DES302 Blog 3:

Week 6 & break update!

Welcome back! We are entering the final half of the semester which is very daunting to think about!

Once again I will be following the wonderful three 'Whats" reflective tool created by Rolfe et al (2001), and curated by the University of Edinburgh (2020). I do enjoy the simpler and more flexible format, as it allows me to review and reflect in a more personalised order, without too much repetition like in the Gibbs cycle of blog 1.

Rolfe et al (2001)

What?

Sooo what have I been up to in week 6 and the break?

Again, a quick context recap; I am creating my final capstone design project for class DES301, and reflecting/documenting for DES302! We have a 12 week journey in progress (that we are entering week 7 of) to create a prototype; the result of expansive research and refinement of a problem statement; mine being "How might we improve the wellbeing of students suffering burnout by using emerging technologies?"

So there has been a slight expansion on the Miro board:

My Miro board (9/9/24)

I have broken down certain tasks a lot more, and categorised them under the relevant Double Diamond stages; namely the develop and deliver stages as it lets me have a clearer understanding of the path I'm taking.

A rudimentary map of app navigation has been made in the mechanics section there showing the base pages/features which will come in handy later for working out which order to showcase my art in to make the prototype believable. I really also want to focus on an app widget concept, where players can directly see their quest progress quickly, maybe it rotates throughout the day to see other group members' progress and have opportunities to encourage them (send encouragement notifications) without opening the app.

I have also refined and released my survey on student burnout for fellow peers to complete via the class Discord, we're already sitting at 6 responses which is awesome! I'm only expecting around 10 responses total, we have a limited class size, and of course not everyone will want to be answering 60+ surveys.

So far the answers have been pretty in-line with what my research and existing definitions of burnout are. It's quite concerning actually that burnout may be a much more widespread issue for students than I thought; out of 6 answers scaling themselves 1-10 on how burnout they are/have been: all are above 7, with 4 answers sitting at 9+.

I also have (FINALLY) gotten round to laying some worldbuilding/plot groundwork down. It will of course be a classic RPG fantasy/medieval setting, but playing on the word of burnout I want to theme the game around fire.

So far I am thinking that the players are an unlikely band of adventurers commissioned by their kingdom to take a piece of the kingdom's sacred fire to protect and spread through other towns' beacons to repel the shadow legion (still working on names, but a shadow monster kingdom looking to extinguish the flames). The fire kingdom would be going through a last-resort operation to defend their cities, and also keep their flame alive in smaller forms by sending out as many adventuring teams as possible (perhaps they are anticipating a major attack on the capital?) Throughout the game players will have to work on defending their flame as a team from monsters, scouting for resources to keep it burning, and travelling through varied and potentially treacherous environments to reach towns. As new checkpoints and levels are reached they'll be uncovering more of the mystery of the shadow legion, with the situation turning out to be less black and white than they first thought...

(Basically thinking that the flame originally belonged to the shadow legion, but was stolen by current humanity's king/queen. This would've led to the legion becoming corrupted or something by otherworldly forces, turning into the shadowy monsters now looking to consume and extinguish the sacred flame). Players may eventually reach a crossroads to which side they will fight for, if any.

While the base plot may seem pretty generic, I do think it has a lot of potential to fit my app concept very well. The real life tasks of physical steps can correspond well with quests such as scouting or defence, and tasks such as idle study/work afk sessions can line up with in-game characters researching topics in libraries, or working to level up skills. This also has opportunities for teams to allocate tasks depending on player availability (thinking of adding a difficulty mode, harder difficulties will yield more rewards, but also require more real-life commitment).

So What?

So while I have progressed a little bit, I wasn't nearly as active as I thought I'd be during the semester break. I found that just thinking about the amount of work I need to get through would make me feel drained and mentally tired (ironically may be a small side of burnout from doing my project themed on burnout wahoooo). All I really did was start thinking on the storyline and release my survey. The good news is the fact that even those small steps are still progress; the bad news being I had wanted to be well into creating my first environment by now entering week 7.

I have talked to some friends and family about what I'm up to as well, everyone around university student age seemed to enjoy the concept and stated that they would play it if it was real, which is some nice feedback to hear and encourages me to work harder on my project. Now that I have a plot idea created I am also excited to do more worldbuilding, so we are entering the hardest stage of the project (by the amount of work to do), but also the most fun stage with it mainly being concept art.

I am still wary of the DES302 report lurking in the background that I also need to get stuck into to stay on track.

I think talking with people more about my project (especially classmates, you know who you are <3) has helped me to stay motivated with us all being in the same boat and stressed out. The break, while most of it has been spent stressing over (and avoiding) my project, has felt somewhat refreshing to take. Coming back I am remembering that this project is actually cool and fun, I am just daunted by the work.

Now What?

So that's all well and good, but as you may have noticed, my Miro board is still glaringly empty of actual content, I still just have a base idea in text. Now is the time to lock into work mode and just get started on visually creating my prototype before I fall too far behind schedule (my procrastination stress instincts are finally kicking in). We have a poster due around week 10, so I want basically all of my components complete and compiled by then so I can refine everything in line with my original timeline.

IMMEDIATE TO DO (main content):

• Refine the story, give names to the kingdom, shadow monsters, app etc.

• I want to create three main environments in pixel art with small animation (if I have time). They should be bold in colours and distinctive from each other to showcase the range of environments players will experience.

• Create demo player characters to put into the environments and scenes. I did end up asking my D&D group if they would like their characters to be converted into pixel art as a cute visual reference, and all of them seem very enthusiastic about it! So that will be a fun easter egg to add.

• Create a few story images with text

• Create at least one environment that has a boss/shadow legion fight

• Showcase player camp, app widget, and app UI

In addition to this, I have the report to stay on track with, and need to think about the general aesthetic and branding/naming of my app, since I will be selling it like a real app advertisement in the final exhibition with the hero video on top. So basically we have a lot to do, but I'm beginning to break it down, taking one step at a time!

Stay tuned for future updates... (I will be increasingly stressed and panicked over work but I promise I'm having fun)

References:

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

The University of Edinburgh. (2020). What? So what? Now what? The University of Edinburgh. https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/what-so-what-now-what