Year 2 sem 2 – Narrative for interaction – Plot V1.

Chapter 1 : Orientation Week

The Story Happens in ADM Building.
Main character enrolled into ADM as first year.

All the tutorial for control and mechanics happen here as the first few task guided by an Non-Player Character (NPC).

The player are required to walk around the common area of ADM to make more friends(NPC) and they will give random facts about the school, survival tips to survive ADM life, there will also be intractable objects lying all around and player are required to complete certain number(10-20) of NPC talk and interacting with certain number of intractable(15-25) to complete the task.

Upon completion of the task, The player will be directed to proceed to the office at level one to collect their matriculation card which unlock their entry to Foundation Drawing, 2D, 3D and 4D room.

End Of Chapter 1.

Year 2 sem 2 – Narrative for interaction – Learning Unity Part 1

Unity Capability, Tutorials and Free Assets (YAY!!)

This is the first tutorial which i went through, I really love it as it is a smart point and click RPG system, the collision is all auto and generated by Agent Mesh which is a really smart system that auto calculate the path when it is blocked and it will move by the next shortest path.

Since I know nothing about Unity, this single video took me atleast 6 hours to complete, after I completed this tutorial, I realize that there are only 7 parts currently (most of it is about combat which I don’t need it) and is insufficient for me to create my project. (below is what I did by following through the tutorial, I really love the lighting and effect of those low-poly object works together!)

maybe I will wait for another tutorial to be released by this guy, or I will find another one. Atleast I learn a whole lot in this tutorial!! (and also learnt how to download assets and use them!)

Year 2 sem 2 – Narrative for interaction – Platform Research

First of all, Game Maker Studio vs Unity 5 for game making.

After watching this, I decided that i want to use Unity 5 as I really want to make a 3D game, although it is harder and will take more time to learn and apply it, I think it will be a good exposure for me as Unity will be capable not only in making Game, it could also be used as an app developing software which is really useful skillset for me in the future, moreover, it is free and can be exported into android/iOS which will be another big potential for future development.

Since I want to make a game based in ADM, it would make sense to make a 3D one as it will feel more immersive as player could look around in the environment. The biggest problem here is that there is no 3D model or Floorplan of ADM available online, that simply means that i have to build everything myself based on just one picture i took in ADM.

this will be the base that I will start with. After some research, I found out that Blender and Sketchup could be used to export model into Unity5 to be used as environment.

Next up – learning stuffs through tutorial and youtube for Unity, Blender/Sketchup

Year 2 sem 2 – Narrative for interaction – Overview V1.0

A game where player start as a First year student in ADM, With the classic time table and going through tutorial by doing “Quest”(Projects) which each module required them to do specific task which will increase their skill level. the player will gain one skill point every 5 minute they are doing a specific task and will be able to advance to their “First Job” when they have completed all “Quest” available.

The advancement into next “Job” which is the selection of major within ADM system, there are 6 “Job” available for selection which are :

Animation – A Job which requires long hour of playing and each task takes a long time to complete, player need to have minimum stats in creativity and drawing in order to take up this Job

Product Design – A job that require long hours of playing and each task take long time to complete, player need to have minimum stat in hands on and drawing to take up this Job.

Flim -A Job that requires long hours of playing and each task will be expensive to complete, player need to have minimum stats in creativity and knowledge in order to take up this Job.

Photography – A job that require high observation and each task will be tedious to complete, player require to have stat in creativity and knowledge to take up this Job.

Interactive Media – A job that require large amount of resource and each task will be tedious to complete, player need to have minimum stat in creativity and knowledge to take up this Job.

Visual Communication – A job that require large amount of resource and each task will be expensive to complete, player need to have minimum stat in hands on and drawing to take up this Job.

After the player took up job, there will be a test to take before gaining the first ability in the job and unlocking their respective areas

Animation – “Speed Sketch” & “The Animation Dungeon”

Product Design – “Woodwork” & “PD Workshop”

Flim – “Cinematoledge” & “The Flim Studio”

Photography – “Keen Eye” & “Photog Room”

Interactive Media – “Troubleshooting” & “IM Room”

Visual Communication – “Visual Appeal” & “VisCom Lab”

Year 2 sem 2 – Narrative for interaction – The Four Concept Reflection

The Four Concept is a really interesting piece as it is written in a way that it is a narrative piece on its own with “Initial State”, “Insight Brought about Changes” and “Repetition” which is mentioned under the definition of “Narrative” used as a structure of the essay (mentioning that the four concept deserve a spanking something similar in the essay which I think it is really “playful”)

The first thing that blows my mind is “All narrative is interactive”….. I didn’t think about this before as like our Prof Vladimir asked something like “how can a painting (Wanderer above Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich) be interactive?” and we denied that it is interactive because that it is only a painting and painting doesn’t interact back. But this is not actual case as the fact that when we look at the painting, we will have a thought about the piece like “wow!! What a magnificent view!!” which only happens after we see it. Yes, it does not speak to us, but we feel and think about something because of it and it is the way that the piece of painting is “Speaking” to us when we “View” it. In a sense, this is a two way communication and therefore considered an “Interactive” “Narrative”.

Throughout the Essay, there is a constant classification of ideas into layers which not only interlace, but also was built upon the previous layers, like “Game Play” is built upon “Ludic activity” which is built upon “being playful”, I think this is really interesting as it split the idea of “Play” into different yet similar concepts. While reading this, I copied out a few sentence which gave me ideas that could be used to build into a final project, which are “”narrative have events”, “Cognitive Interactivity” “play -> Rigid rules -> Freedom within the rules”, these ideas helped me to formulate the idea of making a game which fulfills all of the prospects for the project – interactivity and narrativity while giving me the tools I need for producing the game – common knowledge relevant to our class, rules for games, and also freedom within the rules I created.

Year 2 sem 2 – Narrative for interaction – research part 1 (2 potential topic)

Possible Project ideas and researches for final project:

Possible idea 1 : Game –

Game is the first thing that comes to my mind when talking about interactive narrative as it is the most straightforward component which can blend the both aspect well seamlessly. this is a video i found on youtube while researching about the mechanics of narrative which I get some ideas which different games will result in different effect on the user perspective like the type of “game play”, “cut-scene”, and even things like platform can be taken into consideration before everything else, (to make a phone app will be very different from making a webpage both in the producing and user experience aspect.)

some screenshot which i think really make sense and amount of attention spend = more in depth the user could experience as well as the typical pricing for the programs/game/app. I think this is really interesting.

This is a mindmap which i summarized during and after the video, for those who got not much time to watch it, the mindmap could cover the rough idea of the video, however I really recommend you guys to watch it.

Idea 2: Interactive(sort of) video

this is an old idea which i really think is interesting as the user is not really “Interacting” with the video, it is only the matter of perception of the user which made them feel like they are doing something to the video when actual fact the user isnt doing anything but since i think the misleading of perception is really interesting, this might be a good project for hilarious outcome!