the present

technology and realization

In my FBP my previous knowledge and skills in making games and programming were very useful, as they allow me to quickly iterate and test prototypes of the concept. Furthermore, it made it easier to search, read and use information for things I didn’t know, because I knew how to search and how to take in the information from previous experiences. This was certainly the case for VR which I didn’t have any experience in, but through documentation and my existing knowledge I was able to get a VR demo up and running in a couple of weeks.

Next to learning how to make a VR game, I learned about all the different things that come into play when creating a game such as models, music, the map, dialogue, game logic, and interior. Now I can create a terrain, use models from online, incorporate sound, and script a complex behavior into a game.

business and entrepreneurship

This is one of the areas I developed less in than the other areas, however, it still played an important role in my FBP. By using canvases like the Value Proposition Map which I learned how to use in Introduction to Business Design. I was able to better identify the context of the problem space I was designing for. This meant identifying that in Dutch high schools, there are 3 main stakeholders: the student, the teacher, and the high school which each have their own pains and opportunities to design for. By incorporating these opportunities into the design, the design can be more attractive because it relieves pains from all stakeholders involved.

creativity and aesthetics

In my FBP I needed to use my knowledge and skills in this expertise a lot, for example, with making the environment feel real which is important for applying what you learned in the game to the real world. Making the environment real consisted of adding details like music, people walking and talking in the background, and emotions.

Designing for schools means designing for all, and through early user evaluation, I noticed how biases can creep in. For example, the shop owner in the game was a guy and the first person to enter the shop with a kind of easy problem was a woman. This made me aware that designs such as my game can have a cultural or societal influence on people, and that is therefore important to keep things dynamic and diverse.

Furthermore, the game had a lot of challenges it needed to solve in a fun/intuitive way. For example, sometimes it was unclear what the student needed to do, so using my ideation skills from “From Idea to Design” I came up with multiple ideas. One of them the to-do list made it into the game.

user and society

Throughout my FBP I have conducted multiple user tests and interviews with experts, these gave me early feedback and shaped my design process heavily. All tests were created based on my previous experiences such as in User-Centered Design or Project 3.

Currently, VR requires some setup before the participant can play like the head strap or the lenses that need to be adjusted. Once I tested the concept with a class of high school children, I noticed how these little things can end up taking a lot of time. I therefore want to plan each user test more thoroughly by for example measuring the amount of time these things take. This way I could say in advance I need somebody to assist so that the user test doesn’t take too long and there is enough time to interview.

math, data, and computing

This is one of the areas which has seen the littlest development since the project had mostly user evaluation that was qualitative. So, there was no quantitive data to analyze or data that needed to be processed or computed. Developing myself extensively in this area was not needed for this project, therefore considering I already developed this area quite extensively; I chose to not include unnecessary aspects into the project that would boost my development in this area.

overall growth

During my FBP I have grown much in the: technology and realization, user and society, and creativity and aesthetics expertise areas. These areas are essential when it comes to pursuing my vision of making alternatives that aim to make the user a better version of themselves. Since it allows me to ideate on alternatives, create them using my skills and knowledge and test them to see if they are indeed good alternatives.

Looking at my complete bachelor, I can say I have changed in many ways. Firstly, I have become more open-minded and less consumed by the technical aspects. Instead, I now more effectively balance all factors in a project and apply what is necessary and appropriate for a specific stage of a project. Secondly, I have strengthened my existing skills such as programming, and added many new ones like sketching, graphical editing, woodworking, 3D printing, user testing, and being able to use business methodologies.