https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LeDr5pqDJmT8m-Bk9KCDcsxKdw14j_8IFKrZlnnru6o/edit?usp=sharing
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Power Point Presentation
Hi everyone, here is a link to my nearly finished power point presentation for our upcoming presentations.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Great Week
Welcome to another week of my blog! This was a very unique week. I started off by organizing the survey for Thursday. I had to send out a lot of emails and messages organizing a small group to try out virtual reality. I ended up having about 10 people try out virtual reality.
During the survey I had them try out the viewmaster and the Samsung gear vr. For the viewmaster I had them watch this kind of scary video called Sisters. Basically you sit in a room and watch a creepy doll move around in the dark. Some people thought that the video was actually scary; some thought it was boring because it was basically like watching a video. I wanted to display a video for them to try but I wanted something slightly more interactive. Alternatively, maybe a normal video would of ended up better. This was the slightly worse headset out of the two. This left me a bit restricted of what I could do.
Then for the Samsung gear I had the participants play a game called Smash Hit. It was a game more focused on interaction rather than exploring a 360 degree space, unlike Sisters. You move room to room at a fast speed just smashing through glass and blocks by shooting metal balls. It sounds very simplistic, but everyone had a great time.
After that I would ask everyone just a few quick questions. That concluded my survey. It only took about an hour.
I spent the rest of this week writing down everything from the recordings. I am not finished but I should be sometime next week.
Overall I am really pleased with how it went. I nearly did not have access to a samsung s7, which is needed for the gear vr. But thankfully my friends dad was able to lend me his.
That is all for this week. Only two more weeks! I am very excited to see the conclusion to the senior research projects. Hopefully everyone has a good weekends!
Griffin
During the survey I had them try out the viewmaster and the Samsung gear vr. For the viewmaster I had them watch this kind of scary video called Sisters. Basically you sit in a room and watch a creepy doll move around in the dark. Some people thought that the video was actually scary; some thought it was boring because it was basically like watching a video. I wanted to display a video for them to try but I wanted something slightly more interactive. Alternatively, maybe a normal video would of ended up better. This was the slightly worse headset out of the two. This left me a bit restricted of what I could do.
Then for the Samsung gear I had the participants play a game called Smash Hit. It was a game more focused on interaction rather than exploring a 360 degree space, unlike Sisters. You move room to room at a fast speed just smashing through glass and blocks by shooting metal balls. It sounds very simplistic, but everyone had a great time.
After that I would ask everyone just a few quick questions. That concluded my survey. It only took about an hour.
I spent the rest of this week writing down everything from the recordings. I am not finished but I should be sometime next week.
Overall I am really pleased with how it went. I nearly did not have access to a samsung s7, which is needed for the gear vr. But thankfully my friends dad was able to lend me his.
That is all for this week. Only two more weeks! I am very excited to see the conclusion to the senior research projects. Hopefully everyone has a good weekends!
Griffin
Friday, April 8, 2016
Gear VR and the Viewmaster
Back again this week with some good news! My boss allowed me to take two vr headsets home to take and have a few people test out next week. The two headsets I was allowed to take are towards the bottom of the tier list. But the other two headsets are expensive and delicate. I happy that he gave anything at all to be truthful. Both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are the most expensive headsets available. They also would of been a huge burden to setup and move around. The HTC Vive it has two censors that you need to setup and it is a huge hassle. On the bright side I already had a good amount of people come into the office and try the HTC Vive and give me some feedback.
However, he did allow me to take the Viewmaster and the Samsung Gear VR. I tried out the Viewmaster a couple of nights ago. Thankfully the Viewmaster works with nearly every smartphone. It definitely is not as impressive as the Oculus or HTC Vive but it is a really cool piece of technology for only 30$. I tried out an app called VRSE which is just like a library of cool videos/experiences you can watch. I know that if you got a Samsung Phone recently that it is an option to get a gear vr with them. So if you happen to get your hands on one I recommend that app.
The gear requires that you have a Samsung phone. So I am hopeful I can get into contact with someone who will let me borrow their phone next week. 
above pictured is the Gear VR(top) and the Viewmaster(bottom)
Basically this week I have just been finding people to help me next week. I have sent out a few emails and talked to a couple friends I am hopeful to get 10 people for next Thursday. All they will have to do is use each headset for 4 or 5 minutes. And then answer some questions for me.
Besides that this week my boss just had me do some more social media project. Mostly just really tedious things that would be boring if I talked about them.
Anyway sorry for the kind of short blog post this week. I really did not have much going on. Regardless, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Only two more weeks to go!
