Sean M Everett

How do you conduct a good usability study for a mobile game?

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:58:09 -0500

There’s only one that matters. Are the people who are building it using it in their off time?

If not, you’re probably missing the most essential ingredient: fun.

That’s what makes a game addictive, coupled with trying to master it.

See question on Quora

Day 193/194: Workshop Conc...

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:22:40 -0500

Day 194: Explore the Workshop Concept Illustrations

- illustrated version - refined
- more tweaks to the top panel
- light sourcing in the windows and removed stained glass windows to add dimension and lead viewers in to panel right below

- first panel below just to show proof of concept on panel with kiiy
- will wait until jerod get first draft of storyboards done by this sunday to continue further with this treatment to all his storyboards

- illustrated version - refined
- playing around with more textures and details
- define and tighten up certain shapes and clean up more volumes

- further research into architectural elements that compose Adam’s workshop
- japanese pagoda rafters, eastern european thatched roof, wester european castle stonework, celtic scrollwork
- a blending of many different cultures to create a new one

Storyboard Version

- 940px maximum width
- double for retina -1880px

- 12 vertical columns
- 1 row needs to add up to 12 columns (e.g., 3 images = 4width + 4width + 4width = 12width)

- 768px
- if width goes below this, it collapses and stacks

- if we want, we can force the comic layout however we want on mobile
- instead of all collapsing into 1 vertical list, we can still have 2 or 3 wide
- the images will be smaller, but we have that option

Day 193: Adam’s Interior Design Concepts

The content of this post was created approximately 5 months in the past.

http://bit.ly/Z58Gpb

How To Talk To Chicks, For ...

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:03:06 -0500

First of all, stop calling them words synonymous with baby birds. Big Bird might fly out of his nest and smack you upside the face.

Second, stop thinking of them as women altogether. Imagine they’re you’re best guy friend and just clown around with them as you normally would.

Takes some of the pressure off, eh? It also transforms something that seems unapproachable into something you’ve done a million times before. Yawn.

And third, now that you’re more relaxed and comfortable, she’s more likely to respond to the real you. But if she doesn’t, it was never meant to be in the first place.

As with most things, the goal is to get out of your own way. Close your eyes and feel the wind in your face. You’re in the zone.

Oh, and stop trying to be Rick Ross or James Bond. Your friend would kick your ass. So will that beautiful baby bird you’re crushin, like so hard, on.

Day 191/192: Kiiy Concept ...

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:52:12 -0500

Day 191: Kiiy, a Friendly Robot, Concept Designs

- kiiy is the insanely complex functions that go on behind the velvet curtain
- we disguise our complexity in approachable characters

- go to a client or business meeting
- set it in the center of the table and have discussion

- kiiy records and parses through the data, determining what’s most important and automatically pushing out to everyone involved

further details explored with “neutral” design
- additional details added to “neutral” design
- clock details on back of head, modeled after patek philippe watch - Patek Philippe Ref. 5970 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
- key insert into back of torso
- starts the gears turning on the mind of the machine, but the gears of the mechanics of the entire ecosystem as well!

- exploration of artifact’s size
- how it can be held in the hand comfortably and posed in various states
- when it records it can sit in your hand as if it’s listening like a real person
- this is exactly how the original, “neutral” artifact posed on adam’s desk
- the sitting state is how it’s posed on adam’s desk before the shockwave washes through the workshop and brings it to life

- exploration of artifact post “neutral” state
- how can other people customize its look?
- costumes perhaps
- for special occasions or achievements? (holidays, birthdays, high game score, etc)
- robin hood, zombie, cheerleader, etc.

- additional exploration into mask upgrades
- evolution of anatomy to represent advanced version of technology
- alien, galactus, bunny
- this could signify increased leveling or status of some kind

- we can decide how far off from the original brand we can allow the artifact to be customized
- the key is knowing that we can go pretty far out, as far as the kid robot platform toys and the design still retains appeal in aesthetic

- customization would not only be a part of the app, but the real world as well!

