Merznet Log
 fr: ciao
<Ben> bonjour
 f: buonasera
<Ben> hola
 hi
 (Katarina): hi
<Ben> grab an avatar and come on stage
 f:ciao katarina, great that you are here!
 (:)
<Ben> francesco... do I have you on skype?
[Ben] <no more f...>
[Ben] <good evening helen>
 hen: hi :)
[Ben] <put on an outfit and join me>
 hen: ok
<hen> hello
<hen> zdravo katarina :)
<Ben> at least one of the voices works
<hen> ah
<hen> the voice bug
 hi hen
<Ben> yes... it didn't exist when we put this together
<hen> we can expect sound to cut out at some point then
<Ben> that's OK.
<Ben> we have skype for sound
<hen> somehow, all the voices beginning with emb have disappeared
<Ben> hmmm....
 hello...sould i log in?
<hen> but the good news is,
<hen> they will be put back
<Ben> sure
[fr] <ciao Helen!>
<Ben> that way we can all try things out
<hen> ciao fr :)
<hen> i think i've lost sound ...
<hen> oh no i have it still
<hen> or do i ..
[fr] <only on "ciao fr">
<hen> every second one?
<hen> oh bizarre
<hen> nevermind
 ehi ciao
<fr> ciao
<Ben> ok... we're convening on skype
<fr> who is here?
 hello
 christina here
[fr] <Ciao!>
<Ben> christina & francesco
<Ben> if you give me your skype id, I can add you there
 xristina317
[fr] < I cannot use skype now>
<hen> hello
<hen> we can talk about fr on skype
<hen> & he won't know what we're saying
<hen> bwauhahaha
<fr> you're so cruel!
 lol
<hen> bwahahahaha
<hen> didn't you know that about me, fr?
<hen> my sdomasochistic tendencies ...
 fr come on skype
<hen> my cruel streak
<fr> no, i thought you were an hengel
[Ben] <OK, let's get started>
 ok
<hen> oh, you are so easily decieved!
<hen> ben we lost you on skype?
[Ben] <I can hear you on skype>
[hen] <ok let's not talk about ben on skype then>
<hen> details
<Liz> hmm think I cahnged my skype id
[hen] <bringing the avatar to frame 2>
<Liz> it was liz bryce
<Father> fr but you can`t hear anything what Ban says now
[fr] <no I cannot>
<Ben> stranger has the eyebrows animated within the frame
[hen] <he is telling us to take av to frame 2>
[hen] <yes i see>
<hen> liz we are on a skype call with ben
<hen> what's your skype name liz?
<Liz> yes - i know - trying to remeber my name!!!
<Ben> you get this effect by the way that you create the flash file
<hen> so it's putting an animation within a frame?
<Ben> within each frame you can either add a still image
<hen> that is a bit tricky to do
<Ben> or a "movie clip"
<hen> i've tried & failed ... & also tried `& suceeded
<Liz> might be Elizabeth Rade,acher Bryce
<Ben> each movie clip is essentially a little flash file
<Liz> Rademacher
<hen> wow
<Liz> dont usually use all that
<Ben> so you can build these little animations into each frame of the avatar
<Father> a/ 0
<Liz> hhehe  - love it when yr commands slip up!
<vale> a/0
<Father> me 2
<Liz> slash a gap 0
<Ben> so using Stranger as an example...
<Ben> the disk and speaker movements are still images
<Ben> but the batteries are a movie clip
<Ben> so they continue to move even within each frame
<hen> mine is a still frame
<Ben> you can also stop the movie clips
<Ben> or only play them once
<Ben> the avatar I have uses 3 different clips
<hen> can you stop & start a movie clip within a frame?
<Ben> yes
<hen> how?
<Ben> you can't start and stop them as you're going
<hen> ok
<Ben> but you can add instructions within the clip to stop in different places
<hen> ahah
<Ben> my avatar has 3 movie clips
<Ben> the mushroom cloud has code which m akes it stop once it's done
<Ben> so it grows and then stays there
[fr] <have you used the morpfhing flash effect to realize my av?>
<Ben> the exploding bell just loops
<Ben> yes
<hen> i asked ben why his speech bubble is so high
<Ben> fr, your avatar uses different morphs as animation
<hen> it's because the bucket of his av goes up that high
<hen> & he says that it's possible to have the animation happen BEHIND the speech bubble
<Ben> when you use them on photos rather than on geometric shapes, they give very strange effects
<Ben> yes....
<Ben> the location of the speech bubble is determined by the size of the elements in the first frame of the animation
[fr] <could you group a non geometric shape?>
[fr] < to obtain a different effect (not this explosion)?>
<hen> i never knew that ...
