Flash Game (Wireframe Version)

This is the wireframe version of my flash game.

Flash Game (Final Version)

This is a SWF file of the final version of my Flash game.

Planning Flowchart

This is a simple flowchart that i have planned to follow for my flash game.
This flowchart shows you that the structure of my flash game is quite simple, I'm classing the maze as the base level which the player will keep coming back to and each of the puzzle levels will be classed as obstacles that the player will need to complete in order to finish the maze.

Activity 2 - Research principles of Sound Design

Analogue Vs. Digital sounds

The main difference between analogue and digital is the fact that analogue can hold imperfections in the recordings such scratches on a vinyl record or the various different tones used along with the lack of quality when copied, where as digital has no imperfections or difference in quality when copied and digital has a much cleaner sound where as analogue holds a much warmer and softer sound; analogues signal is completely different to digitals signal because where as digitals signal is simply preset to either be on or off, analogues signal is always on but has an never ending range of frequencies.

Another big difference between analogue and digital is that digital sounds can be burned onto any CD or can be shared Via the internet which gives digital sounds a huge advantage over analogue because analogue can only really be used with old or out dated sound systems and even though you can change analogue sounds to digital it wont be the same because a lot of the quality would be lost.

Basics of sound

The main structures of basic sound are Pitch, which is the term of how high or low sound is, the frequency of this is measured by the partials that vibrate every second, measured by Hz or Hertz. The next factor in basic sounds is Volume, which is the combination of sound pressure and sound power. Sound power is the strength of the sound and varies from source, distance and environment. Sound pressure is the energy emitted from a source. Another Factor is Tone which is sound that relates to the quality, pitch, origin and the power of the material it is produced by. An example would be a sound from a trumpet and a sound from a trombone; the trombone being bigger makes a deeper sound.

Interactive media products

There are many products involved with Interactive media, which include:

Web sites; Sound on a web site can be used to enhance a users experience. It is normally presented as a music file, video or as flash content.

Computer games, Sound is important in games, music offers the player emotion, and voice acting offers a wide range of immersion. Many gamers claim to forge attachments to characters as a result of this.

Television programs, There's a lot of different ways to include sound into programs; this could range from background noise in a pub, to music for suspense.

Movies, sound is really important to help people watching engage into the movie. When you are in cinemas they use surround sound to amplify the effect, completely immersing you.

Flash games, in most of them you can toggle the sounds and the music on and off, and it never usually ruins the actual game play of them.

Mobile device content, you need sound of a mobile device to listen to music, hear phone calls, hear text messages ect.  Sound is very important.

Functions of sound

The main functions of sound include: Emotion, Ambience, Foley and dialogue. All of the functions are connected quite closely and also depend on one another to deliver the impact of the sounds being listened to for example the emotion of sounds uses certain frequencies to show what’s happening E.g.- A low frequency is used to represent a threat. Ambience is the sound that is mainly used to represent the atmosphere E.g.- Background noise such as birds chirping or car horns. Foley is mainly used in games which helps improve the delicate and details sounds E.g.- the rustle of a jacket or shell casings coming out of a gun. Dialogue again has a large part within games, this brings life and character to what is simply a few hundred pixels and polygons.

Activity 1 - Research Interface Design Principles

 User Interface Design is the design of all machines, applications and programs that focuses on the user's experience and interaction. The main goal of user interface design is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as possible.

The principles of user interface design are intended to improve the quality of user interface design.

• The structure principle: Design should organize the user interface purposefully, in meaningful and useful ways based on clear, consistent models, putting related things together and separating unrelated things, making similar things resemble one another. The structure principle is concerned with overall user interface architecture.

• The simplicity principle: The design should make simple, common tasks easy, communicating simply in the user's own language, and providing good shortcuts that are related to longer procedures.

• The visibility principle: The design should make all needed options for a given task visible without distracting the user with redundant information. Good designs don't overwhelm users with alternatives or confuse with unneeded information.

• The feedback principle: The design should keep users informed of actions, changes of state or condition, and errors or exceptions that are relevant to the user through clear, concise, and unambiguous language familiar to users.

• The tolerance principle: The design should be rather flexible, reducing the amount of mistakes and misuse by allowing undoing and redoing, while also preventing errors wherever possible by tolerating varied inputs and sequences and by interpreting all reasonable actions.

• The reuse principle: The design should reuse most components, maintaining consistency with purpose rather than merely arbitrary consistency, this will reduce the need for users to rethink and remember.

References:
http://wiki.osafoundation.org/Journal/HumaneUserInterface20041102 Laws of Interface Design