- tin toy
- wooden elements
- gear/watch elements in head
- embedded with the gear/watch elements will be the preview to it’s capabilities to be upgraded to a quantum computer

- human element is forward facing - what the chin toy sees first in the mirror
- technology is backward facing - not seen, more hidden, not as important, secondary - but existent, nevertheless

- didn’t like the proportions of the posable figure sean shared earlier, but realized if i changed the proportions to something more appealing it works
- imagine this new set of designs with ball and socket joints like the posable figure
- cut from wood the same way also, just in more appealing shapes

- chin likes the one with more child-like expressions
- chin and nick like the shapes of the last in the lower right the most

- sean and nick discussed the artifact
- we need to make sure it FEELS less like just a robot and more like an amalgam of the history and research of adam’s world

- rule, don’t ever refer to it as a ROBOT
- it may energize like a robot, but the key is only trumping the focus on the half that is human
- robot is a loaded word, scary, kind of like the looming science fiction robots that took over planets
- war of the worlds, etc
- refer to it as an artifact, toy, or a tiny person

- adam has had this tin toy his entire life
- as he grew up he couldn’t let it go, has a special place in his heart

- he brings it in his workshop
- he begins adding things to it as he ages, the way mr wing adds things to objects over time
- these things he adds to it still look aesthetically pleasing and also serve to the function of the robot as a recording mechanism

- artifact is then composed of the following elements
- tin/metal - base toy from his childhood
- wood - hand carved elements
- stone - from bits of ancient statues that represent research he’s done

- feels like something contemporary and ancient
- the shapes need to feel simple, and clean, despite their arrangement and construction in space

Start as shapes
Tamagachi to grow your artifact
It evolves to match the aesthetic you like (e.g., robot, sexy kitten, boy, tree)

- artifact awakens from adam’s desk when wave of energy dispersed when he passes through master door
- exploring ideas about what artifact would look like

- personality is beginner’s mind
- it has all the knowledge of adam in it but is locked into its subconscious

- up until being hit with “wave” of energy, it is in a neutral, expressionless state

- here are a few versions of the artifact, in two states
- sleep
- active

Day 192: What is the Problem Each Product Solves?

Thought Experiment: Each Product as a “Job” Candidate
Why would someone “fire” their current product and “hire” Adam’s product? Only if it’s 10x better.
That is, what job does each product do for a normal person?

Process

Write the job description of the product the hiring person needs.
Then write the resume of the product’s skills.
Do they fit?

The content of this post was created approximately 5 months in the past.

http://bit.ly/14CmUPB

Open-Source Animations for ...

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:33:04 -0500

I wrote this little app back in 2011 as a way to prove a point about apps. The point was that animation can make your app feel alive, and a bit more human. It also makes it more fun.

And so in that regard, I made a garage door opening, an explosive checkmark, an ease-in-out logo, and a blow torch when you tap and hold.

Imagine a world where that to-do list item you just checked off explodes with the force of an Arnold Schwarzenegger grenade launcher. Or where secret treasure is hidden behind locked doors. Or where you don’t just push a boring button, but it springs to life as a character from a story.

That, my friends, is the future of software.

Download via Github: iOS-animations

Day 189/190: 10x Features ...

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:51:50 -0500

Day 189: 10x Features

Day 190: Product Naming Conventions
- the network is called “A golden thread”

- how about the ^ instead
- sits above the word
- sign for “to the power of”

- ^ golden thread
- ^ family
- ^ story
- ^ book
- ^ app
- ^ toy
- ^ door
- ^ film

- Caret
- Asterism (typography)

- need to check into getting this whole naming convention trademarked

prep discussion with sean and nick

- the names should explain how it works
- should diffuse the things that usually scare people about technology

- role play as adam
- all products we are creating as a family are based off of inventions from his own workshop
- what would he name his own creations and why would he name them that way?

