HOW TO REMOVE THE SIDEBAR\
This tutorial shows how to remove the sidebar from the game in Sugarcane Format.
2. This is how the style sheet looks using CSS to edit the design in a very simple way. 
3. To remove the side bar, using CSS, use the code
#sidebar{ display: none;
}
4. This is what the game will look like without the sidebar.
For my final project, I want to do a revision of my Twine story. It didn’t turn out exactly how I had wanted, given that I didn’t give myself enough time to become familiar with CSS, so I want to retry that, sticking with the same story, of course. I want to make big changes to the look of it, with pictures in the background, and transparent boxes for text. I want to incorporate Audacity by creating sounds that can be used in my Twine game, if that is possible, to give more of a design element to the game while mixing two units to do so. I just want the game to be funner looking and more interactive, and make it feel like more of a game. Also, I thought my writing was a bit lackluster, as far as actually writing the story went, like the language used, so I want to revise that, and use better dialogue or whatever to make the story better.
This is how I see my final project going for now. I hope that I can accomplish all of this, and teach myself the right techniques, on how to incorporate these design elements into my work. I was actually slightly disappointed with my Twine project, I wanted it to be more than it was, and hopefully I can successfully do that next time around.
For my text project, I’m creating a game that could be loosely based off of my favorite show, Once Upon A Time. Basically it’ll follow a timeline of a prince or princess, there will be a male or female option, on an adventure with Captain Hook, but the Captain Hook based off the show and not Peter Pan. I want it to be fun and interactive, so I know that this project for me will be more based on the story than the design elements, but I still want there to be some design incorporated. For example, I want to add images to the background, like in The Uncle that Works for Nintendo, to give the player an idea of where they are, as well as maybe some sounds. I will see how difficult this will be for me to do. I want to keep the design simple, because the story may be so complicated, because I became a bit too ambitious. Though, I like the way I mapped my story, and I want to to keep it the way I planned. I feel like even if there are less crazy design elements, the game will be more fun if there is more to it and more choices to be made, as opposed to a simple plot line. I am definitely going to be more creative in story line and writing style than I am in design, and i think that’s okay.
During the beginning workings of our group project, we talked about the transportation in Pittsburgh, and more about the problems with the system. We talked about how the bus routes are a bit ridiculous, and also how something as convenient as a subway does not travel through more of the outskirts of Pittsburgh, such as Squirrel Hill and Shadyside. There is only the T, which only really runs downtown. So, we talked about how, if we came up with a sort of blueprint for creating a new and better transportation system in this part of Pittsburgh. We thought to create a map that could demonstrate this.
The map could be a part of an app that another member of my group planned to talk about. Mostly, it’s just an idea to show different and better routes through Pittsburgh that are not be implemented currently. It could be incorporated for all of Pittsburgh, or even just narrowed down to specifically Oakland and Pitt’s campus. For example, even the 30 C doesn’t go that far into South Oakland, and there should be more options for people who live even farther.
Also, there is an issue sometimes with SafeRider, which even sometimes help depending on whether you are too far from campus, or even too close. There are just may issues that could be addressed, and more ideas could be coming up as we work more, and together. Hopefully something like a virtual map, or the mock-up of a virtual map could be a beneficial way to address transportation in Pittsburgh.
So I played two games, obviously the Uncle Who Worked for Nintendo, and then also The Girl in the Haunted House. Fun facts, I died in both. Though, with The Uncle that Works for Nintendo, it seemed to me like. just the way it always looped around, that no matter what I did I would’ve dies in the end anyway; and by die I mean get captured by some type of cyborg-alien monster thing. I noticed with The Uncle that works for Nintendo, that, they sometimes gave many options, but ultimately kept going back to that main screen until you picked the option they wanted you too. For this one, it also every once in a while, when you “went back to the den,” would have the clock chime, and it occasionally would tell you the time, or you could count the number of times it happened, so I was able to know, when the time came, when it was, midnight and the “Uncle” would arrive. So that was interesting. Sound was really effective in this as well, because when the “uncle” showed up, I was not expected what would happen, and the sound of the door knocking like crazy was really effective. It made it feel like more of a game, because I felt more in the moment, as if I was actually the eleven year old who was about to get eaten or whatever.
With the other game, like I said, I also died, but I’m pretty sure I could’ve changed that, or survived had I gone back and tried a different tactic, or made different choices, so I felt like I had more control in that game. That being said, it wasn’t as fun or interactive, due to lack of sound and pictures, compared to The uncle. At the end of this one I just accepted that I died, but at the end of the Uncle I got pissed off and walked away form the computer.
2. Once it is highlighted, drag the mouse up to the toolbar, and choose the tab “Effect.”
3. In the “Effect Tab,” choose the the option “Change Speed…”
4. The window for “Change Speed” will appear. IN the box, there is a dial that can be pushed to the left or the right to either speed up or slow down the sound. Move it to the percentage and speed multiplier that you want, and then press OK.
