Eco Universe

Promoting Eco Universe-Social Networking

2011-05-29T19:07:00.001-07:00

For exhibition Info#Instructions#

2011-05-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Fís 2011, Celebrating 10 Years

2011-05-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

http://cmdkit.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/fis-2011-celebrating-10-years/

Come And See Eco Universe!

2011-05-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

EcoUniverse Healed Planets: Animation

2011-05-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Design: EcoUniverse Healed

2011-05-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Electra Planet Game -Healed

2011-05-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Electra Planet Game Interface

2011-05-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Eco Universe Video Blog

2011-05-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Design Update: Rubisshhouse Interface

2011-05-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

Design Update: Aqua Planet -ScoreBoard and Play Again Screen

2011-05-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

Design Update: Aqua Planet - Interface Design

2011-05-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Design Update: Aqua Planet Instruction Screens

2011-05-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Design Update

2011-05-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

EcoUniverse

2011-05-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

EcoUniverse is a student degree project what truly shows process of collaborative media making, harnessing the tolls of the digital revolution and fusing them with tools of collaborative eco learning for better future.

Eco Universe Exhibition Plan

2011-04-10T20:49:00.001-07:00

For Eco Universe exhibition, we have opted a simple yet elegant exhibition design that will attract visitors to try our product.

• We will use 2 large cardboard canvases that will incorporate design of games interface background (clouds and stars). We will paint the background ourselves.
• Eco Universe Logo will be printed on the cardboard, cut out put on the top of the stand
• The Ecolus-main character will be printed on the cardboard, which will be able to stand independently, similar to a cardboard stand seen at the cinema.
• Eco Universe will be presented and played on I Mac.
• Flower petals will be printed on the cardboard, cut out and wrapped around the I MAC-design element from the logo
• We will use a power surge socket for the Mac.
• The head phones for the audio on standby.
• Green tablecloth will be on table (green- Eco Universe colour shade-will be ordered in the shop).
• On the table we will put Eco Universe leaflets

List of required Items for the exhibition
• iMAC 11,2
• 1 table and 1 green Table cloth
• 2 wall sized cardboard canvases (approx 6 ft x 3 ft)
• Paint ( red, green, blue, ect) and paint brushes
• 1 cardboard cut out of character (approx 4 ft)
• 1 cardboard cut out of Flower petals for I Mac design
• Headphones
• Leaflets
• 1 Wii remote
• 1 Power serge socket
• Batteries

EcoDesignUpdate

2011-04-06T18:09:00.001-07:00

EcoDesignUpdate

Eco Design Update

2011-03-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

Eco Design Update_Pipes Game

Planet Design Update

2011-03-13T21:45:00.001-07:00

Planet Design Update

2011-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

ECOUniverse Poster Design!

2011-03-07T14:22:00.001-08:00

NewCharacterDesign

2011-02-27T15:54:00.001-08:00

PlanetElectra

2011-02-27T15:51:00.001-08:00

Design Development 27th February

2011-02-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

Audio Script Synopsis by J.C.

2011-02-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

The audio for Eco-universe will have separate melodies playing depending on what part is seen on the screen. There will be different music for each of the planet as well as other parts like the menus. As the game has four different planets for the user to play each sound that is created for that planet will match the content of the game.

The first planet is called “Flora” and is about planting as many seeds for trees to grow, there are three different levels to this planet which include being in a forest, home, and city. The music for the game will be a light violin style sound playing throughout and for the different levels in “Flora” it will change slightly. For example on the forest level the music will be very slow and will include sounds of trees blowing in the wind and howling. The music part for the home will be a little faster and more cheerful and the music part for the city will have a sound that is more fast paced that includes sounds of cars and people talking. There is also the sound of rain droplets for when they fall and for the sound of the each obstacle on the three levels are a digger for the forest level which will be a roaring machine style sound. The home will have a roaring lion style sound for its obstacle even when the image is just a housecat and for the city the obstacle sound will be tyres which will have a springy sound. When the character in the game gets a point there will be a bell ring and when they are hit by an obstacle there will be a quick buzz type sound.

The second planet is called “Aqua” which is about stopping the toxic water from reaching the sea. The music for this part of the game will be a haunting piano style sound that would be like the theme from films that include “Jaws” or “The Exorcist”. It can start slow and gradually build to a faster pace. There would be echoic bang sounds for the pipes when being built around the objects. The objects sounds will include hissing, crackling, and screeching. As the game is set in water there will also be lots of water type sounds like flowing water, splashes and bubbles. When the pipes are rotated there will be a sound of swishing and when they are dropped into the right position there will be a click sound.

The third planet is called “Rubbishaus” and shows the planet covered in rubbish that the user must all get rid of. The background music will be a fast electric guitar melody style sound. There are three bins and the user has to put certain rubbish into the right bin and when they do each bin will make a different sound to help the user know if they were successful at putting the right rubbish into the right bin. The sound will be a happy or joyful cheer and if the user puts the rubbish into the wrong bin they will hear the sound of boos or groans. There will be a combination of different sounds that will represent the rubbish with lots of positive and negative elements mixed. An example would be items for the green bin will have high bells sound. The sound that represents rubbish for the brown bin would be clanking sounds and the sounds for rubbish for the black bin would be scratchy sounds.

The fourth planet is called “Electra” were the user has to switch of all the electrical appliances that are quickly moving past the screen in order to save energy. The background music will be a very fast techno beat style sound with different drum and guitar sounds included. There will be lots of objects moving past that include TVS, microwave, computers, radios, as well as lots more that are not electrical that include squeaky toy, books, and cutlery. The reason why non electric objects are in the game is for the user to have more focus on what is using up energy and to switch it off. For every correct item that the user switches off there will be a pop sound and for every incorrect item that the user tries to switch off there will be a deep knock sound. Some other items in this part will be people talking sounds and different animal sounds. Both are included as part of objects that would be considered non electrical. There will also be a cheery jingle at the end.

