Syllabus - 8ude/TechProduction_Spring2019_FemaleRoleModelProject GitHub Wiki

ENT 3320 – Tech Production (Female Role Model Project)

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6-8:30 pm, V103a

Professors: Tjasa Ferme and Corey Bertelsen

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Office Hours (Corey): Thursdays 3-5 pm

Office Location: V203

Office Phone (email is best): 718-260-5779

Course Description:

In this course students will work collaboratively to develop a brain controlled game tie-in to the Female Role Model Project, created by Tsaja Ferme. The Female Role Model Project is an interactive multimedia theatrical performance that incorporates live neuroscientific readings. The piece explores representations of female role models and their evolution in a time of great sociopolitical change and the possibility of transforming our brains. It combines theatrical performance and interactive games with live recordings of neural activity from both actors and audience members using Emotiv EEG headsets. Students will become familiar with Unity, Maya, Fabric, and the Emotiv headsets as they develop the next stage of the Female Role Model Project: an interactive game using Brain Controlled Interface (BCI) technology

Course Goals:

To give students an introduction to:

  • Unity, Maya, BrainBit system
  • EEG-based controls and game design
  • collaboration between people with different skills and backgrounds in a professional context
  • design & development pipeline for experimental game projects
  • installation and set design for immersive participatory experiences

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students will be able to:

  • learn correct terminology for technical and design aspects of live performance
  • understand the pipeline for 3D game asset creation and implementation
  • investigate experiments in neuroscience and alternate interaction techniques as part of a creative practice
  • explore different methods of interdisciplinary collaboration in order to function as part of a team
  • understand and employ different troubleshooting techniques to solve design challenges
  • clearly communicate ideas using contemporary methods and critique work of their peers – discuss the evolving technologies and innovative approaches used by professionals working within live theatre

Course Materials:

  • GitHub
  • Slack
  • Flash drive & other portable drives or DropBox account to back up files
  • Readings (will be supplied for you as downloadable PDFs or links)
  • Sketch Book

Software:

Expectations:

  • Spend at least 2-4 additional hours a week (outside of class) on tutorials & production
  • Upload weekly production milestones to Trello
  • Use Slack for communication with team
  • Arrive on time and attend all classes
  • Present in-progress and final work to your peers for critique
  • Participate in group critiques
  • Back-up work every week both offline & online

Attendance Policy:

Attendance is required for every class. All graded work is done collaboratively in a lab environment, and everyone’s objectives are interdependent. If you miss class consistently, you will not be able to follow along or pass this class. Presence and participation are essential to the objectives of this R&D process. The project we are incubating is highly sequential; components build off each other.

Grading Policy:

Your ability to learn, recreate & troubleshoot each phase of the pipeline will determine your teams’ grade.

  • 18% Unity Engine
  • 18% Character Creation & Rigging
  • 18% BCI controls
  • 18% Interactive soundscapes in Fabric
  • 18% Performance Installation
  • 10% Participation & Attendance

Addendum (March 14) - I'm finding that this grading rubric no longer reflects the goals and team dynamics of the class. The revised rubric is as follows:

  • 15% Participation
  • 15% Attendance
  • 70% Class Project, consisting of
    • Visual Design and Animation
    • Audio Design and Implementation
    • Unity Scripting and Gameplay Logic
    • BCI Controls
    • Installation and Documentation

In accordance with CUNY Attendance policy (more information here http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/current-student/docs/StudentHandbook.pdf) excessive absences, that total 10% or more of the overall course time, will result in a grade of WU (unofficial withdrawal). WU grades count as F's when calculating GPA.

Academic Integrity Policy:

Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. The complete text of the College policy on Academic Integrity may be found in the catalogue.

Week Outline:

Week 1 - INTRODUCTION (Project Phase 1 - See Project Phases )

Tuesday 1.29 – Overview of the Class, Introduction to the Female Role Model Project

Thursday 1.31 – Female Role Model Project In-Depth, Forming Teams, Introduce the Design Document, Demos with BCI

HW: DevLog 1 - On Github wiki page:

Part 1: Write about a moment with a close friend or relative that was very important in forming who you are today.

Part 2: Write some ideas about how we're going to make a game involving identity, role models, and gender. Maybe think about how we can make a game that reflects our values about role models. Should this game be one player? Multiplayer? What kind of challenges and interactions should we include?

