Research for Development practice

All posts for research in Development practice.

• Week 12 Free to play vs PremiumDecember 13, 2020
  In Week 2, our cohort discussed Free to play models of games. ‘Free to play’ games offer the gameplay free but ask for payment for upgrades for skins, weapons and upgrades. “In a week 2 video (around 10:50), the instructor mentions a hook (to bring players back) e.g. in free-to-play games you can buy a … Continue reading Week 12 Free to play vs Premium
• Week 11 The Art of ApproachDecember 13, 2020
  Real Works, The Art of Approach The Art of Approach covers the following topics: What makes a great CV? Opportunity Spotting and Planning your Approach Researching Employers Legendary LinkedIn profile builder: Cialdini’s 7th Persuasion Principle: Using Unity Speculative Application Planner Perseverance and re-framing rejection The Art of Approach covers familiar topics for a freelancer and … Continue reading Week 11 The Art of Approach
• Week 11 Personal brandingDecember 12, 2020
  “Have you made any steps towards creating a personal brand? The idea comes naturally to some, while to others, the very thought of building a personal brand can make them cringe. If you can get beyond the marketing hype and buzz words, a lot of the time the personal brand is more about reputations and … Continue reading Week 11 Personal branding
• Week 10 User StoriesDecember 11, 2020
  What is a user story? ‘ “A user story is a tool in Agile software development used to capture a description of a software feature from a user’s perspective” (Rouse and Francino 2020). “An Agile user story is meant to be short, usually fitting on a sticky note or note card” (Rouse and Francino 2020). “They place emphasis on … Continue reading Week 10 User Stories
• Week 10 Agile DevelopmentDecember 10, 2020
  The Agile Manifesto: “We are uncovering better ways of developingsoftware by doing it and helping others do it.Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items … Continue reading Week 10 Agile Development
• Game Off 2020December 1, 2020
  Game Off (sponsored by GitHub) runs from the 1st of November 2020 to the 1st of December 2020. The theme ‘Moonshot’ was announced on the 1st of November 2020 and entries could interpret the theme however they choose. A ‘Moonshot’, something unlikely to succeed but it does, is an apt theme. You could choose to … Continue reading Game Off 2020
• Week 9 Challenge ActivityNovember 17, 2020
  An informal Ethnography Report on Communities of Practice My focus for this ethnography report is on communities of practice I have recently begun to engage with on Discord (Ink, Spine and Adventure Creator). I am a fan of digital communities of practice that utilise Slack and Discord because I have more time to interact in online engagement. … Continue reading Week 9 Challenge Activity
• Week 9 Networking, conferences and communities of practice that align with my aspirations and goalsNovember 16, 2020
  Networking, conferences and communities of practice that align with my goals in art and animation, creative writing and research. Networking and Conferences As a naturally shy and awkward person, networking and conferences are something that I am still practising. My role at The Open University did involve attending conferences and talks (usually as part of … Continue reading Week 9 Networking, conferences and communities of practice that align with my aspirations and goals
• Week 8 Rapid Ideation 2 (Part One of Two)November 12, 2020
  “As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems” Global Game Jam (2009). The Rapid Ideation 2 theme is “As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems” (Global Game Jam 2009) followed three randomly generated articles in Wikipedia. I loved this idea along with … Continue reading Week 8 Rapid Ideation 2 (Part One of Two)
• Week 8: User and Audience Research and ActivityNovember 11, 2020
  Eric Geelhoed (2020) discusses the potential use of the online community for qualitative and quantitive methods of research. I have participated as a play tester in the following forms of user and audience research: OpenDev call for HumanKind – Played through three different setup examples of gameplay including combat, settling a city and resource and … Continue reading Week 8: User and Audience Research and Activity
• Week 7 Version controlNovember 6, 2020
  Week 7’s focus is on Version Control. While practising HTML5 and CSS for short courses on website design and development, I have submitted my work in GitHub (version control) for feedback. I also use GitHub to backup website projects I am working on sometimes. My Rapid Ideation 1 project Alchemy’s End made in Unity was saved and … Continue reading Week 7 Version control