For other parts in the game such as the introduction, main menu, and the quiz each one will also have background music that will match the theme of the game. They will incorporate elements of electronic, piano and several different styles of beats.

Sound creation for planet “Flora”.

MUSIC STYLE

Game Level Part1 -Slow, Violin, Haunting, Sad.

Game Level Part 2-fast up-tempo, piano, bells, happy.

Game Level part 3-Fast, electric, guitar drums, beats.

SOUND EFFECTS include

Wind sounds

Animals

Trees Creaking

Water

Birds

Clock

Radio

Kettle

Cooker

People

Cars

Glass

Rain

Sound creation for planet “Aqua”.

MUSICSTYLE

Slow Piano, Bangs, Water, Beats build slowly to fast.

Sound Effects Include

Water

Splashes

Smashes

Banging

Bubbles

Wind

Fish

Birds

Sound creation for planet “Rubbishaus”.

MUSICSTYLE

Fast electric guitar pop melody.

Sound effects include.

Cracking

Smashing

Bottles

Paper

Machines

Static

Sound creation for planet “Electra”.

MUSICSTYLE

Fast techno beat with guitar and drums.

Sound effects include.

TV sound

Radio sound

Microwave

Glass

Paper

People

Animals

Household appliances including

Cooker

Lights

Heaters

Audio Design by J.C.

2011-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

For my part in the project I will be working with the audio design. After working with the audio production software Pro-tools since first year I feel it will greatly benefit with my role in the project. The game will have four main parts that are the planets as well as a quiz and the navigation menus.

Each item will have background music and the sections for the planets will have music that fits the theme for each one. There will be many other sounds to create as well as just music. They will be for all the objects in each game. To make the sounds for different objects I will use different items and bring them to the audio lab to record them and see how they sound and with pro-tools I can then add several effects to them and to try and make it match right with what will be seen on the screen.

I will be recording different music using electric piano onto computers and editing with software such as music-maker, FL Studio and pro-tools. As well as working on the audio I will also be helping Baiba making the graphics as there will be a lot of images to make for the project game.

Navigation sample images by John

2011-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Multiple choice questions-sample by John

2011-02-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

These are the multiple choice questions that will appear after the user has played two different planet games.

Energy multiple choice questions

A normal 100 watt bulb uses one unit of electricity every

A: 10 hours

B: 11 hours

C: 12 hours

The correct answer is A- 10 hours

Avoiding one dishwasher load saves enough energy to power a 100W light bulb for

A: 11 minutes

B: 11 hours

C: 11 days

The correct answer is B-11 hours

Water multiple choice questions

The USA alone uses about how much fresh water a day?

A: 215,000 million gallons

B: 346,000 million gallons

C: 970,000 million gallons

The correct answer is B – 346,000 million gallons.

When you take a bath it uses how many litres of water?

A: 80 Litres

B: 50 Litres

C: 20 Litres

The correct answer is A- 80 Litres.

Why preserve water by John

2011-02-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

We all need to save from using excess water unnecessarily all over the world for many reasons. The problem is not the amount of water. The amount of water on Earth remains constant — it doesn't increase or decrease — and there is enough to meet everyone's needs. The problem is unequal access and use. Different countries and different politics often have the power in how much access of water people have around the world as well as countries with different weather climaxes also affects how much people can use.

The average person wastes 30 gallons of water a day

Here are seven good ways to help you preserve water.

Only ask restaurant servers to bring you a glass of water and refill it if you are planning to drink it.

Make sure your toilet is not leaking by putting a drop of food colouring in the tank. If it shows up in the bowl minutes later and you have not flushed then there is a leak. A leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water a day.

If you drink tap water at home then keep a jug in the fridge so you don’t have to run the water until its cold.

Wash your fruit and vegetables in a basin rather than under running water. Then use the water in the basin to water your plants and flowers. In addition to saving water it gives them extra nutrients.

Sweep steps, driveways and footpaths rather than hosing them off.

Keep a small spray bottle of water on your bathroom sink, instead of running the faucet use it to wet your toothbrush before applying paste. A few sprays are all you really need.

Instead of baths take short showers that will do the exact same job to wash you and you will also save a lot of water by doing it.

Why you should save energy by J.C.

2011-02-23T08:51:00.001-08:00

The average home uses a lot of energy and sometimes people don’t realize how much. The statistics have shown that an average house uses 60% for heating, 25% for hot water for washing and 13% for lighting and electric appliances. Making the home more energy efficient is easier than most people think it is, and not only will it help the planet it will also save you money too.

Certain things one can do to save energy are items such as insulation. Insulation makes an enormous difference to the cost of heating and should be at the top of the list for energy saving measures. Another thing people can do is turn off. It may seem like a little thing to turn the main lights off when you’re not in the room but it does make a big difference to our overall energy consumption and there are also many other mini energy devices that consume such as TVs and DVD players, laptops, printers, scanners, Stereos and speakers, Routers, and projectors. They should be turned off properly and not just left on standby mode. So basically if it has a little light on switch off by turning off or plugging out.

Energy saving light bulbs uses about 80% less power than normal light bulbs but produce the same amount of light. For every bulb you change you are cutting your carbon output by 26g per year plus you are saving money on your electricity bill. They also last ten times longer than normal bulbs. Another good way of preserving energy is to buy an electricity saving meter from a DIY shop. This will measure how many kilos of greenhouse gases your home is consuming per hour so you can work out which devices are the most power hungry.

Changing to a green electricity supplier is something everyone can do. People can research which company has the best green credentials and it only takes a couple of minutes to swap online. Also install home renewable energy sources as well as start generating your own electricity at home using items like solar power panels, Ground source heat systems, biomass, or even wind turbines. You should be aware however that cost savings are likely to be made over quite a number of years. So this is not genuinely something that is worth doing solely on financial grounds.

