SCOM 5056Design Theory

inScience Communication

week 5: user experience (part 2)

Dave GoforthFA377 (Fraser)

705-675-1151 ext 2316 dgoforth@cs. laurentian.ca

User control

• Kinds of user actions– Experience Management

• Turn page, insert DVD, load software

– Content Interaction • Scan diagram, reread sentence, select song,

choose answer,

The mutable/immutable boundary

• Artefacts that are immutable but allow different users to have different ‘linear’ experiences– Dictionaries– Tutortext– Hypertext documents– “Over the Top” www.warmuseum.

ca/CWM/overtop/index_e.html

Immutable artefacts with user control ofone variable

Video clip Exploratorium

http://www.exploratorium.edu/hockey/shooting1.html

Boston Museum of Science

Immutable artefacts with user control of one (continuous) variable

Boston Museum of Science

Immutable artefacts with user control of

multiple variables

Science World Vancouver

Mutable artefact

with user control of

one variable

Science North grip strength

Science North Sudbury

Mutable artefacts with user control of

multiple variables

Pendulum simulation http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~plynch/SwingingSpring/doublependulum.html

Boston Museum of Science

A design example• Leverage concept – relates 4 variables

m2.d2 = m1.d1

(equilibrium)

• How to present:

Epitome?

What is basic concept?

m1

m2

d2

d1

A design example

How to present:

Epitome?

What is basic concept?

m1 m2

d2

d1

m1 and d1 fixed,

m2 and d2 are controlled

m2

m1d2

d1

Lever to lift m1: m2.d2 ≥ m1.d1

m1 m2

d2

d1

d2

m2

m2d2 = m1d1

lift

can’t lift

Mutable artefacts with user control of multiple variables

Science World Vancouver

m2

m1

d2

d1

Lever to lift m1: m2.d2 ≥ m1.d1

m1

d2

d1

d2

m2

m2d2 = m1d1

Mutable artefacts with user control of

multiple variables

Set lighting

-Position

-Intensity

-Tone

position

tone

intensity

Boston Museum of Science

Mutable artefacts with user control of multiple variables

Erosion table

Armadillo Run

Science North Sudbury

Narrative in mutable artefacts?

Narrative Immutable Mutable

Event-tokens ?

Narrator ?Narrative appetite ?

Past time ?

Structure ?

Agency ?

Purpose ?

Reader ?

Jenkins• Game space

– Like quests, travel literature, sci-fi

• Enacted narrative– Like spectacle-centred genres, plot less important– “accordion-like structure” plot points / cut pieces

• Embedded narrative– detective story– Explicit scenes, implied history

• Emergent narrative– Sims

Game space• Physical or conceptual space to play through

Creator defines space with start and end

User determines path through space

Different from exploration space:

goal-orientation

d2

m2

m2d2 = m1d1

lift

can’t lift

Recall – simple murder mystery

Murder story

Detective story

Recall – simple murder mystery

Murder story

Player detective

Typical game with levels

Embedded narrative

Embedded narrative

Enacted narrativeEnacted narrative

“Accordion-like structure”

comedia dell’arte

Jenkins

Pinball construction set

1. play sample pinball gameslearn actions and outcomes

learn core mechanic

2. design and play pinball gamesdrag and drop

3. change game physics, design and playparameter sliders

gravity, viscosity, elasticity, density

Player role

• Participant– Enacted narrative

• Observer– Emergent narrative

Science communication applications of game-like narrative

Emergent Enacted-ant colony -mineral identification

-Sim-type simulations -body costume

-erosion table -microbial battery (Sam)

-racing car construction (both)

-pinball construction set (both)

Sim Earth, 1990• “the player can vary a planet's atmosphere,

temperature, landmasses, etc, then place various forms of life on the planet and watch them evolve. Since it is a software toy, the game does not have any required goals. The big (and difficult) challenge is to evolve sentient life and an advanced civilization.

…The game models the Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock (who assisted with the design and wrote an introduction to the manual), ...”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimEarth:_The_Living_Planet

Sim Earth, 1990

“Educational/academic” simulations

• http://www.scienceshareware.com– Windows-based examples:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\sciencesimulations

– how to revise for free-choice artefacts?

• http://www.virtlab.com/index.aspx

Hypertext narrative artefactsimmutables* with decision points

Story line segments

1

3

9

27

40For a four segment story with three decision points and three choices,

the creator needs to prepare forty segments

*some segments may be mutable internally

Reducing the segment count – reusing segments

• Independent choices (constrains design)

• Shared consequences

Reducing the segment count – reusing segments

• Unordered sequences

303304

Tutortext example chapter

Crowder, N.A. 1960. The Arithmetic of Computers, an introduction to binary and octal mathematics. Garden City NY: Doubleday

287

290

297

295

302

299

305

466

306

294

298

288

300

289

301

292

291

293

296

remedial

lesson

review

test

Some sample science games

• Musée Armand-Frappier– http://www.musee-afrappier.qc.ca/1500_e.html

• The Grid– http://www.tryscience.org/grid/offline/offline.html

forest fire simulation