I got the chance to take part in a music workshop where we build three types of microphones:
Binaural Microphone
Piezo Microphone
Electromagnetic Field Microphone
If you want to build one of the microphones on your own, you will need the following parts.
Binaural Microphone:
2x electret capsule mod. CME-12 (or similar omnidirectional)
1x mini stereo jack male solderable aerial 3.5 mm
1m coaxial audio stereo cable
Piezo Microphone:
piezoelectric ceramic disc buzzer model 27EE41
1 mini mono jack male solderable aerial 3.5 mm
1m coaxial audio stereo cable (separate each channel into two we only need one channel)
Electromagnetic Field Microphone:
1 magnetic inductor (choose the one with the highest power)
1 mini mono jack male solderable aerial 3.5 mm
1m coaxial audio stereo cable (separate each channel into two we only need one channel)
Additional Equipment:
soldering iron
solder wire
electrical tape
While the piezo- and electromagnetic microphones will be connected via mono audio cable and jack, the binaural microphone needs a stereo cable and jack. The following soldering example refers to the piezo microphone but will be for all three microphones the same.
At the beginning you need to remove at the endings of the cable a small part of the outer insulation (see image below). Now you can see a red insulated wire and a loose wire around it. While the loose wire when twisted together acts the negative pole, the red insulated wire acts as the positive pole.
After this step you can start to solder one end of the cable on to the piezo microphone. The red wire should be soldered on to the silver area and the other one on to the golden area. It is important that each cable is only connected to one of the areas and doesn’t overlap with the second one.
Note: For additional protection of the solder points you can put hot glue on the entire surface, as the contact surface for the microphone is the back side.
The final step will be to solder the second end of the audio cable on to the audio jack. The red wire (positive pole) needs to be soldered in the inner part of the jack and the loose wire (negative pole) needs to be soldered on to the outer part (see image below).
Now put the cover back on the audio jack and test your new microphone.
Here you can listen to an example recording I made by scratching on a wooden plank.
In the digital age, creating products that cater to a diverse range of users has become paramount. World Usability Day serves as an ideal platform for delving into the nuances of accessibility and inclusive design. Recently, UX Graz organized a hybrid event that featured a talk by Steffi Susser, a freelance UX consultant, who shared invaluable insights on this essential topic. Her presentation emphasized the significance of enabling users with various abilities and disabilities to navigate and interact with products, and she was just one of the experts contributing to this enlightening event. In this blog post, we will explore the key takeaways from Steffi Susser’s talk and the broader discussions that took place during this celebration of World Usability Day.
A Glimpse into World Usability Day The event, organized by UX Graz, celebrated World Usability Day, providing a platform for professionals and enthusiasts to come together and discuss the critical facets of design that revolve around usability, accessibility, and inclusion. The online format broader participation, ensuring a wide-reaching and inclusive conversation.
The Power of Inclusive Design: Insights from Steffi Susser’s Talk and More
Steffi Susser’s Talk Steffi Susser’s talk was a highlight of the event. She passionately articulated the importance of inclusive design, emphasizing that it goes beyond merely complying with guidelines. Inclusion, she asserted, is about fostering an environment where all individuals, regardless of their unique differences, feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. Her insights on the topic shed light on how designers and creators can go the extra mile to ensure their products resonate with users on a deeper level.
Accessibility vs. Inclusive Design Steffi Susser’s talk also drew a clear distinction between accessibility and inclusive design. While accessibility focuses on making a design usable by everyone, inclusive design takes it a step further. Inclusive design aims not only to be usable but to be so appealing that everyone desires to use it. It’s a journey that transcends the realm of objective measurements and delves into the subjective and emotional aspects of design, making it a complex and fascinating field.
The Complexity of Inclusive Design Steffi’s presentation highlighted the intertwined nature of inclusive design. She pointed to real-world examples, such as web forms, which are commonly used online but can present exclusionary challenges. These forms can deter users by requesting unnecessary data or enforcing mandatory fields. Inclusive design, in such cases, means providing a spectrum of choices and considering the multifaceted dimensions of diversity, including culture, language, ethnicity, sexual orientation, family status, religion, and spiritual beliefs.
Diversity in Design Diversity, Steffi emphasized, encompasses various facets of being human, and designers play a crucial role in promoting inclusivity. Factors such as contrast ratios, color blindness testing, resizable fonts, and support for screen readers were discussed as ways to ensure a design is inclusive. Avoiding autoplay, scrutinizing the necessity of animations, allowing sufficient time for user interactions, employing gender-fair language, collecting only essential data, and avoiding stereotypes all contribute to the overall inclusiveness of a design.