However, he did allow me to take the Viewmaster and the Samsung Gear VR. I tried out the Viewmaster a couple of nights ago. Thankfully the Viewmaster works with nearly every smartphone. It definitely is not as impressive as the Oculus or HTC Vive but it is a really cool piece of technology for only 30$. I tried out an app called VRSE which is just like a library of cool videos/experiences you can watch. I know that if you got a Samsung Phone recently that it is an option to get a gear vr with them. So if you happen to get your hands on one I recommend that app.
The gear requires that you have a Samsung phone. So I am hopeful I can get into contact with someone who will let me borrow their phone next week. 
above pictured is the Gear VR(top) and the Viewmaster(bottom)
Basically this week I have just been finding people to help me next week. I have sent out a few emails and talked to a couple friends I am hopeful to get 10 people for next Thursday. All they will have to do is use each headset for 4 or 5 minutes. And then answer some questions for me.
Besides that this week my boss just had me do some more social media project. Mostly just really tedious things that would be boring if I talked about them.
Anyway sorry for the kind of short blog post this week. I really did not have much going on. Regardless, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Only two more weeks to go!
Friday, April 1, 2016
More Work at TimeFire VR
Welcome to another week of my Senior Research Project's blog!
This week I did less independent work and more concentrated projects for TimeFireVR.
Firstly, my company has released their first trailer. I know I did not do the best at explaining what my companies game is, to be honest the entire idea is rather vague to me. But I believe this game will open the door for a new wave of socially interactive games in virtual reality. And doing something this ambitious is a huge risk; however, I appreciate the time and hard work they are putting in to create a polished product. Anyway, here is the link to the trailer, enjoy!
If you are familiar with the game second life, it is similar to that. But the focus seems to be more centered around education.
Coming with the first trailer, typical in the meta of game development, especially with multiplayer games, includes an alpha or beta test for the game to soon follow. This is where my projects became necessary.
But firstly let me explain what an alpha/beta test is. First of an alpha build of a game refers to the earliest playable stage of development for a game. Intuitively, beta is further along the Greek alphabet and therefore further along the development process, but not quite the final build of the game.
Now that you know what a alpha/beta test is, you would wonder to yourself who would participate in this alpha or beta test. More often than not it is open to consumers for free! So it is a win-win situation. The developers record important information given to them by hopefully thousands of people testing their game. Typically the developers monitor bug crashes, glitches, and whatever flaws in their game that they are looking to correct. All this occurs while your testers get to freely enjoy your game.
However this development scheme is a huge plight to the world of gaming. As I mentioned, most studios allow players to participate in the testing for free. Lately this trend as diverted from its original plan, to provide devs with information. Now studios will charge you a reduced price for the game at an uncompleted state and you have unlimited access to the game. This differs from the previous model, because it would be at no cost but would typically last a a couple weeks. Then it becomes closed, no longer to be accessed until the final build is ready for sale.
This becomes a problem because smaller studios tend to sell their game at a discounted price, and promise to continue development. But a lot of games, for example: DayZ: Standalone earned millions of sales within days of opening the alpha. But the game's lead developer has since left and the games development has run off course. Studios tend to "hype" up their game in hope to attain even more sales, this studio was also of guilty of that. My friends and I were victims of this ploy unfortunately.
Sorry for that brief intermission of my ranting at independent game studios. This blog has become horribly off-topic; however, back to selecting individuals for alpha/beta testing.
My job was to research how to create surveys to determine who should and who should not be participating in the beta. It is determined by a lot of different criteria: technical, gender, age, motivation, individual preferences etc. All in order to find the best possible testers for your game.
On top of this my company was interested in creating a news letter for their game. So they asked me to do some research and give my input on how a newsletter should be formatted and distributed. But most importantly what kind of information is being provided when creating a newsletter. The conclusion of what I learned was that useful information should be presented in the most concise way possible. It is also imperative to remain as friendly and natural when presenting the information.
This week did not have as much to do with my project but I don't mind a change of pace. Plus the research of writing a survey should come in handy. Speaking of surveys...
My on site mentor has been extremely busy this week, considering a recently released first trailer. But hopefully he can get back to me by this weekend.
Thanks for tuning in!
Griffin
This week I did less independent work and more concentrated projects for TimeFireVR.
Firstly, my company has released their first trailer. I know I did not do the best at explaining what my companies game is, to be honest the entire idea is rather vague to me. But I believe this game will open the door for a new wave of socially interactive games in virtual reality. And doing something this ambitious is a huge risk; however, I appreciate the time and hard work they are putting in to create a polished product. Anyway, here is the link to the trailer, enjoy!
If you are familiar with the game second life, it is similar to that. But the focus seems to be more centered around education.
Coming with the first trailer, typical in the meta of game development, especially with multiplayer games, includes an alpha or beta test for the game to soon follow. This is where my projects became necessary.
