Bethany Miller - week 3 - 6/24/09

Bethany Miller- week 3 - 6/24/09
1. What was planned?
- complete logging
- add quicksort
- fix tutorial

2. What was done?
- new tutorial screens
- fixed bugs
- IRB approval
- contacted teachers and posted flyers for study

3.Problems encountered
Quick sort has been more difficult than we thought. Other problems were encountered during game play that had to be fixed so it put us a little behind on working with quick sort.

4. What did you learn?
We had to review quicksort in order to be able to implement it.

5. Whats planned for next week?
- finish up Bunny Generals
- conduct study with participants
- announce to classes
- start on next game

Antoine Campbell Weekly Report 6-22-09 & 6-29-09

1. What was planned?
* -Review the returned IRB Paperwork
* -Put the finishing touches on Selection Sort
* -Implement Quick Sort or Merge Sort
* -Set some goals for functionality for the first study
* -Implement all tutorial screens
* -Start on Heap game with Amanda
* -Finish a Heap Challenge
* -Make a Program to evaluate logs

2. What was done?
*Revised IRB paperwork and received Approval
*Finished Selection Sort
*Decided no to implement Quick Sort in the prototype
*Finished the Prototype version of Bunny Generals for the study
*Finished tutorial screens for Prototype
*Began Working on Heap Game
*Finished first Simple Heap Game challenge
*Put off Logging evaluator until later
*Finished Selection Sort

3. Problems encountered?
*Coding Quick Sort was very complicated compared to the other sorts
*The Dark Wynter Engine is large and took a while to learn what classes we should be in
*Finals week messed with our plans to run the study, we have to delay a week until classes start again.

4. What did you learn this week?
*Heaps
*Dark Wynter Engine stuff

5. What's planned for next week?
*Complete another challenge allowing students code to modify the heap level in real time
*Contact professors to recruit students and get permission to visit the classes

6. Hours worked.
*80 hours(two weeks)

Christie's Week 3 Reflection

Reflection

1. What was planned?

* complete iPhone tutorial

* brainstorm about the STARS game

 

2. What was done?

* iPhone app

- merged views

- objective C tutorial

* updated website

* Paper and Game review

 

3. Problems encountered?

I am becoming more familiar with Objective C within the iPhone framework, however I found the interface builder to be a bit confusing.  Working with Eve helped me become more comfortable using this tool.

 

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)

This week I learned a lot about our team from spending time together at Charelston which was nice.  I am constantly learning more about the iPhone from working with it so much.  Also, planning for the STARS Conference Game has given me insight into project planning and project management.

 

5. What's planned for next week?

* Finish iPhone Tutorial

* Maya tutorial (personal)

* Planning/Coding for the STARS game

 

6. Hours worked. * 40

Rachel Brinkman - Week 3 - 6/23/09

1. What was planned?
- Finish the iPhone tutorial
- Build a prototype of the conference game (this week and next week)
- Begin work on the Dance Tool?

2. What was done?
- Worked on iPhone tutorial - added 3D transitioning views, multi-touch zooming, and a single tap changes the color of the cube. Also added a light source.
- Developed and pitched an iPhone/iPod Touch game idea for the conference. The working title is Co-op Table Tilt Game. The pitch and screen mockups will be posted soon to the Codendi Game Ideas Wiki.

3. Problems encountered?
- Ran into trouble with registering multiple touches on the iPhone - wasn't sure if it was an error with the simulator or the math. The simulator seems to register the first touch as the origin and then calculates the second touch as a distance ratio based on the first touch's position. This led to wrapping issues near the edges of the window, and unexpected behavior when not zooming on a diagonal from the origin. The math for determining whether to zoom in or out simply takes the two touch points and runs them through the distance formula, and depending on whether the distance between the two points is growing or shrinking, the image is scaled up or down, respectively. However, when we deployed the app to the iPhone, the problem was actually exacerbated, so it probably isn't a problem with the simulator. The math seems sound, so it must have something to do with the registration of the touch positions. Perhaps using the distance formula is the wrong approach, given the way touches are registered?

- I originally planned to have each face of the cube be a different color, and when the user tapped a face, it would change that face's color. Unfortunately, although I could get the screen coordinates of the tap, it is not possible to select a particular pixel and get its color on the iPhone. Unless I cast a ray and intersected it with the face, I wouldn't be able to determine the location of the tap. Since ray casting seemed like overkill, I opted to just make the cube one color, and tap on the cube to change the entire cube's color.

