Girls! Don't Just Watch It, Play It!

Science Envisioned: Science Reviewed: Introduction - the Outpost

2008-12-05T13:24:00.002Z

A very interesting and unique read. This new blog looks promising:

Science Envisioned: Science Reviewed: Introduction - the Outpost

Final update and final post!

2007-04-28T16:39:00.000+01:00

Well, I think this will be my last post! The team report and poster are just about done. The report just needs proofreading.

Just two days now until the end of the project and just to briefly reflect, I think that it has been a success. We've both worked very hard and done our best. We have encountered many challenges, all of which we have tackled very well and solved many problems. We have also learnt a great deal, especially with Flash and Actionscript!

It doesn't end here though! On graduation, we will be distributing a copy of the application to Jean Williams and the head of P.E. at Montgomery School as they requested. We hope they will let girls use it to inspire them to take up the beautiful game.

Tristan.

Poster Update

2007-04-17T18:11:00.000+01:00

All updates have been made to the poster. I have emailed you a jpeg copy.

Sam

Further poster suggestions

2007-04-17T17:10:00.000+01:00

Sam,

Will send you a copy of the report later today. When I send you it, read through and decide what else could be removed/added.

For the poster:

- Convert all text to past tense.

- Maybe remove the captions for the screenshots of the results section.

- Use this text for the Project Aims and Objectives section:
"To implement an interactive CD-ROM based on women's football using Macromedia Flash 8 aimed at girls aged 13-14. The main objectives were to teach girls about football and inspire them to take it up. The project was also to inform girls where in Canterbury they could play football."

- Use the following text for the development process. This will cut your wording down and remove the third personing:
"Hand drawn designs were created for each section which included annotations of their initial content and animations."

"The sketched designs were then used to create prototypes using Macromedia Flash 8. This enabled experimentation with content layout, typeface, and colours. Various colours were tried and tested in order to decide on a suitable, non-stereotypical colour scheme."

"The sections of the application were built from the prototypes. During implementation, their designs were significantly modified and improved.
On the left is the final version of the interactive quiz on women's football."

Tristan.

Easter Work

2007-04-15T13:27:00.000+01:00

Below are some of the tasks carried out before the handing in of the application, and over the Easter holiday for the report and poster. These types of correspondance were usually made via e-mail.

Sam

Report update and tasks

2007-04-15T13:01:00.000+01:00

Alright sam, a couple of things:

Could you:
1. Send me your detailed evaluation of the football CD-ROM (the multimedia techniques research) to put in the appendices

2. Identify the women's team member in the second image on this page: http://www.girlsdontjustwatchitplayit.info/Credits.html
(The credits video isn't clear for some of the players so I was unable to match her to her name)

3. Send me a big screenshot of the poster so I can have a look

4. Scan in every page of a completed ADULTS perception of women's football questionnaire for the appendices. Could you scan them at a high quality and send me bitmaps?
If too big, use Megaupload (http://www.megaupload.com/)

Most of the bulk content is in the report. The appendices are almost done, will start relegating some of the text to the appendices soon and cutting down the word limit.

Tristan.

Poster improvements

2007-04-15T12:56:00.000+01:00

Sam,

May need to cut down on the amount of text.
Definately try and cut down the conclusion wording so the box can be flattened more to make more room for the results.
Make sure the gap between the edge of the poster and the edge of the boxes are equal on both sides, so move the results and conclusion boxes more to the right.
Make the screenshots in the development process box the same size.
Make our names bigger.
Could put the web site addess along the grey strip at the top of the stadium and increase its size.
Convert all text to third person; the project aims and objectives appear to be in first person.

Tristan.

Application submitted

2007-04-10T13:13:00.000+01:00

The application was successfully submitted on Friday 30th March 2007. Its directory structure was changed so that the root directory contained just one file that loaded the application instead of all the swfs. This would make it easier for the user to understand how to load it. The swfs and their associated fla files were placed in an "Assets" folder. All the paths to the various swfs in the Flash documents were updated accordingly.
Autorun was enabled for the application by including an ini file in the root directory that contained the necessary code. To ensure autorun would work, the file in the root directory that loaded the application was a Windows projector exe file instead of an swf. The autorun file was set to automatically load this file.

Tristan.

At last! Sound bar synchronisation problem fixed!

2007-03-28T18:44:00.000+01:00

I've done it, the last major problem overcome! This one was a big relief, in with it being so close to the deadline.
The solution (dont ask why this solved it!):
I decided to initalise all the sound objects in the main screen file in their own layer on the first frame on the root timeline. Originally I had some initialised inside the stadium movie clip. My prediction is that the code for the sound objects was being overriden somewhere or was failing to be read when the main screen was returned to. Initialising them all on the root timeline on thier own layer ensured that they couldnt be obstructed or interfered with.

Tristan.

Update

2007-03-27T12:00:00.000+01:00

The snake game is complete and has been integrated in with the rest of the application.

