Passed!

Well, I passed my graduate review! And with a unanimous decision/flying colors! It's a huge weight off my chest but at the same time bludgeons me into realizing that turning in my completed thesis is the next step. And that's a big step.

So my next little job is to create the shell of the prototype and to get a start on the paper. I need to readjust my outline as well to take into account my new ideas and changes. I also need to decide on a target audience and ultimately, if this should be a commercial venture or a casual gaming experience. I'm leaning towards commercial. Gotta make that angry money to pay these lovely bills.

Grad Review Countdown

It is now 10 days until my graduate review. This is the big moment in the life of my thesis. After 6 months of an abandoned idea an 3 more of a much better one I'm ready to get it fully approved. I'm still piecing together a suitable presentation for the review as well as my midterm. I also need to finish my thesis outline by Wednesday and my Flash Prototype Mock Up by the review date.

But in the few hours after the review, I will either be accidentally crashing through a window drunk and to my death or purposefully crashing through a window drunk and to my death. The former in celebration, the later alleviation. So I guess that means I'll do what I do. No one better jinx me.

Metaphors

Central my new thesis idea is the metaphor between the Net/WWW and the real physical world. This is to conceptualize the new gaming possibilities that I am in envisioning. This is where I outline most of those metaphors.

1. Internet (series of connected servers) --> analogous to a limitless, flat and empty earth waiting to be populated with things and people.

2. World Wide Web (series of documents link over the Internet) --> each page (or domain on larger scales) is analogous to contained spaces such as houses, playgrounds, sports fields, or any other type of structure or space that can be inhabited and interacted within on that flat empty earth described above.

3. Web artifacts/content (anything from text, pictures, empty fields, buttons, tables, etc. anything within a web page) --> analogous to artifacts or items within each contained space that we as players can potentially interact with when playing a game.

4. Person browsing the WWW (self-explanatory) --> analogous to a player inhabiting the game space described above. Without the extension described below the player is just a passive player not yet able to interact with anything or anyone within the rules of the game.

5. Web browser (self-explanatory) --> analogous to the eyes of the player within the game space. It allows the player to see what there is in the space to interact with from next to nothing all the way to thousands of different artifacts and items.

6. Web addresses (the name of different web sites that allow you to navigate to it and remember where it is so you can come back later) --> analogous to real life addresses that we use to categorize spaces so we can remember where exactly they are when we want to come back to them. Essential in moving between different game spaces.

7. Extension (the overlaying tool connected to the browser that allows the games to be played) --> analogous for the "brain" of the player. It allows the player to know the rules and have skill sets for interacting with each space in the world. Without this the player is just a passive viewer using the browser with no way to interact based on the thesis idea.

And that's all I got. Stay tuned!

New Thesis Abstract and Design Doc

Welcome back. School is in session and I have really started "buckle down" as the cliche goes. I've done my possible statements and initial abstract paragraph. Both are subject to change and will change. I've also completed my Design Document for the thesis. Both are included --> ABSTRACT <-- and --> DESIGN DOC <--.

I'm working on scheduling this week and will post that when I'm done. After that, I will get to the "meat and potatoes" as that other cliche goes. This quarter also boasts my graduate review so I've got a lot to look forward to. Wish me luck.

The End of a Thesis

Well, the inevitable has come and I have officially changed my thesis. Here's a some information as to why I would do such a drastic thing.

First off, I was getting very bored with the architecture project. It turns out that creating an architectural design program is a lot of work. Too much for one person. Who knew? Ha. It was just weighing on me that there was no innovation or discovery to the project. I was just doing what others had done and then trying to overlay a new meaning on top of that. That annoyed me and began to show through more and more as I went on. Finally, I was just plain stuck. I couldn't come up with anything to bring everything about it together. So I scraped it. It's done.

I will give it credit for two things, though. It tought me a great deal about programming that I didn't know I had in me. It also gave me a lot of insight into the thesis making process so that this next time around, I will create something 10 times better.

Stay tuned for the next post which will go into a good deal of detail about my 2nd (and final) thesis attempt.

UPDATE

I just wanted to post to include the latest working version of my prototype. The resize feature is completed, the start of the zoom feature is implemented, the deleting feature is finished, and some minor touch ups have been completed.

---> HERE <--- it is.

I've also started formulating a new approach to my thesis. Once I flesh it out, I'll write about it. This thing is evolving more than I originally anticipated.

A Change of Pace

On Wednesday, in Studio I, we all gave presentations of our thesis for two other professors. They told us what we needed to do to further refine them. I got off fairly easy I think, and they told me what I was kind of expecting to hear. And that was that I need to concentrate a whole lot more on the theoretical aspect of my thesis.

So I've taken the past fews days as a reflection period along with continuing with the coding. I thought about how I can mingle a concept of Interactive Design with an architectural drafting program.

Since I have established the Modify and Scratch sections, I thought I'd play off that and expand the idea greatly. Instead of having a choice of Modify or Build from Scratch, I want to make it a really dynamic and pliable system. Instead of just those two choices, I'll present a series of questions, limitations, examples, etc. to gauge how much time, effort, knowledge, etc. that the user wants to put into the program. And based off that interaction, the program builds or doesn't build what the user would like to start off with.

It could start off with a fully built plan with all the furniture added, or just some rooms completed, or a blank page, or just an outline of 2 rooms and so on. For this, I'm going to have to study architectural interaction books (if I can find any), and learn about any existing ideas and how I can expand on them if necessary. And also pick up terms that convey exactly what I want to convey to any type of user.

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Now, about the coding I've completed this weekend.

I totally rewrote all the functions from scratch. This was a daunting task, but not as daunting as the writing the classes. But it allowed me to fix some past mistakes and streamline the code even more. After working with this I'll have a strong understanding in order to move to a class system.

I also did away with the old Grab Wall feature. Now, it's Select Wall. And not only can you select and unselect walls if you're in that mode, you can move and resize them. I've only got one side of the resizer working and the move feature doesn't update the wallArray, but I'm getting there. I've still yet to port over the delete wall feature, but that should take like 30 minutes. It's no biggie.

From here, I'm probably going to skip the rotate for the time being and move onto zooming in and out. After that, I'll tackle the floor system. All the while thinking about the theoretical side. Next Studio, that's what I'll be focusing on.

/sigh...lots of work to do

*edit*

LINK <--- this is the latest iteration of my prototype.