Lost But Not Forgotten

Due to unknown circumstance our group Team 5 has lost a team member. This has caused a little disruption, however I and the other team members think that it has produced a positive as it has bought the group closer.

For the past week I have been working on the pre-questionnaire that will be given out before the training and test questionnaire. The document had to go though three drafts in order for it to meet the standard for which we could extract the correct information.

The first part of the questionnaire asks for details for which we can categorize our results. These questions are the typical gender, age questions combined with questions such as prior military training and familiarity with the Unreal game franchise.

The second part of the questionnaire will help us to determine what kind of learner the person is, based on their answers. Plus an added question to see how that person thinks she/she learns and the way they actually do.
The three learning methods being:
• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinaesthetic

The Other Side

Now that the Visio plans are complete, these along with a screen script were handed over to Antony and Paul who are in the process of producing the Unreal level where we will be teaching the procedures of a peacekeeping checkpoint. While these members of the team are working towards completing this Luke and I will be working towards completing a pre-questionnaire which will be given to people before the conduct with the test. The information on this will help us categorise some of our results and hopefully prove or disprove our question.

Also we will with a little help from other team members produce a questionnaire that will be given to the test subjects after their test, to gain results and feedback on what they have learnt from either the simulation or document. The results from this should clearly answer our question.

Visio Area Plans

Luke and I will be working on this part of the project. From a group of ideas that were created by Luke I chose one and edited it to meet the requirements of what a checkpoint should look like. This was then passed back to Luke where he scaled the area plan so that it could easily be used when the build process begins.

Detailed Event Diagram / Chart

A new event diagram was created to provide a better understanding of what happens during a checkpoint. This can be used to provide myself and other team members with vital details once the build process begins.

Event Diagram / Chart

After some intensive research I was able to complete the event diagram / chart that will be used by the team when time comes to program and begin the beginning part of the layout designs.

I can now begin with the next part of project.

Project Design Document

My part to the Project Design Document was completed this week. I was assigned to provide information on checkpoints. The Rules of Engagement for checkpoints and what happen in checkpoints.

The information that I found during my research was condensed into a document that would educate people on how checkpoints are created, detailing things such as what is needed, how to set up area to be used as a checkpoint and the differences between two types of checkpoints deliberate and hasty.

I have now begun to conduct my research so that I can actually create an event flow diagram / chart for checkpoints. This information would greatly help with our development with the project, especially in the programming stage.

Summer Fun Over Back To Work

With the summer holiday period coming to an end a team meeting was called to discuss what had been completed and not completed, where we are as a group and how we must move forward and form better as a team. Antony Heap as project manager reviewed our progress and formed a new outline for us as a team to follow. With this new team approved outline we could focus on areas missed in our research and continue with the further development of the project.

My assigned task was to look for the Rules of Engagement (ROE) assigned to checkpoints. Also to find information on the technique that checkpoints are designed and constructed plus the problems that can arise for elements such as location, personnel and equipment.

Now that I had my assigned task, I set about finding information on checkpoints using searches on Scopus, Google Scholar and Military Field Manuals. The information that I found was at first non relevant to what I needed, however I went though some previously found Military Field Manuals and discovered a section on checkpoints that detailed the planning, construction and sample ROE.

This information is only a start but with more time and research, I am sure I can find more ROE that we desperately need as well as other factors to checkpoints that will become useful when the design stage of our project commences.

Individual Group Work

For the past couple of weeks I have been looking into different learning styles most specific pragmatic learning. Also I have been reading though internet tutorials and tutorials from 3DS MAX 9 Bible to see what models could be created for when the development of our project begins

Project Plan

After the Literature Review was finally completed we needed to decide on what our project plan was to be. A team meeting was called on Tuesday 11/03/08 to discuss the first milestone that would be presented. Unfortunately I was unable to attend this meeting as I had work commitments to attend to. However the group did forward me a copy of the work completed and decisions that were made.

On Wednesday 12/03/08 another meeting was called to complete the design document and make some final decisions on our first milestone. The meeting was a success with the initial design document getting completed. The work flow of the team at this point is good which I am sure can only improve as time goes on.

Hands on Information

Over the weekend I was successful in making contact with somebody who has combat experience with the Royal Marines. After a short talk over the phone about correct movements in an urban environment, he mentioned that although it has probably been perfected his combat experience in street movement was in the Northern Ireland Conflict. Although a lot of the information he gave me I had already learnt though mine and my team’s research. I was told that he would have a look for any material that we could use in the development of our project.

Weapons and Equipment Research

Over the past few days I have been looking into weapons and equipment used by different militaries. Although the resources I have found are not specific to peacekeeping. I have read the specifications and uses, to try and make an educated guess to what if not all are used during peacekeeping missions.


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America’s Army

A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded and played a game that was recommended by one of my project supervisors. To begin with I started on the training missions to try and get a feel for the game and to also learn the control system that the game incorporates. The first few training mission get you started by introducing you to the guns and how to shoot them. The next few training missions teach you about moving though buildings and how to take out the correct people in the time allowed.

As far as this game goes I have not really carried on with it, due to other commitments. However I do intend to have another try playing it in the near future

The Library Visit

I went to the library today to see what I could find on our given project. Because I haven’t been in the library in a long time I had to re-due my membership. After this was all completed I was able to begin looking for some books.

I asked one of the librarians about where to look for which she directed me to an area of the library to look. Once there I found that area to be wrong. After about ten minutes or so I had only found one book for which wasn’t a great help but the references in the back of it would be. I then began to search the library for any other material when I stumbled across military sciences. Here is where a found three books that I think will be useful in my research. Two of the books were based upon the British SAS and the other was base upon the US Special Forces.

Although I have only found a few books at the moment I will be able to find more specific and better resources once I fully understand what I am researching for such as specific tactics, strategies, technologies and weapons.

Unforeseen Setback

As a major part of my research I was going to obtain a British military book that is given out to its troops from a friend’s relative. Unfortunately the book cannot be found at the present moment thus forcing me to change direction into the way in which I will complete my research. I have been reassured that he will keep looking so I can only hope that it can be found.

Although I didn’t have time to ask some questions that I had prepared. I will at the next chance be asking them, as I think it will help to get an actual perspective of the training involved instead of relying on text from books and journals.

The Game Developers Way

For the last few days I have had a little look into urban warfare and how this practice is conducted. Although my research has been small and at time non relevant I felt that, I needed to understand what urban warfare is. So that the next time the team meets I would fully understand anything that was brought forward.

To begin with I had a little play on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 to see how the new games are linking the urban warfare combat into their gameplay. Although I have no information on how the real practice is conducted I did notice a few things that I think are based on real practices. For instance there are hand signals such as waving your hand in a circular motion to signal a regroup. I also noticed how the team members move such as:

• When you move where there is no cover the team are equally spaced.
• When you stop they all form a circle so that no area is uncovered and everything can be seen.

This I think represents how combat is done and I think with further research I will be able to get the full picture of how combat is done in urban areas.

What Blog is About

This blog will be used to detail what I have individually done for the Games Design Level 3 Team Project.

‘A Virtual Environment For Tactical Movement’.

Summary:

Tactical movement in urban environments is a large issue for militaries who operate more and more as “peacekeepers” in these environments. The American military alone spends a lot of money on training its forces in the tactical issues of safe movement in such an environment. This project aims to investigate the issues potential uses of virtual worlds and games in such training. Students will research the various aspects of tactical movement (such as military doctrine and rules of engagement) and will then produce a scenario or scenarios in a game engine that may be used to train soldiers in this important task.