tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32339515025675792982011-06-07T23:47:16.422-07:00A semester-long project at the Entertainment Technology Center, researching and developing new techniques of evoking emotion in video game playersb.noreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-56891881784627115302007-11-06T14:59:00.000-08:002007-11-06T15:02:47.721-08:00

Are your typing skills getting rusty from all the "texting" you kids have been doing? Have you forgotten which keys are in the home row, or how to spell complete words?Well, put on your headphones, turn up the volume and take a spin on the Touch Typist to get reacquainted with your estranged keyboard, and you'll be back to pounding out whole sentences in no time! Be sure to come back to the blog

b.noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-31932341226608617062007-10-24T20:48:00.000-07:002007-10-24T20:55:36.787-07:00

Composed by Chris Crone, ProgrammerAfter Prototype 0, we decided that Prototype 1 would be about an ethical dilemma about deleting an android’s memories, and that I would champion the effort. Prototype 1 would feature puzzle games representing the player hacking into the android’s brain. During puzzle games, the player would hear emotive sounds from the android, and these sounds would convey

b.noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-53733689019791750922007-10-19T15:17:00.000-07:002007-11-06T15:06:17.951-08:00

It's the near future. You have been tasked with retrieving memories from a damaged android, in order to find out how its charge, a young girl of about ten, died. There is, of course, a catch. By solving the sound puzzles that hide the memories, you place the droid in an extreme amount of pain. The situation becomes exasperated once you realize that by the girl's story, you force the companion

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-86338260863405016732007-10-19T09:17:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:53:55.261-07:00

"In How To Write Funny, Esther M. Friesner writes, 'Your story need not be one long laugh-fest. Humor is dead serious stuff. In fact, humor gains depth when it’s about something more than just making the reader laugh. Food for thought—serious thought—goes down a lot more readily if it’s coated with a little laughter. Humor observes, analyzes

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-6841081197342805322007-10-15T08:56:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:54:31.503-07:00

So, with our new project goal of "trying to create a prototype where comedy is an essential game mechanic," the team did a lot of investigation into the history of games, looking for examples where comedy was the most successful. This brought me back to a game from my childhood that I remembered being extremely funny (and upon playing it again, I found it still holds up), which was Lucasarts'

Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14615823348240102343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-57831064607761048452007-10-09T19:17:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:54:57.927-07:00

When the semester started, the entire project existed in a swirling vortex of caution and indecision. When pitching the idea last spring, we knew that we wanted to create a story-based game that focused on emotions outside of the typical adrenaline/fear/frustration cycle so prevalent in the market today; that was the easy part. Knowing how to do that, though, is the tough part [notice how I said

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-74728920324986072372007-10-05T13:54:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:55:42.989-07:00

"One of our Model 37 androids has malfunctioned, and the death of a human child may be involved. The local police department is investigating this matter, but has been unable to get a statement from the droid, as its vocal circuits and other functions are damaged. We request that you extract any relevant memory files within the android. Due their limited capacities, Model 37 droids have

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-16550047026803044332007-09-29T19:30:00.000-07:002007-10-02T15:20:14.508-07:00

Making its worldwide debut for the esteemed guests of CMU President Jerry Cohon, the awkward encounter between Buddy and Cathy was received with polite laughter and interest in what we created in such a short amount of time.Now, we're giving everyone the opportunity to try out Prototype #0. Click here to get started, and come back to leave us feedback. Any and all comments are greatly

b.noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-79630614192030141322007-09-26T15:38:00.000-07:002007-09-26T15:43:49.047-07:00

In Prototype #1, the player responds to the request of powerful artificial intelligence that has captured a dangerous run-away android. This dangerous android has attacked humans, and the player must hack into its memories and delete the pieces that have made it into a violent being. But as the player sees more of the android’s memories, s/he learns that the android isn’t as dangerous as it may

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-14725883391781878862007-09-26T14:47:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:56:46.552-07:00

This past Friday, Tim and I had the pleasure of informing the faculty and our peers of our project's history and progress during our Quarter Presentation [download the Powerpoint slide show here - it's about five megs in size]. Immediately following, members of the faculty came by our office to share their thoughts and ask us questions. Basically, the vibe was that we need to better define what

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-37339031002299752842007-09-16T16:55:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:57:24.036-07:00

It's the god-awful hour of 10 in the morning, and you get a phone call from your good friend, David. He needs you to cover for him, in case his girlfriend Cathy comes looking for him, which she inevitably does...By changing your emotional state based on Cathy's questions, the player attempts to convince her that even though David disappeared earlier in the morning, everything is OK, and she

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-85057384093374628052007-09-14T15:57:00.000-07:002007-09-19T07:39:10.358-07:00

"To discover new techniques that emotionally invest video game players."Simple enough for an R&D project, eh?After much deliberation, we decided to utilize not only our overarching goal for the semester, but create specific goals for each prototype that fit into the framework.For example, Prototype #0 also has the goal of creating an emotional feedback loop in a relatable situation. The player

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-58485546349281386502007-09-12T15:50:00.000-07:002007-09-12T16:18:09.249-07:00

The team had a meeting with Brenda and Jesse today. Jesse brought cookies from the Pretzel Shop.Delicious.We talked about the idea we had for a prototype, and came to the conclusion that we were planning to do two very different things: trying to determine what sort of mouse movements correspond to what personality types (and what status that conveys), and get the player emotionally invested in

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-17216776626017849822007-09-12T08:14:00.000-07:002007-09-12T08:15:40.088-07:00

The team wiki, for those that are curious.

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-62187325241638946292007-09-11T15:56:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:57:57.544-07:00

After much hashing out of ideas, theories and hypotheses, we are finally starting our first prototype. Well, we're about to. Matt is starting to get acquainted with Flash and ActionScript, while Chris is getting caught up with ActionScript 3. Tim has a solid script down, but is feeling under the weather. Pat is wrapping up our poster and half-sheet, featuring the cat-toying-with-school-bus logo!

b.noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3233951502567579298.post-71855010601714637992007-09-09T18:53:00.000-07:002007-09-09T18:54:35.895-07:00

And a fine week it will be...

b.noreply@blogger.com0