Ethan Kennerly

How do I learn to design interactive media?

2008-08-25T06:29:29Z

Having studied for 2 years at USC's 3-year MFA in Interactive Media, 75% of my time to study is in the past. To appreciate the remaining 8 months, I am considering what types of activities seem to have taught me the most, so that I may add more of those to my "diet". From Fall 2006 to Summer 2008, the following categories summarize what I have done to learn (or reinforce) the design of interactive media. I ordered them by an estimate of my design education: #1 being greatest, and #13 being least. 1. User tries my proof-of-principle prototype 2. User rehearses my visual prototype 3. Peer reviews our interactive media 4. Peer reviews my screenplay 5. Read theory that applies to a current project 6. Play a game 7. Peer reviews our non-interactive images or film 8. Peer reviews my design document or presentation 9. Listen to interaction design lecture 10. Peer reviews my presentation on a non-interactive topic 11. Vacation, exercise, or chill 12. Critique published non-interactive images or film 13. Listen to lecture on non-interactive topic I then estimated the time I spent during each semester in these activities (including summer), using the semester credit as the unit. "#6 Play a game" and "#11 Vacation" are baselines for activities that are obviously not school-related. However, since I design games, playing them is a research activity, so this is only to say I learn more about interactive media (including non-games) from playing games than items 7 through 13.
Click to view image During each semester, I was either spending time on a required class for the Interactive Media MFA (blue), a screenwriting or game development elective (red), or my free time (yellow). The average is for four semesters, since I didn't take courses during the summer. I have usually learned rapidly from items #1 through #4, but I haven't spent much time on item #1. So, this final 8 months, I'll see what happens when I: (A) Add more prototypes to my diet. (B) Cut out fatty documents, presentations, lectures, and non-interactive media. ------------ Although the learning value is my personal self-assessment, for what it's worth, I'll briefly discuss how I estimated some preferences. 1. When a user tries a prototype, in which I focused on a particular principle (or feature), I witness if my design hypothesis holds up. I draw conclusions, refine the software's requirements, and iterate the design. Since my educational goal is to master the design of interactive media, the user's behavior is the best fitness function to evolve the design.* With such a prototype, I get to avoid many low-level tasks that are necessary for production. So, I learn quickly. 2. I can iterate much faster on the story, user interface, and look and feel of a visual prototype (with manual interactivity) yet target graphics. But manual behavior compromises relevance of feedback to software behavior. 3. I would rather have a user try our interactive media, but iterating of production software is slow, and users are scarce. Yet, peers are the next best thing to users. By peers I mean fellow students and faculty. We have the very un-user-like trait of a strong interest to be affiliated with this program. (As far as I have experienced) that subconsciously biases all our responses to our peers' works. 4. I incorporate screenwriting into my design. I write the user's story in screenplay format and apply storytelling principles to their interaction. Screenplays omit user interface, look and feel, yet they capture the story perfectly, and express some of the simulation. At USC, the screenplays I'm referring to are for non-interactive screenplays, for film or television. It would seem odd that I stress interactivity as my goal, yet value screenplays so highly. Well, in the course of having aspiring screenwriters review the words, except for the dialogue and the writing style, what they are mostly reviewing is the dramatic experience of the user. They are, in a sense, user experience designers. And obviously, iterating in text is quick. 5. When I intend to entertain a user, I care about the principles behind their interest and attention. With my particular thesis, I also care about their use and acquisition of language, and cognitive exercise in general. So, having those kinds of questions makes the answers that I find meaningful. 6. My weakpoint used to be not playing enough games. (GameFly turned that around, since I don't have to buy everything I want to try.) Games comprise the plurality of interactive media, and a lot of user interface, look and feel, and simulation (but not story) innovation came from games. I look forward to productivity software, websites, electronics, and architecture catching up to some of the stellar videogames. 7. Much of interactive media of course is decomposable into non-interactive elements (audio, images). And, by analogy, entertaining with interactive graphics means understanding how to entertain with non-interactive graphics. Yet understanding non-interactive graphics is not sufficient to understand the psychology of interactive graphics. 8. I started college in English Literature. I enjoy reading. So of course I enjoy other people reading my words. But there's a huge cognitive cost to constructing a mental model of interactive media from a written (even an illustrated) document. I can't accurately evaluate a doc, and frankly, I haven't met anyone who can. What I can do is compare it to interactive experiences that I have, but that isn't sufficient to evaluate innovation--something new. It's really easy to sell yourself, or your peers, that your document could be the seed of a great game. But what's the test? How do you prove it on paper? If I can't connect a hypothesis to a conclusion (if all I have is a hypothesis), then I haven't learned about interactive media and further iterations would be off into some nebulous, self- (or peer-) aggrandizement. 9. I respect theory. I'm an INTP (intuitive-thinker). So I should respect lectures on interaction design. I do and listen to a lot of them. But it is secondary to experiencing roundtrip responsibility. All I can do with a lecture is consider and agree or disagree. All I have learned is someone's opinion. I can't try it out and see (if I'm just listening). 10. Presenting on a general topic can be indirectly enlightening to designing interactive media. But so far, it has been incidentally so. 11. Lao Tzu said the emptiness makes the vessel meaningful. A vacation, or just anything I choose to do for no other reason than it makes me feel good, has been the only cure I know for burnout. It also puts the other learning into perspective. 12. I have respect for all media. I wish I had enough mindpower to learn it all. But since I've specialized in interactive media (which is broad enough for several lifetimes) critiquing other media has been useful to understand people's opinions and to experience general culture, but critiquing it has not empowered my work. 13. Listening to lectures of general interest or other media has not empowered me to design.** * I'm reminded of my first videogame job. I directed the US version of Nexon's first two games. For these I had roundtrip responsibility. I had an idea; I scripted it and edited the data and maps; I tested it; I operated the live server; I answered customer support and bugs; read the forums and directly observed. It was extremely educational to get feedback so quickly. ** Some have lectured that media, such as a book, a hallway, a film, or a painting, is interactive media. But in my opinion, the interactive agent in those examples is the human. Just because humans interact does not make everything that humans use interactive. To be INTERactive, two or more systems change another system. In the case of most books, hallways, films, or paintings, changing them is not a use case for which its author had designed. The book (or this post) may change the reader's thoughts. That only means the reader is subject to change, and says nothing about changing the book. Granted, a human can write on the book's pages, rip them out, or make art from them, but that kind of arguing is sophistry. If everything were a work of interactive media, then "interactive" would be a redundant adjective, and the term "media" alone would suffice.