If you follow the simple steps you will notice a huge difference than your energy consumption at home. Your bills will be lower and you will be helping preserve our environment making the planet better.

Why you should save energy by John

2011-02-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

Storyboard

2011-02-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

2011-02-17T06:01:00.001-08:00

What is DarwiinRemote?

DarwiinRemote is a tiny software which reads data from and sends data to Nintendo Wii Remote

Inputs

3-axis acceleration sensors
all buttons except power button on/off

Output

4 LEDs
Force Feedback

DarwiinRemote allows you to control other applications by using Wii Remote

but now only supports "AppleRemote" mode...

How to use DarwiinRemote

Launch DarwiinRemote
Press 1 button and 2 button of your Wii Remote simultaneously

Wii Remote becomes "discoverable mode" (4 blue LEDs are blinking)

Log drawer in DarwiinRemote reports "Wii Remote is found!"

When DarwiinRemote cannot connect to Wii Remote, disconnect bluetooth connection (press power button in seconds) and restart DarwiinRemote (will fix...)

Have fun!

Download

DarwiinRemote 0.1a released (6th Dec. 2006)

endian issue is fixed. now PPC users also playable (thanks Mark and Luke!)
Icon is added. (thanks truex!)

DarwiinRemote 0.1a application

Mac OS X 10.4 or later

Universal Binary

DarwiinRemote 0.1a sources

Key mappings

DarwiinRemote now only supports single mouse emulation and "AppleRemote" mode

Wii Remote	Key mapping
Up	Up
Down	Down
Left	Left
Right	Right
A	Left-Click
B	Return (Play/Pause in FrontRow)
Minus	Command + Left (Volume Down in FrontRow)
Home	Command + ESC (Enter FrontRow and "Menu" button)
Plus	Command + Right (Volume Up in FrontRow)
1	Page Up
2	Page Down

To Do

~~Icon and~~UI (help me!)
Key mapping configuration

e.g. invoke AppleScript

Sensor calibration
IR sensor support
Extension Port support
Speaker support (it seems difficult now...)
Gesture Recognition
More stable codes ;-)
QC Custom Patch ;-)

Disclaimer

DarwiinRemote is an UNSTABLE and EXPERIMENTAL software. The author Hiroaki assumes no responsibility whatever for its use by other parties, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about its quality and reliability.
Please play this carefully ;-)

Chosen Character Design

2011-02-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

Chosen Character Design

(Branding) Logo Design

2011-02-17T04:26:00.000-08:00

(Branding) Logo Design

Planet Design Development

2011-02-17T04:21:00.000-08:00

Planet Design Development

Character Design Development

2011-02-17T04:17:00.000-08:00

Character Design Development

Description of the game and narrative

2011-02-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Narrative

The game is introduced by the main character Ecolus. He presents his universe. He explains his universe needs to be treated because it is very sick. Ecolus has to go on each planet to understand what is the problem and find a solution. BUT, Ecolus needs help and ask you if you can help him.

Description of the game and narrative.

Hey! My name is Ecolus!

What is your name? Selection the letter with the controller to write it.

Welcome in my universe EcoFriendlyUniverse. I live here. As you can see it is composed with five planets. There is Electra the planet of the light, Rubbishaus the planet of the cleanliness, Aqua the planet of the water and Flora the planet of the plants.

During the time you will be with us, you will live on this planet that we will call whatever you name it.

But as you can see my universe is not very hospitable in this moment. Indeed, it is sick (I think it has a little bit temperature, difficulties to breath…). My mission is to find a remedy to treat it. But I need your help! Can you help me please?

Welcoming screen

We need to go on each planet to treat them. Select the planet with the controller.

If you choose Planet Flora:

Planet Flora has some difficulties to breath, she needs oxygen.
Hum…. If I remember what my teacher told me plant and trees product oxygen!
So we are going to plant trees and to sow seeds. By sowing the seeds, Flora will be able to breathe perfectly.

But we don’t have enough seeds!
You can catch water drop too help the plants to grow up and win one seed.

The player will cross three backgrounds: forest (because trees are the lungs of the Earth), a home (because you can have plants there), a city (because this is the place where trees are most needed)

But be careful, because the mechanicals digger can kill trees, seeds and plants. The birds can eat the seeds and the grey clouds show the pollution that is bad for plants. If we collide with them we lose one seed. We need to avoid them!

We have only 90 seconds to plant at least 15 seeds!

If at the end of the game you have planted less than fifteen seeds, you do not progress in the game and you have to start again.

The character says:”oh no we did not plant enough seeds to help Flora planet to breath. We have to start again!” Help me to plant trees!

To play, use the buttons on the Wii controller: the up arrow to jump up, the down arrow to jump down, the left arrow to go left, right arrow to go right, center button to plant seeds.

Yeah!!! Congratulations, we have planted (15+seeds) the seeds that we needed to help Flora to breath! (results/scores)

In some years, trees and plants will bring oxygen and are going to help to reduce the Co2 in the atmosphere, which is responsible of the global warming.

It is important to plant trees because they use greenhouse gases to create oxygen thanks to the cells in the leaf called stomata.

With this simple and aesthetic gesture you can help them to reduce the negative of greenhouse gases:

-Increase of temperature

-Disturbance of the weather: more cyclones, droughts for example,

-Thawing of ice.

Plant trees in the city permits to reduce the energy consumer in the house because they let come in the sun and you use let the heater the winter and bring shade the summer and you use less the ventilator.

Now we are going to return to choose another planet.

If you choose Planet Rubbishaus:

Planet Rubbishaus has some skin problems because of the rubbish is scattered everywhere on it.

