Week 10 Class Notes

Class Paint

Github Pull Requests

Merging the new Tools into Class Paint

Class Paint Discussion

Class Paint Awards

• Most Useful
• Most Beautiful
• Strangest
• Craziest
• Most Interesting
• Most Complicated
• Most Elegant
• Most Natural
• Least Natural
• Most Fun
• Least Fun
• Hardest to Use
• Best All Around

Classifying Interactions

We have discussed varying degrees of interactivity. What categories can we divide interactive artifacts into?

Three Act Narrative Structure

Act 1	Act 2	Act 3
Exposition	Rising Action	Climax
Setup	Struggle	Resolution

Act 1

• introduce setting and characters
• introduce conflict

Act 2

• develop characters: show how they respond to conflict
• develop conflict: show progress, introduce challenges
• build tension

Act 3

• reveal outcome of conflict
• wrap up story

Yodelberg

See: Wikipedia, TVTropes

Tell a Story in Three Sentences

• write a story in three sentences
• partner up, read story out loud, revise story
• read story to class

How to write a proposal

Writing a proposal requires two things: choosing an idea to propose and writing about the idea.

Choosing

1. Start tonight. Write down every idea you can think of. Sleep on it.
2. Tomorrow. Pick the best idea that you are confident you can successfully complete. If you are stuck between two idea, ask a friend or stranger to pick for you.
3. Commit your heart to the idea. Discard, destroy, and forget all the other ideas.

Don’t decide how to spend your weekend on Sunday.

Your idea matters. Your idea matters less then you think.

Writing

1. Start this weekend. Type out the outline below. Fill in each section with initial ideas as bullet points. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or even if what your write makes sense.
2. Google around for reference images and projects. If (when) you have ideas for your project, add them to your lists.
3. Sleep on it.
4. Start working your bullet lists into actual writing. Start worrying about making sense.
5. Google around for reference images and projects, again. If (when) you have ideas for your project, add them to your writing.
6. Sleep on it.
7. Read your writing out loud to a human being. Edit the sentences as you go.Repeat.
8. Sleep on it.
9. Find a fried to read and markup your final writing. No one edits their own work very well. Encourage them to point out things they don’t understand. Review their notes with them, then make your final revisions.

In short: List, Research, Sleep, Write, Research, Sleep, Read, Revise, Sleep, Finish

Final Assignment

The final assignment begins today and is due for crit at the start of our final class. Each week a specific milestone will be due.

Class	Agenda
Week 10, November 6	Due: Tool Merge Classifying Interactions Discussion / Narrative Workshop / Intro Final
Week 11, November 13	Due: Proposal Research + Writing Creating Proposals + Treatments / Individual Meetings / In class work
Week 12, November 20	Due: Proposal Decks w/ Comps Group Crits / In class work
No Class, November 27	Thanksgiving Break
Week 13, December 4	Due: POC Special Topic Demos / Group Crits / In class work
Week 14, December 11	Due: WIP Special Topic Demos / Group Crits / In class work
Week 15, December 18	Due: Final Project Final Crit

Requirements

“Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem — the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible — his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints.” – Charles Eames

Assignment Prompt: Three Scene Interactive Narrative

Create an interactive narrative in three acts. Each act will combine interaction, image, and text to convey its part of the narrative. Each act should lead into the next, creating a full story that user participates in.

This assignment is about exploring an intersection of traditional narrative storytelling with interactivity. In creating your story be especially mindful of the role of the user. Are they an outside observer who’s actions have little influence over the story (a less interactive approach)? Are they in the role of the protagonist, and must find a way to address the conflict (more interactive)? Do they take the role of a god, influencing the world of the characters, but not participating? How do their interactions change their experience?

• Your story should be told in three distinct acts, following the three act structure discussed in class.
• Each act must have at least on “screen” or "page", but you may have additional pages as suits your story. For example you may want to show several challenges in your Act II, or may want final page after the conflict to resolve the story.
• Your story plot and characters should be entirely original. No remakes, reboots, or fanfics.
• Your images must be original and created by you. You may use digital or physical media to create your images.
• You must use text, image, and interaction in each act to convey your story.
• Each page must feature a prominent interaction that supports and advances the story.

Alternate Assignment Prompt: Game

APPROVAL REQUIRED: You must get approval, in class today, to pursue this prompt for the final.

Create a single player game in p5. The nature of your game is up to you, but it must have a defined objective and require skill to win. This alternate assignment will require a greater amount of self-direction and technical exploration.