Vegetarian eats around USC

2008-08-14T04:27:46Z

Eat vegetarian for less than $10. Each is in walking distance of USC. I usually eat vegetarian when I can find decent food. That was a lot easier in Berkeley and San Francisco. But over the past two years, I've found vegetarian fare within walking distance of USC. I myself am not vegetarian, but when I can eat happily, then I prefer that other intelligent life can enjoy their lives, too.

Repeat after me on the PS3

2008-08-05T21:35:00Z

According to an experiment on a bird called a budgerigar, the bird finds it easier to learn by imitation than by ignoring observed behavior of another bird. Automatic imitation has been accepted in humans, but the authors claim this is the first evidence of automatic imitation in birds. This suggests to me that many tasks can be learned by observing others perform the same. In my thesis, I had been presenting behavior to imitate, so that users could begin to pick up elements of a foreign language without verbal instruction. The technique prompted me to look for exemplary cases of priming player behavior through imitation in videogames. Last week while I was playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3), I arrived where my plane had crashed. From the overlooking cliff, I noticed one of the thugs, in the distance, sliding down a rope. It struck me as an odd way to set the scene of the thug's camp. After I wiped them out (actually I didn't want to kill these anonymous brown-skinned fellows, but that's the only way the game taught me to progress the plot), I was stumped on how to trigger the next encounter or cutscene. Then I saw the rope. With little thought, I climbed. I had imitated the distant rope climber. Through storytelling and animation, my behavior was artfully directed to discover the next scene's trigger volume. And rather than distract me, as most hints in games do (including the L2 button in Uncharted), this subtle display of a behavior to imitate suggested a solution without breaking my belief in the narrative.

This is your Block on Games

2008-07-23T02:56:29Z

... (in theory). In Sande Chen's interesting article, there are passing references to Stephen Dinehart applying Block's visual intensity graph to Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and Jenova Chen applying Block's emotional intensity graph at thatgamecompany. Examples of cinematography are mentioned from Star Trek: Armada, Assassin's Creed, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. This is your Block on games. For USC alumni, this lineage of graphing intensity and correlating graphic design to story intensity stems from Bruce Block. Deeper than a passing reference, anyone to suggest: This is your game on Block? I read the interesting examples of cinematography (which I'd also like to see screenshots of). On page 2, the article whets my appetite for holistic user experience design: Brian Hawkins cleverly crafts a literal cliffhanger when a user barely jumps over a chasm. As a game designer who holistically designs story, simulation, user interface and look and feel, I'd like to read about an example of graphing gameplay intensity. The article goes into a little more depth on symphonizing look and feel and story. As we know, games (unlike movies) also require simulation and user interface. So a holistic approach must integrate the abstract rules of play and the human-artifact interaction. Hawkins' jump is one holistic example. Can you suggest a second videogame example that symphonizes the emotional arc of all the channels of game design: simulation, story, user interface, and look and feel?

Responsive and rigorous

2008-07-17T23:47:06Z

A couple of recent articles at Gamasutra spoke to my desire for rigor in the design of user interfaces. Mick West's experiments in correlating perceptual and absolute lag is a work of perceptual science. Garreth Griffiths dissects usability issues in boundaries with poor affordances. Their rigor transfers insight from games to most any interactive media.