- people are scare of advanced technology, because they lose the understanding of how it works

- adam doesn’t want people to be scared, because he was scared too
- adam understands what scares us and wants to help

- he invents solutions that straddle between the most advanced innovation and a cup of warm coco
- the hologram exploding from a tree trunk was based off of this philosophy

- men and women were polled in what characteristic is most desirable in both sexes
- the quality, valued above all others - kindness

- this needs to bleed into our naming conventions
- as sean has said before, it needs to feel like a warm hug or a pillow cookie

- will sketch out solutions today
- same solutions will be used as part of the aesthetic on the “explore the workshop” part of the site, just like any of the concept work

The content of this post was created approximately 5 months in the past.

http://bit.ly/13If1oN

Podcast #28: iOS Engineer ...

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:02:54 -0500

For part 2 of my conversation with Ben Stovold, who comes to us all the way from Gold Coast, Australia, we chat about the differences between building the Twitter #Music app and building an app for field engineers working in the field, using Quartz Composer to prototype iPhone app animations, Facebook Home, and the difference between UI design, polish design, and animation design.

Listen via iTunes: seanversations

Day 187/188: Artificial Ge...

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:36:59 -0500

Day 187: Book - Manufacturing & Shipping from Kenya
Nausheen — Glass bottles
25,000 bottles
575 grams per bottle empty
Costs 9000 GBP for 2 pallets
10 meter length, height is 10cm
Travels from Shanghai to Dover, England

******
How much does a Book weigh? Maybe 600 to 700 grams (approx iPad)

Adam would be around $5,000 USD for 1 pallet because it’s coming a shorter distance (through Suez Canal)
Could probably fit 10,000 books
Just for shipping, maybe $1 to $2 per Book

Manufacturing would probably be $1 to $2 per Book, but at high volume

Thus, if we could get the books and paper manufactured and shipped to our doorstep for $5 USD, then we could charge $14.99 and make a high enough profit to keep the business going.

Day 188: Artificial General Intelligence

The content of this post was created approximately 5 months in the past.

http://bit.ly/10iP9CK

Proof That You Know Magic

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:33:11 -0500

Your brain is translating symbols on this screen right now into words that form coherent thoughts, transferring knowledge, emotion, and wisdom from my brain to yours.

What is the best/worst thing happened to you that changed your life, and how?

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:59:30 -0500

Sean Everett

The best? The moment I realized I have god stuff inside me and I can do absolutely anything as long as I just don’t stop.

The worst? Losing people that I loved. It’s the one thing that transforms you instantly into an adult and, incidentally, led me on the path to the best part described above.

See question on Quora

Day 185/186: Door Maker Co...

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:22:03 -0500

Day 185: Door Maker Concept Art
- looks like ross chirico
- needs to have that energy and “spark” in his eye, like santa
- the spark is both fire (male) and sensitivity (female)

- wild and unkempt look, like a fire and heart set aflame with passion for life
- wise and kind, a face battered by age and time

- strong with big worn hands from crafting, building, and inventing his entire life
- see him wearing a hat with a triangle on it, echoing the logo

Day 186: Bridge to Future Wishes
Paved with the understanding of everyone who’s listened to your stories

http://bit.ly/12oMl4M

Pay for a Mortgage or a Mind?

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:17:56 -0500

It all depends on where you spend most of your time living.

For me, I spend all of my time living in my mind. So 16 years ago I chose to buy a house and every month I make a payment on it. It’s not a 30-year mortgage, more like 15. But at the end I’ll have something that not even a bad economy can take away from me.

Sure, the price tag was in the 6 figures, but the vast amount of experience, formal education, and self-taugh expertise gives me something a standard mortgage doesn’t.

Scale.

Today, I can use the 300 million pattern recognizers in my brain that have been sharpened to the finest points possible to look at a business and immediately know the angle. It allows me to see through the marketing, the product clutter, the news releases, find the one lever that drives the entire business, and figure out a more efficient way to pull it more often.

In layman’s terms, a mortgage of the mind makes sure my return on that investment doesn’t have a ceiling of 10 to 20%, but rather infinite.

The reason most people don’t see it that way is because the mind is intangible and a house is tangible. But don’t let that fool you. Your emotions and your thoughts are intangible, but I’m guessing you’d call them invaluable tools you’d never be willing to part with.

