First encounter with Arduino

I thought coding stops at Processing on a screen but Arduino had carried it further.

As a coding noobie, Arduino was definitely an eye-opener. Firstly, we learn about the different elements we can use to assemble into a close circuit. Secondly, we followed Corey’s guide and came up with simple codes to try out. Thirdly, we get to have hands-on activities, I had so much fun in lighting things up and create a response in the circuit by just clapping my hands! πŸ˜€

I see so much potential in Arduino for future projects and it is definitely something worth developing.

Coding examples, picture credits to Mark Lim

 

Shine brighter than my future ;’)
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Yes to free Arduino components

Project: ADM Defence Commander ’88

RESEARCH

A side-scrolling gameΒ is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right (or less commonly, right to left) to meet an objective. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology. The move from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics, during the golden age of video arcade games and during third-generation consoles, would prove to be a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.Β Although side-scrolling games have been supplanted by 3D games, they continue to be produced, particularly for handheld devices or for digital-only releases.

pROJECT PROPOSAl & IDEALISATION

For the first week, we came up with our project proposal after brainstorming for ideas. We were pretty quick in finalising our concept as all of us liked the ADM theme.

process break down

The entire process was well summarised in our final presentation slides.

Challenges faces by the group:

1)3 weeks is really short to develop a game, we could have included more bosses and levels to unlock if given more time.

2)It was generally challenging to come up with a functional code

πŸ™‚ What we did well:

1)We manage to come up with a decently completed game within the time scope, despite all the challenges we faced.

2)We were proud of our original concept and design since ADM peers can relate.

Gallery

Sneak peak at some of the designs we came up with.


final gameplay

This is a screen record of how the game is played from start till the end.

PROJECT 2: locale I

Types of data

Primary: original, first hand data collected by myself

Secondary: data collected for research purpose, can be by self or others

Qualitative: data which cannot be quantified or measure eg. descriptions, five senses

Quantitative: data which can be quantified or measured eg. statistics, number, charts

Categorising my data
Primary research
Mindmapping my research formats

 

Photo record (sees):

Asian civilisation museum
Riverside point
Modern setting
CQ central
Wall decoration
Water foundation
Water foundation
Stairs along Singapore river
Shophouses over view
Stairs
Boat
Bar table
Roadside WALL’s ice-cream
Wall decoration
Frontline shophouse
Chinese restaurant in CQ
Landmark shelter
Art installation
Art installation
Wall decoration
Restaurant logo
CQ landmark logo
Historical photographs
Turkish ice-cream
Bar chairs
Alcohol display
Bar
Table graffiti
Shophouses
Alcohol display
Roof decoration
Bar wall decoration
Club information
Bar wall decoration
Fast food restaurant
Japanese restaurant interior
Reverse Bungee
Boat and Singapore river at night
Bridge
Wineries along the river
Lights along the bridge
Lights along the bridge
Chinese hotpot restaurant exterior
Bar
Turkish ice-cream at night
River cruise information and ticketing counter
Reverse bungee close up
Reverse bungee
Zouk
Roof decoration
River cruise at night
CQ central
Street/ bridge
Youngsters exchanging numbers
Hooters
Blurry light
Plant decoration
Turkish ice-cream maker

 

 

Row of restaurants

 

Descriptions(feels / taste / smells):

Turkish ice-cream

Tried the prominent Turkish ice-cream. I ordered durian flavour which tasted pretty average for $6.80, and the smell of durian is too mild for my liking, but the process is fun! The maker will play tricks with you, and she’s really fast. Quite embarrassing as passer-by pause to watch and tourist started taking pictures of me…

Hokkaido Ice-cream

I think Singaporeans generally love Matcha-anything! Tried their single cone matcha flavour for $4.30, and I would say it is as delicious and authentic as any other matcha soft serve in Singapore like Maccha House and Sunday Folks. My favourite is still Tsujiri Tea House because they add interesting toppings such as rice ball and red bean.