New sound loops have been found to tie in with feedback from our testing study. These loops have been put into the application as appropriate.

As there were problems with the sound levels and some of the descriptions in the rules file, the narration recordings for the referee videos have been re-done and narration has now also been included for the animated assistant referee signals.

I have made a start on the poster. The background layout and text box positioning is complete. Work on content is on-going.

Sam

Jerkiness of zooms reduced

2007-03-26T19:18:00.000+01:00

At last ive figured out a reasonable method of smoothing out the zooms more. I noticed that the fills for the seats can be deleted as the stand colour underneath is the same so the seats will still looked filled in. On removing these, the zooms look much better. I have now gone through all the fla files and deleted the seat fills.

Tristan.

Problem with sound re-work

2007-03-25T14:14:00.000+01:00

I have worked out a solution for linking the sound bars on each of the screens so that if you mute/unmute the sound on one screen it remains in that state when you navigate to another. However, I am having problems with the main screen. When the sound is muted and you navigate to another screen, return to it, and unmute, none of the sound objects work. I think this may be because the main screen works differently to the other child screens. The code structure is different. I have scoured it and followed it through, but with no luck.
I am currently seeking assistance.

Tristan.

Major slow script problem fixed

2007-03-24T15:12:00.000Z

For a while, the Flash Player crashed after the quit button on the pong game was pressed and the stadium screen was loaded. This problem remained even when we replaced this screen with the snake game. I have examined this problem and discovered what was causing it. I firstly tried removing the code for the game, but this was not the problem. I figured out that it only happened when the snake game was selected after fully scrolling to the right. It did not crash if I scrolled over just enough so that the flag was visible. I had originally written actionscript that would stop the scrolling on frame 2 so that it would not go to frame 1, because there is code in this frame that tells Flash to go to frame 58. However, Flash wasnt playing this frame, but the variable that stored the current frame number which was to be passed to a external variable which also stored the current frame number of the stadium was being set to 1. Consequently, when you returned to the stadium from a child screen, this variable was telling Flash to go to frame 1. Therefore, when the main screen was reloaded, it was firstly being told to go to frame 58 where the value of the current frame variable was assigned to the _currentframe attribute, which then told Flash to go to frame 1, where it was then told to go to frame 58, and then back to frame 1, and so on. Therefore Flash encountered a never-ending loop and crashed. I fixed the problem by creating an if statement telling Flash to only decrement the current frame variable if the frame number was higher than 2.

Tristan.

Performance testing at University

2007-03-24T00:33:00.000Z

During next week; the final week before the application deadline, i will bring the application to the labs and work on it there as the specs of these computers will probably be similar to those on which it will be run by the examinars. We will make its speed and performance ideal for these computers. The application will also burnt to CD/DVD to test how it runs from the target medium.
We also need to decide how the application will be presented (e.g. as swfs or projector .exe file(s)) and find out how this will be achieved.

Tristan.

Development tasks

2007-03-21T09:58:00.000Z

Here are the improvements and problems identified during the testing study that we have decided to work on during the development phase:

- Better, less repetitive music. May include some drum and bass as suggested by one participant. Will consider decreasing the number of times the soundtrack loops.
(Samantha to search for better music)

- Sound bar not consistent throughout application; mute/unmute button always returns to unmute state when new screen loaded, regardless of whether the user has muted it.
(Tristan to fix this issue)

- Increase speed of application; focus on smoothing the zoom transitions.
(Tristan and Samantha to fix this issue)

Tristan.

Testing study completed

2007-03-20T19:32:00.000Z

Last Friday (16th March 2007) we returned to Chaucer Technology School to conduct our testing study with some of the year 9 girls (aged 13-14). The school computers did not not have any CD-ROM drives, and so beforehand I had arranged with the I.T. support at the school to have USB access on the computers so I could upload my application using my USB stick. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite according to plan. In order to quickly and conveniently provide the girls access to our application, it needed transferring to a network drive. When I.T. support did this, the external videos did not display. This was not because the contentPath link of the FLV Playback players were broken, because the videos worked fine when run directly off my USB stick. It was as if they were being blocked, possibly by a firewall. There was no time to try and solve the problem because the girls were in one of the I.T. rooms waiting. It was therefore decided that I loaded the application from my USB stick on the presentation computer in the room and demonstrated it on a projector screen. The girls would not get to use it but they would at least get to see it, which was sufficient to allow them to complete our questionnaire. Thankfully Samantha also had a copy of the application and while I was demonstrating it, she ran the application on one of the computers and a few of the pupils had a chance to use it. Once I had finished my demonstration, I let a pupil use the application at my computer. We had also devised some specific tasks that we wanted the girls to complete, and so only the minority that got the chance to use it could do these.
All in all, we received 21 fully completed questionnaires which was a sufficient amount to analyse. In general, the girls thought our application was user-friendly, encouraging, and had potential to inspire girls to take up football. They had also provided some good suggestions for how we could improve the application. These results however may have been different and more accurate if all the girls were able to use our application.