The next generation needs to ask itself: “Do I want a quarter million dollar house or a quarter million dollar brain?”

The rest of your life will be determined by the answer to that one question.

Day 183/184: LLC Formation...

Sun, 19 May 2013 15:51:39 -0500

Day 183: LLC — Texas Versus Nevada Versus Wyoming

TEXAS

State filing fee: $300
Time: 3 to 5 days (or 1 day with $25 expedite fee)
Taxes: ZERO if gross receipts are below $1 million per year
- Note: LLC’s use pass-through taxation so any income is split amongst owners and you pay personal tax. There is no personal tax for people living in texas

NEVADA
Whoever said there was more to Nevada than glitz and lights was right! Nevada is quickly exploding as one of the fastest growing states in the country and one of the primary reasons for that is the pro-business environment. Nevada is considered a “tax haven” – and for good reason. Thanks in-part to the gaming industry, Nevada has no business income tax, franchise fees, capital gains tax, state corporation tax or inheritance tax. I repeat – NO TAX. None, zilch, nada. Corporations and LLCs in Nevada don’t even have to file an income tax return! Why is this particular state so giving? Because the powers that be know that they will get back all of the money when you take the roulette wheel for a spin!
Not only does Nevada have zero taxes, but there are a lot of other benefits as well, including:

Nevada allows complete anonymity of the shareholders (or the members). Why is this great? Well, if they don’t know you own it, they probably won’t try to sue you for it! Except in the case of corporate fraud, what happens in Vegas, will probably stay in Vegas!
The members do not have to be residents of Nevada - or even of the U.S. for that matter.
Nevada has no I.R.S. Information Sharing Agreement. Doesn’t that say it all?
Nevada’s annual fees are normally only $125 per year. (An annual business license may be required as well which is $200/year).
Meetings of members and managers are not required to be held in Nevada. They can take place anywhere in the world!
Single-member LLCs are allowed. One person may hold all positions in the company. (This is not the case in every state!)
There is very little disclosure required. This is the main reason why anyone interested in privacy will often form their corporations or LLCs in Nevada.
Stock (or membership interest) does not need to be purchased with cash – anything of value will do, including your time and services.

WYOMING
In addition to all the benefits that Nevada has, it has one other critical element:

“Lifetime Proxy” — allow someone to vote on your behalf

Allows common asset protection strategy
Hide your identity by having someone else HOLD your stock while you still control how they VOTE
- You have a “lifetime proxy” over him/her

Day 184: Remembering Things Backwards
Remembering things backwards. Starting from the most important moment then tracing it backwards.
Wish —> Stride —> Confide
Your doors or memories are clouded but they clear up with more keys and if you zoom out they are like tiny stars.

Three states of minds the future present past. What got Jerod excited when Sean and Trag first started talking to him about Adam.

Evernote: Animate your life
Kiiy has been integrated to the platform.
Adam’s symbol turns in to Kiiy and he starts running backwards or Forwards.

- Kiiy: Wooden boy like Pinocchio, Chin’s personality, 5 inches tall with gears in the back of head. The door maker is like Jerod’s dad Ross. Makes chin to record life and sit on his desk .

2 places of work.
-His drawing desk where he sketches ideas and draws.
-Blue print desk where he builds things.
-Below that is the door to the outside.
- The door inside is the door we hid to others it’s the hearth that is modeled after Wing’s fire place (where the door maker builds the master door). The door is an emotional door to look for the love he has never had. The master door is the star gate leaving time and space.
2 doors that we step though in the physical world that we don’t understand. One that we go into is the hidden door in our heart (door of fire).

First concept Awaking experience in funny ways.

Kiiy exploring the workshop after he wakes up. Kiiy saying lets go to the real world in the last picture of him by the door.
What does Kiiy want?
-       He wants to understand and really wants a friend.
                He wakes up scared tries to find something comforting in anything.
                He learns to go outside

The content of this post was created approximately 5 months in the past.

http://bit.ly/10GJm5h

Stop Trying To Be A Celebrity

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:33:42 -0500

I spent the last few days driving from Texas to Iowa to see my grandmother, whom I haven’t seen in a few years.