We are going to help Rubbishaus to stop the scratching in order to clean the rubbish on the planet. Of course we have to throw the rubbish into the correct bins:

The Blue one is for cardboard, metal, aluminium.

The Brown one is for the food and organic waste.

The Green one is for glass bottles.

You win one point each time you throw the rubbish away in the right bin and the rubbish disappears from the planet.

If you throw the rubbish away in the wrong bin, the rubbish returns where it was and it is now locked and you cannot throw it away anymore. If you throw away more than five rubbish in the wrong bin, a screen appears with “You lose” you can repeat the game or return to main menu.

Ecclos says: ”oh no!, we did not throw away enough rubbish in the correct bins to stop the scratching of Rubbishaus planet. We have to start again!”

You time is limited, you have only 90 seconds.

To play, use the button on the back of the controller to select and move the elements

According to number of point you will have, you have won! Congratulations!, Good!, Now you can see the board with the result of the other players!

It is important to throw your rubbish away in the correct bin because they can be recycled. It prevents it from being burnt. Burning is bad because it produces Co2, which can destroy the planet!

Now we are going to return to the main menu to choose another planet.

If you choose Aqua Planet:

Planet Aqua needs to be cleaned to be better. She has been infected by lot of bacteria. Her water is dirty and it is really unhealthy. She needs we stop the contamination from spreading. I propose you to stop the toxic water from reaching the sea.

There is a water treat station where water is cleaned. We are going to construct a way to help the water to go to this water treat station, rather than the sea.

By using different shaped pipes, we are going to build the pipes around objects that are scattered around the area. It then has to be feed into the water treatment plant, so it can be reprocessed and used again.

We have only 90 seconds to complete the challenge. I hope we will have enough time otherwise Aqua Planet will stay sick and fishes and plants in the sea will be sick as well.

By using the Wii remote, we can pick up the different shaped pipes, rotate them if required and then drop them into position.

If we finish quickly our time will be stock in the High score chart. More we will be fast, more Aqua Planet will be cure.

Whaou!!! You success Aqua planet is better, thank you so much. It is very important to preserve the water because only 3 percent of water in the world is drinkable so it is important
not to waste it! Lot of people are very sick because the water they drink is dirty. In the future, getting safe drinking water is a matter between life and death. 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. By using water purifications technologies and not wasting what water we have, we can help to save so many lives.

Now we are going to return to choose another planet and to continue our mission!

If you choose Electra Planet:

This poor planet Electra is very tired because people living on use lot of its energy because they let the electrical devices switch on. We are going to help it. To do that, I propose that we to travel to the planet and turn off as many of the electric appliances as we can to help the planet save energy.

We are in a house where different objects are flying across the screen in the air. Some of them are electric appliances like TV’s, microwave, hairdryer and some are non electric appliances like books,
clothes, and cutlery. You have around thirty objects.

When you will click on an electrical item to turn it off, the item will change its graphic. You can visually see the power is off.

You will have only 90 seconds to turn off as many of the electrical items you can see and your result will be displayed when the time is up. You have thirty objects in the screen.

To play, use the button on the back of the controller to select and move the elements

Whaou!!! You succeeded! Electra planet is better, thank you so much. It is very important to control the energy that you use because for every bulb you change you are cutting your carbon output by 26g per year, plus you are saving money on your electricity bill. They also last ten times longer than normal bulbs. Another good way of preserving energy is to buy an electricity saving meter from a DIY shop. This will measure how many kilos of greenhouse gases your home is consuming per hour so you can work out which devices are the most power hungry.

Now we are going to return to choose another planet to continue our mission!

Hey, now you have saved all the planets, I propose you to answer at the question of the quiz to help more of your planet.

Quiz

If you want to win more points and still help my universe you can answer at the following questions: (you have only one possible answer)

1) Why it is important to plant trees?

Choices:

A-because it is aesthetic.

B-because it decreases the percentage of greenhouse gases in the air.

C-because you can burn the wood to heat your home.

2) Why it is important to plant trees and plants in the city?

A-because it is aesthetic.

B-because they protect again the warm the summer, let the sun comes in the building the winter and produce oxygen.

C-because they bring shade for the parking space of your parents.

3) A normal 100 watt bulb uses one unit of electricity every ?

A-10 hours

B-11 hours

C-12 hours

4) Avoiding one dishwasher load saves enough energy to power a 100W light bulb for

A-11 minutes

B- 11 hours

C- 11 days

5) In the world today, what is the most common form of water pollution?

A-Industrial waste
B-human sewage.
C-Oil
D-Radioactive material

6) How much of the worlds water is available for drinking ?

A-10 percent
B-7 percent
C-3 percent
D-1 percent

7) Which can of objects throw you away in the green bin?

A-vegetables, eggs, grass, bread.

B-plastic, paper, cardboard, cans.

C-clothes.

8) Which can of objects throw you away in the brown bin?

A-vegetables, eggs, grass, bread.

B-plastic, paper, cardboard, cans.

C-clothes.

End of the game

Thank you so much !!! Thanks you my universe is fine now. The planets are better. Flora can breath, Rubbishaus does not have to scratch anymore, Electra has more energy and Aqua has not bacteria anymore.

Best Nintendo Wii Games for Kids Aged Between 7 & 9 Years Old

2011-02-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

Check this site!

http://www.suite101.com/content/best-nintendo-wii-games-for-kids-aged-between-7--9-years-old-a292908

Children or 7, 8 or 9 years old may be quite proficient video game players in our highly technological era. Parents are still looking for games which have suitable content for a younger player. Like younger players, these children will enjoy bright colours, comedy and slapstick but will also want games which are more of a challenge.

