At 7th October I attended the Game Dev Days, and I found the talks quite interesting. Most of them provided valuable insights into the game development process. The speakers discussed how they created their games, whether it was a small indie game developed by a single person, like „Roto Force“, or a larger project sponsored by Apple, such as the Game „Gibbon“.

While it was motivating to see how proud the speakers were of their accomplishments, it was also intimidating to realize the amount of work required to create a game. For instance, one speaker showed the complexities of designing an algorithm for different NPCs that appear on different days. This involved ensuring that characters didn’t overlap, especially when interacting with the player, and that important storylines for various tasks were properly integrated. This level of detail in game development was something I hadn’t considered before.

Another revelation was when a developer who single-handedly created a game shared the number of hours it took. His game took approximately 4000 hours to develop, and the profit was the same, resulting in an hourly wage of just 1 €, which was quite frustrating to hear.

There were also talks with more general topics, such as the talk from Phil Strahls which was about choosing colors in games. I particularly enjoyed this talk because the speaker not only covered the theoretical aspects of color selection but also provided practical advice. For example, he explained that front colors should be darker than back colors and cautioned against using too many colors, which can create visual noise that is challenging to manage. These insights are not only useful for game design but can also be applied to other design fields, such as animation and illustration.

In summary, the talks at the event were truly inspiring. While I may not be ready to develop a game for my master’s thesis due to the potential overload, I am certainly interested in exploring topics like the intricacies of NPC algorithms for a possible thesis subject. I think some other talks where quite useful for my Master Thesis, like the one about colors, because this theory will be similar to User Interfacedesign. The event has broadened my perspective on the world of game development and design.

more about this topic:

https://books.google.at/books?hl=de&lr=&id=ZzihBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=game+dev+days&ots=PI9DLPqQNQ&sig=iHgiB25t1qnsIy5Urxthlc3AiO8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=game%20dev%20days&f=false

On November 4th, I attended a musical called “Rebecca” at the Raimund Theatre. What stood out in this performance was the use of an adjustable transparent screen. It was interesting to see how it was incorporated into the show.

Throughout the production, actors positioned themselves behind the screen, cleverly utilizing it to create various effects. For instance, a phone booth was projected onto the screen, and where the actress stood, the screen became transparent, giving the illusion that she was inside the phone booth, even though the stage behind the screen was empty. It made the background of the show more interesting. Additionally, it added versatility to the on-stage furniture. For example, a real house wall was visible, and the screen projected moving leaves to simulate wind. Later, they even used it to project fire, creating the illusion of a burning building.

The use of such screens can generate impressive effects by projecting onto objects, potentially leading to savings on materials and stage design, as mentioned by the example of the phone booth.

I found it really cool to see how projection mapping works in action. While the application of projection mapping in live performances is fascinating it may not align with the focus of my Master’s thesis.

more about this topic:

https://www.tnl.de/projektion/projection-mapping/?gclid=CjwKCAiApaarBhB7EiwAYiMwqupwRleR_zXG6dLKqxNClnfR7zyuJbB-p7GoJ4NR6qa1jqsJxfGd4hoCEvsQAvD_BwE

I watched some talks at the World Usability Congress and found them quite interesting. While not all of them were my cup of tea due to some being a bit too technical, I did manage to take away something valuable from each one.

One presentation, titled “Measuring Emotional Engagement” by Bill Albert, stood out as my favorite, and I’d like to focus on it in this blog post. Albert discussed emotions in general, how we can test them in usability trials, and why understanding customer emotions during product testing is crucial. He highlighted common UX emotions like engagement, stress, frustration, affect, trust, and confidence. Measuring emotions, however, isn’t always easy due to the challenge of dealing with potentially noisy data. This is partly because not everyone has the same definition for each emotion. Communicating about emotions can be tricky as they are abstract, and some emotions, like trust, may be particularly elusive to analyze.

What caught my interest was the array of research tools used in UX for measuring emotions, something I wasn’t aware of before. Albert shared an example of real-time emotional measurement through eye tracking during usability tests and introduced other tools like self-reports, facial expression analysis, GSR, and behavioral observations.