Tristan.

Pong Game Problems

2007-03-20T10:59:00.000Z

I have had problems with the implementation of this game. The game itself works correctly, however when embedded within the stadium layers, it is impossible to quit or use the sound controls on the page, unthil the game has ended. I have tried all sorts to fix this problem and posted on help forums, but had no luck. As it is getting close to the deadline, the best solution was to scrap this game and come up with an alternative.

I am currently working on implementing a snake game, which at the moment does allow the user to quit the page whilst they are still playing the game. I am now in the process of finalising this game, by configuring the game movie clips to be set to the right co-ordinates on the page.

Sam

Chaucer Technology School Football Shoot

2007-03-14T22:14:00.001Z

Today we travelled to Chaucer Technology School to film the girls' football team playing in a match against Canterbury High School. We gained footage of goals, corners, throw-ins and general play on the pitch. This footage will be used for the club office section, where the footage will be distributed across the two photo frames.

This was our last piece of filming for the project and we are now well on our way to completing the implementation section.

Testing is due to begin on Friday 16th March 07.

Sam

Will no longer be using Macromedia Director

2007-03-10T21:21:00.000Z

Our project supervisor has said that we don't need to use Macromedia Director to create the CD/DVD-ROM. We can just burn the application's files using normal CD/DVD-ROM authoring software.

Tristan.

Many thanks to Chaucer!

2007-03-08T20:21:00.000Z

Well, two good pieces of news. It looks like we will finally be filming the girls' football club at Chaucer Technology School on Monday 12th March 2007. The P.E. department have got back to me saying that the club trains on Mondays.
Also, I emailed the school for permission to conduct our testing study with some of their 13-14 year old girl pupils and today I received approval. They asked if it could take place on Friday 16th March 2007. This is fine as we now still have another week to complete the application and two weeks afterwards to review the responses to our testing questionnaire and make any necessary fixes and improvements.

Tristan.

Configuring sound effects in Flash

2007-03-07T16:21:00.000Z

1. Import the sound effects into the library

2. Give each an identifier by right clicking on them and selecting "Linkage" from the menu. Tick the "Export for Actionscript" box and type a meaningful name in the "Identifier" field.

3. Create a new sound object for each effect in the actions layer of the root timeline:

my_sfx = new Sound(this);
my_sfx.attachSound("Identifier_name");

(Where "my_sfx" is the name of the sound object. This can be anything you like).

4. Where you want the sound effect to be played, intialise the sound object as follows:

_root.my_sfx.start();

(Use "_root." if you are calling the sound object from within a movie clip or button).

5. Configure the mute button by double clicking on the "mute" movie clip and inserting the following code for EACH sound object in the actions panel of the button on frame 1 of this movie clip:

_root.my_sfx.setVolume(0); // this kills the volume of the sound object

6. Configure the unmute button by double clicking on the "mute" movie clip and inserting the following code for EACH sound object in the actions panel of the button on frame 2 of this movie clip:

_root.my_sfx.setVolume(assignVol); // this assigns the volume of the soundtrack's sound object to the sound effect's sound object.

Tristan.

My narration done

2007-03-01T11:50:00.000Z

When I played back some of the recordings I had done in the AV lab, there was noticable computer hum in the background. As I had a good quality microphone at home, on Tuesday I decided to re-record all my narration at home. The recordings were much better as there was no background noise. The quality of the microphone may not have been as good as those supplied at University, but the quality was good enough and the surroundings were more suitable to record in, so the actual recordings were far better.

Tristan.

Audio recording trouble work-around

2007-02-26T15:57:00.000Z

After having spent a while with IT support trying to sort out this audio skipping problem when playing back recorded audio in Audition, I tried recording with Windows Sound Recorder instead and it was fine. Therefore it appears that we will have to use Sound Recorder instead for our narration.

Tristan.

Remaining school shoots problems solved

2007-02-24T00:04:00.000Z

After enquiring again about why we were no longer able to film the girls' football club at Chaucer Technology School, we were pleased to have been granted permission without requiring a CRB check. A shoot will be arranged for when the club next train.
However Barton Court will not let us film their girls' football club, and so our project supervisor recommended that we use or trace general pictures of girls' football from the Internet.
Finally the school football clubs asset gathering has been sorted out and we will now be able to display something in both of the picture frames on every club office screen!

Tristan.

Workaround for jolty zooms

2007-02-19T16:34:00.000Z

I have found a way of smoothing out our child screen zooms. It involves converting the stadium movie clip into an image when it is fully zoomed in, replacing the contents of the movie clip with this image, and quadrupling the length of the tweens. However, as the stadium movie clip is so big, it requires doing many print screens and piecing them together in Photoshop. Also, extending the tweens means the Actionscript requires updating.
This method however is not feasible for those child screens involving extremely deep zooms (such as the perception and football events screens); Photoshop cannot handle such a huge canvas size, therefore an alternative method needs to be sought for these screens.

Tristan.