- Lighting was very problematic, mostly because the iPhone does not allow most of the typical OpenGL methods for drawing. I enabled GL_LIGHTING, a light, and set the shader model to GL_SMOOTH (as opposed to FLAT). I calculated all of the surface normals and set the material properties, but the cube was still in grayscale. After a lot of hunting around, I found that I had not enabled GL_COLOR_MATERIAL! After that was set, lighting worked as expected.

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)
- Learned about the touch interface for the iPhone
- Learned a lot about lighting in OpenGL, and some of the limitations of the iPhone's implementation of OpenGL
- Increased familiarity with Objective C

5. What's planned for next week?
- Learn about the capabilities of the iPhone accelerometer and build a limited prototype of the table tilt game
- Begin work on the Dance Tool

6. Hours worked.
~46

Antoine Campbell Weekly Report 6-17-09

1. What was planned?
* -Finish IRB Paper Work and submit
* - IRB applications with pre and post test
* - include player logging
* - list player sequence of operations
* - add instructional screens
* - include other sorting algorithms
* - analyze number of steps and Big Oh notation

2. What was done?
* -Finish IRB Paper Work and submit
* - IRB applications with pre and post test
* - include player logging
* - list player sequence of operations
* - include other sorting algorithms

3. Problems encountered?
* -Selection sort was a little tricky to program

4. What did you learn this week?
* -Good tips to giving a good presentation

5. What's planned for next week?
* -Review the returned IRB Paperwork
* -Put the finishing touches on Selection Sort
* -Implement Qucik Sort or MergeSort
* -Set somes goal for functionality for the first study

6. Hours worked.
* -40

Christie Thornton's Week 2 Reflection

Reflection

1. What was planned?
* complete iPhone tutorial
* brainstorm about the STARS game

2. What was done?
* iPhone app
- created a 3d cube
- completed a tutorial on switching views
- working on a tutorial to merge views with the cube
* updated website
* Paper and Game review

3. Problems encountered?
I am unfamiliar with Objective C so working with the code on the iPhone app proved to be difficult. After completing some online tutorials I am becoming more familiar with the syntax of the language.

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)
This week especially has given me some practice in going to the web and using what others have provided to "teach myself." I am learning Objective C. I have also learned a few tips about presenting from some of the graduate students.

5. What's planned for next week?
* Finish iPhone Tutorial
* Begin work on Dance Tool or iPhone App
* Planning for the STARS game

6. Hours worked. * 40

Thomas Phifer - Week 2 - 6/17/09

1. What was planned?
--Turn in IRB Completion Certificate
--Finish iPhone tutorial
--Get Dance Tool started
--STARS Networking Game meetings/brainstorming/prototyping
--Read paper, review game

2. What was done?
--Completed IRB and turned in the paperwork
--Made progress with the iPhone tutorial; got cube spinning + views switching
--Evie and I got Codendi's "engine" back up and running with some PHP/MySQL and a lot of elbow grease and Chinese food. The Dance Tool is now on Codendi and I have started documenting bugs and helping Evie with the Technical Documentation.
--Our group met with Josh and Dr. D to discuss STARS SNAG Project ideas. We all brainstormed and came up with some good concepts.
--I was able to build a functioning prototype of a conference game where you text someone to "SNAG" them. To make the full connection with the person they must "SNAG" you back. You gain points for each person you connect with. I also created an automatically updating leaderboard page. Link: http://infd.birdnest.org/~phiferm3/STARS09/index.php (will be demoing this in today's meeting)

3. Problems encountered?
--iPhone: Drawing the Cube: I ran into the same situation as Rachel- "Forgot to turn on the depth buffer for rendering the cube, and then when I did turn it on, I forgot to clear it."
Changing the Views: Rachel and I had the same problem here as well; I had the cube view working and I had the switch view working, but when I tried to merge them together rips in the space time continuum occured and everything stop working. Having multiple XIB files is the answer.
--Dance Tool: Evie wanted the Dance Tool project to operate on a centralized location with a project management system. She has had Codendi for a while(a PMS by Xerox) and was unable to use it because of all kinds of network, permission, forgotten passwords, and a broken framework(Codendi is open source). Evie and I worked together to override the password for admin on the server, hacked the source files of the program to fix some errors and finally created a project and moved all the assets to the system. We are proud to say Codendi is online!

