GSD - Testing Blog E-mail Update Feature..

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Mo

UPDATE

Assignments

Crone

1. 100 variables document for Tremulous
2. Investigate Mudd Lab LZ
3. Watch Movie

Xiao

1. DESIGN TESTING PLATFORM; INTERPRET RESULTS!

2. Bump up the projections, or as we discussed, run a few more different ones. I really would like you and Zimbardo to talk about this - Nothing will change financially from now until the end of the test... so whatever you create will be created for the presentation... I'm of the opinion it hasn't been considered carefully enough for such intense scrutiny.

3. Work on Presentation with Mo



Robert

1. Gamasutra - KEEP READING
2. Investigate Book we need to buy - "Emergence in Games" (Textbook)


Rajesh

1. Yeah...


Zhe

1. Prototype


Bin

1. HELP XIAO IN ANALYZING THE RESULTS OF THE TEST.

2. COLLECT ALL ALL necessary information needed before presentation - what do we need to supply, a list of all the possible questions that could be asked of us.

3. Work with Zimbardo on Executive Summary.


Zimbardo

1. Finish New Version of Executive Summary.

2. Finish Business Plan (Draft sent to me already)


Cesar/Reuben

1. Get the data out of Tremulous (Contact Zhe for details after he e-mails you)


Mo

1. E-mails to Developers
2. Provisional Patent
3. Bank Account (W/ Xiao)
4. Pitch/Presentation

Testing

Ok - So I'm amending the decision rendered after out last meeting -

The notion that we can conduct the Guerilla test (distributed testing over a month or more) for FREE is flawed I believe.

This involves "harassing people" 20x as opposed to doing it once.

I want to reverse our decision to testing the ONE SHOT TEST first.


Logs

1. We determine the Time and Date of testing (3 hour window for the test)

2. We take over the Mudd Computer Lab (Ian and Bin are tasked with securing our LZ in this case - use any and all means necessary).

3. Preferably we preinstall Tremulous on 41+ machines (40+1 master machine to run our software/server, and any backups). To do so requires either permission from someone (depending how we obtain the lab... this could be possible with a Prof sponsor of some kind), or we forcibly penetrate security. My XP alpha-numeric-bols password access record is 48 seconds (world record is 10s, and that's ridiculous), but it'd be preferable not to do this for several reasons, including the fact that the labs have cctvc coverage.

4. As many people as possible are acquired. Having more is fine - if they show up and we don't like them, we can tell them to get lost - better yet, we pick the ones we trust to stay the entire time. They must be able to stay the entire time, all cell phones off, no communication.

5. They play the entire test array of games after a bit of an intro primer to the game.

6. Data collected - we're done.


ALL OF THIS NEEDS TO BE RUN THROUGH ON SITE WITH SOFTWARE COMPLETED BEFORE THE TEST DAY IS EXECUTED. ALL PERSONNEL ARE NOW REASSIGNED TO TEST DUTY.

RAJESH - REPLY WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF YOUR ATTENDANCE ON TEST DAY.

Assorted Thoughts

1. Math guys look into something called PECOTA - it's a sabermetric analytical tool for predicting the performance of baseball players by comparing them to previous players and generating similarity scores - i.e. predict the trajectory of a player's career by their existing data. It strikes me that this is quite similar to what we want to do.

If the game could analyze data and figure out which initial non-primary factors are most highly correlated with future success, we could generate expected development curves for each player which predicts their behavior. This is a semi-solution to the new player problem.

2. As the semester gets started again it would be nice to have a regular meeting data/time - please post availability.

3. An idea related to initialization - presumably the game designers know how their game is supposed to play, so what if we used their data as the seed? i.e. attempt to have the system build teams which play similarly to how dev teams played.

4. I believe windowing/historical weighting still isn't implemented, but it really needs to be.

5. I'm going to generate a document summarizing the current situation in the computer games industry, specifically trends in PC multiplayer gaming. I'll try to have something done by Sunday.

Walking? Just Walking.

We need to accelerate the rate at which tasks are done. A summary by Topic.

// BOARD MEETING I WILL BE HELD TENTATIVELY ON SUNDAY 10 AUGUST @ NOON AT OUR JERSEY CITY OUTPOST.

Rajesh - welcome back, You need to be briefed and assigned. Your communication is horrible - fix this, and you'll be back on track.


1. Incorporation - Zimbardo has arranged the legal incorporation, which is in Delaware, and we will have the opening Board meeting on Saturday or Sunday of this week which will formalize the company's bylaws and operating agreement. Cesar, Eliseo or Cipta - you are not required to come, but are obviously welcome - please e-mail me if you do want to attend. I'll know the definite date and time by Thursday.