Children’s altruistic behavior in the dictator game

2011-02-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Article: Children’s altruistic behavior in the dictator game

http://econ.ucdenver.edu/beckman/Tiffany/benenson-evolution-children.pdf

More Characters

2011-02-07T13:46:00.001-08:00

Disney Characters

2011-02-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.disney.co.uk/up/#characters

Tasks List and timeLine

2011-02-05T08:43:00.001-08:00

Bount Script	09/02/2011
Design	02/02 to 21/05/2011
Design: research	02/02 to 16/02/ 2011
Main character	07/02 to 19/02/2011
Design: introduction	07/02 to 19/02/2011
Design: planet Flora	21/02 to 13/03/2011
Design: planet Electra	14/03 to 02/04/2011
Design: planet Rubbishaus	04/03 to 23/04/2011
Design: planet Aqua	25/04 to 21/05/2011

Interaction: test of the controller on PC	07/02 to 05/03/2011

Audio	07/03 to 29/04/2011
Audio: research and list of sounds	14/03 to 19/03/2011
Audio: creation of sounds	21/03 to 02/04/2011
Audio: post-production	04/04 to 23/04/2011

Programming	02/02 to 21/05/2011
Programming: introduction	02/02 to 19/02/2011
Programming: planet Flora	21/02 to 12/03/2011
Programming: planet Electra	14/03 to 02/04/2011
Programming: planet Rubbishaus	04/03 to 23/04/2011
Programming: planet Aqua	25/04 to 21/05/2011

Administrative tasks
Fully functional content online	18/02/2011
Supervisor Mark and Log check week	14/03/2011
Progress report and demo	29/04 /2011
Project Hand-in	26/05/2011
Individual evaluation	27/05/2011
Project promotion	27/05/2011
Final Log	31/05/2011

The Wii Mii

2011-02-04T06:15:00.001-08:00

2011-02-03T07:42:00.001-08:00

Game Mechanics
In order to keep the player engaged to long period of time, games must be well thought out. This is especially true when the main audience is children, who by nature have a very short attention span. We wanted to give the user a variety of games to complete, rather than similar games for all the planets. The use of the Wii remote has enabled us to use its properties like a joy-pad, but be able to move around more freely.
The four planets: Flora, electra, Rubbishaus and Aqua all have various mechanisms for their respective games:
Flora
This game requires the player to plant as many seeds as possible into the soil within the 90 seconds that they have been given. However the seeds will not grow into trees if there is no water. Water droplets will fall from the sky and the character on screen will have to catch them. If the droplets are not caught, they seed will not be planted and no score will be recorded. The player will have to move up the different platforms in order to finish the level. There are three different stages within the game. The first one will be set in the forest, the second in a home and the third in the city.
But at the top of the final platform in each level there will be a major obstacle hindering the progression of the character. In the forest level a digger will fire logs down onto the planting area, in the city a cat will throw balls down onto the character and in the city level traffic will throw tyres down. The player will have to avoid these pitfalls in order to progress. When the game is complete, the user will have the opportunity to enter their score. For every seed that is planted, the user will get a point and for every time that they are hit by an obstacle they will lose two.

Aqua
For this game the user must stop the toxic water from reaching the sea. The player has about 90 seconds to complete the challenge. By using different shaped pipes, the player must build the pipes around objects that are scattered around the area. It then has to be feed into the water treatment plant, so it can be reprocessed and used again. If the player cannot complete this challenge, the water will run into the sea and kill the fish in the ocean. By using the Wii remote , the user can pick up the different shaped pipes, rotate them if required and then drop them into position.
When the game is complete, the user will have the option of entering their score to the Hi score chart. The winner will have completed the game in the least amount of time possible.

Rubbishaus
On planet rubbishaus, the planet has been covered in rubbish. The player must get rid of the junk within 90 second. Rather than just put the trash into one bin, we have set up 3 bins, which each take different types of rubbish. This will teach the children to think about what bin to put there rubbish into. In Ireland there are generally 3 different types of bins: brown, green and black. These will make up the 3 bins in our game.
The Wii remote will allow the user to pick up the individual pieces of rubbish and place them into the correct bin. This will simple involve moving over the item and holding the selection button to grab on to it. By simply releasing the button, the piece will fall. If the wrong piece is placed into a bin, the user will be informed by a sound and an x mark on the screen.
Like the other games, a high score can be saved and upload after the game has taken place. The player must get over 15 pieces into the correct bins in order to progress. After the game has been completed, the player will be informed about putting rubbish into the right bin.
Electra
This will be a game that will educate the children about energy saving and that they should turn of as much appliances will not in use as much as possible. The user will have to hit the different electrical appliances that are flying across the screen. These will include TV’s, stereos, fridges and other items that the user have in their homes. This game is perfect for the Wii remote as it has excellent mobility functions. All the player will have to do is point the controller at the desired item and click.
The user, like in the other 3 games can enter their scores at the end and attempt to get the top spot in the chart. The use of the chart will make people want to come back for more, rather than just play the games once.

