Dorkbot

Hi,

Just talked to Gerard, who will give next weeks guest lecture, and he will present you with ideas on how you can realize your physical project ideas in a cheap, simple manner by giving lots of examples.

Another source for 'building' games is always dorkbot, the website does not say much, but the mailinglist is great if you are into physical computing:

http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotmelbourne

Cheers,
Floyd

Class 2: Exertion Games

Today you have learned about how physicality plays out when interacting with the Wii, and as you have seen, this is a heated debate! However, as all presenters have pointed out, there is room for improvement, so with your project is your chance to demonstrate how a perfect physical game could look like!

I feel like I did not answer the question on the project properly (sorry!), so I would like to clarify it here:

I would like to see you come up with a physical game. This means NOT a mouse/keyboard/gamepad game. (Simply because you have plenty of opportunities to do them in other classes).
You CAN do a physical (not exertion) games, but you might need to argue that it is physical (see for example a tabletop game). Considering the topic of the class, you should try to make it very physical and utilize exertion: this is your chance to try out something new and challenging, so you should take it!

I hope this is a bit more focused than my previous answer, and I apologize if I have not been clear enough earlier, but I hope it helps you to create something unique for this class.


Please post any comments on the class from 23 Apr 09 in the comments below. In particular comments and praise about the second presentation, as we ran out of time to give much feedback for Michele and Rhys, sorry!

Homework:

• Agree on an idea for your project, but be prepared to change it!
• Enter your blog comment
• Read the two papers under schedule for week after next
  
• If you are presenting week after next, practice timing!
• Watch for week after next: Time management

To the 2 teams who presented: could you please upload your slides and photographs to the blog please? And your comments could include advice for the upcoming teams on how to prepare for the presentation!

We still need a group to present paper 4!!!

And just in case you have missed the video that was shown during class or want to watch it again:

Tracking objects for games

Hi,

If you re thinking of tracking objects for your game, you should see this:
http://trackmate.media.mit.edu/

Cheers,
Floyd

Arduino books on iphone

Hi,

If you are interested in Arduinos, there are reduced books on the iphone available now:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/04/getting_started_with_arduino_and_a.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

Cheers,
Floyd

Groups needed

Hi all,

Please make sure you have your 2 groups posted before the next lecture, in particular, we still need a group to present the second paper next week asap:

We already have a group for the first Wii paper (thanks!), so if you are interested in the Wii, or especially if you do not think the Wii is the best thing since sliced bread (the paper is much more critical than the first one), you should take this topic on!

It's rather short, but exciting, and asks some fundamental questions about physicality and computer games and high-end graphics (and how/if they relate).

If you are excited by this, please start working on it asap so you can present in the next lecture.

Comments on 3 other topics:

• Arduino: I am trying to organize you a couple of boards and sensors etc.
• GlovePIE: Let me know if you need access to Wiimotes for development and demo.
  
• Social play: You should be able to get the book (chapter) through the library, but I am also trying to get you a PDF version. You need to select the highlights of the text to focus on, but it makes up for it by being very clever. So if you think most computer games are boring because they do not understand the social aspect, you should read this.
  

Everyone:
please make sure you do your homework! There are still comments missing, and groups to be formed!

Couple of thoughts for the 2 groups presenting next week:
Everyone should have read the papers by then, but because I don't know you enough yet, I am not sure if everyone will, so please include a little repeat into your presentation what the text says before you go into the discussion. Please make sure you aim for under 30 min so there is enough time for discussion. Please also decide for yourself what you think is the most valuable point of the text (or its references!) for your fellow students to learn about/discuss/think critically.

If you need the Wii to demo, let me know and I'll bring one in.

Any other questions for next week? Post into comments!

Cheers,
Floyd

Updates on 1st lecture

Yesterday's lecture was great, well done!

I've updated the blog a bit, and you can now subscribe via feedburner and also get an email delivery, so all the communication will go through the blog now. In order to stay up-to-date what is going on, you will need to read the blog then, please keep that in mind.

I've also commented on comments, and please keep your great contributions coming!

Thanks,
Floyd

PS: Thanks to Andrew and Mick for helping with the 'stars', and Ben 3 (how do I know which one?) with the Wii setup, will use it next time.

Physicality and Games

In today's class, you have learned about physicality and games, and two important aspects how recent games change the way we play and understand computer games: these games appear to facilitate a new sensitivity to movement or exertion and social play, contrasting the way traditional computer games with their gamepad and mouse and keyboard interactions.

