Second Reflection

The latest stage in my project progress has involved me working on some of the interactions the user will experience with my project. I want the project to have a lighthearted feel to it, in a way it should show off my personality. So I am trying to create some animations to grab the user’s attention. What inspired me was a quote I read from Michele Dickey’s article Engaging By Design: How Engagement Strategies in Popular Computer and Video Games Can Inform Instructional Design

“Games are designed to engage players. Game designers are at the forefront in developing interactive design. Elements of interactive design include the various dimensions of a setting, the roles and characters within a game environment, and “hooks” that afford actions and feedback to the players.”

My project is not so much a game, there are no points scored, no one wins or loses. Actually the only people that lose are the ones who don’t see it. (That was a joke) Anyways, I am trying to take as much as I can from this quote and apply it in my design. I have a “setting”, the use of the map of the eastern United States is where the project takes place. I am going to create a story behind this project so the users will be put into a “role”. You will obviously have a “character”, both literally and figuratively in the Jeremiah game piece. The “hooks” I feel are going to be the toughest part of the project. These will be the animations, and the scene changes the user will go through. You will have to wait and see how I do with those. In the mean time you may check on my technical progress below:

I started playing around with some movements of the car, and thinking of how I want the intro of the program to be. I didn't do much real work that I saved, it was mostly quick movies to see if I could make it look like the racecar was reaving its engine before it would then fly across the screen.

My next big step is to figure out how the car will know to move in the direction of the thumbtack once you click on it.

Reference:
Dickey, M. D. (2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform instructional design. Educational Technology Research & Development, 53(2), 67-83.