Inclusive Design: A Piece of a Larger Puzzle Steffi Susser views accessibility as “just a piece of the broader puzzle” that is inclusive design. While fundamental, accessibility does not stand alone; it is part of a holistic approach that addresses the complex and multifaceted needs of users.
Steffi Susser’s talk on inclusive design holds particular relevance for me as an interaction designer but more importanly for my research working on the master’s thesis focused on eHealthcare app solutions. Her insights shed light on the importance of creating designs that resonate with diverse user groups, a vital consideration in the healthcare sector. By delving into the complexities of inclusive design and understanding the emotional aspects that drive user engagement, we can equip ourselves with valuable knowledge to enhance the usability and appeal of our eHealthcare app solution. This understanding will not only contribute to the success of my master’s thesis but also empower me to design a solution that is genuinely tailored to the needs and preferences of a wide range of healthcare app users.
A Glimpse into Research by Lukas Wohofsky The event also featured research by Lukas Wohofsky, co-lead of the research unit ENABLE for health and inclusion care at FH Carinthia. His work, in collaboration with Daniela Kraine and Sascha Fink, showcased the application of human-centered design in research on their initiative for “inclusion through cooperation: potentials of participatory research in the field of autism”. They underscored the ethical principles and best practices for involving users, emphasizing the importance of valuing data, employing gender-sensitive research design, and building trust with research participants.
Panel Discussion on Accessibility and Inclusion The event concluded with an engaging panel discussion on accessibility and inclusion. This panel brought together experts from various backgrounds, including Steffi Susser, Lukas Wohofsky, Thomas Grill, and Christiane Moser. The discussion, moderated by Johannes Lehner, provided a rich exchange of ideas and insights, offering a comprehensive perspective on the ever-evolving field of accessibility and inclusive design.
A workshop with fuse* design studio focused on generative art installations.
Through a lot of research in the field of machine learning and artificial images I found a design studio from Modena (Italy) named fuse* who hosts a discord server for exchange. Not only do they encourage to ask questions about their design process but also announce new projects.
One week after I joined, they announced a workshop about one of their art installations called “Artificial Botany”. Since I already knew from my previous research what algorithms and tools they might have used, I knew this would be a good opportunity to get insights into the actual design process and more importantly the scale of complexity when applied in a museum like environment.
To summarize, I got insights about the complexity and sub-processes between data collection and the final video. From my first Impulse I already knew how the technical workflow looks like, but I clearly underestimated the process of tweaking and manipulating data sets to produce the desired video output instead of a random generation. As the creation of a single Video already requires a lot of processing power, tweaking and manipulating requires many more cycles and regenerations. After this workshop I see this point in a different way – being more confused because of complexity I simply haven’t seen before.
With this knowledge I ask myself whether this complex, energy hungry and time-consuming process suites my end goal. Are there other simpler approaches to visualize cracking ice in an interactive environment? Is this part of my installation going to be the focus, to justify the time it takes to produce the needed video content with a StyleGAN algorithm?
Whether or not, the videos that are being created with StyleGAN are truly impressive and by taking real iceberg pictures and bringing them to life through machine learning, would greatly fit the dramaturgy of my installation.
After this workshop I have strong concerns about the complexity of my concept. I think I need to get the opinion from an expert in the field of computer vision and maybe come up with simpler alternatives. So far, the following alternatives would greatly reduce the complexity of my project. The list is ordered starting with more abstract solutions up to authentic representations.
Draw the cracks by hand and capture them frame by frame to make a stop motion clip I could layer on top of satellite photo of an ice texture.
Tweak a generative algorithm (for example Random Walk) to recreate a crack structure.
This alternative would animate a generative drawing algorithm that gradually expands. The algorithm should draw a random line that has a structure similar to crack and gets bigger over time. This approach is similar to my first proposal but drawn by an algorithm.
Create a Blender animation with a premade texture.
For the crack structure I have found the following tutorial showing how to produce a procedural cracked earth effect. In a second step I would need to change the earth texture with an ice texture and modify the crack structure to show instead of a dark hole a water texture.
Create the complete ice texture with the help of Stable Diffusion.
A browser interface can be downloaded and run local on the computer: https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui
Cut a plain displaying a satellite image of ice with an 3D object.
In this approach I would create a 3D object and modify its surface with a texture modifier to produce a terrain structure. In the next step I would cut the plain with the satellite image as texture with the 3D object. By moving the 3D object up and down I could animate a melting effect of the ice.