• Develop | Brighton 2020November 5, 2020
  Develop:Brighton Digital 2020 Event: Nailing the Pitch: Practical Skills for Securing Multi-Million Pound Projects Objective-based document design (Wicks 2020). Nailing the Pitch, was a practical talk on how to present your game. As part of our assessment for this module, we are being asked to produce a capstone video, pitching our idea for a game … Continue reading Develop | Brighton 2020
• Week 6 Book and documentary reviewsNovember 3, 2020
  Book’s that have inspired and informed my imagination, creativity and creation in Development practice. This is not a complete list of my reading material during Development Practice. The Freelancer Bible (2012) – Essential reading for anyone looking to begin offering their knowledge, skills and experience as a freelancer. Horowitz, S. and Toni Sciarra Poynter (2012) … Continue reading Week 6 Book and documentary reviews
• Sprint 2 ReflectionOctober 26, 2020
  Material Week 4 Time Management Week 5 Reflection The Five Reflective Domains Week 6 Reading Week Rapid Ideation One Personal Development The Open University course ‘Succeeding in postgraduate study’ Games and Books reviews Develop:Brighton Reflect-in-action Please see my blog posts for Sprint 2 for my reflection in-action. Reflect-on-action Cyberpunk 2077 has been in the news … Continue reading Sprint 2 Reflection
• Week 5 Reflective WritingOctober 19, 2020
  For Week 5, we are looking at Reflective Writing in more detail. I have been practising writing in my blog for a few weeks now and reflecting on the materials, discussion topics and the challenge activities. For the Spark Forum, we looked at Reflect on-action, in-action and for-action. “Reflection-in-action is reflection during the ‘doing’ stage … Continue reading Week 5 Reflective Writing
• Week 4 Rapid Ideation One approach and planningOctober 11, 2020
  “One of the exciting aspects of a rapid ideation (RI) session is there is often a big reveal in terms of the theme or brief. Even the organisers do not know what the theme is until the start of an event. This is done through the use of random generators, such as Brian Eno’s Oblique … Continue reading Week 4 Rapid Ideation One approach and planning
• Week 3 Challenge activityOctober 5, 2020
  “One of the best ways to hone your prototyping skills is to reverse engineer the finished work of other practitioners you admire. This allows you to practise with the various tools and unpack the design theory behind the work in question. To complete this activity, identify an artefact you feel is particularly interesting. This could … Continue reading Week 3 Challenge activity
• Week 3 How AI is being usedOctober 5, 2020
  How is creativity being used by Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Colton’s (2020) discussion on Computation Creativity first struck chords of 1984 and other dystopian novels. AI ‘creating’ without any intervention from humankind, at the moment, is not possible, but even with human intervention, it feels a little creepy. “Creativity— the ability to produce ideas or artefacts … Continue reading Week 3 How AI is being used
• Week 2 Challenge ActivitySeptember 27, 2020
  “Now we have explored a variety of techniques for helping to foster creativity and generate new ideas, let’s experiment with some of these ideation techniques. Begin this activity by selecting one or more of the ideation techniques discussed this week, then apply them to the following challenge:1. Choose an existing artefact that is the output … Continue reading Week 2 Challenge Activity
• Week 2 What is creativity?September 26, 2020
  Spark Forum: “Think about times when you have needed to channel your own creativity. What did you do to foster this and did it change the way you see things” (Falmouth University 2020)? A blank page or canvas is something I spend a lot of time staring at, and I can find the same difficulty … Continue reading Week 2 What is creativity?
• Game reviewsSeptember 24, 2020
  ‌An academic review of indie games and indie game studios related to my practice: Astrologaster (2019) Can games focused on history find success in the gaming world? Education, history, a great sense of humour Astrologaster is a blast. It is informative, as well as good fun and witty. Playing as Dr Simon Forman, a real person … Continue reading Game reviews
• Week 1 A research listSeptember 24, 2020
  Setting up Once I received my student number, email and information I began right away to research access for free software. Importantly if I want to commercialise a game some software I am accessing will no longer be free, I will be mindful that this may become unaffordable for a small indie games developer like … Continue reading Week 1 A research list