Feedback wanted

2008-07-10T19:34:59Z

Would you like to influence the design of a game in just 30 minutes? Runesinger, an advanced game and MFA thesis at USC is conducting a focus test. Do you have half an hour to look at a storyboard and prior language games, listen to original scores and reference songs? No experience required. Express yourself. Korean and American snacks provided. This will be on campus, Wednesday July 16 and Thursday July 17, from 1 pm to 4 pm. The focus test will finish in 30 minutes. Is there a time that is good for you? Contact me to confirm: kennerly -AT- usc -DOT- edu

Playfulness for productivity

2008-07-06T22:04:19Z

Today, while websurfing, I find a cute post calling for playfulness in user interfaces. It reminded me of playfulness for productivity. While my son was visiting, we taught each other a lot. He taught me how to play StarCraft, and I taught him how to research on the web. I was shocked how error-prone most web sites, even well-reputed ones like Google, are. It was, for example, frustrating to lose the maps address because he clicked just half an inch outside the maps address text field, instead going to the Google Maps home page. (And no not the URL address bar or the Google search bar... but the maps text field. In StarCraft, I had no such problems or costly user interface mistakes.) Similar woes plagued us in Windows Explorer. It got me thinking: would a utilitarian app like Windows Explorer be more usable if explicitly mimicked a game model of UI? Could Al Yang's (hypo)thesis (of a Desktop RTS) be a boon to productivity by making stronger metaphorical models and cleaning up the widget clutter? Vista makes steps in this direction (five to ten years behind Mac OS), but I mean radical changes. Not physical simulations, but explicit game UI to the file interface, Civilization-style file management, a Professor Layton curiosity for troubleshooting error messages. On reflection, I'm sure this has been tried before... does the idea ring a bell?

Best videogame game writing

2008-07-03T23:05:46Z

At 1up, is an articulate comment on the "best writing" in videogames and the state of writing in games, in general. A question the author has (and I have) is: Why do you have to be a WGA member to have your writing in a game qualify for nomination? This criterion sounds like a marketing ploy for membership. If BioShock and Portal didn't make their cut due to lack of these qualifications, then their Best Writing is not the Best.

Sircus attractions

2008-07-02T19:32:56Z

Jan Sircus talks about theme parks, installations, and a hint of how he designs an architecture for a quasi-narrative user experience, he calls a "story place."

Atarisutra

2008-06-06T06:30:22Z

Article on Gamasutra waxes nostalgically. By the way, another decent read if you haven't tried agile development yet, is there, too.

Wii media in $5 and 15 minutes

2008-06-03T23:27:16Z

http://finegamedesign.com/wii After reading, hopefully you have enough examples to start experimenting. I have a lot more to learn, and would enjoy learning from your experiments on the wii.

What mistakes do designers frequently make?

2008-05-29T23:35:48Z

David Sushil on his site and at GameCareer Guide, says their number is three:

Incompatible mechanics
Ubitquitous interaction
Story dependence

I wonder: What are other problems do designers commonly get stuck on? I've considered 69 professional mistakes that I've seen (and made) over the last decade. Dan Fiden spoke during the business of interactivity class on casual game design. From recall, the "design traps" of casual games he cited are something like:

Designing for your peers, instead of your audience.
Overloading the simulation with too many mechanisms (the kitchen sink).
Failing to accept and tune from user feedback.
Losing track of the design decisions and revisions.
Innovating design for peer reputation (from a GDC talk).
Limiting the design to your prototyping skill set.

Compared to David Sushil's three, these traps focus on the process rather than the design itself. I'll boldly step forward to list one mistake that is the most common one that I still make. It is also the most common problem that I identify in the work of beginning game designers, writers, and filmmakers:

Cognitive leap.

In a quest to make players happy, I'd like to learn: What mistakes do you frequently find when designing, or reviewing, a game?

Thesis playtesters wanted

2008-05-24T18:41:59Z

Korean lunch will be served, including fresh sushi, vegetables, cookies, tea, and juice. We are looking for players to influence the design of an MFA thesis and advanced game project that practices a foreign language through play. No gaming or language experience necessary. In response to the thoughtful comments from the previous round of playtesting is a collection of prototypes of casual games: a meaningful introduction, a playful sandbox, and a series of interesting choices, none of which require use of a keyboard. This playtest takes 30 minutes. It will be offered on Wednesday and Thursday (May 28, 29) in the early afternoon. Contact me to confirm a time (even on a different day). This is at the interactive media lab (IML) at G142, the basement at the bottom of the stairs, below Carson Sound Stage, which is across the street from the Student Health Center on the north side of campus. Contact: Ethan Kennerly (kennerly -AT- usc -DOT- edu) Game: http://runesinger.com

Runesinger is recruiting

2008-05-11T01:24:49Z

Our MFA thesis and Advanced Game Project is recruiting. Runesinger is a videogame to practice Korean through play. We are seeking three creative coders and many more playtesters. Do you know someone interested?

Communication, Interaction and Social Intelligence

2008-05-03T19:49:19Z

Proceedings from the April 2008 conference, entitled "Communication, Interaction and Social Intelligence" at the University of Aberdeen are now online. The scope of the proceedings is broad, as the titles to the twelve volumes reveal. Many of the symposia of this AISB conference are of direct interest to designers of interactive artifacts, such as virtual creatures, brain computer interface, and multimodal output. For example, Diana's thesis of a plush interface suggested to me that Probo's trunk and padding design is relevant: the design of the head and an emotional interface for the huggable robot. Of course, my motive in posting is that I'm happy to see my paper included: Open Problems in Simulation and Story Analysis