our testing will commence tomorrow between 9:30am and 5pm with team members scouting around and looking for potential test candidates. 

 

Emails have been sent to lecturers teaching on our predicted testing days requesting for us to pop into lessons half way through and asking for any volunteers to come and take part in our test. We're aiming to test around thirty or so candidates within the next two weeks, so contacting lecturers and requesting to take students from certain classes could severely help in bumping up our number of tested candidates.

In the past week, I have spent time working alongside our final level build, compiling our questionnaires and communicating with other teams / lecturers in regards to our testing process. I'm very happy with how both the questionnaires turned out and feel both Brian and Andrew provided some excellent feedback that's been taken into account ready for our final print-outs.

In the next week, our whole focus is turning to our testing process and collating the data gathered. By this time next week, we hope to have tested a good chunk of people and have the majority of our data collated.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Pre and Post-Test Questionnaires

To compliment our test artefact, pre and post-test questionnaires have been compiled to be filled in by candidates at the start and end of our test process.

The pre-test questionnaire aims to collect information regarding the candidates background with games, what aspects of them they enjoy the most and which type of genre they play the most. With this insight, we're able to see which candidates are more interested in items such as Gameplay over Narrative and compare the results given in the post-test questionnaire on this basis.

The post-test questionnaire asks candidates directly how they felt towards the non-playable character in our test at different areas throughout our test. By using a scale for candidates to plot their answers on, we're able to gather quantitative data that can be analysed once our tests are complete. To back this quantitative data up, some questions include space for candidates to further elaborate on why they plot where they did on the scale.

Both documents have been compiled by me after analysing the research Steve had performed into existing tests and questionnaires. This research proved useful as it gave us both ideas of how we could record our data and what sort of questions we could ask. All other members of the team have looked over the questionnaires and have made edits where necessary.

To view the pre-test questionnaire, click here.

To view the post-test questionnaire, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 23

This week the team performed our fourth milestone presentation, supposedly showcasing our final level build. Unfortunately, due to certain team members missing the deadlines of their assigned tasks, the presentation ended up a disappointment to both assessors and students. As with Milestone II, no preparation was made by milestone presenters which (once again) led to an untextured, unfinished run-through of what was promised to be our final build.

Thankfully, the team also received feedback for the Test Planning presentation performed the previous week. Lecturers were generally happy, suggesting the team could have scored higher if we had gone into more detail in regards to the pre / post-test questionnaires and the methods of analysis we plan to utilise. Overall, the team received an A (70) for our third milestone.

In the next week, I will be assisting with our level build and will aid in finishing any outstanding tasks not completed by other team members already working with the level. Ideally, this level build will be complete and fully functioning for Monday morning, allowing us to dry run our test process in the project room.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 22

This week the team performed our third milestone presentation, covering the testing plan and recapping all of the work completed thus far. I spent much of my time working on the test planning documentation along with Steve and I felt the presentation went exceptionally well. Lecturers gave good feedback and seemed generally pleased with our performance, a good confidence boost in preparation for the final level demonstration next week.

In the next week, I will be assisting with our level build in preparation for our dry run presentation on Wednesday. Currently, the level is quite a way off from being 'finished' in my opinion and team members will need to work harder if we're to have a full final demonstration ready.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Test Planning Documentation

As a part of the teams third Milestone and to help aid us during our upcoming testing phase, a twenty-two page document has been compiled discussing several factors of our test and the rationale behind them.

"By the end of this document, a clear picture will have been painted of both the test process and the justifications behind it. The sections included help clarify the teams testing methodologies along with both data collection and the different methods of statistical analysis that will be performed. The test process itself will be defined and the means behind it will be backed up with research into existing testing procedures and also by investigating and defining a variety of different human emotions."

To download the document in .pdf format, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 21

In the past week the team has been once again working with the final level build, aiming for everything to be complete ready for the 10th of November.

I have spent the majority of my time working alongside Steve on the test planning documentation, of which is to be completed ready for the Milestone III presentation next week. The presentation itself is all but one slide completed and I plan on meeting up with Steve on Saturday evening to discuss who will be covering what sections. As our last presentation left lecturers feeling that we were unprepared, we're tightening things up with this third Milestone and are making sure we're confident with what we're talking about well in advance.

In the next week, I hope for our Milestone III presentation to go successfully and both me and Steve aim to have the testing document completed for Thursday afternoon. I will also be looking into the ethics of our test during the next week, with the team filling in an RE1 form in preparation of our testing phase.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 20

This week the team has been working hard on completing our Level Build and Test Planning documentation. As of today, we have two weeks to prepare for our testing plan presentation and three weeks until our level needs to have reached a final state.

