The Idea

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Overview

A simple HTML game loaded onto the user’s device whenever there is an internet connection issue on RMIT Saigon South (SGS) campus network as a replacement for the default connection timed out error page displayed on the user’s web browser. It would be a simple and addictive retro/arcade game intended as a distraction for the users to ease the network traffic and raise awareness about RMIT SGS campus network issue.

Motivation

The internet connection at RMIT University Vietnam SGS Campus has frequently been an issue among staffs and students, and more so during the recent months of Semester 3 of 2020. This is evidenced on the RMIT Confessions Facebook page as a quick search for posts containing the word “wifi” shows a lot of complaints about the slow network connection at SGS campus (see Appendix A) that appears to coincide with the student influx in Semester 3 of each year. Furthermore, in a recent Facebook post on November 28th, 2020, RMIT University Vietnam wrote: “Internet usage at SGS campus has recently been unstable due to the overuse of streaming platforms for music, movies, YouTube, Facebook and other services not directly related to academic needs. This has been severely impacting the digital experience of our community…”[1] This issue is undeniably a controversial topic of discussion recognized by both the faculties and students. Although we have yet to find an effective solution for this problem, my idea would work as a short-term solution to get the matter more recognition, and in the long term to provide our campus community with a geeky insider only “easter egg” campus feature.

Description

The local wireless network at RMIT SGS would send a custom error page containing the error message and a HTML game to the user’s browser whenever a connection timed out error occurs. This concept is similar in idea to the Dinosaur Game developed by Google for their Chrome browser[2], but this would instead be implemented on a network-wide system, not just on the local machine. The process is visually described in Fig 1 shown below (heavily simplified for brevity):

Fig 1. Internet access at RMIT

In the game, the player controls RMIT’s mascot – Rupert the Redback spider (Fig 2) shooting his spider web at the ceiling to swing from left to right while avoiding dangerous obstacles. The objective is to travel as furthest away from the starting point as possible. It would feature a lives system: Rupert has three lives, each time he hits the ceiling, the floor, or and obstacle, he would lose one. The game ends when Rupert has no lives left and the score is then reported to the player based on the distance travelled (Fig 3). The obstacles are randomly generated indefinitely until the game ends. To further engage the player, achievements would be given every 500 meters travelled, and the score would be saved into a scoreboard on RMIT network so that students can compete with each other for highscore.

The page should be compatible with both mobile and desktop platforms. Thus, the game must be responsive to different screen sizes and must feature keyboard, mouse, and touchscreen input for consistent and optimal user experience across devices. For that reason, the control must be simple and intuitive for mobile compatibility.

Fig 3. Preliminary concept sketches

At the moment, I have come up with two candidate control schemes:

• Control scheme 1 (Fig 3):
• On desktop devices: The player controls Rupert by pressing the left and right arrow key to swing left and right, respectively. The spacebar is used for shooting and cutting the spider web.
• On mobile devices: The left and right side of the screen would be used to control Rupert’s direction of swinging. Pressing both sides simultaneously would be used for shooting and cutting the spider web.
• Control scheme 2:
• On desktop devices: A constant wind force would blow Rupert from left to right, and the player only use the spacebar or click on the screen to shoot and cut the spider web.
• On mobile devices: The mechanism is similar to that on the desktop except pressing anywhere on the screen would be used in place of the spacebar/mouse.
• Extra feature: The wind strength will be increased incrementally every 500 meters travelled for scaled difficulty.

Tools and Technologies

• Game engine: Phaser. Phaser a popular and easy-to-learn open-source 2D HTML5 game framework actively developed and maintained by Photon Storm[3] on GitHub (https://github.com/photonstorm/phaser).
• Sprites and other arts: Aseprite for pixel arts, Photoshop, Illustrator, or other open-source equivalents such as Gimp and Inkscape for more complex raster and vector photo editing capabilities.
• Sound design: Audacity for rudimentary audio editing and Studio One for production-quality audio engineering.
• Version control: Git with repository hosted on GitHub.
• Permission to access RMIT University Vietnam SGS Campus wireless network hardware. This would be the hardest part of this project due to strict network authorization at RMIT SGS campus.

Skills required

For this project, the minimum requirement is a basic understanding of web development, including basic knowledge of HTML/CSS and intermediate proficiency in JavaScript. Some familiarity with game development concepts and object-oriented programming is also beneficial, as this game would heavily utilize the Phaser game development framework. Since this project uses GitHub for version control, beginner to intermediate experience in using the git command line tools or other equivalent graphical interfaces is important for effective collaboration between team members. Furthermore, basic image and audio editing skills would also aid in the making of the game assets using dedicated software mentioned above.

For implementation on RMIT SGS wireless network, my preliminary research shows that some knowledge in network administration is also necessary. However, permission to access and modify the campus network behavior is still a major challenge that is heavily dependent on RMIT leadership’s decision.

Outcome

If successfully implemented on RMIT SGS network, this idea would serve as a public software artefact made by RMIT students to celebrate our community’s talent and creativity – similar in function to the decorative LED sign conceptualized by RMIT students and installed on the fourth floor of Academic Building 2 SGS campus. Though it is not the direct solution to the network connection issue at the campus, it would gather more attention to the problem and contribute to a more positive atmosphere in the discourse between all parties involved.

Feedback

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Over the past weeks, I have received many constructive feedbacks from my fellow team members, other students, and from Dr. Duy Dang Pham Thien. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has spent their valuable time to provide me with their comments.

Via the feedback process, I have been able to determine that the major hurdle for my project is permission from RMIT. However, the response toward my idea was generally very positive, and my team members all agreed that my idea might have a positive impact on the community by raising more awareness about the currently pervasive wi-fi issue at RMIT SGS campus. Moreover, thanks to recommendations from Dr. Duy Pham and many talented classmates, I have been able to find the resources and tutorials needed to implement the project and have came up with a rough plan on how my team would develop a demonstrative artefact for Assignment 3 of Introduction to Information Technology.

On the other hand, I also realized that my idea still needs further input and would be best refined under a team effort with contribution from my team members. The game concept is currently not finalized and might need to be changed to be more engaging for the player. To achieve that, for Assignment 3, my team would need other students’ help to playtest the game and collect further data and feedback.

I believe that as a community, with the right resources and mindset, we can bring this project to life at RMIT and make a positive impact on our campus while commemorating our hard work and creativity.

References

Appendix A

Some RMIT Confessions Facebook posts regarding the wi-fi issue at RMIT SGS Campus