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)
--Refreshed a lot of my MySQL and PHP skills.
--Middle school kids are a great source of inspiration.
--Basics of the Objective C programming language
--Basics of the Apple iPhone SDK
--Learned about Codendi; how to use it, fix it, break it
--Learned how to take cell phone texts and take the message and put it into PHP variables in order to do some "text" enhanced web development
--Chinese is also good for breakfast
--Working together is 11.5 times better than alone

5. What's planned for next week?
--Start diving into the Dance Tool with Condendi; documentation, bug fixing,
--Finish the iPhone Tutorial
--Polish the STARS Conference Game Prototype and create the Research Poster Voting System Prototype.

6. Hours worked.
--58

Rachel Brinkman - Week 2 - 6/16/09

1. What was planned?
- Submit final IRB paperwork
- Finish iPhone tutorial
- Begin work on either the Dance Tool or the iPhone app

2. What was done?
- Turned in final copy of IRB paperwork
- Worked on iPhone tutorial - created the cube, worked on integrating Views into the project.
- Brainstormed with the team for conference game ideas, we came up with a cool and achievable concept

3. Problems encountered?
- Forgot to turn on the depth buffer for rendering the cube, and then when I did turn it on, I forgot to clear it, so I was looking for non-existant near clipping plane issues.
- VIEWS. Not all Views are created equal, or play nicely together. EAGLViews, which must be used in conjunction with OpenGL code, do not seem to behave the same as UIViews. They inherit from UIViews, but do not interact with the view controller in the same way. I tried many different ways of integrating the ViewController based project with the EAGLView project, and kept hitting walls. However, Evie found a solution that uses multiple .xib files! It hadn't occurred to me to use more than one, but as I'm working through it, it makes sense. Thanks Evie!

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)
- Some OpenGL commands (they have all the man pages on their site, which is really convenient)
- Became somewhat familiarized with Objective C
- Learned a lot about View Controllers and different kinds of Views

5. What's planned for next week?
- Finish the iPhone tutorial
- Build a prototype of the conference game (this week and next week)
- Begin work on the Dance Tool?

6. Hours worked.
~50

Bethany Miller - Week 2 - 6/16/09

Bethany Miller - Week 2 - 6/16/09

1. What was planned?
-Separate classes for level logic
-Add different sorting
-finish pre/post test and submit final IRB paperwork
-figure out logging for players actions
-instructional elements

2. What was done?
-Separate classes for level logic
-Selection and insertion sort implemented
-Different level maps
-Logging of player's moves and time
-Turned in final copy of IRB paperwork

3. Problems encountered?
Mapping went well until the end. The tiles and map size were suddenly resized so the map wasnt coming out the way it should have. After we realized how to fix it the problem was solved, however this was after creating the same map at least 3 times. We wasted some time, but at least the problem was fixed and we have nice new level maps to show for it!

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)
I had never done any type of level map editing. I learned how to create the level and actually implement it into the game. It became one of my favorite things to do. I really like the creative side of computer science and hopefully I can do more of it!

5. What's planned for next week?
-Complete logging
-Add quick sort
-Fix tutorial

6. Hours worked.
full 40 hour week .

Antoine Campbell Weekly Report 6-10-09

1. What was planned?
- help Bethany with XNA Basics
- complete IRB tutorial
2. What was done?
- help Bethany finish Space Pong
- IRB tutorial completed
Bunny Generals
- Informed Consent
- IRB Protocol Application
- Professor Recruitment
- Recruitment Poster
- Demographic Survey
3. Problems encountered?
*The physics of the ball bouncing in pong proved to be more difficult than expected
Pre and post test questions for only bubbleSort are hard to think of, however we will also be implementing other forms of sorting as well so questions will come easier when that is finished.
4. What did you learn this week?
*Some more Vector Math, and paperwork requirements for IRB.
5. What's planned for next week?
objective: complete bunny generals
- IRB applications with pre and post test
- include player logging
- list player sequence of operations
- add instructional screens
- include other sorting algorithms
- analyze number of steps and Big Oh notation
or at least most of that stuff
6. Hours worked.
*44

Week 1 - Brinkman

Reflection Questions
1. What was planned?
- Build familiarity with Unity by completing a tutorial

