The newest update of my project is below.

Update Well, my roadblocks were pretty spot on. I spent another day thinking about data visulization for my project and it didn’t go to well. I then went to the TriPython meetup this evening, and it was project night (I will discuss this more in that writeup) so we basically just worked on our projects for 3 hours. And even after 3 hours, and discussing ideas with several others, I am still coming up short. It isn’t even that I have a clear idea and I can’t program it, it is that I don’t have a clear idea. It is still really fuzzy. Therefore, I will be back to the drawing board tomorrow trying to figure out directions around this roadblock!

As for ambitions, I think my roadblock has proven that I am not doing underwhelming activities. I don’t think there is a ton more I should be doing that I am not putting in good time and effort for. I also believe they are still doable. I will not consider them too ambitious until it is the night before the project’s due date and I still have nothing. At that point I will concede!

As for updates, because I was sitting in front of my computer for 3 hours brainstorming data visualization, I decided I might as well accomplish a few things. For one, I took the players stats that I was displaying with asterisks, and turned that into unicode so the histogram is represented with symbols meaningful to the stats. For example, the count for kills now show up as multiple skull and crossbones, where deaths show up as sad faces. Also, and more ambitiously, I crossed off another marker on my original milestone list as I implemented a full save game feature. Now, players can log in, open a previously saved game file, and this picks them up where they left off including the same character, the same scores/stats, and same progress throughout the missions. I have to admit, of all the things I have accomplished in this class, this one I may be most proud of. It isn’t even that it was the most difficult programming structures, but because it is most representive of something I see utilized in the real world all the time. Without a save game function, games wouldn’t have the appeal that they do. So this was a big step forward for me.

Next, well like I said, back to brainstorming data visualization ideas. I have a good feeling. I am going to have a great night sleep, have a good day tomorrow, and the ideas will be flowing all weekend. Call me medium-well confident!!

Milestones (Updated as of 2017/06/15)

• the user can select from 4 different characters, or select to see a list or details of the characters (2 for the beta)
• the program to include 21 different regions loaded with bosses, ecosystems, and backstories (2 for the beta)
• the user can decide between different methods of approaching the mission, and select different narratives within the mission
• the program can keep track of their stats, like kills, deaths, etc, and display them graphically
• the user can keep track of where they are in the game by listing the regions they haven’t played vs. those they have
• the program can determine when the player has completed enough of the game to access the final boss
• the program displays a final narrative once the final boss is beat and the program quits
• the program can display some form of visual data to show the players location or where he has been
• the user can save their game to be able to return and pick up from where they left off

Original post After meeting with my group I feel fairly confident I am on the right track. Listening to my group members I realize I am definitely doing something quite different from them in terms of final product, but have similar roadblocks, issues, or features as well. For example, many of my group members discussed the idea of struggling to figure out what in their project could be turned into a class. This was a similar sentiment for me, so while I wish them the best in figuring it out, I am glad I am not alone. Also, my data and their data was greatly different, but pulling it in, manipulating the files, etc. all sounded like we were working with similar circumstances.

As for milestone roadblocks, I could see creating the visual data for location or map could be difficult. This is one of the first ideas for one of my projects in this class that I can’t even begin to envision how to do this. Every other requirement or idea, even if it didn’t turn out perfect, I could at least create an original mental image of what needed to be done. However, with this one I can’t. I think my milestones are ambitious enough. The idea of creating data visualization in addition to player stats, as well as the level of detail my narrative will have, as well as the idea of saving a game and being able to play over multiple sessions, I think this will take me a great deal of time and will test me. I do think that it is the perfect balance though and is not too ambitious. I see the map being very very challenging, but I don’t think any of my milestones are too broad, or too time consuming to finish in the allotted timeframe. So far I have been actually really impressed with how my plan has gone. I had a dream about this idea and when I woke up I realized the dream was actually fairly accurate and realistic. The ideas that started coming to me that morning eventually played out really well when I sat down to code that evening. Everything from the dictionaires for the missions to the character dictionary, etc. all was how I dreamed it. So I am satisfied with the plan so far, and am excited to keep the plan going forward!

My very next step will be continuing the brain storming process for additional visual display. I struggle to add on to this because if I said any other plan I think I would be getting ahead of myself. I can’t quite discuss how I will start programming it when I don’t even know what it is. Therefore, the most accurate description of my next step is simply sleeping on it, and thinking about it tomorrow. Once my brainstorming is further along, I will update this with a better explanation of my immediate next steps.

Milestones

• the user can select from 4 different characters, or select to see a list or details of the characters (2 for the beta)
• the program to include 21 different regions loaded with bosses, ecosystems, and backstories (2 for the beta)
• the user can decide between different methods of approaching the mission, and select different narratives within the mission
• the program can keep track of their stats, like kills, deaths, etc, and display them graphically
• the user can keep track of where they are in the game by listing the regions they haven’t played vs. those they have
• the program can determine when the player has completed enough of the game to access the final boss
• the program displays a final narrative once the final boss is beat and the program quits
• the program can display some form of visual data to show the players location or where he has been
• the user can save their game to be able to return and pick up from where they left off