But firstly let me explain what an alpha/beta test is. First of an alpha build of a game refers to the earliest playable stage of development for a game. Intuitively, beta is further along the Greek alphabet and therefore further along the development process, but not quite the final build of the game.
Now that you know what a alpha/beta test is, you would wonder to yourself who would participate in this alpha or beta test. More often than not it is open to consumers for free! So it is a win-win situation. The developers record important information given to them by hopefully thousands of people testing their game. Typically the developers monitor bug crashes, glitches, and whatever flaws in their game that they are looking to correct. All this occurs while your testers get to freely enjoy your game.
However this development scheme is a huge plight to the world of gaming. As I mentioned, most studios allow players to participate in the testing for free. Lately this trend as diverted from its original plan, to provide devs with information. Now studios will charge you a reduced price for the game at an uncompleted state and you have unlimited access to the game. This differs from the previous model, because it would be at no cost but would typically last a a couple weeks. Then it becomes closed, no longer to be accessed until the final build is ready for sale.
This becomes a problem because smaller studios tend to sell their game at a discounted price, and promise to continue development. But a lot of games, for example: DayZ: Standalone earned millions of sales within days of opening the alpha. But the game's lead developer has since left and the games development has run off course. Studios tend to "hype" up their game in hope to attain even more sales, this studio was also of guilty of that. My friends and I were victims of this ploy unfortunately.
Sorry for that brief intermission of my ranting at independent game studios. This blog has become horribly off-topic; however, back to selecting individuals for alpha/beta testing.
My job was to research how to create surveys to determine who should and who should not be participating in the beta. It is determined by a lot of different criteria: technical, gender, age, motivation, individual preferences etc. All in order to find the best possible testers for your game.
On top of this my company was interested in creating a news letter for their game. So they asked me to do some research and give my input on how a newsletter should be formatted and distributed. But most importantly what kind of information is being provided when creating a newsletter. The conclusion of what I learned was that useful information should be presented in the most concise way possible. It is also imperative to remain as friendly and natural when presenting the information.
This week did not have as much to do with my project but I don't mind a change of pace. Plus the research of writing a survey should come in handy. Speaking of surveys...
My on site mentor has been extremely busy this week, considering a recently released first trailer. But hopefully he can get back to me by this weekend.
Thanks for tuning in!
Griffin
Friday, March 25, 2016
Pygmalion's Spectacles
Hello again, I hope everyone had a great week. This week at TimeFire VR was a week focused on organization. I have begun organizing the interviews I have conducted. On top of that, I have begun outlining my presentation. I am doing this early, in order to help me guide what pieces of my interviews I want to focus on. For example, the developers know a lot about VR and how it could be implemented; therefore, I will be using part of their responses to help when I discuss the future of VR. While the consumer that I interviewed differ in that respect. The consumers were able to pinpoint slight nuances that highlight pros and cons to the virtual reality and the HTC Vive.
Above is an illustration for Pygmalion's Spectacles
I also began doing some research on the history of Virtual Reality. The very first entry of virtual reality in science fiction dates back to a short story called Pygmalion's Spectacles. I read it and it is basically a man who meets a scientist in New York. The scientist tempts the man with glasses that take you to another world. The man in disbelief agrees to try on the glasses, and he is utterly surprised. He is taken to another world that is quite colorful and shocking.
In conclusion, the concept of glasses taking you to another world originates from this story. If you are interested here is the link: Pygmalion's Spectacles PDF. I highly recommend you read it, it is fairly short.
Above is an illustration for Pygmalion's Spectacles
If I do research on the History, I may as well do some on current events. I started a google drive and I am basically just stockpiling it with articles about virtual reality. Who know's I may have an idea to use some of the information soon. And the applications and stories about virtual reality are entertaining regardless.
For my survey I talked about it with my supervisor today so I should have an answer by next week. Fingers crossed!
Finally I just worked some more in Unreal Engine. I managed to to incorporate a death animation and a hit/stun animation.
That sums up this week of work. I hope everyone has a great weekend and that their projects are going well.
Griffin
Friday, March 18, 2016
Back from Spring Break!
Hello everyone I hope everyone had a nice spring break! Despite last week being spring break I still managed to pop into my office once. An employee and two of her daughters tried out VR. I used this opportunity to provide them with some questions that would help further my research. These questions were not exactly the same as the questions I was planning on asking my participants for my survey; however, hopefully I can find a use for them. Unexpectedly, she had two more of her children come in and try VR this week. But I could not make it.
Thankfully yesterday I communicated with both her sons about their opinion of VR over Skype. They used the same art program as her two daughters that came a week earlier and I asked them the same questions. Today I finished up listening to their recordings and writing up what they told me.