Hanging out with her and her friends in the community cafeteria of her independent living apartment, I realized even at 90 years old everyone wants to be a celebrity.

People will make up other reasons of why they do what they do but in most cases, starting from our first interactions in pre-school we want everyone to like us, shower us with praise, and be impressed by us.

It never stops. From having the best toys to the best clothes to the best car to the best house and most powerful job to having the family that visits us most. From 1 to 100, every single one us wants to be Kim Kardashian or George Clooney.

Maybe we should aspire for something different. Something better. Maybe someone more like superman.

Choose to be a bumbling nerd so people underestimate you. Choose to treat people with kindness and respect so they can take advantage of you. Choose to make others celebrities so you can make them feel important.

Then save the world in relative anonymity, 1 person at a time.

Day 181/182: Gamification ...

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:21:56 -0500

Day 181: Reversing Time Mechanic
How can you make the story of a water drop interesting? Reverse time.

Willpower is highest in the morning and decreases throughout the day.

Reverse time:

willpower increases, sledding down a story curve makes you pick up speed
End of story (i.e., beginning of day) is full of possibilities
Beginning of story (i.e., end of day) is about results.

“Your attitude at the beginning of the day determines what you’ve done at the end of the day”

Is clustering photos the “bumps” / climaxes / tension-based moments?

Does having more pictures in certain moments create the effect of slowing down time?

Day 182: Gamification for Corporations
Take the pain of Performance Management systems (i.e., pay, bonus, career ladders) and turn them into pleasurable, engaging experiences using Gamification.

We can develop a Thought Paper exploring how Gamification could be applied to the entire Employee Rewards systems:

Compensation
Benefits
Performance Management

If Towers Watson wants to be the world’s leader in Human Capital consulting, we must figure out a way to make work more fun and engaging.

Because humans love to play games.

And games make people do things they wouldn’t normally do, for free.

http://bit.ly/113hzfm

The Fundamental, Circular L...

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:32:53 -0500

Revenue - Expenses = Profit.

If profit > 0, then you have a business.

The only way to get profit is to make a product, then sell it.

Make the product at an insanely high quality, then charge an insanely low price for it. Like Ikea, you’ll sell your product faster than you can make it.

Then, just make sure that each time you sell 1 product, the price that you’re charging is higher than your costs and expenses.

And we’re back where we started: Revenue - Expenses = Profit.

Go for volume, not individual sales. You’ll make more money that way.

Day 179/180: Mechanics: A...

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:36:58 -0500

Day 179: Confide, Wish, Stride
During the talk with Jerod and Tina, we spoke about confide and the future wishes. They added stride to the list, it is the action of making your wish come true.

I thought about these three things today and how they work together and how they would function in an interactive story telling app.

All these things have to functions to move on to the next step. All three steps have three sub steps.
Share X (secret,wish, achievement) , gain support from people who believe in you, so you can move on to the next step.

1) Confide: share your secret (sadness, anger, joy, etc.). Once you do that you gain support from others though a “You are heard” (like button). This gives you the confidence to do better. Through that you make a wish.
2) Wish: you make a wish by sharing it. Once you post it you gain support from others “you can achieve”. This pushes you to want to achieve your wish.
3) Stride: This where you share each step of your journey to get closer to achieving your wish. Each step you gain support from others “you are achieving”. The support gives you the push to move on to the next step (stride #X) until you achieve your wish.

Your Journey:
Confide: The beginning of the story where the character is not fulfilled wanting more.

You are a blank avatar nothing. When you share you can be anything from sad, happy, angry, unfulfilled, etc.
This is the reason for you to move on to the next step your wish, desire, etc.

Wish: This is the reason for the character to go on his/her journey. It is their wish.

This is when you realize you want more, you are not pleased with who you are now. You want to gain something, improve, etc.
This can be the key to your story. You use this key to open the door to go on your journey.