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Keisuke Lobster ramen

This is so popular! Waited for almost an hour before I got seats for 3 and it was during non-peak/meal hours. Imagine the queue if we head there during dinner time. Like other Keisuke outlets they offer complementary hard-boiled eggs and seasoned bean sprout for starving customers like us to munch on before our food is ready, which is really thoughtful. The portion is huge and I could not finish mine. Cost me around $23 after GST and service charge, the highest among all the ramen outlets I have tried (which is a lot). I guess it was because of the ingredients that goes into the rich lobster broth. Was quite disappointed to find out their toppings consist of common ingredients such as egg, shoots, spring onion, pork slice, and nothing-lobster. Nonetheless, the meat ball was a interesting twist and it taste great!

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Truffle fries from Shuffle

I like Shuffle, especially the ambience. Not too rigid for a chill night, and definitely a rare pub which perform Chinese songs. I heard Jay and JJ Lin’s songs mostly. Tried their truffle fries ($12), red velvet cake ($6.80) and Signature house drink, black currant something-i-cannot-remember. Honestly the food is average, probably because I have high expectation for truffle fries at $12, and the cake was clearly left overnight (or maybe more than one night idk) because it turned hard. The ambient light was too dark for my camera hence this picture is taken from the internet.

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Truffle fries from Chupitos

One of my favourite! I have to say, their truffle fries is by far the most delicious I’ve tried in Singapore because they fry it IN truffle oil instead of sprinkle on top, it tastes and smells divine, even though they’re known for the shots instead. They offer interesting shots such as Milo, Blowjob, and other items on their menu. $1 shots also attracts a crowd of youngsters. I would like my OSS content to be alcohol-free, so I shall not post any pictures for that.

 

I use edited photos to deliver my thoughts and general feeling towards CQ. It is colourful, vibrant, and romantic. Offer beautiful sceneries at night. Filled with alcohol, cheap love, and activities to enrich Singaporean youngster’s nightlife. Meanwhile, many activities are also available during the daytime such as museum and cafe hopping.

 

Sound (hears):

-Slow river flows

-Tourist boat honks every time they set sail

– Music from performance and clubs

-Human commotions

 

Here is the link to my survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HSWLJ6Q

 

I gather many information from the survey and the interviews.

1)How frequent youngsters (age 18-25) visit CQ.

2)What are the top 4 activities they like to do there.

3)Their favourite F&B outlets.

4)They visit CQ during daytime or night time.

5)Specific reasons why they like/work at/stays at CQ.

6)Any change to CQ that they know of over the years.

7)Whether it will be noisy at night for the residents.

8)Have they heard of boat quay.

Secondary research

History:

Top 10 things to do at Clarke Quay:

1.Visit Singapore river

Center of trade since modern Singapore was founded in 1819

Used to be heavily polluted until government relocate cargo and trading services to Pasir Panjang

Clean up from 1977 to 1987

Central artery for the area’s nightlife scene

Boat tours passing important landmarks such as Merlion, Esplanade, Anderson bridge, Marina bay

2.Asian civilisation Museum

Finest exhibitions showcasing Singapore’s history

14000 m2 with 1300 artefacts

3.Fort Canning park

Trees, lush vegetation surrounded by gleaming modern offices and sprawling malls

4.Reverse bungy

Landmark of CQ

Illuminated at night

$45 for a ride

5.Lockdown

Real-life escape games
$20 per person / hr

6.Boat Quay

Area in between North Bridge Road and Anderson Bridge

7.Central Fire station and Civil Defence Heritage Gallery

Oldest fire station in Singapore

Colonial-style exterior

8.Art-2 Gallery Singapore

Host regular exhibitions showcasing paintings, installations

Offer consultancy service

9.Hong San See temple

116 years old

Buildings, courtyards, statues, accosted with Buddhism

Award of Excellence in the 2010 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage

10.The Arts house screening room

75 seats

Daily screening

Image result for clarke quay boat quay
Location map

Difference between CQ and Boat Quay

1.Price at Boat Quay is slightly cheaper than CQ

2.Boat Quay has more restaurants and less clubs compared to CQ

3.Boat Quay is less loud and dynamic

4.Location and history

I was quite surprise to find out from my survey result that 100% of them actually knows about Boat Quay. Okay it is just me being ignorant, I’ve never heard of Boat Quay opps. I was surprise by the fact that residents and tourists who stay in nearby hotel reflected that the noise does not bother them at night.

