The Development Process

Many (many!) hours were spent researching, brainstorming, sketching, discussing, creating, and implementing....

The photos below show scenes from our development process. We hope they capture a bit of the fun we had!

In developing our Create-A-Critter game, we drew upon the lessons we learned throughout the course.

We employed the "double-diamond" approach, with several of our project ideas being rejected in either the "Discover" or the "Define" stage. If our project had had a longer timeframe, we likely would have spent more time in each of the stages of the double diamond. However, even in the condensed form we applied, the structure this approach provided and the iterations we experiences helped us to select and refine our final game concept.

Phase 1: Brainstorming and Preliminary Stakeholder Interviews (Discover)

  • Brainstormed for ideas, with team members arguing for the points most important to them, personally.
  • Agreed on, and then rejected, several ideas -- for reasons such as technical infeasibility, excessive scope, location desired in Dokk1 already claimed by one or more other teams in the class
  • Went to Dokk1 numerous times to conduct stakeholder interviews
  • Created a survey for parents (indirect stakeholders) to complete
  • Created a survey for team members to complete -- to help us reach agreement on a game idea
  • Interviewed kids visiting Dokk1 -- our direct stakeholders
  • Interviewed librarians and other staff members at Dokk1

Why Do People Come to Dokk1?

it has a lot of liberty

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I like the couches to relax and maybe read a book

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there are many good areas which invites you to focus on your work

kids playing, views of the dock

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I like everything about Dokk1

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the cozy chairs with a view over the ocean

there's a nice atmosphere -- and there's a lot of culture meeting each other, lots of literature, nature (the ocean) and activities and games/play areas for kids

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the view

I can space out in the couches and the chairs -- I like mostly for the view

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the ramp, it's a wonderful place for homework and projects

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my kids play here

Phase 2: Selecting Our Concept and Narrowing its Scope (Define)

  • Team evaluated ideas based on how well they fit our team values and our stakeholder values
  • Determined we wanted to create a game for the children's section of the library
  • Furthermore, determined we did not want to create a competitive game or a game that required a lengthy playing time
  • Decided, based on feedback from children, parents, and librarians, that we wanted to provide a creative experience that was tied to the environment around Dokk1
  • Eliminated our game ideas that did not meet these specifications and evaluated the remaining ideas, before settling on one

Phase 3: How Do We Actually BUILD This? (Design)

  • Decided to work with Unity and Blender
  • Got introductory tutorial in Unity from Jens
  • Watched lots of YouTube videos
  • Sarah became as much of a Blender expert as she could in 1 week
  • Technical difficulties led us to certain design decisions regarding the game
  • Simpler can be better!

Creating Digital Aarhus

Critter Customization Research

Documentation

Phase 4: Will This Be Done on Time? (Deliver)

  • We hope so!
  • Plans include returning to Dokk1 to test equipment
  • Interview more stakeholders for feedback on our prototype and make final refinements
  • Continue to think of ways to extend our project
  • Present the prototype at Dokk1 and collect additional feedback -- for potential future iterations

Aarhus - the digital version

The beginnings of the digital environment for the creatures the children create. Recognizable buildings are taking shape, based on a map imported into Blender, a 3-D modeling program.