Import GIS data into Blender and animate it over time.
For this alternative I could use a Blender add-on that can import google maps-, google earth- and GIS data. With this approach I would be able to rebuild the structure and its change of a real iceberg.
This addon is extremely powerful as it not only imports the 3D-structure from NASA but also the texture. Finally, I could tweak the texture a little bit with blender’s shader editor and produce multiple renderings for different years.
Although, Google Earth offers the option to view data from previous years, I am not sure if this will work with the Blender add-on.
Thisteenagelife – a project that aims to support young people in connecting with themselves, each other, and caring adults through meaningful conversations around personally relevant topics that are not traditionally explored in middle and high school classes. The project consists of a podcast, an Instagram page and its own website. It was founded by a group of teenagers, which you can join yourself, who create content for other teenagers, discuss topics, give advice and try to answer a teenager’s questions. For me, this project is a positive example of how social media (like Instagram) can be used for teenagers and give them a platform for all their struggles. There is plenty of content out there that can be very helpful for teenagers and it’s relieving to know that there are others out there who are feeling the same way as you, pondering the same questions and feeling insecure too. Instagram doesn’t always have to be bad and toxic (especially for this age group), it can also educate, help and actually connect. Through sites like these, you can also find the podcast, the website and similar projects. I think I would have wished for something like this in my teenage years and see it as motivation to keep working on my research topic in order to make the Instagram platform more teen-friendly and give more space to pages and topics like this.
As a big fan of NYU TISCH and their two programs named Interactive Telecommunications Program and Interactive Media Arts, I often search for their teachers GitHub Accounts as many of them provide open access to lecture materials. By doing so they give people who are not studying at this institution the chance of getting in touch with state-of-the-art research for artistic expression.
One of these teachers is Derrick Schultz who not only shares his code and slides but also uploads his entire classes on YouTube. By doing so I was able to follow his Artificial Images class and learn the basics of artificial image creation and state-of-the-art algorithms working under the hood.
Derrick Schultz introduced in his class the following algorithms that are currently used to generate images:
Style Transfer
Pix2Pix Model
Next Frame Prediction (NFP)
CycleGAN / MUNIT
StyleGAN
He also gives his opinion on the difficulty of each model and orders them from easiest to hardest.
Style Transfer
SinGAN
NFP
MUNIT/CycleGAN
StyleGAN
Pix2PIX
After comparing the different models, I found two algorithms that could produce the needed video material for my installation.
Pix2Pix
StyleGAN
Unfortunately, those are also the ones rated to be the most difficult ones. The difficulty is not only the coding but also data quality and quantity, GPU power and processing time.
In the following section I will analyze the two algorithms and give my opinion whether they could help me generating the visuals for the interactive iceberg texture of my project.
Pix2Pix
As already mentioned, this algorithm can take either image or a video as input and produces according to the training data a fixed output. I could use images of icebergs from NASA or Google Earth as my data set and detect with canny edge algorithm the edges of my images. By doing so, I get from every image in my data set the corresponding edge texture and therefore train the Pix2Pix algorithm to draw iceberg texture by giving edge textures as input.
The need to develop an algorithm that generates interactive edges.
Depending on the training set the output can look very different and in the worst case can not be associated with iceberg texture. A lot of training and tweaking results in many iterations of model training.
StyleGAN
In this scenario I could again use iceberg textures from NASA or Google Earth as training data and produce an animation of cracking iceberg texture that shrinks. Since this algorithm produces no fixed output, one can produce endless variations of image material.
A sample animation made by the teacher can be seen here:
Problems:
Getting in control of the output data of the algorithm is very difficult as it produces random interpolations based on the training data.
Heavy manipulation of training data might be needed to get the desired outcome. This results in many iterations of model training and therefore a lot of time, computer power, heavy GPU processing and costs.
Big data set of at least 1000 images recommended.
Link to the Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/@ArtificialImages
Wie bei Blog#1 erwähnt, stützt sich digitale Barrierefreiheit auf drei Säulen.
Contentmanagement (10%)
Design (10%)
Entwicklung (80%)
Da die Entwicklung den größte Teil ausmacht, widme ist ihr einen eigenen Post.