- Build familiarity with iPhone SDK by completing a tutorial

- Complete IRB Certification
- Read one research paper
- Review one game

2. What was done?
- Completed IRB

- Completed Unity tutorial, posted finished game on website

- Read "Experience with serious games for learning foreign languages and cultures" by Johnson, W. L., Wang, N., and S. Wu

3. Problems encountered?
- Steeper learning curve with Unity than expected - the project took considerably more time than originally planned
- As a result of that, I have not started the iPhone SDK tutorial yet

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)
- I learned the basics of Unity and javaScript, and became somewhat comfortable with the Unity API
- I learned about IRB certification
- I learned about the Tactical Language and Culture Training System (in the paper above)

5. What's planned for next week?

- Complete the iPhone SDK tutorial

- Begin work on the Dance Tool and/or the iPhone app

6. Hours worked.
43

Christie Thornton's Week 1 Reflection

Reflection

1. What was planned?

* become familiar with Unity(JavaScript) by completing a tutorial.

* become familiar with iPhone SDK by completing a tutorial

* IRB Certification

2. What was done?
* Completed IRB Tutorial

* Constructed a 3 Level Maze

      - Created a game timer

      - Scripted to animate various items 

      - Added audio

   * created website

   * Paper and Game review

3. Problems encountered?

The Unity tutorial was very mind boggling at first.  It was was very difficult because of my unfamiliarity with Unity as well as JavaScript.  I struggled when trying to script certain objects to move.

Time management  -  balancing working on the Apple project and the Unity project.  I haven't gotten to the              iPhone tutorial yet.

4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)

I learned some basics about javaScript.  I learned how to navigate my way through unity.  I am also getting valuable practice in reading and navigating APIs

5. What's planned for next week?

* Finish iPhone Tutorial

* Begin work on Dance Tool or iPhone App

6. Hours worked.
* 42 

Bethany Miller Week 1 blog 6/9/09

Bethany Miller - Week 1 blog
1. What was planned?
- learn basics of XNA C# through creation of pong game
- complete IRB tutorial
2. What was done?
- finished pong game in order to learn XNA C#
- IRB tutorial completed
Bunny Generals
- Informed Consent
- IRB Protocol Application
- Professor Recruitment
- Recruitment Poster
- Demographic Survey
3. Problems encountered?
The physics of the ball bouncing in pong proved to be more difficult than expected
Pre and post test questions for only bubbleSort are hard to think of, however we will also be implementing other forms of sorting as well so questions will come easier when that is finished.
4. What did you learn this week? (esp. computer science, or anything surprising or interesting)Be sure to cite any resources you used (e.g. online tutorials, etc).
I had never worked with XNA C# before so I gained experience with it and also created my first real game that is actually presentable.
5. What's planned for next week?
objective: complete bunny generals
- IRB applications with pre and post test
- include player logging
- list player sequence of operations
- add instructional screens
- include other sorting algorithms
- analyze number of steps and Big Oh notation
6. Hours worked.
full 40 hour week

Thomas Phifer Weekly Report 6/9/09

1. What was planned?

*Complete Evie's Warm-Up Projects. Hello Unity! and Hello Cube!

*Create website/blog

*Complete IRB

*Review Game and read paper and create PowerPoint

2. What was done?

*Hello Unity! is completed and it is on my website: http://arena.uncc.edu/REUStudents/tphifer/

*I reviewed the game "Infamous" and read the paper on Wu's Castle. I will present my PowerPoint tomorrow (Wednesday.)

*Completed the IRB today.

*The iPhone app project was a little ambitious for our deadline(even the second one) so I think Evie is going to go light on us. I started the SDK and become familiar with the different applications. I was unable to meet all the requirements in time but I got started.

3. Problems encountered?

*Not having the necessary software installed on machines. (Did not have photoshop, illustrator, ...etc)

*Not having enough macs exclusively available for iPhone Development (We need three Intel Based Macs made availible to us. We have 2. There are extra MacBooks but they are being used in testing.)


4. What did you learn this week?
*The Unity Game Engine is extremely flexible and versatile. It can be used in iPhone Development, Wii Games, PC, in the web browser and much more. I love Unity. Tutorials, forums, and IRC chats are useful in learning a new software. Better time management. The IRB standards for research on human subjects.

5. What's planned for next week?
*Finish the iPhone Warm-Up project for Evie. Start work on the Dance Tool and the real iPhone app.

6. Hours worked.
*43