5. Then, the speed of the soundbite has changed.
For my soundscape, I liked the idea of incorporating the sounds heard by one specific person. I’ve decided to create the sound of the three minutes a student may get between classes in high school, specifically through the ears and mind of one person. I like the plan I have of there being so many noises that I am including; such as lockers opening and closing, backpacks being unzipped, the sound of people talking in the hallways slowly progressing, the sound of the bell to change classes, the sound of shoes on a squeaky high school floor, the sound of people rustling past each other. I also want to include perhaps the sounds of books falling in the locker, maybe the student is having a particularly unlucky day. I’ve included the sound of a water fountain as well, being used during this class “break.” Perhaps, the sound of them entering a class early, where they are watching the teacher prepare for class, with the sound of chalk on a chalkboard. There are so many different sounds that can be included, as well as what I already have, to make this soundscape interesting.
If possible, to make the sound more personal, I want to play music in the background, very softly. The idea is supposed to give off that this person, this student, is perhaps listening to music form their Ipod, on low, while they are walking to their next class, getting things from their locker, etc. I want to make this soundscape more realistically related to one person, and their personal hearing, as opposed to the general sound as if it was recorded through a tape recorder. It would just the follow those three to four minutes, through the ears of this one person, and how they experience the atmosphere around them.
Choosing the sound of the buttons being pressed on a calculator, I imagined the sound of a student in class, during a math test. Of course, not a math class at Pitt, because there is rarely a math class at Pitt where a calculator can be used on an exam. Anyway, I picture students in a classroom, maybe a big lecture hall. Someone is typing away on their calculator, and I imagine big numbers, based on the constant button pressing. Perhaps the person is multiplying numbers with many decimals places.
I can hear, well in my head I imagine, adding noises and sounds that would be also be heard during a test, because of course silence is never a thing. There is the sound of erasers being abused, the sound of the cough of the guy three rows over, the sound of a pencil being tapped against the table. Other sounds could be the of chalk as the teacher writes the time remaining on the black board, or of the sniff of the girl sitting to the right, or of papers flipping, or the idiot who never turned off their cell phone alarm, disrupting everyone. There are so many insignificant sounds involved in a test, or math test, that I can think of, including the sound of a calculator.
There are other sound on the collection list that could be included in this, like the sound of a door closing, or of a fan going off on the ceiling of the room, among others. There are so many sounds that could be added to create the scene and make things interesting, revolving around the sound of the calculator and layering different things among the “silence” of an exam.
A moment of sound design that I really liked, or was interested in, was in RadioLab’s “I Don’t Have to Answer That.” Around the four minute mark in the podcast, there are what sounds like overlaying audio clips from possibly different newscasts and interviews about politician Gary Hart, then moving onto other clips. The sound seems to mix different clips together, along with a sort of spunky music in the background. I liked hearing it all mixed together. The music in the background flows nicely with the front audio, making it all flow nicely.
I also enjoyed, in Limetown, the parts where helicopters where brought in the background when interviewers, reporters, or the narrator were talking. It made things sound more dramatic, and caught the listeners attention more, I think. I really enjoyed those parts.
One of the biggest problems I found while making my video was when there was constant lagging in my video playback when I wanted to view how my editing was working. I was lucky enough to come up with a way to decrease the lagging (in which when the video plays back, it stutters or is not lined up video to audio), which is what I am going to give a tutorial on now. This tip of rendering, which makes the playback as smooth as possible, became very helpful to me when making my video, which is why I decided to share it.
First, look at the sequence panel on the interface. If you notice, in the timeline above one of the clips, there is a red line (indicated by the white arrow), as opposed to the line being green like the clip preceding it. This means that the clip needs to be rendered, in order to decrease lagging.
In order to make the red line green, the clip must be rendered. In order to do that, you start by choosing where to start the render. Click on the timeline where you want to start (I chose where the red line started), and press i on the keyboard. This makes you choose the “in” for your video clip.
Next, to choose where to end the clip render, click on the time line where you want to make an “out” (the end of red line), and press o on the keyboard. Now you have established an “in to out” on the clip sequence.
Now that you have an “in to out,” you want to render the clip. Go onto the tool bar at the top, and click on Sequence, and then choose Render In to Out. This will render the video clip from where you chose your “in to out” in the sequence.
Then, after you click that, this window will automatically appear, showing the rendering of the clip, and how much time remains to render the clip. Longer clips take more time to render each frame.
When that is finished, notice that the line in the timeline that used to be red is now green, meaning the clip has been rendered. Now, when you playback, the video will not be lagging, or at least not lagging as much as it was before. Then, you can continue on with your project without losing your mind.