Contentmanagement
Verständlichkeit
Ein wichtiger Grundsatz der digitalen Barrierefreiheit ist die “Verständlichkeit“, was bedeutet, dass digitale Inhalte so formuliert sein sollten, dass sie von allen Benutzer*innen leicht verstanden werden können, unabhängig von ihren Fähigkeiten oder Einschränkungen. Abkürzungen sollten vermeiden- oder zumindest eindeutig deklariert werden. Fremd- und Eigenwörter vermeiden und keine Wörter nur in Großbuchstaben schreiben. So können E-Reader die Grammatik richtig verstehen und flüssig vorlesen.
Einfache Sprache / easy English
KISS Formel: “keep it simple and stupid”. Leichte Texte im Bereich Contentmanagement und Redaktion sind eine wesentliche Voraussetzung für digitale Barrierefreiheit. Damit inkludiert man Menschen mit kognitiven Einschränkungen und/oder sprachlichen Defiziten. Eine klare und einfache Sprache verbessert die Kommunikation für alle Leser*innen und reduziert Missverständnisse.
Das sind kurze Beschreibungen oder Texte, die in den HTML-Code von Bildern, Grafiken, Videos und anderen nicht-textbasierten Elementen einer Webseite eingefügt werden. Der Zweck von Alt-Texten besteht darin, das E-Reader eine Beschreibung eines Bildes vorlesen, um visuelle Elemente für Menschen mit Sehbehinderungen oder anderen Einschränkungen wahrnehmbar zu machen.
Strukturierung
Überschriftenhierarchie, Zwischenüberschriften, Absätze, Aufzählungen, kein Blocksatz.
Maßnahmen auch sinnvoll für Seo-Optimierung.
Design
Die Anforderungen für Design gelten auch für Untertitel, welche in Videos angezeigt werden können.
Kontraste
Kontraste von Farben müssen mindestens 3:1 (für AA) und 4,21:1 (für AAA) betragen. Je höher der Kontrast, desto mehr Menschen mit Sehbeeinträchtigung können die Farbgestaltung besser deuten.
Für eine schnelle Kontrolle dafür gibt es Software (wave – web accessibility evaluation tool) https://wave.webaim.org/ oder Browser Add Ons und Erweiterungen wie diverse “Contrast Checker”. Diese Tools liefern aber nur eine 20% – 40% akkurate Ergebnisse und müssen im Nachhinein immer manuell geprüft werden.
Der Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Österreich (https://www.blindenverband.at ) gibt auf der Website eine beispielhafte Vorführung für die Anwendung von Farbkontrasten. Mitberücksichtigt wurde hier auch, dass Personen mit Farbenblindheit oder Farbkontrastschwächen, wie z.B. rot-grün Schwäche, im Menü oben zwischen verschiedenen Farbkontrasten wählen können, und dadurch auf ihre Bedürfnisse abstimmen können.
Absätze sollen aus nicht weniger als 60- und nicht länger als 80 Zeichen bestehen. Die Zeilenhöhe beträgt idealerweise 1,5 pt.
Linksbündig, keine Blocksätze
Serifenlose Schriften auf Displays bevorzugt. Abhängig von der Displayauflösung können Serifen nur mehr oder weniger korrekt dargestellt werden.
Wörter in Majuskeln und Kapitälchen(Großbuchstaben) vermeiden. E-Reader können die Grammatik nicht korrekt deuten, verlesen sich oder der Lesefluss im Vorlesen wird behindert.
Abhängig von Schriftgröße sind condensed- Schriftarten ungeeignet. Eine zu enge Darstellung von Zeichenketten behindert den Lesefluss für Menschen mit Sehbehinderung.
Die Mindestschriftgröße für Schriften auf digitalen Endgeräten beträgt 16 Pixel (px). Sowohl für Desktop als auch Mobile Ansicht. Je nach Schriftart kann das auch abweichen, gewählt werden sollte eine Schriftart mit exakter Zeichensetzung und wohldosierter Abstand in der Laufweite sein.
For my fourth impulse blog I listend to a podcast by The UX Usability Podcast with the title “Frank Spillers: VR Design and UX”. I’m also very interested in User Expierence and especially how to handle UX in new spatial design as in Virtual Reality. I came across this podcast while searching for the keywords UX and VR. In this podcast the main speaker is Frank Spiller who is an UX designer for many years with expertise in AR/VR UX and emotion design.
In the podcast he talked about how important inclusion is and what aspects to consider when designing inclusive. Also storytelling is an essential part in VR Design. The storyline should be told in the first couple of minutes as the whole expierence often lasts 10 to 20 minutes and users have a very short attention span. One thing I found very interesting when emotion design was mentioned and how sound has an impact in the Virtual Reality experience. Frank Spiller also spoke about how the movie industry is using sound to create the narrative. They lay down the sound scape first and then they build the narrative around it. Sound, especially spatial sound can be an essential aspect into the VR expierence as it has the power to pull you into the adventure.