Stride: The steps in a Journey to achieve the wish.

The door opens to a new world an unexplored world, first step out of the door is the first step in your journey.
Each time you “achieve” completing X to get you closer to your dream you complete a chapter in the story.
Each chapter means you should have grow in some way. Gain knowledge, met someone new, went some where new, an experience, etc. These should be images added to your chapter.
So a person can view their journey see their blank avatar step through the door and see his/her experience. The avatar can gain clothes/tools as he/she moves through chapters. Each chapter can show where they made the change in a new city, a town, in a best buy. Each time you meet someone important they also pop up in the chapter. So you see all of these things when you walk through the chapters, as you finish a chapter and go into a new one the location/people goes away and the new locations/people pop up.

Day 180: Core Mechanic: Animate Life By Remixing Time
- story view from general to specific

- 1 swipe (open tree) and 3 touches from highest view (universe) gets you to the lowest (element)
- all navigation, once you get into the tree, is 3 touches or 3 pinches away

- 1 - open app

- 2 - swipe up on seed - (universe)
- visible universe to us
- adam on top
- us and our web of connections under it

- 3 - touch planet you wish to navigate to - (planet)
- planet has cloud cover
- the areas covered are the areas private and hidden from your level of privacy to that other person’s world
- clouds with, say, a 50% opacity may represent stories that a mutual acquaintance may have access to but no yourself
- like real life, we here some of the stories of others through mutual friends, but never the entire thing

- 4 - touch story you wish to see - (story)
- “golden thread” mechanics aren’t as visible and more hidden in this view
- how clear and how invisible? exploring that right now as i’m drawing the visual aides to this writing…
- content is front and center, no matter what

- 5a/b - touch the element you wish to see - (element)
- two types of elements
- individual - single piece of data
- nested - multiple pieces of data

- how do people view the stories if they didn’t author them?
- do they see any of these “golden thread” mechanics in action as visitors?

- is the fractal also a representation of the cross-section of the thread?
- something to think about

- interface of this story is like how we would express perspective shifts
http://bit.ly/13AXBxI7c
- because at one point, both perspectives are visible
- so we know that what’s happening here is a manipulation of data for two types of users

- tech savvy - control individual mixing devices > raise and lower different areas of the thread incrementally
- casual - control the thread < raise and lower different groups mixers generally

- so what’s actually being figured out is two fold
- the science of the mixers - points - packages - data
- the science of the thread - lines - connection - communication

- you need two things to establish any reality and make it possible - points and lines
- points are the beginning of ideas and what travels from one place to another to establish activity at a fundamental level
- connections are the pathways that points take to get from point a to b

- without either of these principles we wouldn’t have quarks, atoms, cells, combustion, attraction, repulsion, etc

- what would the mixers be like for each type of data we would potentially introduce onto the platform?
- what mixers we would use and where they would be is something we need to get information from jerod about
- pick his film making mind

- image mixers - mood based?
- happy - brighter, more color
- sad - darker, less color
- intense - colors more saturated
- nostalgic - haze applied to images, pushed more to black and white

- noise mixers -
- echo - in a tunnel or deep room
- reverb -
- distortion
- robot

- video mixers
- grain - rough and old
- black and white film
- wide screen
- hi 8

- in addition to the individual mixers, dragging a part of the thread to a higher elevation would create a “focal point” at their peaks
- like jerod described in earlier discussions, it’s arches that continually “ramp up”
- action, camera angles, and data begin to get more clustered and dramatic around areas where these

- as you drag peaks, more data would be grabbed from audio clips, images, etc, that would divide in fractals within the clusters of these peaks!
- add complexity if you look in further, but never at the surface level
- data would drop to lower amount where the valleys were

- at the higher areas of the peaks kiiy would determine progressively better what combinations of mixers would need tweaked for achieving the desired mood
- some mixers are the ones that are currently available through manual manipulation
- others would be treatments only kiiy is capable of doing

- the title is the point of the triangle
- the sharp wedge
- behind the door is all the bricks that make up the pyramid
- the last statement is the zinger that connects everything together

