reflections

This section contains my reflections over the course of my project, creating a 'Jeopardy!' like gameshow in Flash.

See also the Work Contract.

Final Reflection

This project was a real learning process in many ways. I feel that I progressed both technologically and as a designer.

I'd never used Flash before, and while I understood some of what it could do, I had little knowledge of most of the features or limitations. I was impressed with what it could do, and how easily it could be used for more complicated things than presentations or movies. Actionscript proved to be a powerful tool, and much more versatile than I expected.

Additionally, while I'd designed many programs and websites before, I'd never really done any instructional design. It was interesting to try to incorporate some instructional design ideas into my project, such as providing feedback and reinforcement for learning. While I'd always respected instructional designers, I feel like I have a better appreciation now for what they do.

I faced some large challenges during this project. At the midway point, I found it necessary to redesign much of my project, including a shift from an XML document to a database as the source of project data. This was necessitated because it became apparent that some of the functionality I wanted would be too difficult to implement using the original design.

At the end of the project, though, I was successful in creating a program that can be expanded and used for many different types of audiences. There are several things I want to do from here, including writing better instructions for the administrative tool. I also want to make some improvements to the look and feel of the game, so that it looks a bit more professional.