Renee Rose-Perry
Project Research
Small World is a board game that was created in 2009 and is highly ranked among several well known game review sites. The game is growing in popularity and received Game’s Magazine Award best new game 2010. Days of Wonder, the creators of the game, recently released an official Small World Game App, this is app is played online with other ipad owners. Apart from the iPad game version there are currently no other Small World Apps available for the iphone or ipad.
One of Days of Wonder’s main competitors is Rio Grande Games. Both companies offer iphone app versions of their games. There have also been several third party apps released that are meant to be used alongside the real board game versions of the games. These apps are used to assist players in gameplay and give quick access to often cumbersome and lengthy rule sheets. Currently a third party app for Small World does not exist despite it’s popularity.
Several similar apps I researched were created for another popular game called Dominion. The apps are used to create lists and bring randomization to the game.
One of the most cumbersome pieces of the original Small World game are the large character sheets handed out to each player and the pips dice. There is an opportunity to replace these game pieces with a third party Small World App. A recent expansion for the game was released, called Tales and Legends. This involves a set of cards that are randomly used throughout game play. I have several friends who own this game and 4 of the 5 owners expressed a desire to see these cards created as an app to be used alongside the game. All owners expressed a desire to have a handy reference for the game tokens since game play often requires a lot of clarification.
MM2201 Interface Design
Monday, September 20, 2010
Forms Homework - Bad
This form fails in 2 main categories. It is hard to follow /complete and its appearance does not build trust nor maintain branding.
Branding: Overall the entire site needs help in this category. Specifically with this form it tries to group the fields into multiple categories with a yellow bar and horizontal line. This yellow color does not appear anywhere else on the site, in addition they could have used a font that went more with the look of the rest of the site.
Although that gradient bar is hideous, they could have tied it in with the submit button.
Appearance: It is very hard to read the white on yellow text. Visually if you squint the entire thing kind of looks like a double stuffed vanilla golden oreo:
The main thing is that this form does not look trustworthy. The main thing that stands out to me is that if I click submit I will be charge $75, this is not inviting nor does it create trust.
The worst part is the address section:
You can't tell what text box goes with what label. Also the 3 boxes for City/State/Province should not be on the same line.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Final Project Personas
Personas
Ben is 24 years old and has a background in film and television. As a teenager he had always been very interested in developing his own stories and bringing them to life in video.
He got his first taste of being in front of the camera at a very young age when his parents had him audition for several TV commercials. This later lead to a few small part in some feature length films where he played the roles like "the friend next door" and "the main timeshift actor (the younger version of the main actor)".
Since graduating from Highschool Ben, went on to study writing for screen and tv video. He is primarily interested in visual story telling but having earned himself a SAG card Ben does a few acting jobs from time to time. While waiting around on set, Ben is constantly using his iphone.
He has a new imac at home that he uses to complete his school projects. When the iphone G4 was released Ben wanted to be one of the first to have one so he waited in line all day, he is accustomed to waiting around.
A story developer app would be perfect for Ben because he often gets his ideas for stories from real encounters with the people he meets.
One of his biggest fears is forgetting a concept or idea however he hates having to transfer his hand written notes to his personal computer. When he gets an idea he wants to copy /record it quickly.
Eliza is 37 years old and lives in Portland, Oregon. She has lived in Portland for 9 years and considers it home. She and her husband moved to Portland from the Bay Area. They bought their first home in Portland and moved there to start a family.
They were attracted to area because of it's affordability compared to California and because it has one of the largest bookstores, Powell's books. Eliza and her husband were also attracted to the art scene that at the time of their arrival was just emerging.
Eliza maintains a blog that mostly features posts on the local art and book events. She has an iphone 3G and an older macbook. She is planning on buying the new iphone 4G and giving her 3G to her husband. She recently discovered how to upload posts to her blog directly from her iphone.
