Month: February 2021

Last week, our speaker Kay Hofmeester talked about Augmented Reality (AR). Augmented Reality has been one of the emerging technologies today that produces an interactive experience of a real-world environment where objects in the real world are being enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information. It can affect how you learn, shop, work, or connect. And now, lots of different tech companies are developing their own AR such as Google, Facebook, and Apple.

So, what specific use of AR do I want to see in the future?

Video games. One of the biggest games that came out in 2016 was Pokemon Go, which had so many people go outside their homes, catch some Pokemon, and fight their opponents on the streets or the parks. It was one of the first mainstream video games that used AR on mobile as their console for the game and it was an instant hit. Although the game may not be as popular as it was in 2016, it became a potential for AR to become a new way for people to experience video games in a whole new level. And with this, I am hopeful that there would be more games similar to this in the future.

Why is it important?

Playing video games are fun! After watching a documentary about video games on Netflix, it blew my mind how much game developers have revolutionized a way for people to have fun and interact with each other through gaming consoles, arcades, and even created a new sport — e-sports. Video games can be an escape from reality to other people, especially when someone wants to unwind or let out their emotions. And so, stepping up the experience of playing video games through AR may enhance the experience, the storytelling, and a new way for other gamers to connect with their environment as well as others too.

What problem does it solve?

Wouldn’t it be fun if you can mix your reality with something that is completely imaginative and creative? How fun and crazy would it be if your favorite character can fight your worst enemy at your own backyard? Sometimes playing with the same console for years can be a bit boring, especially when new games are being produced every year. AR will create a whole new world of interactions where you can battle your friends maybe through your mobile phone or glasses, and you don’t have to worry about the hassle of setting up your TV with your Xbox or have limited perspective of your surroundings (2D and 3D). With AR, you can do so many things that pushes the boundaries of playing games.

Just imagine mixing your world with your favorite video games’ worlds! I would want to see Mario battle Bowser in my reality!

For this week’s assignment, I chose Adventure Time to be my pitch bible. When I was a younger teenager, I loved watching Adventure Time in Cartoon Network and admired so much the animation and the story. Some of my earlier art styles were inspired by this show!

More of this show’s pitch bible can be found here: https://2fvqxa3fxpfi2sm7tt1oe5ln-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/AdventureTimeSeriesBible.pdf

Most of the collaborations I’ve experienced so far has been from school group works, and since I’ve gone from Business school to Graphic Design, I’ve worked on different groups with different dynamics. From those group collaborations, the best approach for me has been the ‘Partner’ because we value having equal work and we all listen each other’s ideas instead of having one person have all the ideas and then the others only execute them or one does all the work and the others barely contribute. And so, I’ve been fortunate enough to have most of my group collaboration have that ‘Partner’ approach, however, there were still some that weren’t that approach and was pretty terrible.

One great experience I had was when my team and I did a project in International Business Law about intellectual properties. My team had divided the work equally and also had our ideas be heard. I felt that we were successful in our project because we had our professor praise our work so much that he wanted to use our work as an example in his other classes in a different school.

On the other hand, the worst collaboration I’ve experienced was when I had to be the one doing all the work and the other team members barely did anything. Thinking about this now, the perfect example of this was not from school but from my part time job. It was really frustrating that my other team member handed me a barely done work and I had to struggle doing all the work and make it successful. They did not communicate well with me yet they kept on complaining. I had to vocalize this to my supervisor because this was not acceptable. It was one of the worst day I ever had so far and I never want to experience that ever again.

I think the best way to be successful in any and every group collaborations would be is to communicate and listen despite having difference in personality or methods of work! I really like Joe’s advice about designers collaborating with developers which is something along the lines of “empathize but don’t expect to be empathized.”