Requirements:

• Must have an objective
• Must have one or more factors that create a challenge
• Must be winnable and losable
• Success must be determined primary by skill, not luck.
• Your game should be original, but it may feature
• Your images must be original and created by you. You may use digital or physical media to create your images.
• Your game setting, characters (if any), etc. should be entirely original. No remakes or reboots.
• Your game may use existing game mechanics (it would be very challenging not to), but you should try to distance it from any particular game.
• Your game must feature sounds effects that accent game events. Use the p5 sound library, which you will need to explore on your own.
• Should have at least the following "screens": title screen, game screen, win screen, lose screen

Alternate Assignment Prompt: Creative Tool

APPROVAL REQUIRED: You must get approval, in class today, to pursue this prompt for the final.

Create a creative tool in p5. This tool should allow an artist/designer to create an original work of some kind. Examples include image and music making applications. This alternate assignment will require a greater amount of self-direction and technical exploration.

Requirements:

• Must allow the user to create something
• Must allow user to export creation, see: p5.js save
• Should allow a wide range of expression

Milestone 1: Proposal Research + Writing

Due Next Week

For next week, figure out what you are going to make and spend some time developing the details of your plan. Spend some time this week picking a project that you want to make and you are confident you can make.

You can’t change your project after this week.

You’ll be doing a lot of writing this week and a little reference research, each of the components below is required. Collect all your writing together in a single text file, with clear headings. Name your reference images well organize them.

Next week bring print outs of your research and writing. Your writing should be printed in black and white, 10 - 12 point type, double spaced for editing. Print double sided if possible to save paper. Your images should be printed in color, 6 to 8 up. Collect all of you printout in your folder. Also bring all of this to class digitally next week.

Next week I’ll be showing several pitches and treatments for large scale interactive and animation projects. For next weeks assignment you will create comps showing exactly how your project will look and lay out your writing, research, and comps into a professional pitch deck.

Introduction (150+ words)

• Explain your proposed project.
• Describe what are you making?
• Include the motivation for making the project. (Don’t frame it as an assignment response)
• Include the theme and tone of your story.
• Describe the user takeaway. What do you want the audience to feel, learn, or think about?
• Describe the format. (e.g. web-based interactive storybook)
• Address an audience is unfamiliar with this class and this assignment.
• Don’t tell your story in this section.

Three Sentence Story (60 or less words)

• Write your story in three clear sentences.
• Follow the three act structure discussed in class.

Note: If you are doing the game or tool, describe the gameplay, objective, and challenges in three sentences.

Full Story (100+ words)

• Write your story out in three labeled acts.
• Follow the three act structure discussed in class.
• This will be the text of your story as you would like it to appear in your project.
• Consider breaking your text into pages within the acts.

Description/User Scenario (100 to 200 words)

• Describe what the user will experience when they interact with your project.
• In interactive experiences, each user may have a different experience. Focus on a single path through your project.
• Start with the user opening your project, end when the experience ends.

Interaction Storyboards (3+ storyboards)

• Create an interaction storyboard for each “page” in your narrative.
• Design interactions for each page that support the meaning or tone of your story.
• Use captions to explain the user’s actions and the project response.
• You can use the template from the storyboarding assignment.
• You can draw your storyboards by hand or digitally, be neat and clean.
• Do not worry about the specific composition or style of your application in the storyboards, focus on user interaction.

Reference Projects (3 project summaries, 100+ words each)

Find three projects that have inspiring aspects. Write mini-reviews explaining each project and relating them to your project. At least one of your reference projects should be interactive. At least one should be non-interactive.

For each project include the following:

• Project Title
• Project Authors
• Brief description
• Your view of the projects primary strength
• Possibly include discussion of project weaknesses if relevant
• Relating the project to your proposed project. Show how the reference project could positively influence your work.
• Collect 2 to 3 images for each project.
• If possible include a web link to the project.

Style Reference (20-30 images)

Collect images that exemplify stylistic elements you will be trying to capture in your project. Look for reference for media, tone, style, mood, lighting, scale, and texture. You may include up to 5 images of your own work, if applicable.

Google Image Search Artstation Behance

Staffing Plan, Budget, and Production Calendar

Almost every proposal we send out includes a staffing plan, a budget, and speculative production calendar. You don’t need to make one: you are the whole staff, you’ve got no budget, and the calendar is outlined above.