In my case, I take all the points I mentioned above about inclusive design, emotion design, and storytelling into my project. I have to make sure that I create an experience that people of all backgrounds can relate to and that the story being told is understood in the first few minutes. Sound is very important to complete an immersive experience.
Für meine Masterarbeit muss noch eine genaue Fragestellung formuliert werden. Da der Relaunch der Website digitaluniversityhub.eu eine gut strukturierte und barrierefreie Website vorsieht, die auch nach der auslaufenden Förderung Mitte 2025 eigenständig weiterbestehen soll, möchte ich mich als Experte zum Thema digitale Barrierefreiheit weiterbilden und entwickeln. Ein erster Versuch für die Fragestellung meiner Masterarbeit könnte also lauten: “Relaunch der Website digitaluniversityhub.eu mit Fokus auf digitale Barrierefreiheit”.
Digitale Barrierefreiheit
Digitale Barrierefreiheit bezieht sich auf die Gestaltung von digitalen Technologien, Plattformen und Inhalten so, dass sie für alle Menschen, einschließlich Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Fähigkeiten und Einschränkungen, zugänglich und nutzbar sind. Das Ziel der digitalen Barrierefreiheit besteht darin, sicherzustellen, dass niemand aufgrund von Behinderungen oder anderen Einschränkungen von der Nutzung digitaler Ressourcen ausgeschlossen wird. Endgeräte mit Displays sind heute nicht mehr wegzudenken, und dennoch betrifft es 3,4% der Bevölkerung, die von Blindheit oder Sehbehinderung betroffen sind. Dies entspricht rund 300.000 Menschen in Österreich, die auf Zusatzsoftware/Bedienhilfen wie E-Reader, Subtexte, Braillezeilen oder spezielle Tastaturen angewiesen sind. Quelle: https://www.blindenverband.at/de/information/augengesundheit/97/Statistische-Daten; Zugriff am: 01.11.2023
Zusätzlich betrifft digitale Barrierefreiheit auch aber auch Menschen mit taktilen oder motorischen Beschränkungen und Menschen mit Hörbeeinträchtigungen, welche ohne Untertitel in Videos die Inhalte nicht verstehen können.
Das Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG) besagt, dass bei digitalen Produkten und Dienstleistungen (Von Online-Shops, einfachen Eingabemasken bis zum Bankomaten) die Norm: EM301 549https://oegovwiki.gv.at/wiki/Barrierefrei:EN_301_549 ; (Barrierefreiheitsanforderungen für Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) Produkte und Services) verpflichtend zum Einsatz kommen muss. Das betrifft österreichische Unternehmen ab 10 Mitarbeitende und/oder 2 Mio. € Jahresumsatzes ab dem 25.06.2025 in ganz Europa.
Dienstleistungen: Online-Shops, E-Books, Bankdienstleistungen, elektr. Kommunikationsdienste, Dienstleistungen im elektronischen Geschäftsverkehr über Websites oder Apps, Notrufsysteme
Personenverkehrsdienste: Websites, Ticket- und Selbstbedienungsterminals auf Flughafen oder Bahnhof sowie auch bauliche Barrierefreiheit, elektronische Ticketdienste.
80% von digitaler Barrierefreiheit liegen auf der technischen Seite. Nur ein qualitativ sauber aufbereiteter und fehlerfreier Code kann zur digitaler Barrierefreiheit führen. Denn die E-Reader können auch nur den Code im Hintergrund lesen und interpretieren. Gleiches gilt für .pdf und .ppt Dokumenten, wo Texte exakt mit einer logischen Schrifthierarchie gesetzt werden müssen, damit E-Reader diese interpretieren können. (Von Überschrift 1 bis ? inkl. Verzeichnissen und Verlinkungen zur optimalen Bedienbarkeit).
