• None!

• None! Yer outta here!
• Get ready for the finals in your other classes.

• Once more we try to see Luke present his Second Life Sim.
• I found my old Sims on a Cell Phone Paper.

• None. We be done in Second Life! (For real this time!)

• Repurposing Hardware

• Cell Phone Challenge

• Luke presents his Second Life Sim

• None. We be done in Second Life!

• I collect any holiday decorations that you've found to donate!
• Luke presents his Second Life Sim

• Have a good Thanksgiving! See you in SL next week.

• Real Life Sims by
  • Heather
  • Stephen
  • Cliff
• Augmented Reality

• Are you kidding? Next week is Thanksgiving Thursday!

• Did we have any scavenger hunt items to show off? If so, we'll look at them.
• Second Life Sim presentation by Jerilyn

• Holiday decorations that you can transfer to me so I can decorate!

• Software Simulation Show-Off!
  • Get there early and get things installed and working.

• None. Take a breath.

• Second Life presentations from Cliff
• Open House Invitation
• Novint Falcon
• Stiff People's League
• Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds

• Finish up the Software Sim.
• Get to class early on Thurs to get things installed, tested, and running!

• None. Next week we see those software sim packages! Be here early and get things installed!

• Today we look at the things your Halloween costumes.
• Then we have Second Life Sim tours by: Cliff
• And that's it for the day because I know you're working feverishly on your Software Simulation programming.

• Scavenger Hunt: Robots!

• Halloween Magic Trick!
• Real Life Sims by Mike & Josh
• Gather the packets.
  • One set for me to grade.
  • One set for your eventual programmer.
• Subject Matter Experts
• CBT Production Teams

• Software Simulation Production

• Today we look at the things you made with the building tools.
• Then we have Second Life Sim tours by: Ricky
• A possible location of my own...if I find something.

• Scavenger Hunt: Halloween Costume!

• Show off your scavenger hunt items! Wings, I believe!
• Second Life Sim Presentations by Heather & Bobby

• Scavenger Hunt: Make Something!

• Oddware Presentations by Luke and Jesse
• Software Simulations
  • Client Viewpoint
  • Instructional Designer

• Instructional Design Packag

• Show off your scavenger hunt items!
• Second Life Sim Presentations by Heather & Stephen

• Scavenger Hunt: Wings!

• No Homework. Take a rest.

• Meet with Circe.

• No Homework. Oddware presentations on Thursday.

• Complex Systems Modeling

• None. Oddware due next week.

The Sims (Urbz in the City) on the
LG Camera Cell Phone

 

The Nindendo DS

The Nintendo DS has a 2 small screens in a clamshell-like case. On the lower half of the clamshell are the controls.  To the  left of the screen is a cross-shaped joystick and the power button; to the right of the screen are 4 “action buttons” which are typically used for “shooting” and “jumping” and similar actions within the particular game being played.  Above those four buttons are two smaller buttons which tend to be used to activate various in-game menus.  At the back of the cabinet, on the lower-half are two other buttons that are typically accessed by the left- and right-index fingers as they wrap around the base.
(Image from http://www.nintendo.com/dslarge?gallery=overview&currentNo=1)

The Urbz

A screen from the upperscreen of the Nintendo DS version of the Sims “Urbz” game is seen here (screen shot taken from the EA Games website).

The Nintendo DS screens are pretty small.  Most of the actual game play takes place in the upper screen. The player character is located in the middle of the playing screen and the “world” moves under him, keeping him in the center.  As the character moves from one “larger area” to other “larger areas” the screen will black out and a new area will load into memory.

The lower part of the screen is where the game’s “motivations” are displayed.

The player character is moved around the screen using the joystick.  As the character nears certain items in the game, an arrow points to the item indicating its significance.  At that time the player can press one of the buttons which brings up a menu of options concerning that item.  The player uses the joystick highlight the chosen choice, then one of the buttons to activate his choice.

The lower screen is used as a sort of PDA in which many of the game’s menus are accessed.  This screen is also touch-sensitive, so many choices are made using a stylus to tap the options.

 

The Phone

As seen in this photograph (from http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Jan2004/6416.htm), the LG phone has a standard 12-key keypad.  Above the keypad are three other keys, “Send,” “Clr” (Clear), and “End” (which also functions as the power on/off key.

Above these keys are located more control keys that are used to maneuver through the various menus of the phone and camera.  In the center is a (often) blue button which is used like a left-mouse button.  Surrounding the selection button is a sort of click-wheel which acts as a directional joystick.  On either side of this joystick are two more buttons: The left is a “menu” button which activates and provides access to the phone’s main menu options; the button on the right is sort of an “edit” button that provides access to submenu options within the current menu.

In the upper part of the telephone is the screen.  It’s orientation is taller-than-wide in contrast to the Nintendo DS which is wider-than-tall.

The Conversion

Converting the Nintendo DS version of the Urbz to the LG cell phone—while not a simple feat—would be fairly easy.  The screen will stay largely the same, although smaller in detail.

Due to the fact that the LG phone has a working joystick device, the player can move around the world using the joystick-wheel just as he would use the joystick-cross on the Nintendo DS.  Button clicks on the Nintendo DS would be done using the selection-button in the center of the joystick-wheel.

Because screen real estate is so confined, the game motivations can be reconfigured to run vertically and be positioned at the right hand side of the screen.  Furthermore, they can be kept off-screen-left until the phone’s left-menu button is pressed at which time they can pop-up into view; pressing the left-button again causes the motivations to return to their offscreen location.

The other screens such as the world map, the inventory, the missions, and the reputation screens, which, on the Nintendo DS, are displayed on the lower screen would instead not be visible until called up by use of the right-menu button. This action would present the player with a menu of destination screens.  The player makes his selection using the joystick-wheel and selection button and the proper sub-screen would be displayed.  The game would pause while in these subscreens.

Furthermore, the game has a variety of mini-games that are used for earning in-game currency, or “Simoleons.”  The games are simple and can be easily controlled using the joystick-wheel and the selection button.