Week Five 10/21 Summary

- Skyped Michael Dwyer, Senior Game Designer/Programmer at Large Animal Games and discussed thesis feasibility/direction.  Has signed on board to be committee. (1 hr)

- Modified previously created female model based on CDC measures; ran into a lot of issues with lack of data and analyzed what other researchers have done to get accurate numbers.  Emailed Professor Madison for potential source of stats.  (3 hrs)

- Modified model based on UMA guidelines for bones/labeling.  Also analyzed base meshes that comes with the UMA content pack. (5 hrs)

- Researched UI of Character Creation Tools in popular games such as WoW 5.0, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, and Guild Wars 2 (1 hr)

- Created mockup of Unity tool prototype (1 hr)

Total # of hours spent: 11 hours

Week Four 10/14 Summary

- Corresponded and met with Professor Nora Madison to discuss implications of project and thesis (2 hrs)

- Modified female model based on CDC data and changed edge loops in anticipation of Unity import (3 hrs)

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_252.pdf



- Researched Unity tool creation and plug-ins including Unity Multipurpose Avatar and Mega-Fiers (1 hr)

- Watched Lynda.com's Unity tutorials on Animating Characters with Mecanim in Unity 3D - Importing a Character (2 hrs)

http://www.lynda.com/Unity-3D-tutorials/Animating-Characters-Mecanim-Unity-3D/118077-2.html

- Unity Multipurpose Avatar forum/videos(1 hr)

- Mega-Fiers forum/videos(1 hr)

Total # of hours spent: 10 hours

Week Three 10/7 Summary

- Met with Professor Andre Carrington and discussed how my Character Avatar Tool can provide feedback system for Game Designers to track player choice (2 hrs)

- Collected and analyzed CDC anthropometric data (this is for civilian data as opposed to the military data collected last quarter) (3 hrs)

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_252.pdf


- Researched Unity tool creation and plug-ins including Unity Multipurpose Avatar and Mega-Fiers (1 hr)

- Watched Lynda.com's Unity tutorials on Creating Game GUIs (3 hrs)
http://www.lynda.com/Unity-3D-tutorials/Unity-3D-35-Essential-Training/96677-2.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search-3D-Unity+3D&utm_content=34112169066&utm_term=unity3d%20tutorials&gclid=CP6Rl-fuproCFc6h4AodJDQALg


- Unity Multipurpose Avatar forum/videos(1 hr)


- Mega-Fiers forum/videos(1 hr)

Total # of hours spent: 11 hours

Week Two 9/30 Summary

Direction

Current thesis direction is headed towards:

1. Topic: I am studying female character model design in video games.

2. Question: because I want to find out how can we assess if/how the inclusion of a female character creation process impacts the enjoyment of video games.

3. Significance: in order to help my reader understand that game designers and character design artists can benefit from the inclusion of a more robust and inclusive character creation process.

For this quarter's project, I've decided to focus on creating a Character Avatar Creation tool in Unity that can help with my future thesis projects.

Detailed description of activities:

- Researched Unity tool creation and plug-ins including Unity Multipurpose Avatar and Mega-Fiers (1 hr)
- Unity Multipurpose Avatar forum/videos(1 hr)
- Mega-Fiers forum/videos(1 hr)
- Met with Stefan and discusses thesis and project direction (1 hr)

- Met with Frank Lee and group creating game appealing to female audience (2 hr)

- Set up meeting with Kate Hughes (interim director of Women Studies, current director is on sabbatical). Also waited multiple times for Professor David Fryer but he has called out sick. (1 hr)

- Reading Rise of the Videogame Zinesters by Anna Anthropy (2 hrs)

- Updated blog and proposal (2 hrs)

Looking forward:

- Continue reading of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters

- Refamiliarize with Unity and research Unity tool creation

- Carolyn Bitzer meeting on 10/10

Total # of hours spent: 11 hrs

Week Two 9/30 Project Proposal

Project Proposal

Description: Using Unity 4, Unity Multipurpose Avatar (UMA), and the plug-in Mega-Fiers, create a Character Avatar Creation tool which gives the user multiple sliders to adjust various aspects of a user created character model.  These aspects include the size and width of individual body parts such as the chest, arms, waist, and legs.  The avatar will be presented in a looping standing animation with the model choice of male or female gender.

Main Deliverables: Character Avatar Creation tool, 2 models (one male, one female) with standing animation, and body adjustment sliders.

Foreseeable Challenges:

Unity Tool: Having only fundamental knowledge about Unity, creating a tool in Unity might prove challenging.  Also, UMA and Mega-Fiers are both new to me as well.  The tutorials and videos look solid, but challenges may arise as I learn to use these new tools.

Modeling: Having modeled basic human characters in Maya last quarter, the challenge is paying greater attention to the correct placement of loops.  This is to avoid pinching and other mishaps during the model’s animation.

Non-goals: To be able to swap costumes on top of the model, while respecting the user’s choice on the slider.  To export the Character Avatar model out of the Unity tool into Maya.

Timeline:

Week 3 - Refamiliarize with Unity and research Unity tool creation

Week 4 - Familiarize with Mega-Fiers, watch tutorials, and import test model into Unity

Week 5 - Familiarize with UMA, watch tutorials, and import test model into Unity

Week 6 - Create Character Avatar Tool prototype

Week 7 - Create Female model and import into Unity

Week 8 - Create Male model and import into Unity

Week 8 - Create body part sliders in Unity and test on model

Week 9 - Rig Male/Female Model and test animation in Character Avatar Tool

Week 10 - Final touchups and add export to Maya function