2011-02-03T07:41:00.001-08:00

Target audience

2011-02-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

Target audience
Our target audience is children between the age of 7 and 9. The reason is that we feel the game can educate and inform young children about environmentalism from a young age and how they can change the behaviour to help our planet. We feel that by using an interactive game, we want the children to feel that their actions however small can have a direct influence on their surroundings and that every little thing that they do can help.
We used various methods of research to come to this conclusion. We looked at the interactive game consoles available on the market at the moment. The three main consoles all have varying movement detection products. Microsoft launched the Kinect for the Xbox 360, Sony launched PlayStation Move, for the PS3 and Nintendo had already had great success with the Wii for several years. It was clear that the future of the seventh and eighth generation’s consoles would incorporate motion detection of some sort.
We found that for the kinect and playsation Move, most of the games that have been released so far has either been fitness orientated games or family games. Since the release of the Kinect in November 2010, games such as Kinectimals, Dance Evolution, Sonic Free raiders and Kinect Adventures have all carried a PEGI +3 rating, which means that the game is suitable for anyone over the age of 3. Of the 20 original games available, only 3 did not carry the PEGI +3 rating. This clearly indicates that Microsoft wants to market the Kinect at a very young audience, rather than an older audience like before, who tend to buy games with a mature rating.
With the use of the Nintendo Wii remote, we can harness its mobility which has made it famous and unique. When designing the Wii remote, Nintendo clearly had children in mind due to the size of both the numchuck and remote devices. It is small and thin, with very small buttons. This is unlike any other game joy-pad conceived before, which had adults in mind.
In Ireland, every national school in the country tries to achieve green flag status. This is an environmental educational programme organised for all schools in the country, as well as over 6 million students worldwide. As soon as the children enter the school at four, they are encouraged by the programme to recycle, conserve energy and other ecological tasks. With this in mind, we want to tap into this message.
We find that the age group between 7 and 9 would be best suited to our product. We feel that younger children may not be interested in puzzle like games and those older children may not be challenged by the difficulty setting of the games. We asked a group of 8 year olds what they liked about the Nintendo WII. Of the 12 that answered the questionnaire, 7 of them found that the best part of playing the WII was the interaction of the device. This tells us that a lot children love interacting while gaming, rather than just moving their character about with the traditional joy-pad. We feel that with our product that we can take environmentalism education to the next level.
We also talked with members of the Seuil du Paitou. They are a French based organization that creates animations for children and adults regarding Ecology. They also work with different age groups in schools. They told us that children are interested in all types of digital gaming. They find that the best type of game for children is one that is “constructive”. One in which the children build towards a goal. We feel that our product, along with the four mini games in particular can get the children to remember the lessons that we are trying to teach them, rather than just be interested in entertainment and gaming value of the product.
The Seuil du Paitou also told us that we have to show that the children’s actions can have an effect on the future of our planet.

Description of the game : introduction, game 1 and 2

2011-01-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

Description of the project, steps by steps

Hey! My name is Ecolus! (personage en gros plans)

And you, What is your name? Selection the letter with the controller to write it. (écran avec un clavier et un bouton entrer, une case où le nom s’inscrit)

Welcome in my universe. I live here. As you can see it is composed with five planets. There is Electra the planet of the light, Rubbiscus the planet of the cleanliness, Aqua the planet of the water and Flora the planet of the plants.

During the time where you will be with us you will live on this planet that we will call with your name.

But as you can see my universe is not very hospitable in this moment. Indeed, it is sick (I think it has a little bit temperture, difficulties to breath…) My mission is to find a remedy to treat it. But I need your help! Can you help me please?

Welcoming screen

We need to go on each planets to treat them. Select the planet with the controller.

If you choose Planète Flora:

Planet Flora has some difficulties to breath, she needs oxygen.
Hum…. If I remember what my lecture told me plant and trees product oxygen!
So we are going to plant trees and to sow seeds. Thus, in some times Flora will be able to breath perfectly plants can as well help it for the moment.

But we don’t have enough seeds!
You can catch water drop too help the plants to grow up and win one seed.

But be careful because the mechanicals digger can kill trees, seeds and plants. The birds can eat the seeds and the grey clouds show the pollution that is bad for plants. If we collide with them we lost one seed. We need to avoid them!

We have only 1.30min to do it!

Help me to plant trees!

To play use the buttons on the Wii controller.

Congratulations, we have planted (numbers of seeds) the seeds that we needed to help Flora to breath! (results/scores)

In some years, trees and plants will bring oxygen and are going to help to reduce the C02 in the atmosphere, which is responsible of the global warming. We don’t know exactly for the moment the consequences of the global warming but some animals and plants will disappear.

Now we are going to return to choose another planet.

If you choose Planet Rubbiscus:

Planet Rubbiscus has some itches because of the rubbishes everywhere on the planets.

We are going to help Rubbiscus and stop the itches cleaning the rubbishes on the planet. Of course we have to throw away in the correct bins:

Blue for irons, cardboard, metal, aluminium.

Brown for the food and organic.

Green bottle bank.

You win one point each time you throw the rubbish away in the right bin and the rubbish disappear of the planet.

If you throw the rubbish away in the wrong bin, the rubbish returns where it was and it locked, you cannot throw it away anymore.

To play, use the button on the back of the controller to select and move the elements

According you number of point you will have Congratulations!, Good!, Oh no! You can see the board with the result of the other players.

It is important to throw your rubbishes away in the correct bin because they can be recycled. It avoids burning them what it is bad because it produces C02 or stocking them during a long time in garbage.

Now we are going to return to choose another planet.

wii remote driver osx

2011-01-31T05:33:00.000-08:00

http://blog.hiroaki.jp/2006/12/000433.html

Interaction

2011-01-31T05:01:00.000-08:00

The technology and interaction of any educational game is one of the most important things to consider when in the design process. Right from the offset we wanted to take the user to place they have never been before. We wanted to create a product that the user could interact with and have as little restrictions as possible.

Ever since the conception of the product, independent movement has fascinated us. With the success of the Nintendo Wii and the recent release of the Kinect for the Xbox360 and the play-station move, there is no doubt that this technology will have a major future in the evolution of gaming. We want the user to be able control the movement of the characters and game devices themselves, rather than relying on the traditional joy-pad, keyboard and mouse.

When the Wii was released in late 2006, the computer games industry along with everybody else was shocked at the ambitious nature of the project. This payed off with sales of over 85 million units to date, leaving its major rivals the Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation in its wake.

We feel that the Wii remote, with its free motion capability would be best suited to our product. It uses a ADXL330 accelerometer, which allows 3 axis sensing along with shock and vibration detection. By downloading the correct software, we are able to harness the ability of the Wii remote on to a Mac. We originally looked at camera tracking, but felt that the interaction was to inaccurate. With the Wii remote, the user can also use a wide range of buttons and actions to play the different games.