Die Umsetzung von digitaler Barrierefreiheit stützt sich auf die drei Säulen:
Am 5. September 2023 hatte ich die Gelegenheit, an einem zweieinhalbstündigen Webinar von https://waca.at/ zum Thema digitaler Barrierefreiheit teilzunehmen. Dieses informative Event behandelte eine breite Palette von Themen, die für die Gestaltung zugänglicher Online-Inhalte von entscheidender Bedeutung sind. Im Verlauf des Webinars wurden verschiedene Aspekte beleuchtet, darunter die gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der Web Accessibility, die speziellen Anforderungen von Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Behinderungen sowie eine detaillierte Übersicht über assistive Technologien mit einer beeindruckenden Screenreader-Demonstration. Darüber hinaus wurden internationale Standards und Normen erläutert sowie ein Blick auf die aktuelle rechtliche Lage in Österreich geworfen, inklusive einer Vorschau auf den European Accessibility Act. In der zweiten Hälfte des Webinars wurde die Erkennbarkeit barrierefreier Webanwendungen und Dokumente erläutert, begleitet von Prüfschritten, Prüfmöglichkeiten und automatischen Testtools, die für die Qualitätssicherung unerlässlich sind. Auch die grundlegenden Prinzipien, die Webdesigner*innen bei der Erstellung zugänglicher Inhalte beachten sollten, kamen zur Sprache. Das Webinar schnitt zudem kurz das Thema Barrierefreiheit in Social-Media-Kanälen an. Als besonderen Bonus wurde den Teilnehmer*innen angeboten, live ihre Websites auf Barrierefreiheit zu testen. Insgesamt war das Webinar eine wertvolle Quelle von Informationen und Einblicken in die Welt der digitalen Barrierefreiheit.
Da ich mich in meiner Masterarbeit mit dem Thema Relaunch beschäftige, möchte ich in diesem Zusammenhang ein besonderes Augenmerk auf das Thema digitale Barrierefreiheit legen, da ich mich derzeit, aber auch in Zukunft, weiterbilde und mich in Zukunft als Expertin zu diesem Thema sehe.
Game Day 2023 was an event filled with excitement, learning, and inspiration. Game developers and enthusiasts from all around the world gathered to share their experiences, insights, and knowledge. Among the many remarkable talks, three speakers left a lasting impression on me, sharing their journeys, sustainability strategies, and the importance of well-structured processes in game development.
The Struggles Behind MosaMina One of the most captivating talks of the day was by Joshua Hollendonner, who shared his journey and the hardships he faced in creating the famous game, MosaMina. He provided a firsthand account of the challenges he encountered while striving to make his dream a reality. Hollendonner’s story of perseverance and determination resonated with many of us in the audience. It was a reminder that success in the gaming industry often requires relentless dedication and the courage to push through adversity. Hollendonner’s insights shed light on the importance of balancing the pursuit of one’s passion with the demands of earning a living. He highlighted the commitment it takes to continue working on a game’s vision and updates, even in the face of financial instability. As game developers or designer, we can draw inspiration from his journey and remember that great games are born out of passion and unwavering persistence.
GGWP – Green Game vs World Problems Jan Steinhauser’s talk on “GGWP: Green Game vs World Problems” presented a fresh perspective on game development and sustainability. He emphasized the responsibility of game developers in contributing to a more sustainable world. Steinhauser’s insights challenged the traditional mindset of game creation and encouraged us to consider the environmental impact of our projects. The key takeaway from Steinhauser’s talk was the potential for integrating gamification into applications for underserved rural communities, particularly in the healthcare sector. By adopting eco-friendly practices and considering the long-term consequences of game development, we can create games that not only entertain but also make a positive impact on our planet. This shift in perspective could pave the way for more ethical and sustainable game development practices in the future.
The Power of Structured Processes In a world where game development is a dynamic and ever-evolving field, Marcus Walhütter’s talk on the importance of implementing structured processes for releasing and updating games was a revelation. Walhütter stressed the significance of organized workflows, from initial concept to final release. He emphasized that efficient processes can prevent chaos and ensure that a game is delivered to its audience as planned. This insight reminds us that the success of a game doesn’t solely rely on creativity; it also hinges on discipline and structure. Game development teams can benefit greatly from well-defined procedures that streamline the development and launch of their games, reducing the risk of delays or unexpected obstacles. Game Day 2023 was a treasure trove of wisdom for game developers. The talks by Joshua Hollendonner, Jan Steinhauser, and Marcus Walhütter not only provided valuable insights but also inspired us to think differently about game development. Hollendonner’s story of resilience, Steinhauser’s call for sustainable game design, and Walhütter’s focus on structured processes all contribute to our evolving understanding of what it takes to succeed in this exciting and competitive industry.
As desginer, we can draw from these experiences and perspectives to create not only entertaining games but also eco-conscious and efficient processes. Game Day 2023 was a reminder that our community is continuously evolving and that with each new insight, we have the opportunity to elevate our craft and contribute positively to the world of gaming.