2. Provisional Patent Application - Zhe and I continue to work on this, and Zhe has completed about 50% of the necessary technical workup so far, including the flowcharts essential to software patents. I predict completion within 10 days; that is, we should have a recognized provisional by then. Kudos to Zhe for efficiency on this, but as we discussed - please be sure to annotate the flowchart with numbers and corresponding captions. The requirement is that it be an instruction manual for a similarly skilled person to recreate.

There will be an $85 fee, which our current funds cover.

3. Business Plan, Financials, Pitch - Zimbardo has completed most of the business plan, but I have not been updated explicitly on the percentage of completion. This should be completed in the next 14 days at most, minus some technical necessities.

Xiao has created a primary draft of the financial projections based on estimates provided by myself, and some assumptions as is always the case in such things.

This document should be available on the Acrobat.com site soon - Xiao please post Version 2 here after the first Board Meeting if any changes result, otherwise just post the current Version...

I have roughly estimated startUp costs c. $500K for 1 year - this will be our target Round 1 financing goal.

The Executive summary is VERY important and should be brutally edited and revised such that it's flawless. Zimbardo, Xiao, and Robert I think would handle this best -but either way, it needs to happen.

The Presentation and Pitch are under my purview and Bin and Xiao are assigned currently to developing them with me - if for some reason you're free - please involve yourself, otherwise you'll comment after draft 1 is operational. This should coincide with patent completion.


4. Please visit www.acrobat.com and Login as the following: Admin@gsd.vg//columbia

You will find our online document repository. I have not yet uploaded everything - but it is WIP. Uploads are a bit slow on the software, but otherwise I think it's excellent for viewing and we have 5GB.

Particularly our newer members, please leaf through here to study our archives.


5. Designer Contacts - I have e-mailed 7 designers (Excel sheet is on the Acrobat.com page) with 1 respondee which claimed his work is not really related to game design. The other 6 are noshow, though I should mention two of them did not post e-mails and were contacted through social networking sites... so perhaps our ratio is actually a bit better.

I have halted all e-mails pending a review of the e-mail itself and some discussion at Board Meeting I. I will decide after this how exactly to move forward, But rest assured, the contact outreach will resume immediately on Sunday.

The plan of course, is to obtain a single endorsing voice. This will trigger the approach to investors, which, in fact, is a much easier, solved problem.


6. Investors - the New York Angels Group is a likely first target of our approach. It is a consortium of Angel investors in NYC. Bin is responsible for coordinating this effort, and should RESEARCH this area appropriately such as to serve as our resident expert on the process.


7. Website - While we have a functional website @ www.gsd.vg it does leave much to be desired. I have with pen/paper sketched a rough concept for a newer, full website, but I have as of yet not found the necessary personnel.

Reuben has claimed he would be able to technically assemble the website so long as someone else created the art, etc.

Our art people have been extremely unrealiable thus far, and have yet to produce a single piece of working digital content.

While I suspect we may yet create another stopgap website - it's my belief that once we possess funding, we will seek professional design services.

We have no tangible product to display (shoes eg) so our website is the only real thing anyone will ever see. Hence it is imperative that it is dressed impressively. Again, we'll do what we can for now - then go back later with some money.

The creation of content for the website was also dismal, and I was required to hastily step in and produce text for it, which was not properly formatted due to time constraints, and while somewhat informative, reads as a hodgepodge of discrete and vague promises that rivals the sermon on the mount.

Clean up will need to be actuated at some point.


8. OUTSTANDING TASKS

A. Research. I need to be able to count on people to know their assigned areas. I cannot know everything myself, nor should I have to.

The following people are assigned research assignments. They are general in nature, and I provide suggestions. If others feel these assignments are unnecessary or unproductive, please state so with your suggestions. I maintain however that I require reliable information in the following areas, if only to be breifed before official presentations to withstand what will be withering fusillades of questions from investors and the like.

These are not empty assignments - when we require information on the topic at hand - our expert should be able to either answer or at least quickly recover said information.

Bin - Process involved in Business Agreements with Investors, Exit strategies, Equity assignments, and a versed knowledge of presentation and pitch delivery. I know you have your own methods of research, so I decline suggestion.

Crone - Current market state of the Games industry overall, both financially and structually. Our two major focuses. What is the history or current debate about socially based matchmaking and skill-based gaming? What is the current dogma on Game balancing methodologies and the expenses, etc. involved therein? Where is our best opportunity for breakthrough and envelopment? I suggest the industry standards Gamasutra.com, and gamesindustry.biz. Feel free to look wherever you like as well, but be ready to provide last minute emergency information.

