Blog Moving Home

This blog was set up as a project blog, part of a college submission: Masters in Creative Digital Media, DIT (http://ludicra.tumblr.com/). Now that the masters is finished (and attained) the blog will move to a new home, on the Fionndeal and Nuggs website, as the project continues towards completion and a commercial release, scheduled for about mid April.

This blog’s entires will continue to be dual posted on this site for a about a month’s time.

To ensure you can keep up with developments please visit the new blog at http://fionndelandnuggs.com/wp/?cat=5.

Many thanks.

Mobile Devices More Popular with Children

Some new research into the attitudes of children and parents to their use of media has shown that children are more likely to use mobile devices (phones and tablets) than  traditional devices such as PCs and laptops.

Children are going online via a wider range of devices

Internet access via a PC, laptop or netbook is increasingly being supplemented by access via other devices. All age groups are more likely in 2012 to go online using a tablet computer, and children aged 5-7 and 12-15 are also more likely to go online using a mobile phone. Children aged 5-7 are also less likely than in 2011 to go online using a PC, laptop or netbook (58% vs. 65% in 2011).

       Children and parents: media use and attitudes report,
Oct 2012, Ofcom

For more on this research you can read the full report here:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/oct2012/main.pdf

Story is hard. Story is fragile. Story is expensive.

Story is hard. Story is fragile. Story is expensive. Players chew through it fast, and expect it to be endlessly responsive to their actions. Writing one good straight story is hard enough at the best of times. Producing one that’s expected to last twenty times as long as most feature films and have a hundred credible endings is next to impossible.

So how do we fix that problem?

Margaret Robertson.

This is a fascinating insight into creating stories for games from the noted game designer Margaret Robertson (of Hide&Seek). Well worth checking out.

http://futureofstorytelling.org/film/?id=17

Tablet Attention, Kids v Adults

In a recent article, Tablet storytelling is visual, tappable, deep on Poynter.org Sara Quinn and Karen Dunlap wrote about research done into how users use tablets to access news. More people who use tablets when accessing content will stay longer with that provider than if using a smartphone. They also require a multi-sensory approach to help keep them focused:

Poynter’s eyetracking study showed a strong tendency for tablet users to focus on content by keeping nearly constant contact with the screen — touching, tapping, pinching and swiping frequently.

In an educational context this seems diametrically opposed to how children concentrate when using tablets. Research has show that kids can be distracted by too much interaction and that this can devalue the learning process for children. I have first hand experience of this: my own child was distracted by interactive elements in a story to the point that he didn’t know what the story was about.

In his article Teaching With Tablets: For Young Readers, It’s Interaction vs. Distraction, Kirk Cheyfitz discusses the idea of learning and the use if interaction in apps. Cheyfitz quotes Michael Milone, who believes there will be two schools of thought ..

..in the education establishment as different camps fight to distinguish between teaching and merely entertaining

At what point to we move from the child perpective to the adult perspective and require multi-sensory content to hold our focus? And is this focus genuine absorption of information or just a lingering due to multi-sensory activity? An eye tracking study is not proof of knowledge acquired (this information will be of great value to online marketeers though). Further study needs to be done, in the meantime the debate will go on for some time to come. Links to the articles can be found here:

http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/visual-voice/206747/tablet-storytelling-is-visual-tappable-deep/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kirk-cheyfitz/teaching-with-tablets_b_1227236.html

 

Solo Game Design

There is an excellent guest post on the Corona Labs blog today by Hugo Bonacci, Creator of King-Fu Clash.

He outlines what he considers best practice for solo game designers. Working on your own can be a daunting task and many designers can can buckle under the weight of the tasks that result in trying to complete a project entirely on your own.

Bonacci gives may useful tips on how to stay on top of things which I have listed below adding in a few of my own:

plan on paper – don’t get stuck into code too early
create a list of core requirements – don’t get bogged down in details early on
create a asset list: sprites, graphcis, music, etc.
list of extra functions – user settings, etc.
solo does not mean isolated – post updates and give demos, the feedback will help keep you motivated
stayed organized – lists should be categorised an divided into ‘open’ and ‘closed’ with individual tasks prioritised within each list
stay organised – use meaningful folder structure – code folder, assets folder (sprites, backgorunds, music, …), data folder, etc.
use plugins or other software – Flash, Photoshop, etc. are not just good for creating graphic assets but also useful for creating mock-ups, previewing ideas, and auto-mating image tasks (ie creating sprite sheets, iOS icons, …)
reuse code – any game functions are used repeatedly should go in code functions
reuse code – use 3rd party external libraries – if there is already code available to do a task you require don’t be afraid to use it (if permissible). Word of warning here: an external library made come with more code that you need and present other problems when implemented. Only use it of it does exactly what you want. If you need to debug it and you don’t understand it (highly possible if written by somebody else) you are probably better off writing the script yourself.
comment your code – write as many useful comments as you can
delete redundant code – never leave code that does nothing in your files, it will only confuse

Bonacci’s post can be found here:
http://www.coronalabs.com/blog/2013/03/08/guest-post-making-progress-as-a-solo-mobile-game-developer/

Mother’s Education most Important Influence on a Child’s Well Being

A new a study by researchers at UCD has revealed that the single most importnat factor for the well being of a child is the education level attained by the mother. It has been known for sometime that the education levels of parents impact on the literacy development of their children but this study goes further claiming that the overall well being of a child (one presumes this means quality of life) can be narrowed down to one sigle factor above all others – a mother’s education. This factor is even put ahead of parents staying together for the sake of their children.
For more on this report see link:

http://www.ucd.ie/news/2013/01JAN13/140113-Mothers-education-trumps-marriage-or-co-habitation-when-it-comes-to-well-being-of-children-study-shows.html

Will 2013 be an ‘Appier Time for Technology in the Irish Education System?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many people were lucking enough to get a new iPad as a Christmas gift this year*.  With the increasing popularity of mobile technology as an educational tool how is the Irish educational sector coping with technology in the classroom? Are teaching staff comfortable with using new technology and is the Department of Education and Skills guiding schools with and effective technology policy? In a recent article for the Irish Times (2012) J. J. Worral investigates the use of technology in Irish Schools. He notes thats thought the thought the Department of Educational and Skills have outlined a purchasing framework for schools investing in information technology it is done on an ‘ad hoc’ basis and the responsibility often falls on the shoulders of the one teacher that shows most interest in ICT. Worral also notes that some teachers are reluctant to use the technology that is available in case it fails them during class an results in time lost while other teachers fear that the technology may replace them altogether. Teachers require to be up-skilled and given a support mechanism in order to utilize technology in the classroom most effectively. Despite the lack of official support, some schools are forging ahead and have purchased new technology for their classes. Worral (2012) quotes Peter Creedon, principal of St Aidan’s Primary School in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford who have supplied their school with iPads:

“Once the devices are in the classroom all the time as opposed to being in a separate computer room, they become a teaching tool and I think over time they’ll become an integral part of what’s expected to be in the classroom, the same as pencils, pens and erasers,” he says.

For the full article click here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1213/1224327801329.html

* CNN Fortune are quoting 87% increase in downloads on Christmas Day from the Apple’s App Store year on year: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/28/apple-iphone-ipad-christmas-sales/?iid=F_blogM