Week 22 Journal

Week 22

22/02/08

During this week I have been writing my section for the final team report and helping the team with the start of the testing phase.

During the weekend of the 16th and 17th of February I started to write my section of the final team report. It was decided that I will write the Evaluation Approach. The first thing that I had to decide was the content of this section. I already knew that the section would need to include our testing method; I also decided that a section on our control methods and the control group testing should also be included as these were quite important to our final testing method. I also asked Phill to write a small section on the prediction of our results, as I felt that this should also go into the Evaluation Approach section. Later on in the week the team got some feedback on the sections from Claire Brierley and Amanda Dewhurst and from this I will change my section appropriately, although what I had had written was in the right style, a few changes were needed.

This week also saw the start of the testing phase. Throughout this I have taken on two different roles. The first of these was making sure that enough Pre – Test Questionnaires, SAM forms and heart rate monitoring sheets were available to the team for testing. I also made sure that after each test, the forms were filled in correctly as this would make for easier data analysis. The final role that I took was testing participants. While doing this I made sure that the control measures that the team had outlined in the design document were adhered to, this was to ensure a fair and equal test was being conducted.

Over the next week, I will complete my final team report section and continue to help the team in testing more participants.

Week 21 Journal

Week 21

15/02/08

The main focus of this week has been delivering Milestone 3 to the supervisors. As I wasn’t taking part in the presentation, I took the role of working on the documents, so the rest of the team could concentrate on working on delivering the Milestone presentation to the highest possible standard.

The document that I worked on first was the final team report. I started to plan this document so it was ready to work on. Along with this I moved the literature survey into the final team report. The literature survey needed to be slightly amended before it went into final team document. I placed in the SAM write up which I had written during week 9, so the literature survey was up to date with changes made to the project since the literature survey was first written. The final team document was now ready for the team to start writing. It was also decided that when we started writing the final team report I would help Nick with the editing role for this document. This would work by me reading all the work that the team do to make sure that it has everything that the section needs and any mistakes can be removed before it is placed into the document.

I also worked on the design document during the week. The first thing that I did was to place in the prototype lighting system document. It had been decided that the pictures within this document would be placed within the design document appendix. After fixing some minor problems that occurred with moving the prototype lighting system document into the design document, the design document was nearing completion. The other changes that were made I made with Nick, these were minor changes to the SAM form and the heart rate monitoring sheet. These changes came about due to the control group testing phase last week.

During the week, Nick and James were practicing on delivering the presentation, during this time I would give them my thoughts on how the presentation could be improved ready for Thursday’s presentation.

I have also started to plan my individual report; I made sure that I had all the academic journals and books that I found useful to get through this project, so when I start writing the document I have all the resources to help me write it.

Finally at the end of this week, Nick and I discussed writing the final team report. We discussed who should write each section and handed out tasks for the weekend.

With Milestone 3 now complete, I will now be helping the team with the testing phase of milestone 4 along with writing and editing the final team report.

Week 20 Journal

Week 20

08/02/08

During this week I have taken on many roles to make sure that everything ran smoothly, as it was an important week for the team as we would be starting control group testing.

It was decided that I would assist Nick with setting up the arrangements for the control group testing. The first task that I carried out was to make sure that the heart monitor was ordered and would arrive this week. After speaking to Brian Morris, the heart monitor was ordered and it arrived ready for control group testing.

On Tuesday I spoke with Phill about the SAM method, as I wanted to make sure I fully understood it before I went into control group testing. After this discussion, I purposed to the team that we should look into writing a prediction section to show what we believe should happen in our final testing phase. I believe that this will show the supervisors and examiners that we fully understand the SAM method and we understand our results from the testing phase.

During Tuesday I worked with Nick on the presentation, I suggested a few ideas that I felt would help with the presentation and we worked on these during Tuesday afternoon.

On Thursday the team carried out the control group testing. I took the role of making sure that all the paperwork was in order. I made sure that the participant filled out the pre test questionnaire before they started to play through the artefact. Once they had played the first artefact I handed them the first SAM form and asked them to fill it in, in their own time. I did this once again after the second test had taken place. I also made sure that all the relevant data was all kept together so when it come to data analysis it could be done without confusion.

This control group testing proved to be very valuable to the team as it showed us where problems lay and we can now sort them out before the main testing begins. There were a few minor issues concerning the level, which I started to fix on Thursday afternoon.

Next week I will be helping the team prepare for the milestone presentation. I will also be setting out the layout for the final report document. Finally I will also look at the literature survey as this may need altering to fit into our final document report.

Week 19 Journal

Week 19

01/02/08

During this week I have been concentrating on completing tasks set out by the milestone manager, to make sure that the level artefact is completed and ready for control group testing next week.

The week started with me working with James on placing lighting throughout the level artefact, as well as placing lights I also helped with the placing of light glows (env_glow).

After a team meeting in which the team agreed with the lighting throughout the level, I then took the map and started to place in light objects. I concentrated on using four different props to represent the lights. The first of these is a light bulb. I used this twice throughout the level, once in the first room where the player starts and again in the final room where the level ends. The second light prop that I used was the florescent light prop. These are extensively used throughout the level in the corridors, the stairways and in the main reception areas. For the light that is being emitted from the cubicles I placed in lamp props. The last lighting prop that I used is a texture. I tried to use one of the textures supplied by the toolset, but unfortunately this was self illuminating and didn’t fit into the level. I discussed this problem with the milestone manager (Nick) and it was decided that he would make his own texture and pass it to me when ready. Once I had this texture I added it in to the two office areas on the top floor and in the two office spaces on the floor below. I then went on to adjust the light map maps throughout the level. I adjusted the light maps in the areas that the player will see and will be walking.

With the level near completion the team would complete many playthroughs to sort out any minor problems. I would help fix some of these minor issues with the help of the team.

The last thing that I did this week was to format the lighting document that James has been writing. I did this so it would fit into the design document.

During the next week I will be helping the team conduct the control group test, and also with the preparation of the milestone presentation.