Zimbardo - Financial options regarding corporate structure and governance, proper and recommended options relating to investor relations and the timeline of events overall. Some basic legal facts, and our potential link to a lawyer should likely be handled by you.

Robert - for now, just trademarks.

B. Logo - supposedly will have in 2-3 weeks, if Zhe is able after he's done with Patenting, he has said he could digitize our logo for us (we have it in pen sketch)

C. Business Cards - Robert you are responsible for this, and I've already donated full authority on the matter to him. If you have suggestions, feel free to tell him, but don't let them interfere with what you're actually supposed to be working on for us.

D. Resumes - I want A GSD specific resume from everyone which strips your address, your GPA, any courses you might have listed, and anything else that emphasizes your collegiate status. Please list your position at GSD, and your basic tasks. Honors are not required unless you want to include them, and a guiding statement should be included - ZIMBARDO has designed this already and will help you - please do this soon.

E. Operation Zen - will be discussed at Meeting, no comments now.

F. CU has agreed to a Paper IP claim waver. If I don't need to micromanage, I should be able to get this next week.

G. Opposition Intelligence gathering.

Playtest Redux - All Hands on Deck

For the sake of simplicity, I will work on my "action item" - > need too devise a way to recruit totally random ppl (need at least 11 more) for third playtest -- *Everyone*

- Step 1: We need to hard-code a date, time, and location. Remember, we just need the maximum number of people so it is not critical that we pick a date that every GSD member can attend. However, I understand that some members such as Rajesh must be present. I believe the possible dates are Saturday June 14th and Saturday June 28th.

- Step 2: We need to attract the largest pools of people as possible. This is where things can get a little complicated. In order of size/importance I believe the pools are as follows:
1. Bronxville Elementary/Middle School
2. Bronxville Library
3. Columbia University
4. GSD Friends and Family Members (Remember, no experience is necessary! You can tell them about all the Wii casual gaming crap to persuade them!)
5. Bronxville High SchoolI think that by contacting admins, clubs, and our social networks at these places, we can be successful.

- Step 3: Incentives. We were deciding between paying people and/or offering a raffle. I believe with this mix (if it pans out, we will have mostly minors playing), paying people may not look so great. Therefore, (note, I have no knowledge of the type of funds available to us currently), I would have a tiered raffle with one large prize (maybe a 360 core, Wii, or small TV) and three small prices (maybe some platinum hits or best buy gift cards). If we do decide to pay, I think it should be nominal as these will be children so maybe in the range of $5 to $15. Of course, our largest expense will be food for ~40 people.

Okay now on to an actual plan (this I guess is more for Mo but anyone can read and help) -
- Distribute fliers at the Bronxville School, all over Columbia, and the Bronxville Library.
- Contact any video game related groups at Columbia
- Contact administrators at the Bronxville School and Library to secure visibility (emphasize that you are BXV alums and have BXV School members). Focus on the Bronxville Library Teen Schedule (914) 337-7680

In closing, I believe that the Bronxville School and Library will provide our greatest source. I do not think it is overly optimistic to be able to attract 20 students between grades 5-8. The rest would be gravy. I am very optimistic because of the following: http://www.villageofbronxville.com/subd2_teenschedule.htm

There will be a Halo 2 Tournament at the Bronxville Library on Thursday, June 26th, 3PM. This is a 2v2 (double-team) tournament and the winners receive gift cards. The games will be played on a projector. Not only is this a great way to get information on who is interested (that member list is GOLD), but it will help us gauge the amount of space, resources, and popularity of such an attempt. My ultimate goal is to link up with the library and have a follow-up tournament on June 28th for Halo 3. This makes lots of sense and seems to be the natural outgrowth for the library.

Sorry for the long post but it is necessary. Making ten bodies appear out of thin air is no small task and we will all need to do some work. This has been emailed to many members as well.

Stay cool.

- Paul

Addition: As I finished writing this I remembered a few other key details that need to be ironed out. On the technical side, we need to ensure that the software can differentiate players by their icons or some other metric such as Guest 1 or Guest 2. With lots of "random" players attending, we could run into difficulty going merely with icon identification judging from some of the purely random icons that look like a big color splotch on Xbox Live.

Also, we need to ensure that we have enough physical resources for the test. This includes, TVs/Moniors, Xbox 360s (I am not sure if we need Harddrives but I guess most people have them), controllers, headsets (maybe?), Xbox Live Accounts, and anything else I am forgetting.

We inviting people to play from your personal network, please try and get their name (obviously), phone number, email, and Xbox Live Gamertag if they have one. This will make it much easier to find people and increase the likelyness that they will actually attend.