Final outcome

 

Concept:

  • Black and white backdrop to highlight the day and night quality of CQ
  • Digital painting as medium, using vibrant colour schemes to portray a dynamic CQ
  • Single sheet infographic format allow me to link all the activities back to CQ as the location
  • Included both primary and secondary research
  • Pie charts / bar charts / numbers and percentages for quantitative datas
  • Images / icons / typography for qualitative datas

Digitally painted icons gallery:

Sir Andrew

I wanted to paint a portrait of him but unfortunately only manage to find b/w photos of him which is ominous to paint. Hence I looked at his statue for reference.

Cargo

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took reference from the photo of a real cargo ship at CQ back during the days. The boxes are painfully difficult to paint.

Shophouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the colour scheme of this shophouse. <3

Ramen bowl
Onion in ramen
Seaweed texture ( Had no idea how to paint seaweed that looks realistic :/ )
Bamboo shoot in ramen
Pork slices

 

Meatball
Lobster

Had fun tracing and painting all the ingredients in the lobster ramen. πŸ˜€ My favourite is the bamboo shoot because initially it just looks like a brown rectangle block without the details I added in later. I also love eating bamboo shoots, so must make it nice.

CQ scene

This took me whole day to paint. I love the outcome because I was kinda particular about the details, like numerous shophouses and railing along the river because all of these are important elements that help to portray the Β complete image of CQ.

RESEAERCH & references

For research on Ethnography & Infographics:

Brian A hoey, A simple Introduction to the Practice of Ethnography and Guide to Ethnographic Fieldnotes,Β June 2014,Β retrieved from website

Insitu,Β What is Design Ethography, 2016, retrieved from website

karen O’ Reilly, Key concepts in Ethnography, February 2018,Β retrieved from website

Unknown author, Why Infographics are Dominating the World,Β retrievedΒ from website

Randy Krum, Cool Infographics Excerpt,Β retrieved from website

For research on the top activities in CQ:

http://www.singapore-guide.com/top10/top10-attractions-clarke-quay-and-riverside.htm

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g294265-d324756-Reviews-Clarke_Quay-Singapore.html

For research on the history of CQ:

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_863_2004-12-16.html

 

DIWO

Reflection:

 

Do It With Others (DIWO) starts with an individual interest to share. Which leads to the integration of ideas, knowledge, perspectives, and hence breaks the boundaries between working spaces and professions. I find it feasible because collective effort is highly valued and is in demand in the 21st century where globalisation became the hot topic, asserting influence on every industry.

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Globalisation

Mr Garrett mentioned taking an interest in different ideas, rather than attacking them. This contributes to the effectiveness of a creative collaboration, and collective effort is the cradle for a greater potential. When different levels of expertise are involved in creative collaboration, a multi-faceted approach to solving a problem can be developed with depth. It includes diversity, expands the knowledge base, and hence is a more holistic way of working together which had evidently benefited every industry.

In ADM, we are constantly exposed to the idea of DIWO. Be it projects, where we brainstorm as a group and take on various job allocations to develop the final outcome, or updates on OSS posts, where precious ideas and even processes are freely accessible for anybody to learn and take reference. Exchange and integration of ideas help us to improve and discover better solutions. Academic matters aside, it is not unusual to see students collaborate with seniors, mentors, and even prominent artists from outside for art projects, for example, regular exhibitions held in the ADM gallery.

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Gallery overview involving various fields of expertise
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‘In praise of Shadow’ exhibition

The other side of the story, which was neglected by Mr Garrett, can the downfalls of such collective effort. It would sound naive for an amateur like me to pinpoint various negative impacts and externalities. However, I do feel that DIWO might not be the best solution at all times.

Mr Garrett mentioned that DIWO works if the parties are able to drop their position and barriers of power when working on a project. As unique individuals, one’s idea might collide with the rest. Not to mention seniors and professional artist’s ego when it comes to the things they are passionate about. When this happened, β€˜group think’ and effective collaboration will be hindered, and so is the progress. I also assume group decision-making takes longer to process, which can be a challenge when deadlines are up and coming. A group with diverse capabilities also means proper consideration is essential for effective job allocation.

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Downfall – groupthink

 

Reference:

Online lecture by Marc Garrett, 2018

http://diwo.bq.com

McCue, T. (2012, June 18). Do It With Others – Maker Community Manifesto. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2012/06/12/do-it-with-others-maker-community-manifesto/#779afdaa7151

http://www.psysr.org/about/pubs_resources/groupthink%20overview.htm