She and her husband have an interest in young-adult fantasy and science fiction novels. They have both been interested in writing their own stories but have little experience. Eliza's husband works full time for a graphic design firm. She curates and coordinates events for the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts. Since she recently discovered how to use her phone for blogging she is curious if there are any apps that will allow her to keep track of her many projects and artistic ideas.
Tony is 34 years old and has a background in 3d modeling for video games. However, Tony recently left the industry to pursue an advanced degree in Illustration. While working for the video game company he was able to save up a lot of money, so he is able to attend school without having to depend heavily on loans. He does work part time as a figure/life drawing instructor at a small local gallery that holds open workshops.
Besides wanting to obtain a higher level degree, Tony also wanted a break from the video game industry because he disliked having to take orders from some of his art directors whom he often found to be confusing and lacking in any "real" art skills themselves.
He is interested in developing his own projects but he is not sure exactly what form these projects will take. He believes that having the higher degree give him some more opportunities.
He is a frequent player of online video games and owns a high performance PC, that he customized himself and a small mac laptop. His parents bought him an iphone 3GS, he is on a shared phone plan with them. In addition to the normal texting and phone options he uses his phone to listen to podcasts and check his email. He also has several apps related to some online, role-playing, and standard board games.
Ben is 24 years old and has a background in film and television. As a teenager he had always been very interested in developing his own stories and bringing them to life in video.
He got his first taste of being in front of the camera at a very young age when his parents had him audition for several TV commercials. This later lead to a few small part in some feature length films where he played the roles like "the friend next door" and "the main timeshift actor (the younger version of the main actor)".
Since graduating from Highschool Ben, went on to study writing for screen and tv video. He is primarily interested in visual story telling but having earned himself a SAG card Ben does a few acting jobs from time to time. While waiting around on set, Ben is constantly using his iphone.
He has a new imac at home that he uses to complete his school projects. When the iphone G4 was released Ben wanted to be one of the first to have one so he waited in line all day, he is accustomed to waiting around.
A story developer app would be perfect for Ben because he often gets his ideas for stories from real encounters with the people he meets.
One of his biggest fears is forgetting a concept or idea however he hates having to transfer his hand written notes to his personal computer. When he gets an idea he wants to copy /record it quickly.
Eliza is 37 years old and lives in Portland, Oregon. She has lived in Portland for 9 years and considers it home. She and her husband moved to Portland from the Bay Area. They bought their first home in Portland and moved there to start a family.
They were attracted to area because of it's affordability compared to California and because it has one of the largest bookstores, Powell's books. Eliza and her husband were also attracted to the art scene that at the time of their arrival was just emerging.
Eliza maintains a blog that mostly features posts on the local art and book events. She has an iphone 3G and an older macbook. She is planning on buying the new iphone 4G and giving her 3G to her husband. She recently discovered how to upload posts to her blog directly from her iphone.
She and her husband have an interest in young-adult fantasy and science fiction novels. They have both been interested in writing their own stories but have little experience. Eliza's husband works full time for a graphic design firm. She curates and coordinates events for the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts. Since she recently discovered how to use her phone for blogging she is curious if there are any apps that will allow her to keep track of her many projects and artistic ideas.
Tony is 34 years old and has a background in 3d modeling for video games. However, Tony recently left the industry to pursue an advanced degree in Illustration. While working for the video game company he was able to save up a lot of money, so he is able to attend school without having to depend heavily on loans. He does work part time as a figure/life drawing instructor at a small local gallery that holds open workshops.
Besides wanting to obtain a higher level degree, Tony also wanted a break from the video game industry because he disliked having to take orders from some of his art directors whom he often found to be confusing and lacking in any "real" art skills themselves.
He is interested in developing his own projects but he is not sure exactly what form these projects will take. He believes that having the higher degree give him some more opportunities.
He is a frequent player of online video games and owns a high performance PC, that he customized himself and a small mac laptop. His parents bought him an iphone 3GS, he is on a shared phone plan with them. In addition to the normal texting and phone options he uses his phone to listen to podcasts and check his email. He also has several apps related to some online, role-playing, and standard board games.
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