Road Map

I made a Gantt chart to help me plan, monitor and schedule my thesis process. 

In August before everything begins, I will be dedicating my time wrapping up the mocap and to conduct as much photogrammetry work as I can possible. I will also finalize my research questions before heading back into classes in the fall. 

I decided to plan my thesis process by breaking the writing process into two two-month periods, the first half is in September and October and the second half is in the mid-January to mid-March. September and October will be a great time to write as I will also be attending and presenting at two academic conferences and moreover I will be taking a critical theory class. The game design process will be spread throughout the year. I intentionally scheduled my autoethnographic writing process the same time as when I intend to start level designing and blockmeshing the game environment, as I believe the autoethnography will greatly influence how I want the level to feel. 

When September comes, I want to first solidify my game concept and GDD.  November and December will be dedicated to finalizing the assets in my game, cleaning up mocap data, photogrammetry data, modeling, texturing and rigging. In the new year, I will first focus on bringing everything together and spend an extensive period on programming and to build a first playable build. Afterwards in February and March I might conduct user testings but will solely focus on fixing bugs, doing updates, fixing any asset errors and scripting for the final build. This will be done at the same time as I write the conclusion and reflect on my research-creation process in order to meet the deadline to hand in the first draft of my thesis. 

March will be solely dedicated to editing and finalizing both my written thesis document and my game. 

Tommy Ting Thesis Road Map

Test Report

Types of Testers

• Peers (Ramona, Kylie, Emilia, Jad)
• People who have not seen my progress (Kate)
• Ideal user-testers (Roxanne)
• Queer Friends (Raymond and Dylan)

Types of user-testing used

• One-to-one testing

Methods of user-testing used

• In-session observation
• Post-session questions
• Open Discussions

In-session Observations

Everyone except for Roxanne had some difficulties using the the keyboard and mouse to control the camera and movement of the player. Roxanne was hesitant to shoot at the dancers and ultimately decided not to. Emilia, Jad, Kate, Raymond and Dylan were completely immobile due to the mouse and keyboard and therefore didn't even walk around let alone use the gun. Ramona was able to move after a short adjustment period and Kylie felt comfortable to move but didn't feel compelled to move around. Ramona shot at the dancer who was dancing on their own while Kylie didn't shoot at anything. Out of this group only Roxanne, Ramona and Kylie had tested the first version. 

Apply design thinking and ideation methods to concept

In the last two weeks, our thesis class asked us to apply numerous design thinking and ideation methods in our prototyping process. Personally, I don’t come from a formal design background, so I’ve never encountered any of these approaches and methods in a structured environment before.

The Five Why’s 

This exercise was interesting, but probably more useful for someone who has just recently identified an area of interest. Since I’ve been working on my thesis research since October/November, I already have a very comprehensive list of reasons  why I want to pursue my thesis research. Here were my answers:  

Q: What are you making??
A: A queer game. 

Q: Why queer? Why game?
A: Games as a medium has always given me queer possibilities (even within
heteronormative narratives and settings)

Q: Why?
A: Games expand stories, like films, but offer at least the facade of interactivity, which brings
play, which triggers imagination. 

Q: Why is imagination and play important for this?
A: Play is prehuman, play allows you to let go of other things, lets you learn and make
mistakes in a safe space. Queer spaces often were very playful. 

      Q: Why?
A: Queer spaces such as cruising display many properties of heterotopias, and magic circles, they are temporary boundaries of play that have rules that are assigned either positive or negative. Also some historical queer spaces were straight up LARP (live action role play) such as Molly Houses. Ballroom Culture from New York in the 80s (and contemporary forms) are also versions of LARP (in the realness categories definitely). 

Creative Mind Map 

This exercise was interesting, and it allowed me to view my creative process from a holistic point of a view which gave me the insight on where I spend my time on and what I value in my process.

Making this map made me realize that I spend most of my time researching my initial inspiration/hunch, which as I have mentioned in my previous post is found through investigating lost history. Once I have gathered enough research, which can take months, I start experimenting with my hands and prototyping. In this class, it may seem like I was asked to come up with prototype ideas much quicker than I am used.  However, because I have been doing research for my thesis since October, coming up with some initial prototype ideas weren’t entirely difficult as I have remained true to my creative process.

Documentation of Week #1 Prototype

From July 4^th to 6^th our cohort attended a 3-day prototyping intensive at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) in North York.

 

Prior to this class we were asked to prepare a mind map for our creative process. In the map, I forgot to add a crucial step to my process, which is how I get started on a project. Usually, which is almost 99% of the time, my project in inspired by an event in history, usually a forgotten (or almost forgotten one). I have always been interested in how stories get told (historiography) but more importantly, which stories get told? How do we forget? What are collective memories? I have also been interested in history in relation to a specific site or space. In the past, I have researched stories from Limehouse, which was the first Chinatown in London, UK to an unknown sculpture of Columbus as a child in the east side of Vancouver, Canada. I begin my research and creative process.
 
 
 

The Research Process - What? Why? How? So What?

Assignment: find 3 existing projects and answer what why how and so what for each of them.

• ‘what?’ – the identification of a ‘hunch’ or tentative research proposition, leading

eventually to a defined and viable research question

• ‘why?’ – the need for your research in relation to the wider context, in order to test

out the value of your proposition, locate your research position, and explore a range

of research strategies

• ‘how?’ – the importance of developing an appropriate methodology and specific

methods for gathering and generating information relevant to your research

• ‘so what?’ - challenges you to think about the significance and value of your research contribution, not only to your practice but to the wider research context, and how this is best communicated and disseminated.

Mis/Represent: Women & Visible Minority Representation in Videogames

OCAD University, Digital Future, Masters Thesis, 2015

Sherif Taalab, 2015

What?

Taalab seeked to illustrate the ways in which “visible minorities and women are represented in AAA video games.

Some of the questions Taalab is asking her thesis are

• What are the obstacles being faced by women and visible minorities in how they are represented by AAA video games?
• How can we empower women and visible minorities through gaming platform and social media?