- let your body go, let your soul flow, and then buy a bottle of soul glow
- building your stories as digital dna that then become the legacy you insert into a new life form

- like phish, we take a series of sounds and inputs to become it’s own language
- another layer to the “language”

- daily doors
- generated by kiiy

- he creates the baseline and we can manipulate
- manually - technical - by touching to zoom on each piece of data and applying different mixers
- feel - abridged - by touching and activating “thread” and pulling it out to different arches to create arches on the ui

- how do we make the thread gold?
- core mechanic, in our business plan, in our life goals, in our connections

- life is a game, and the game is the thread
- choose wisely. ;)

- the “line” is the thread!
- the golden thread
- looks exciting, like a character in itself

- think of the characterized line from the first fantasia movie

- the stories connect linked threads
- that weaves the tapestry of the universe

- can approach the storytelling in two ways
- 1) sean - technical - by manipulating the mixing controls
- 2) sean’s mom - feel - by playing the game with the line and making it gold

- feel both extremes
- in the brand - technology, emotion
- in the website - left brain, right brain
- in our philosophy - new tech, old tradition

- so, thought about this a bit
- about everything we’ve discussed so far as a mechanic
- trying to combine and filter through everything we’ve discussed to begin distilling into a unified concept

- 3 basic steps:

- 1 MAKE - kiiy does the grunt work, makes the first drafts
- gets smarter over time
- a progressively intelligent algorithm
- the family of Adam products are always sending information into kiiy
- he is on the main servers, going through everyone’s data and auto building doors from 3 types of data (photo, audio, video)

- 2 REMIX - you - begin shifting elements around in space on the storyline, turning the “storyLINE” into a “storyARCH”
- start with a baseline, and manipulate the data
- create the mountains and valleys
- touch up the almost finished painting and feel like a master artist
- like this app: MadPad from Smule

- 3 FOCUS - you - create focus on certain pieces of data with mixers
- like the daft punk app
- access to a board of mixer options
- different mixers available for the three different mediums that exist on our platform (photo, audio, video)

- still need to keep refining concept, but it’s a start

- we all agree that “animating your life by remixing time” is an interesting general phrase
- this mechanic strictly revolves around the creation of stories themselves
- the future, stride, and wishes are separate from this

- need to figure out how to express this phrase in a way that compresses the geodesic dome into a tiny diamond

- start with reviewing the following core mechanics we’ve explored:
- time reversal - memories experienced backwards
- time remixing - manipulating the elements of a story like a sampler
- kiiy doing the grunt work during the day - creating the daily door - invisible software
- kiiy asking “why?” - why is a way that opens up a surface piece of content to deeper meaning, but stays flat between “a” and “b”
- doesn’t ratchet up the tension between “a” and “b”

- tension discussion from yesterday with the team - increased tension is what makes a story exciting, but need to be able to control
- jerod mentioned that smaller tension reads large at the beginning because we’ve never experienced it yet
- next level of tension needs to be exponential to keep audience excited and engaged

- talked about daft punk app
- it’s fun because - puts all the variables on a mixing board to quickly assemble a version of the song, or a remix of your own
- can this be done with stories? like a story mixing board?

- as sean has said
- need a chirico/tragnark button

- will explore this further in drawn form this afternoon
- like “product naming conventions” solution, must be elegant and simplify the entire experience

- 1 - door is “normal” until you touch the story behind it
- 2 - touching finger to any part of the story cases doors front icon to transform into kiiy, starting with face - fast animation that happens in a half second
- 3/4 - “jogging” back and forth through time

- tragnark working on sketch this evening to express this in conceptually drawn form
- both trailers here make me think of the concept, especially trailer 1:
- John Dies at the End - Movie Trailers - iTunes

- the idea of experiencing the past is backwards because that’s how we remember things
- you can only connect the dots looking backwards

- animating your everyday life by remixing time
- experiencing everything in the past backwards
- experience memories written backwards

- it’s like a walk cycle, the fundamental building blocks of animation, and of reality
- you experience this by kiiy literally walking as you explore back through time and forward into the future

