Progress Report 10/30/14

Progress: 
This week Ryan and I have been focusing more on learning how to use MindWave because it has arrived and it is essential for our video game. To do this, we have been testing out apps run with MindWave. Right now we have only tested three apps. One app helps us learn how to control our attention. It does this by making us burn a barrel with the value of our attention. The more attention we are putting on the barrel the more it burns. The other app helps us control our meditation by making a ball float higher and higher as you start to relax your mind.  The last app includes a set of math problems that we have to solve in a short period of time. This game helps us in both aspects of meditation and attention because we cannot let the time limit intimidate us, and the same time we have to be attentive in order to solve the problems.

We have also learned how to read the values for meditation and attention. When the value for meditation and attention increases that means that we are more calm and attentive. We've noticed that for the most part, meditation and attention are inversely proportional. This means that as one of them increases, the other decreases. It is very difficult to be both calm and attentive, but that is why we use the third app that includes the set of math problems.

Problem:
Helana has officially transferred out of ELRO and is being homeschooled so we cannot count on her for this project. Another problem that we have is that we do not know how to interpret raw data. We also do not know how to record the data straight from MindWave.

Plan: 
We plan to find a data recoding method. After finding a method, we want to record data from students in the STEM class under a mental stimuli that is kept constant. We hope that this data will further our understanding of how the brain responds to certain conditions. With that in mind, we hope to use the conclusions analysed from this information to develop a game that is more realistic.

In parallel, we have to keep watching tutorials on Maya and Java because we cannot just forget about that aspect of the game.

Progress Report 10/23/14

Progress: 
This week Ryan and I have been watching more video tutorials on Java and Maya. We are spending a lot of time doing this because those are the two main components to creating our video game. Aside from the videos, we've been thinking about ways to use biofeedback. From our research, we learned that there are few patents for biofeedback. Because of this, we know that there is a large and broad field for biofeedback that needs to be filled in. We do not want to limit ourselves to just biofeedback in video games, even though that is our priority at the moment. We want to create an entire industry where biofeedback can be used in many different/innovative ways. For example, those who are in wheel chairs cannot drive a car. Using biofeedback, we could enable those who are paralyzed to drive a car through their brain activity. The picture provided below explains what we want to do.

Also, MindWave arrived, so we hope to start programming it by next week.

Problem:
Helana has been feeling ill and has not been in school for a whole week. If she does not come this upcoming week, then we will be at a great disadvantage because she is the one who knows how to code the most. She was supposed to teach us how to use Java and Maya.

Plan: 
Because we cannot count on Helana at this moment, we're going to have to start taking on her role of the project. Both Ryan and I will have to learn how to code along with our designated task. This means that I have to keep learning about Maya and Ryan has to keep learning about Java.

Progress Report 10/16/14

Problem: 
Missing Patents and the skills/programs required to make the game.

Solution:
This week was very important for us because we started learning the skills that are essential for the creation of our game. For example, I have started watching tutorials on how to use Maya, a program that is used for 3D animation. This is very essential because our video game is going to need animations. While watching a video tutorial on youtube I found out that there is a free student version that is fairly similar to the full version of Maya. Right now I am taking things slowly, so I have only learned the basics (I have yet to actually create anything). Ryan and Helana started watching Java tutorials. Learning about Java is an important aspect to our project because it helps us program our game. To use Java, we downloaded NetBeans. The reason we focused on the skillful aspects of the project this week is because we are currently waiting for our MindWave order to arrive.

Maya Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZxQPVjGOrY

Java Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBWX97e1E9

This week we also started finding patents for MindWave/Biofeedback in Video Games. Some patents that we found include:

• http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=26&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(%22463%22%2F36.CCLS.)&OS=CCL/%22463%22/36&RS=CCL/%22463%22/36

• http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=43&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(%22463%22%2F36.CCLS.)&OS=CCL/%22463%22/36&RS=CCL/%22463%22/36

• http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=46&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(%22463%22%2F40.CCLS.)&OS=CCL/%22463%22/40&RS=CCL/%22463%22/40

Plan: 

Andres: I am going to keep watching the tutorial of Maya so that by next week I will be able to make animations such as swords, blocks, and the maze. 

Helana: She will continue to program and teach Ryan how to use Java. 

Ryan: He will develop ideas on how to implement biofeedback in the game that we plan on making. 

Progress Report - 10/9/14

Problem:
Deciding which platform to make our game on. Another problem that we have is that Helana is absent a lot because of her health, so we lack a lot of communication.

Progress/Solution:
This week we've decided that we are going to create a prototype of the game that we want to create. This means that instead of actually designing the monsters, we'll have blocks representing them. We want to do this just to demonstrate that our concept works. Once we finish the prototype, we'll create the real game with the real monsters. We have also started working on designing the maze because it will provide a basis. More importantly, we decided that we want you to order MindWave.
       
On other matters, Helana has decided that she wants the platform to be on PC because you can do more programming on PCs than on Macs. We are still not entirely set on whether or not the game will be an app or a full out game. To solve the problems our team have when Helana is absent, we have exchanged phone numbers so that we can communicate more easily.  Lastly, we have developed a survey to see what everyday students like to see in horror games.

Survey:

Plan:
For next week, I will work more on designing the maze, Helana will start programming, and Ryan will help both of us. Ryan will also gather more information on what people want to see in our game.

Progress Report - 10/2/14

Problem: We spent too much time focusing on biofeedback and not enough time on the actual video game.

Solution/Progress: Over the course of this week, our team has been working on creating a design for the video game that we plan on making. We first decided on the genre and the storyline of the game. We decided that just like "Nevermind", we are going to make it a horror game in order to make use of the biofeedback. We have also decided that the game will take place in a labyrinth, where there are going to be monsters waiting at every corner. In the beginning of the game, the player will have the option of choosing their weapon, varying from a sword to magic. Then we thought about the implementation that biofeedback will have on the gameplay. We decided that the emotions picked up using MindWave, the biofeedback mechanism we decided on using, will determine the difficulty of the monsters. If the player is scared/panicked, the monsters will increase in power, therefore making it more difficult for the player. However, if the player learns to calm him or herself down, then the monsters will become easier to kill. Depending on other emotions that are picked up, there will be power drops that will help the player navigate their way through the maze. We still have yet to determine the levels of the game and the actual animation of the maze, but we feel that we have made great progress.

                                                           Inspiration for Labyrinth 

Plan: For next week, we have decided to divide the work. I am going to work on the design of the game. This includes the animations and the gameplay. Helana will experiment with coding and programming. She will also decide which coding program to use. Lastly Ryan will be doing more research on biofeedback so that we can understand how MindWave works.