UPDATE - READ IT ALL; WATCH FOR YOUR NAME

READ ON BLOG IF YOU DON'T LIKE E-MAILS

GSD BLOG: http://grandstrategydynamics.blogspot.com/


1. Satjot, I added you to our mail list - if you don't want to see comm e-mails tell me, don't want to spam people.


2. Rajesh has taught Robert how to test games. Robert will transfer knowledge to Xiao, et.al.


3. Mo, Ramakrishnan, Lin, Huang, and Wei have solved the Initialization problem (minus the part about enrolling Quarantine Zone II players, and some mathematical details involving a Cezaro Mean, and a few other hazies?) Other than this... I have written the doc, and Wei has approved and edited, RR has yet to view and edit, pending Wei's corrections to be e-mailed shortly!!!


Zhe stands ready to etch the solution. The Document is withheld pending Edits.


4. Mo, Wei, Crone, Huang, had a discussion concerning the Gametype Problem


a) Gametype problem is the following - what do you do about different gametypes where accordingly you collect different types of data... hence bringing issues when players are sorted/ranked on the same continuum with different sources of the data depending on gametype (CTF, deathmatch, w/e).


We have a proposed multidimensional symmetry solution with transforms allowing for interconversion to fill in the missing spots. NOT being a HUGE math initiate, but merely a fan, I will use one of my (apparently now infamous?) analogies. In Jurassic Park, to recreate Dinosaurs, Amphibian DNA is used to replace missing sections of Dinosaur genes. The concept is to use the base gametype (i.e. deathmatch usually) as the Complete Amphibian DNA, and then use this data to "Fill In" the missing sections of data on the other gametypes allowing us to maintain separate DISTs on separate gametypes, but also allowing for them to intercommunicate and inform each other.


In a nutshell, that's the current solution, and I like it thus far, mostly because it's the only good one I've heard. The nature of the multi-K transforms concerns me though... While presuming symmetry, we can C/P many of them... but it should be better vetted out.


5. Mo, Wei, Crone had a discussion about the Party Problem (Which Ramakrishnan and Mo claim to have solved weeks prior)

a) RECALL our system was built for ONE player to enter Matchmaking, but many systems allow for TEAMS ("Parties") to play, thus allowing Friends to play together. This creates some Fundat issues, the main one being that this has broken GSD as the team-builder, as the player has built his (or God forbid... Her) team. (Sorry not a good personal experience with female gamers...)


Ramakrishnan and Mo's solution (involves building separate profiles for different combos of players and extracting that data from the single-person majority data, then calling this data whenever teams of specific players play together) has come under fire, though no alternative was proposed that withstood first order challenges.


6. Crone has developed a working solution the ID Player Problem (prevent use of accounts by others)... While this is NOT 5-week plan vital, it is necessary to have a defense in place against such an obvious system breaker. His Proposal is attached. I expect Comments on it from Pelletier, Xu, and Santos, former members of Team [DES].


7. Comrade Wei reports all Testing theory is complete and that Implementation may begin. His redefined success metric is the differential between all vars and the reduction therein. His new testing implementation requires some mods given discovery of 100 bot skill levels. RR should present ALL known details concerning BOTs and BOT SKILL LEVELS to this team.


8. Fresh MATLAB Conscripts available for the Front. Assigned to Chen and Ramakrishnan (1 to Lin), awaiting deployment orders.

Jeffery Chiang & Sara McArdle (Work together) (sam2148@columbia.edu, jyc2115@columbia.edu)

Felix Yu (fy2117@columbia.edu)

Subhrendu Sarkar (ss3295@columbia.edu)


All have been tested for MATLAB proficiency.



9. Remaining Unsolved PROBLEMS

a) Shock-Stability Problem (Nothing on this yet!)

b) New Player Problem (Proposed Solutions approaching consensus) (Volunteer Fast-track solution if n << N, Otherwise Use Quarantine Systems; faster method?)

c) Gametype Problem (Multidimensional solution proposed; lightly contested)

d) Party Problem (Mo, Ramakrishnan Claim Solution; Contested)

e) Drunk Player Problem and all associated issues (ID Problem) (Proposed Solutions avail.)

f) Testing Problems (Seem to be mostly solved... Need to be written up (Pelletier, Xu, Wei, Santos, Crone are assigned this duty, under direction of Wei)

g) Anything else?

h) Quality Control Module and Learning Algorithm remain nebulous and, quoting one officer, "vaporware." But they are often used to justify holes in current logic, as they should be.


10. As always, we march on. 5 Weeks. Every Casualty Allowed. Not 1 Step Back.