The Wii remote would suit our mini games as well as navigation. For example, on the planet Rubbisaus, the player will have to pick up the rubbish and place it into the correct bins. The user will be able to move the remote over the rubbish, hit the button to grab it and the release it into the correct bin by simply letting go of the button. If we had used other methods such as a keyboard or joy-pad, it would not be felxable enough to make the game enjoyable.

We also feel that the children between 7 and 9 will have no problem in using it, as our survey has proven, 12 out of 13 children (8 years old) have played the Wii.

rewards, goals

2011-01-29T07:43:00.001-08:00

Rewards, goals, navigation

Our game consists of 4 mini games, each teaching the user various ecological lessons. Like any other video game, our product will have a goal orientated theme. The game starts out with the earth in a terrible state. It is covered in rubbish, smog, polluted water and is a dark unhealthy colour. The player must turn the situation around.

When the player enters the main menu, the four other planets will be placed in front of them. The navigation of the mini games is non linear, meaning that the user can choose what planet to go to and what order they wish to complete the games in, rather than have a pacific order in which to follow. However they must complete all the four planets for the earth to be saved and for the main game to be completed.

When a challenge on a planet is complete, the player will be congratulated on completing the task and an animation of the earth will appear. The animation will depend on what mini game you have completed. For example, if the player has completed the trash game, an animation of trash being removed from the earth will appear. Similar animations will play after the other games too. For the pipe game, fish will appear to jump in the ocean, in the re planting game, the smog will lift and in the light game the earth will improve its colour.

If the player fails a mini game, the earth will remain the same and no improvement will occur. The player may attempt a mini game as much as they like and will not be punished for failing the game. We feel that this is adequate as our target audience is quite young and we may risk alienating them. If the play fails a game, a box with two options will appear, one to retry the game and the other to go back to the main menu.

In the main menu screen, the four planets will indicate if they are complete. The user will know this by the bright color of the completed planet.

Programming ideas...

2011-01-20T06:40:00.000-08:00

this post sums up link about AS3 and webcam interaction:

to control a ball with a camera:
http://www.actionscript.org/resources/articles/613/1/Camera-motion-controlled-ball/Page1.html

webcam motion in flash:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/webcam_motion.html

games with webcam interactivity in flash:
http://www.discombo.co.uk/cam-experiments.htm

can be interesting:
labs.blitzagency.com?p=2634

joystick for the game?
http://www.fabiobiondi.com/blog/2009/11/arduino-and-flash-modify-your-existent-flash-games-to-work-with-a-joystick/

Check this site!!!!!

2010-12-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

http://archive2.globalsolutions.org/multimedia/games

2010-12-08T12:23:00.001-08:00

Save Energy

http://www.energyhog.org/

2010-12-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

WATER-DASH! http://archive1.globalsolutions.org/games/2005games/waterdash.html

Environmental games for children

2010-12-08T12:18:00.001-08:00

THE O-ZONE http://archive1.globalsolutions.org/games/2005games/theozone.html

Ideas/Research for different tasks to improve environment on planets

2010-12-08T12:04:00.001-08:00

Research: Space-planets: cartoon style

2010-12-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

Research: Space-planets: realistic images

2010-12-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

Research: green landscape design

2010-12-08T10:24:00.001-08:00

Research for Character Design. Comment Please teammates! Do we prefer girls/boys character or animals?! Maybe we should do survey on this!?

2010-12-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

pipe game 2

2010-12-07T14:51:00.001-08:00

http://www.flashminigame.com/PLAY-MINI-GAMES/Puzzle-Games/player/6060-Sparks/

pipe game 1

2010-12-07T14:46:00.001-08:00

http://freeflashminigames.com/games/puzzle/flashpipes/flashpipes.php

CHECK OUT THIS Game TheGreenPlanet!!!

2010-11-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.thegreenplanet.co.uk/game/game1.htm

Suggestions for Kids to learn about:

2010-11-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

air pollution; air quality; alternative energy; eco friendly; eco products; global warming; going green; recycle; water pollution

Correlation of Environmental Education and Computer Games

2010-11-28T12:41:00.001-08:00

There are a large range of activities and interactive games that demonstrate the correlation of environmental education in schools in a great way. For Example, Green Planet, is an interactive computer game, in which the player is wanted to grow a greenhouse on the computer, using images and pictures gettable from a bank of resources presented along with.
Likewise, the Wild Chase, another suchlike game has a challenge for the players to fit in the animals’ body pieces such as horns and tails to that of the names offered, using animated pictures on the computer. A few other famous software packages that explicate the link between environmental education in schools in a much more pleasing mode include the Aquatic Breather, Smoke Killer, Ablaze Run and many more.
In fact, there have been a series of research campaigns that have been taken to analyse the correlation between environmental education and computer games. One of such recent studies examined the knowledge of environmental concepts between 2 student groups, one having studied thoroughly through books and other having learned through he medium of computers. The report concluded that the group which had utilized the computers to learn the concepts of environmental education had a much more sound and operating knowledge of the concepts than those who had used only books.
The correlation of environmental education and computer games can be well explained in light of the fact that students, especially the young learners always respond more pleasing to ways of learning that are more interactive and fun to practice.

camera glasses

2010-11-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.spycameraglasses.net/

playstaion move

2010-11-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ybHddDMgM&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ybHddDMgM&feature=related

kinect sports

2010-11-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V817dgHn54M&feature=related

Kinect better than Wii ?

2010-11-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMQaj1EIx58&feature=related

Narrative : birth of an idea?

2010-11-23T05:15:00.001-08:00

Yesterday evening, new meeting focus on the narrative.
the key words in the idea are : mission, message, game and education.
The topic : ecology, trip and space.
Through different planets of the univers, the user learns some gestures to save his own planet of the death.
He can fly, jump between the different planet thanks the technologies mentioned in the previous post.