Week 2 - INTRODUCTION - BRAINSTORMING AND IDEATION

Tuesday 2.5 – Project Introduction and Brainstorming (Continued) - watching the performance, narrowing down the project idea, BCI Demos

Thursday 2.7 – Unity Engine (Basic Scripting, adding scripts as components, connecting to the BCI)

HW: Create 3 sketches/diagrams of potential gameplay interactions using BCI - knowing what we do about the current limitations, what sort of gameplay could we create?

Extra: Review Unity Tutorials

Week 3 – INTRODUCTION - ASSET CREATION

Tuesday 2.12 – HOLIDAY - LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY - NO CLASS

Thursday 2.14 - Introduction to 3D modeling with Maya

HW: Finish a prop, export as FBX

Week 4 – TEAM PROTOTYPES (Project Phase 2 - See Project Phases )

Tuesday 2.19 – Working on Prototype 1

Thursday 2.21 – Project Management and Agile

HW: Finish prototype 1

Extra: AGILE development manifesto : http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html ; why does the tech/startup world love AGILE?

Week 5 – TEAM PROTOTYPES 2

Tuesday 2.26 – Rigging tutorial with the 3D modeling team

Thursday 2.28 – Interactive audio tutorial with the audio team

HW: Finish Prototype 2, Update DevLog on the prototyping process. What went well? What did not?

Week 6 - EVALUATING PROTOTYPES

Tuesday 3.5 – Present the work of the last few weeks to your colleagues. What went well? What did not? What are the big challenges ahead for bringing the entire project together? This is also a potential time for people to switch teams if they feel like they would be better suited in a different role

Thursday 3.7 – Production planning - start to form a collaborative design document that outlines all of the interaction, assets, world building, and design. (link to examples)

Homework - finish your team’s portion of the design document

Week 7 – PRODUCTION (Project Phase 3 - See Project Phases )

Tuesday – 3.12 – Combining the work from the past 3 weeks; Tutorial - connecting scripts to each other

Thursday – 3.14 - Tutorial - Connecting BCI values to material properties

Week 8 – PRODUCTION

Tuesday 3.19 – Production Tasks (Corey gone)

Thursday 3.21 – Production Tasks (Corey gone)

Week 9 – PRODUCTION, SOUND DESIGN

Tuesday 3.26 – Production Tasks (Focus on Audio Implementation)

Thursday 3.28 – Production Tasks (Focus on SFX Design)

HW: Prepare for the playtest

Week 10 - PRODUCTION PLAYTEST MILESTONE 1

Tuesday 4.2 – PLAYTEST with as many class members as possible. The BCI takes time to become “trained,” so we will need to do 2 more playtests before the final show.

Thursday 4.4 – Revisit and Revise the Game Design Document

HW: DevLog - how did the playtest go? What do you think is the biggest challenge for your team? The entire class?

Week 11 – PRODUCTION

Tuesday 4.9 – Iterate on your teams assets based on the last playtest

Thursday 4.11 – Tutorial - Tweening, “Juice,” and the particle system

Week 12 – PRODUCTION

Tuesday 4.16 – PLAYTEST 2

Thursday 4.18 – Tutorial - UI and Menus

Week 13 – SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS

HW: Finish Production Tasks

Week 14 – PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE PREP (Project Phase 4 - See Project Phases )

Tuesday 4.30 – PLAYTEST 3 - With a substantial portion of our development work completed, we now need to consider how we’re going to display this work. Will it be an installation or a performance? How are we going to entice people to want to participate?

Thursday 5.2 – Sets design and projections

Week 15 – PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE PREP

Tuesday 5.7 – Lighting and Audio Set Up

Thursday 5.9 – Final Playtest / ”Dress Rehearsal”

Week 16 – PERFORMANCE/INSTALLATION

Tuesday 5.13 – Installing, performing and documenting the piece

Thursday 5.15 – Installing, performing and documenting the piece

Week 17 – PERFORMANCE/INSTALLATION

Tuesday 5.21 - Final Review & Discussion - Critique

FINAL: Write up an “instructable” on the pipeline your team found most streamlined (See examples in Wiki), so that anyone can recreate it.