Overall, things are going pretty smoothly. The hard parts have been mostly solved, namely the browser visualization, making manifold meshed, and creating 3D objects. The rest of the stuff is pretty much just plug-and-play busy work. It looks like there’s a lot of unchecked ToDos below, but they’re all connected, and should all go simultaneously (that’s poor list-making on my part, sorry).

• Tiles need to be completely downloaded
• Solution must be found for creating manifold meshes
• Develop method for turning single-face meshes into solid meshes Mostly completed — mesh edges have been found, now I just need to make faces between them and a base
• Build website locally In progress
  • Develop website backend In Progress
    • Determine website framework Node.js
    • Embed openFrameworks on server Using Three.js instead
    • Implement a map API for displaying available cities and picking them In Progress — City-level picker is almost done; decisions need to be made on displaying which locations are available
    • Implement Shapeways SDK
  • Develop website frontend In Progress; its convolved with the backend
• Deploy DigitalOcean droplet
• Purchase Domain http://ibldi.xyz
• Deploy website on server
• Test print from Shapeways URGENT
• Open Shapeways store
• Publicity
• Profit

In summarized the conceptual idea of remapping in this prezi presentation. In this post I will update the current state of the capstone proposal in practical terms.

Basically, I spent my last 2 weeks dealing with data scraping and analysis with processing. Right now I have not only the basic attributes of the individual footprints (scale, area, perimeter, etc.) but also most of the analysis were implemented. The buildings are embedded with shape metrics such as dispersion, “rectangularity” and ortogonality. Besides, I also collected the neighborhood average income (by zipcode) and the elevation of the building. Along the next week I intend to implement similarity, in order to allow the buildings to find similar buildings.

The basic motion and collision functions are also defined, so the footprints can move around an dispute the space. In the video below, there is a simple example of their animation.

The next step is to use the attributes and analysis as the drivers of the movement, enabling a goal-oriented remapping. These maps will indicate spatially one or two criteria such as a similarity clustering or a income x size mapping. I hope that using the footprints as agents will not only enable these remapping but also will create a very interesting battle for space, emphasizing the differences and similarities of the city map.

Finally, I will try to make it more efficient, in order to enable remapping thousand of buildings. Probably, I will try to change collision detection – that right now is a brute force algorithm.

Since the proposal, we made a big mechanical change. Instead of making the player navigate through the streets to the school each day, we are going to have the player text people (parents and friends) while the background whizzes by. This way we can convey more narrative and make the subtle changes of the background, well, more subtle. This can be seen as a step down in interactivity by getting further away from mechanics and instead focusing more on the narrative.

Currently, we have all movement implemented. The dialogue system is also in place, but the UI is not yet done to be displayed in the way we want yet. Some art assets are also in place, although not enough to have variety, it is enough to get by. The animations for the girl is also set. I am currently working on the dialogue.