New Idea?!

2010-11-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

The idea of body movement and projection with one screen, but body movements will not relate to dance experience...

The idea is (not confirmed yet): Save our Planet Earth, by learning how to take care of it.

First: Our planet:appears-damaged-Pollution, no plants-we need help, U can help!!!
User has a journey and mission to learn by jumping to other planets...and on each of the planet the user learn different things, like: dump the rubbish, plant the tree etc. When mission is exopmlisheyd, our Planet appears-new-live-green etc!

Technology: camera tracking and flash

Ostrich Flash

2010-11-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

Discover this website and try to play with the demo game.
http://ostrichflash.wordpress.com/

New day, new meeting, new idea...

2010-11-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

New meeting today, and the project moves...

After the presentation and the feedback, we have decided to reduce the size of the project.

Now we have different ideas for the interaction:
-> camera tracking into the eyes of the user (cf. video game). To do it, we are going to fix camera on glasses and on the screen it appears what the user is seeing.

OR

-> we use a pad, the user has to touch this pad with his feet (he can jump, do what he wants) and his action appears on the screen

OR

-> a system of movement's detection, with sensors on the floor or on the ceilling. We can memorize where is the user in the place.

We want to use Ostrich flash, it's a programmin gin flash which permits to mix a webcam with a flash animation. The user can catch, push, interact with object in the animation.

The target :
For EVERYBODY!!! : children, teenagers, adults, old people...
Our purpose is to do something fun, people can do something that they can't do in the life of everyday (fly, traval in the space...). For the moment it is large but we are going to refine when we will have our narrative.

The narrative :
It is our bigger problem, but we have meeting this evening with different students to have a feedback about our project.

new idea 1

2010-11-22T04:58:00.000-08:00

we could have an animated dancer on the screen and then user has to copy the the dancer move in order to complete the level. it could be educational

2010-11-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

This could be for sadness

2010-11-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

2010-11-08T06:19:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEdm6DhtBxo&feature=related

other annimation ideas

2010-11-08T06:18:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peWBh-IQlYI&NR=1

2010-11-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qvMa_JP7UM&feature=related

Presentations for CreativeDanceProject guys!!!

2010-11-08T05:31:00.000-08:00

Schedule for 3rd year group presentations 10th November 2010 Location P1138

10.00- BAIBA ENGELE, RONAN COOGAN, CLIO FUSEAU, JONATHAN COLLIER

Animation for happiness!!! Visuals!!!

2010-11-08T02:52:00.001-08:00

Animation for happiness!!! Visuals!!!

2010-11-08T02:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaWhHW9X_tY&feature=player_embedded

2010-11-08T02:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaWhHW9X_tY&feature=player_embedded

Happiness idea- annimation

2010-11-08T02:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwCn-D5xFdc&feature=related

"Hold Me", Contemporary Dance choreographed by Patrice Leroy

2010-11-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_fDqKuje_8

check out the link !

Contemporary future sound

2010-11-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

Contemporary future sounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFfyhu8eZn8 Baiba

2010-11-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

move board

annimation idea 2- lady and the reaper

2010-10-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

annimation idea-viral education 2.0. made by the students of coventry university

2010-10-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Success!

2010-10-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Was taking with Fiona Fearon- head of depart-humanities-she loves the project idea-and she will recommend us the dancers!

eye toy video

2010-10-27T03:51:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D_EniA3YZc

idea for dance

2010-10-27T03:46:00.001-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EyeToy:_Play

Space

2010-10-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Half circule-3D space- 3 screens-dancers moves in this space-looks more effective then 1 screen

Look and Feel-Visuals

2010-10-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Part-1
Colorful and light colours will be used to express the harmonies and lightness of their lives, because when they are in love-there is no worries in this life for them at that moment. The visuals like rose petals for example.

Part-2
As body movements will be faster and tense, the visuals will be programmed to be faster and striker and stronger images will be used. The colours will change to red -fight seen-red will represent blood. Maybe, blue and yellow will represent lightning, storm etc.

Baiba Engele

Narrative!

2010-10-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Part 1- Jessica and David are falling in love. Life is beautiful around them; happiness full fills their lives. They are experiencing joy and harmony.

Part 2- David had to leave town for a while for his family reasons. Then Jason appears on the scene. Jason and Jessica at first are friends, then get close, it develops more than friendship. Jason falls in love with Jessica. He tries to steel her love from David. Jessica is confused, because she loves two of these men. This love is different from one another. David comes back and sees what has happened while he was away. This is tens up part where Jason and David having a competition and this leads to climax part of the story- physical fight. During the fight Jessica gets hurt by accident, but David and Jason are too into themselves to notice that. David nocks Jason down, and lies there, disappears in the darkness…

Part 3 – Jessica is hurt she is suffering. David sees it and tries to help her to get up. She pushes him away, because she is full of anger and confusion about fight and what she has done/caused! She collapses on the flour. David picks up her and lifts her up in his hands. The Dancing and his acting will show his desperation, worry to help her. He puts her down on the flour. He dances compulsively around her showing his anger about what he has done during this fight (hurting her). There is the question-does she going to live or die? She slowly wakes up. He is asking her for forgiveness on his knees. She realizes what she has done. She forgives and ask for forgiveness to him-everything lightness up.

The final dance-happy ending, with the message-You hart may die but love never will!

We have to think More about TAG LINE!!! Any suggestions!!??

Baiba Engele

Bella/Edward/Jacob-LoveTriangle (different characteristics-meets together

2010-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAbfnXP3Urg&feature=related

Brilliant contemporary dancing-Love Triangle!!!

2010-10-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Check out the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANdQ7mB9EhA

John squire again

2010-10-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

some ideas for backgound graphics

2010-10-23T09:34:00.000-07:00