I also appreciated the practical aspect of Albert’s talk. He provided insights into planning a usability test that focuses on measuring emotions, emphasizing the importance of asking questions such as: “What emotions do I care about? What tools do I need? What am I going to do with the results?” Moreover, he illustrated his points with a practical example that addressed potential risks.

In conclusion, I believe that incorporating emotion measurement into usability tests can be very helpful. As I plan to carry out usability tests for my Master’s thesis, it’s valuable to keep in mind the insights from the World Usability Congress.

more about this topic:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2786567.2792902

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/10447318.2023.2221600?needAccess=true

Ich habe für die Bewertung die Masterarbeit „Printmedien im Digitalen Zeitalter : wie sich Medienunternehmen in Österreich den Herausforderungen der modernen Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien stellen“ von Marina Tantscher gewählt. Sie ist 2014 an der Universität Graz erschienen.

Gestaltungshöhe

Die Gestaltungshöhe kann nicht beurteilt werden, da es sich hier um eine Standardformatierung handelt.

Innovationsgrad
Das Thema ist aktueller denn je und zeigt gut Probleme und Chancen der Printmedien im digitalen Zeitalter auf.

Selbstständigkeit
In der Masterarbeit wurden einige Lösungsansätze und Vorschläge erarbeitet.

Gliederung und Struktur
Die Arbeit ist angenehm und verständlich strukturiert und die Gliederung regt zum Weiterlesen an. Die Person geht zuerst auf das aktuelle Geschehen in der Medienwelt ein, setzt sich dann mit den Problemen auseinander und versucht im letzten Drittel der Arbeit Lösungsansätze zu finden.

Kommunikationsgrad
Die Arbeit enthält wissenschaftliche Elemente und Fachbegriffe, welche jedoch verständlich Erklärt und aufgezeigt werden. Sie ist für Laien gut verständlich und nachvollziehbar.

Umfang der Arbeit
Das Thema erstreckt sich auf rund 70 Seiten und wird somit gründlich aufgearbeitet.

Orthographie sowie Sorgfalt und Genauigkeit
Die Person hat sehr genau gearbeitet und alle Satzzeichen und Beistriche, Trennstriche etc. sorgfältig und korrekt verwendet. Dabei habe ich Stichprobenartig mehrere Seiten kontrolliert.

Literatur

Die Literatur setzt sich aus vielen Büchern sowie zum Thema passend sehr vielen Quellen von Zeitschriften und Zeitungen (digital sowie analog) zusammen. Man erkennt, dass die Person eine sehr tiefe Literaturrecherche betrieben hat und sich dabei auf renommierte und verlässliche Quellen stützt.

I will be reviewing “The effect of TikTok exposure on young adults’ sustained attention span and the comprehension of information in digital texts and videos” by Romy Victoria Siehoff.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a master’s thesis with the topic/keywords “impact”, “social media”, “attention span”, therefore I have chosen this bachelor’s thesis hence it provided what my interests and further development of my master’s thesis desired.

Level of design: The study employs participant data to investigate TikTok’s impact on attention and comprehension among young adults, presenting a moderately complex design.

Degree of innovation: This research introduces fresh insights by exploring TikTok’s influence on cognitive abilities, particularly sustained attention, offering an independent perspective while acknowledging prior work on media multitasking.

Independence: Demonstrates autonomy by filling the gap in understanding TikTok’s effects on cognition, drawing on previous research while standing as a distinct investigation.

Outline and structure: The abstract maintains a coherent structure, effectively presenting background, research question, methodology, and primary findings concisely.

Degree of communication: Successfully shows the study’s objectives, methods, and significant findings with clarity and precision.

Scope of the work: Focuses on TikTok’s impact on attention and comprehension, potentially paving the way for broader cognitive research in the future.

Orthography and accuracy: The writing appears devoid of errors, but the accuracy of methodology and findings necessitates access to the complete research.

Literature: References prior research on media multitasking, highlighting a research gap related to TikTok’s cognitive influence, pointing out the study’s significance.