Homework:

• Find group for presentation, enter into blog before next lecture (earlier especially if you present next week)!
• Find team for project, also enter into blog before next lecture!
• Read the two papers under schedule for next week
• If you are presenting next week, practice timing!
• Read also: Tips to working successfully in a group

Class contributions 2009

There are four ways in which you will contribute to class:

1. Group assignment: You will form your own groups, of 6 or 7 members each, and select a topic related to physicality and games from the class blog that interests you. You will announce your topic and group members by entering your group name and individual names (once you have all members together) on the blog in the comment section. You will then create a discussion around the topic on the corresponding date with all members of the team: the goal is to reiterate the topic to the rest of the class, and deliver the topic in a memorable way so that it helps your and the class’ future development. You can make a presentation, role-play the topic, demo it, whatever you think is most appropriate to deliver the topic and initiate reflective thinking about it with your fellow students.
   
   You will have 45 min on the day, this includes at least 15 min for discussion as part of this, so plan on not talking for longer than 30 min.
   
   This will count towards 15% of your final grade.
   
   
2. Project idea: You will present a physical game project idea in a team of 5. This team should comprise of different team members from the other group assignment for your own benefit. You will present your game idea (suggested format: motivation, problem, approach, result, conclusion) through a demo, play or sketches to the rest of the group. Your presentation will need to be supplemented by a webpage that you can use during the presentation. You have to post the webpage’s URL to the blog before your presentation.
   
   ADDED: I would like to see you come up with a physical game. This means NOT a mouse/keyboard/gamepad game. (Simply because you have plenty of opportunities to do them in other classes).
   You CAN do a physical (not exertion) game, but you might need to argue that it is physical (see for example a tabletop game). Considering the topic of the class, you should try to make it very physical and utilize exertion: this is your chance to try out something new and challenging, so you should take it!
   
   This will count towards 20% of your final grade.
   
   
3. Class discussion contribution: Your contribution to class discussions will count towards 30% of your grade.
   
   
4. Critical reflection: You will write a comment about each class on the blog before the next lecture in which you critically reflect on what you have learned. You can also comment on ideas it generated for you, what comments you have on the presentation style, or what it inspired you, or what you disagree with. Pretty much anything goes that shows you are an adult thinker. You need to leave your blog comment in a way that clearly identifies you (so please use “Derek A.” if there are multiple Derek’s).
   
   This will count towards 35% of your final grade.
   

Schedule 2009

See also details on the projects etc here:


Please post in the comments 2 items:
The name of the group members for the presentation (6 or 7 members per group)
AND
the name of the team members for the project (5 members per team, except two teams will have 4), depending on what you want to present/when you want to present your project.

Please make the names easily identifiable for me (Jay K. if you share the same first name)

Example:

Group 8: Anna B., Bella C., Charly D., Dough E., .... (6 or 7 members)

Team D: Peter A., Ralph B., (5 members per team, except two teams will have 4)

First in, first serve!



Schedule of lectures:

1.
16 Apr

1. Physicality and Games
2. Introduction cont.
3. Contributions explained

2.
23 Apr

1. Exertion Games
2. How the Nintendo Wii will get you emotionally invested in video games (Group 1)
   
3. Persuasive Games: Wii’s Revolution is in the Past (Group 2)

3.
30 Apr

1. Guest lecture
2. Guest lecture
3. Guest lecture
   

4.
7 May

1. Dance Games and other Exergames: what the research says (Group 3)
2. Report from "Foundations of Digital Games 09", Orlando, USA
   
3. The Rhetoric of Exergaming chapter from Persuasive Games book (Group 4)

5.
14 May

1. An overview of what physical games can be developed with Arduino (Group 5)
2. Project presentations Madness
   
3. The potential of the Wiimote using homebrew techniques such as GlovePIE (Group 6)

6.
21 May

1. Rules of Play: Unit 3, chapter 28: games as social play (select only highlights) (Group 7)
2. Project presentations (Team A, B, C, D, E)
   
3. Persuasive Games: The Missing Social Rituals of Exergames (Group 8)

7.
28 May

1. A theory of fun for game design, chapter 5: what games aren't (Group 9)
2. Project presentations (Team F, G, H, I, J)
   
3. Flow in games (and everything else), explain how it relates to games such as flOw (Group 10)

8.
4 Jun

1. Pervasive games: bringing computer entertainment back to the real world (Group 11)
2. Project presentations (Team K, L, M, N, O, P)
   
3. Fish’n’Steps: Encouraging Physical Activity with an Interactive Computer Game, and compare it to Nike+ (Group 12)