zt - A Design analysis project

16th of March

ztanz — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:25:45 +0000

Silly me, I’ve been so caught up in finishing the project that I have missed updating what is actually happening.

the presentations are 100% complete and were delivered yesterday.
On my 3rd rewrite of the essay I have about half left to go through, this should be done by.. hopefully friday so I can turn everything in.

Thursday 5th of March

ztanz — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:11:10 +0000

It seems there is something wrong with WordPress, at times my smaller updates just disappear, even though I see them as posted, a day later they are gone.

It’s a real pest.

I have realised that I have been working right but using my work wrong, instead of only taking notes of my research I’ve been trying to writ a finalized paper.

This is one of the reasons why I am falling behind, too much time is used trying to write the the end product.

Hopefully I can turn this around now the last weeks… even though it means I have to trash and rewrite somewhere between 2000-4000 words.

This will make a nice addition to the post mortem though, there is alot to report.

Over and out.

Saturday 28th Feb

ztanz — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:41:09 +0000

Currently trying to catch up on the few things I’m still behind on, I have to discuss with Annakaisa because I still think there is too much to actually get a good analysis on everything in this short time-span. Should have chosen a smaller title.

Monday 23rd Feb

ztanz — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:59:33 +0000

MS3 Paper is now completed and I am currently writing on my analysis, it should be done by tomorrow and I should then also have some other things to post on site.

It’s been a good day.

Sunday 22nd Februari

ztanz — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:55:12 +0000

I think I’ve become sick, because I was only awake 7 hours yesterday and I am already tired today. I will hit the sack instead of finishing the papers.

Milestone 3 paper is almost done
Design report is a bit over 50% done.

Thursday 19th Feb.

ztanz — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:39:05 +0000

First part is now done, now I just need to rewrite all my small notes to something more interesting and captivating, this will hopefully be finished by sunday. My weeks are a bit off due to me working 2-3 days a week aswell. I just quit so pace should pick up nicely. (and maybe I can have some free weekends?).

Expect updates to come rapidly now as I finish writing it.

Monday 16th Feb.

ztanz — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:41:19 +0000

It seems my last update just disappeared into thin air, I will try to rewrite it during the day, hold tight for an update.

Edit: Alright, here goes, the projectplan Revision 2 is sent in and I have a green light.

Except for analysing the game as it is with my list (the one posted a week ago) I am also working on analysis one of the weapons as a test, I really want to check with Annakaisa if it is okey to do it that way.

Weekend + Monday 9th Feb.

ztanz — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:06:42 +0000

The project plan is, since friday sent in to our teacher, I find it a bit short but I don’t know exactly what else to write, maybe I have to work for some weeks to fill in the rather short sentences.

I have read through some chapters of “Game Design Workshop 2nd Edition” by “Morgan Kaufmann” and something caught my eye, Chapter 11: Fun and Accessibility.

I thought it would be a good idea to start out with the basics and go from there.

the book states some things that make a game entertaining and I will try to find out which of these Doom 3 have.

CHALLENGES
- Reaching and Exceeding goals
- Competing against Opponents
- Stretching Personal Limits
- Excerising Difficult Skills
- Making Interesting Choices

PLAY
- Living out Fantasies
- Social Interaction
- Exploration and Discovery
- Collection
- Stimulation
- Self-Experssion and Performance
- Construction/Destruction

STORY
- Unique Characters
- Type of Storyline

ETC
- Puzzles
- Rewards and Punishments
- Anticipation
- Suprise
- Progress
- Ending

And ofcourse the other side of the fence, what does the game contain that makes it boring and repepitive like;

- Micromanagement
- Stagnation
- Arbitrary Events

And the last major thing to go though: Is the game accessible, can anyone understand it?

This is what I will be focusing on this week, while I go through the level design.

Over and out.

Wednesday 4th Feb

ztanz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:32:17 +0000

Not much to say I’m afraid, I’ve searched around for some literatute which could help me (mostly because I want to have some references to my project plan so I have something scientific to back me up on my paper.

Apart from that I’m just trying to get this project plan in working order, should have it ready by tomorrow or friday, hopefully not the latter.

Expect more and more frequent updates in the coming weeks when I actually come up with stuff instead of filling in blanks

Friday the 30th

ztanz — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:49:17 +0000

If you are wondering about the lack of updates it’s because I am trying to sort this Projectplan out, hopefully I will have it all ready shortly so I can get back to what I was doing. trying to organize a even more detailed plan on how to extract the information I want from my playthrough in the name of design, kind of like reverse engineering, instead of designing I’ll be trying to understand what was done and why.

Am I repeating myself again? My sleep depravity seem to not let me remember if.