- could be a silhouette of it somehow animating in the background as not to intrude on the ui design
- beautiful design is a combination is skeuomorphic design combined with pratical ui design

- the only things that can be experience forward are right now, and into the future (your choices you make to get to your dreams)

- “daily door” is kiiy (like siri) learning to better organize and arrange the data of your day
- it does the heavy lifting, and gets better over time
- you can tweak and adjust after being presented with the data at the end of each day

- since the presentation is data in reverse it could be referred to as “from evening to morning” or something like that

- reviewed the question - “how do people improve in a way that doesn’t seem to “hard” a process?”
- the answer is quite simple - by learning from observation

- there will be all kinds of stories on adam
- only the best will have the most flow and “i understands”

- people will know by seeing these awesome stories that they just need to tell stories and go places that allow them to tell similar stories to garner the same reaction
- it’s comparable to cg hub or deviant art
- tons of people on these platforms have improved because it’s acted as their “school”
- instead of sitting in a boring class and being lectured, they are shown what’s better by example, by what others have built

- Antonio Vivaldi - Mandolin Concerto
- this is the song that plays when kiiy is running and then stops

http://bit.ly/lSo9ritch?v=-…

The content of this post was created approximately 5 months in the past.

http://bit.ly/17EIAyp

How To Get Famous People To...

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:33:28 -0500

Find their email address.
Figure out what they want most.
Email them with a way you can give them what they want.

It’s that simple.

How do you expect anyone you respect to respect you or respond to you if you don’t ever contact them or give them something they want?

Once you do that, you’ve established a pretty strong relationship and, if I were a betting man, would guess they’d be willing to help you out too.

Bonus Points: alight what you want with what they want and kill two pigeons with one boulder.

I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANNA BE IN MY LIFE, HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT IS THAT I AM GOOD AT ?

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:57:54 -0500

Sean Everett

The funny thing about life is that you’re already doing the thing that you enjoy.

Maybe it’s playing video games. Become a tester. Maybe it’s surfing Facebook and Twitter all day. Become a community manager. Maybe it’s shopping. Become a secret shopper and spend someone else’s money.

You don’t have to look outside yourself, but rather inside. You likely have an insane amount of domain knowledge about some extremely granular topic that a vast majority of people could care less about. But there will be a few people that care tremendously about it and are willing to pay handsomely for it.

You just have to ask yourself what and find the people who care about that what. Best of luck!

See question on Quora

Will there be a day in the near future when people stop watching movies at theaters?

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:43:00 -0500

Sean Everett

People who live in the future (read: people with iPhones) lay in bed and watch feature-length films by holding their phones a few inches from their face. Thanks Netflix.

But the future will be even better. Because you’ll be able to watch anything anywhere anytime you want. But with one small added benefit: you’ll be able to choose your own adventure.

I don’t just mean like the old books from our childhoods, but where directors make the same movie from the different perspective of each character.

What’s the one problem everyone in the movie industry faces? The entire business can be disrupted when you realize its one fatal flaw. That once you’ve seen a movie, you’ve seen the movie. It’s a one-shot deal. Studios make all their money in the opening weekend from people watching it once.

Now imagine a future where you can experience Star Wars or Titanic from the perspective of each person in the movie.

Harder? Definitely. More entertaining? Maybe. Makes more money? Surely. And that’s all you need to understand when it comes to the entertainment industry.

So in answer to the question, will movie theaters be obsolete? The way we currently think of them, yes. Just like how telephone companies used to make money on long distance from landlines and now make money from data and text messaging for computers we carry in our pockets.

We will pay to sit in seats in the dark with a bunch of strangers, but the experience of what and how we watch will be different.

It’s only a matter of someone seeing that future and putting the pieces together in the right way.

Much like how Microsoft failed with tablets for decades until Apple had one tiny insight. That you have ten styluses built into your body.

Similarly, the most interesting stories are the ones where your perspective changes based on new information and you realize the story’s “truth”.

See question on Quora