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.

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review – Peter Akrill (Travellers’ Tales, Codemasters)

Peter Akrill is an experienced programmer currently working at the Codemasters studio in Guilford. After graduating from University back in 2005 (receiving a First in Maths + Computer Software and Development), Peter moved to Travellers’ Tales where he worked in production management on titles such as Bionicle Heroes, LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones. After deciding he wanted a change, Peter later moved to Codemasters to pursue his strongest area in the industry, programming.

Peter came back to the University of Bolton today to give advice on getting into the industry, how to survive when in industry and what items should be considered for our online portfolio. I attended this lecture today and found Peter to be a very interesting and entertaining character, giving some fantastic inside advice on how a game company operates and how to work long hours while still living a healthy lifestyle.

Peter began by stating the companies he’d previously worked for and what titles he’d worked on. Currently, Peter and his team are working on an upcoming First Person Shooter title named ‘Bodycount', a spiritual successor to the ‘entirely destructible environments’ shooter on the PS2 and Xbox, Black. After watching trailers for Bodycount at the time of E3 this year and after seeing it make Gamasutra headlines from time to time, it was very interesting to hear what Peter had to say about the team working with it and what his roles (gameplay programmer) involve.

Moving on from what games he has worked on, Peter went into more depth about how Travellers’ Tales and Codemasters operate; listing what toolsets and languages programmers at both companies work with. While programming is not my area of profession, if I wish to be a designer it’s always good to know how other areas of the team work, know how they feel towards designers and what programs and languages they use. Peter mentioned that his personal gripe with designers was that they usually have a tendency to change things half way through a project, asking for something programmers had previously worked on to be altered or removed entirely. Peter requested we always try and keep to the design documents as much as possible to save programmers and artists extra work; something I’ll definitely keep in mind for the future.

Following this, Peter listed lots of different areas of a games design team and stated their roles and what software they use. Obviously, programming was Peter’s strong point here- though it still remained very interesting to hear his views on all of the different areas of a team. Find below Peter’s information given for designers;

Designer;
- Has the overall vision of the project.   
- The ‘go to’ person for features.             
- The main cause of frustration! (for programmers.)

Finally, to end the lecture Peter gave some advice on staying healthy while working within industry. As programmers and designers generally tend to spend a lot of time in the office both day and night, it’s important not to slip into the habit of buying takeaways every night and to keep both a healthy body and mind. Peter suggested taking ‘rest days’ when needed and if any overtime is performed on free will, make sure to do the fun stuff while out of work hours. It’s also good to keep healthy snacks around desk areas, such as either fruit or nuts.

I felt the lecture today was both informative and fun, with seeming both a generally nice guy and a hard worker both in and out of industry hours. The most important quote I’d like to take away from the lecture would be the following;

“Remember, if you implement a feature badly people will notice. If you don’t implement a feature at all, no-one will know. Make sure features are polished before adding in more!”

http://www.ponderingpete.co.uk

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.

Guest Lecture Synopsis and Review - David Bramhall, Vicky Rowley (Sony Evolution Studios)

Two key members of the Sony owned development company Evolution Studios attended the University today as part of the final year Games Business module. David Bramhall, a designer / Q&A veteran who has previously graduated from Bolton University and Vicky Rowley, a HR specialist, both performed a presentation covering such items as; what jobs are available at Sony, how the company is structured, their roles / experiences within the industry and what can be done to help students improve both CV's and Portfolios.

I attended this lecture and felt that the talk covered lots of useful information on how we're able to get into the industry, with David sharing his story, the problems he faced and how he dealt with the situation. Alongside this, we were also given some good insight into one of the biggest first party development companies on the market, a very exciting opportunity for anybody interested in the industry.

David began speaking about his journey through the industry, his first position being a Q&A tester at Sony on the WRC series, then moving to Travellers Tales and working on LEGO Indiana Jones II alongside Arthur Parsons before eventually moving back to Sony again and working on upcoming PS3 title, Motorstorm: Apocalypse. David's challenges and positions in the industry were very similar as to what I wish for mine to be, making his talk on past experiences both interesting and relevant.

After this, David went on to speak about company structure and the roles of several different departments; Coders, Art, Design, Animation, Producers and Q&A. Both him and Vicky both stressed how important it is to understand that each of these areas are split up into many different roles (for example, Design having Game Directors, Lead Designers, Designers, AI Riggers, Level Scripters, Interface Designers and Level Designers.) Each individual should know what role within industry they're aiming for, such as mine being that of Designer (and maybe even one day, Lead Designer!)

Next, the 'requirements' of a designer and Q&A tester were given, something I hope to keep in mind throughout both applying for a job and when in industry;

Designer;
- Ability to communicate on a good level.
- Excellent writing skills.
- Broad technical knowledge.
- Can willingly take criticism.
- Excellent knowledge of games.
- Good presentation skills.
- Is passionate about their work.

Q&A Tester;
- Strong writing ability.
- Learns from the best.
- Proactive and passionate.
- Can identify the games problems / areas correctly.

The average life cycle of a game was described next along with the various stages of development. David explained, as you'd expect, the life cycle of a game varies depending on both the title and the studio creating it.

For the final part of the presentation, Vicky spoke about how to contact game development studios in regards to jobs and what they'd expect to see along with the application. CV's and Cover letters were discussed, with CV's being three pages maximum and being specifically tailored to each role applied for in the industry. The cover letter is to be one page maximum and compliments the CV, starting with an interesting opening line and containing information on why the job position / company excites you along with facts about yourself.

Interviews were the last topic of discussion, with Vicky going talking about how interviewee's should dress and what they should bring along to the meeting. As with the Codemasters guest lecture, the importance of doing research into the company beforehand and having questions prepared was heavily mentioned.

I very much enjoyed the presentation today and felt it was a fantastic insight into the studio and how they operate. Going by David's previous experience and due to the close links between the company and Bolton University, it's highly likely I'll find myself applying at Evolution Studios in the future and I very much look forward to doing so.

http://www.evos.net/

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.