I have spent time myself this week working extensively on the Test Planning documentation and have also spent time writing up drafts of the teams pre and post test questionnaires. These questionnaires will later be discussed with other team members and will be a valuable asset in the collection of test data during our testing phase. I've also spent time this week starting the layout of our Milestone III presentation. The power point has now been passed onto the testing milestone leader and I hope to spend more time working with it come early next week.

In the next week, I hope for our Milestone III presentation and test plan documentation to be at least 90% complete. After today's meeting with Brian and Phil, we've been considering the addition of test flow charts and research into existing questionnaires. Both of these two items will hopefully have found a place into our testing documentation within the next seven days.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 19

This week the team has once again picked up the pace in preparation for our next Milestone presentation on the 4th of November. After a meeting with Brian and Phil, we came to the agreement our next presentation should cover our testing plan; of which justifies our means of testing, outlines the research performed into various testing methods and also educates lecturers on exact method of testing.

I have spent time myself this week working on the teams Final Project Report- starting by creating contents and abstract pages. I've also spent time working on the level design documentation in preparation for the Milestone IV presentation along with writing up and recording prototypes of our level build.

In the next week I hope to spend more time working with the level design documentation- begin working on the testing documentation and also pitch in and help get our final level build up to scratch.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 18

Throughout this week I spent most of my time helping produce the teams Milestone II presentation in preparation for the meeting with Brian and Phil on Thursday.

I felt that the presentation itself included all the information needed, though was a little disappointed with the run through of the testing level alpha build- with some unfortunate problems bringing the presentation down; with textures not loading and the fact the University computers were not set up to display the game screen on the projector.

The presentation felt more of a discussion with lecturers than anything else, however both Brian and Phil still provided some constructive criticism and look forward to seeing the final build on the 4th of November.

In the next week I hope to discuss with team members where we will be taking the level next and wish to contribute further to both the level design documentation and the testing research.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Week 17

The team has spent much time this week getting back into the swing of the work load and going over the tasks completed during the summer. In both meetings, a lot of time was spent re-capping tutors on what work is completed and what still needs to be done.

Currently, the project is in the 'build phase' with team members spending as much time as possible creating our final level build. So far, the environment has been created and population / scripting has been added to a certain degree. We aim to have the environment nearer a final state within the next few weeks ready for testing to begin during the first week of November.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Summer Post II

As the summer is nearing an end with work kicking off again at the end of this month, I've decided to upload finished versions of two pieces of research I have completed during the break.

After having a chat with the team, we've contemplated combining Milestone II and Milestone III into one, larger milestone. The original tasks set for both of these milestones will still be valid and ongoing, however we feel that merging the two milestones into one will help us easily get back into the swing of work once returning to University. Due to this, the change could possibly lead to our testing phase (Milestone IV) becoming slightly shorter than originally planned. This is something we feel would be a sensible and beneficial change, as it gives us a greater amount of time to perfect our NPC and testing level.

We plan to engage in further discussions regarding the change once back at University, as all team members will be able to easily get in contact with one another. Summaries of all meetings will be posted on the Team Fable group blog.

- "01. Human Emotion - Empathy and Sympathy", click here.

- "02. Human Emotion - Empathy, Chivalry and Sympathy", click here.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.

Level 3 Team Project - Summer Post I

As the Milestone II deadline hits in three weeks time, I have decided to post an entry previewing my work completed during the summer break so far. The work shown here is still yet to be completed, however all documents will be finished come the Milestone II deadline on the 26th of July.

During the first half of the summer break, I have been performing research into human emotion. So far, two of four documents are nearing completion, the first of which discusses Empathy and Sympathy (the differences, outcomes, and importance), while the second talks about Chivalry in regards to empathy and sympathy (the definition, what it entails, where it is used and the importance.) The remaining two documents will study the effects of Ingelligence on Empathy and the effects of Similarity on Engagement.

I find it interesting to look into human emotion and also feel that by creating these four documents it can help us better understand them, something that will greatly aid us during the creation of our test NPC. With a better understanding of human emotion, we will be able to create a more realistic and belivable character, something that in turn will hopefully leave us with a more engaging NPC.

To read a preview of the first document, click here. To read a preview of the second, click here.

To view the Team Fable project blog, click here.

To view all of the Team Project diary entries, click here.