The only difference really between them and what I am planning to do with a survey group is the number of VR headsets they used. Because these 4 people came in at their own leisure they only tried out one headset, the HTC Vive. The only discrepancy between the two groups would be this, these four not having a reference between other VR headsets, because they only used one. That is why I aimed their questions more towards whether or not VR is even worth it. Alternatively, the other group would answer if it is worth it, which tier of headset should I invest in.
I am making decent progress now that I have 4 consumer's opinions and 4 developer's opinions. But I still am looking for a way to get more opinions for VR. I am still heavily considering the survey, and next week is when I will decide what I am going to do next.
Thankfully yesterday I communicated with both her sons about their opinion of VR over Skype. They used the same art program as her two daughters that came a week earlier and I asked them the same questions. Today I finished up listening to their recordings and writing up what they told me.
The only difference really between them and what I am planning to do with a survey group is the number of VR headsets they used. Because these 4 people came in at their own leisure they only tried out one headset, the HTC Vive. The only discrepancy between the two groups would be this, these four not having a reference between other VR headsets, because they only used one. That is why I aimed their questions more towards whether or not VR is even worth it. Alternatively, the other group would answer if it is worth it, which tier of headset should I invest in.
I am making decent progress now that I have 4 consumer's opinions and 4 developer's opinions. But I still am looking for a way to get more opinions for VR. I am still heavily considering the survey, and next week is when I will decide what I am going to do next.
Above is some of my own work, just some stuff that I have been working on for the last few weeks. The sprites(artwork) is not mine, but open to the public; however, the animation and coding/blueprinting I did myself. It may not look like much, and there is a little more than you haven't seen, but this took a while to complete.
I know I have been throwing around the term blueprinting often and here is what it actually looks like:
Other than that I hope everyone's abstracts turned out well; and I hope everyone has a great week back from spring break. Until next week!
Griffin
I know I have been throwing around the term blueprinting often and here is what it actually looks like:
Other than that I hope everyone's abstracts turned out well; and I hope everyone has a great week back from spring break. Until next week!
Griffin
Friday, March 4, 2016
More Updates!
Hello again, I hope everyone is doing great. Not only did I work on my project this week, I also had the opportunity to shadow some classes at ASU. I shadowed some W.P. Carey and Thunderbird School of Global Management classes.
First of this week I finished off my interviews. I have about 30 minutes of audio recordings from 4 different developers. I am currently working on processing the audio recording and taking out all the highlights from their responses. I am very pleased with the outcome of my interviews. I plan to use their responses to help give a developer's perspective on virtual reality. I feel like the interviews serve as a very tangible piece of information, and I am excited to see how it contrasts with my survey results.
Also this week I talked more about my upcoming survey with my boss. I am still currently working out if it is possible. But I should know whether or not it will be possible at the end of next week. Fingers crossed that I can make it happen, I feel like it would really benefit what I am trying to accomplish: insight on virtual reality.
Speaking of next week! By far the most difficult part of my survey would of been finding two young children to answer questions about VR. But thankfully, one of my co-workers is bringing in her two young children to try out VR. So despite next week being spring break, I will be going in on Tuesday when my co-worker brings in her children and asking them some questions about what they experienced. I will have to write up a new set of questions specifically tailored for them, considering their experience will be a bit different than what I plan to do for my tests. This is actually a huge relief.
I also spent some more time working on unreal engine 4. Nothing that directly pertains to my project; however, I feel like it is interesting enough, and it helps me better understand why developers may think a certain way.
Anyway I hope that everyone has a great spring week! I am looking forward to how my and my peers projects progress!
First of this week I finished off my interviews. I have about 30 minutes of audio recordings from 4 different developers. I am currently working on processing the audio recording and taking out all the highlights from their responses. I am very pleased with the outcome of my interviews. I plan to use their responses to help give a developer's perspective on virtual reality. I feel like the interviews serve as a very tangible piece of information, and I am excited to see how it contrasts with my survey results.
Also this week I talked more about my upcoming survey with my boss. I am still currently working out if it is possible. But I should know whether or not it will be possible at the end of next week. Fingers crossed that I can make it happen, I feel like it would really benefit what I am trying to accomplish: insight on virtual reality.
Speaking of next week! By far the most difficult part of my survey would of been finding two young children to answer questions about VR. But thankfully, one of my co-workers is bringing in her two young children to try out VR. So despite next week being spring break, I will be going in on Tuesday when my co-worker brings in her children and asking them some questions about what they experienced. I will have to write up a new set of questions specifically tailored for them, considering their experience will be a bit different than what I plan to do for my tests. This is actually a huge relief.
I also spent some more time working on unreal engine 4. Nothing that directly pertains to my project; however, I feel like it is interesting enough, and it helps me better understand why developers may think a certain way.
Anyway I hope that everyone has a great spring week! I am looking forward to how my and my peers projects progress!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)