<Ben> so we have since learned to put a transparent square in the first frame to shape the speech bubble
<Ben> so the speech bubble appears at the top of the first frame
<Liz> oooops - sorry Ben - called u by mistake - was lookig for yr skype name
<Ben> but if you have animation features outside
<Father> ok
[hen] <very interesting!>
<Ben> so... back to questions
<Ben> fr: you can group non-geometric shapes
<Ben> but it doesn't like it very much
<Ben> so for this piece, where we working with collage and deconstruction it worked
<Ben> but for most stories it would be a little strange
<Ben> one last thing:  if you have a movie clip "playing" across several frames
<Ben> it will continue playing rather than re-starting with each new frame
[hen] <why would you do that?>
<Ben> it helps keep the animation smooth.
[hen] <wouldn't you have the movie clip within a frame?>
[hen] <ah ok>
<Ben> you can finish an effect while stopping others
<hen> interesting
[hen] <we need a manual for all of this ...>
<Ben> probably
<vale> that will be great!
<Liz> (is it in the Upstage manual?)
<hen> it could be
<Ben> no.... we put some of these instructions in blog posts
<hen> anyone can add to it, now that it's on floss manuals
<Liz> (cause I've missed most of it.....)
<hen> yes there are some posts on the web site
<Ben> but we should probably add some Flash tutorials as well
<Ben> just in case other people are crazy like me
<hen> http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?p=1378
<hen> and http://en.flossmanuals.net/upstage-user-manual/
<hen> to add to the FM manual you just need to register
<Ben> I'm also going to put at least one of the avatar swf files online
<hen> on the FM site
<Ben> so that you can see how we built these
<hen> & then you should be able to edit the UpStage manual
<hen> that would be great, ben
[hen] <either as blog posts or in the manual>
[fr] <can I use javascript with flash?>
[fr] < or only action script?>
<Father> you can use html
<Ben> fr - I'm not sure if java works
<Ben> I usually just use ActionScript
<Ben> to do the code
[fr] <ok>
<Ben> one last thing...
<Ben> the same animation tricks work with backgrounds
<Ben> this one has a still in the first frame
<Ben> and then a fade-out animation in frame 2
<Ben> and then it fades back in to a different picture in frame 3
[hen] <if anyone's having problems it's because of the voice bug ... you may need to open the next stage in a different browser, or quit & restart this browser>
<Ben> any other questions about these or shall we mov on?
<Ben> OK... so let's go to lines
<Ben> http://upstage.org.nz:8084/stages/linetest
<hen> ok
<Ben> see you all there

Murder 2.0 Log
<Halle> Three years, and I keep expecting Rusty to walk in the door. Sit down in his chair.
<Halle> But that hasn't happened in a long time. 
<Halle> Hasn't been the same since he disappeared.  
<Halle> Like the world stopped spinning and didn't remember where to go.
<Halle> So I'm stuck alone in this damned office, 
<Halle> listening to the rain against the windowpanes.  
<Halle> Waiting for the clients that never come, 
<Halle> you know... the ones with enough money to make it worth my while to save the day. 
<Halle> Not that there are many of those any more.
<Halle> I knew he was trouble as soon as he walked in. He looked too out of place in a joint like this. 
<Halle> Too clean. Too fresh. Too much like trouble in a suit.
<Halle> I wondered why he didn't just go to the cops, but I deal with a lot of people like him. 
<Halle> I thought it was just more of the same.
<Halle> I don't usually go on fishing expeditions, but a girl's gotta put shoes on her feet and whiskey in her glass. 
<Halle> Shoes, I've got, but whiskey's pretty pricey these days.
<Halle> And just like that, I had a new case. But I had no idea what I would be getting myself into.
<Halle> I thought I was going to have to get into the apartment the hard way, but as it turned out Tom had a key. 
<Halle> He made himself comfortable in the car while I went to have a look around.
<Halle> It was only the second floor so I took the stairs.  I was heading down the hall toward the door, when...
<Halle> I ran for the door and went to unlock it. The door caught for a second on the chain, but Rusty had taught me what shoulders are for: opening doors and holding holsters. 
<Halle> I hoped I wouldn't need the gun, but it was already in my hand. I thought I'd heard someone on the fire escape but they'd be long gone. What really had my attention was Clarence.
 ben: ah, Clarence
<MZHalle> good story
<MZSuspects> wow
 all right
 no avatars yet
 Ben:  please no avatars
 too keen ! :)
<Ben> ok
<Ben> the reason for no avatars is that each of them has audio
 ah ah
<Ben> and having several scenes of audio at once gets very confusing
 lol
 we are used to being confused ;)
 E: sneaky!
<Ben> So....  for this show, we discovered that we could have the avatars collectively "remember" things
 ???
 wow
<Ben> this is the variable file
 can i press the reset ?
 it's tempting isn't it ...
<Ben> go ahead
 snap
 should we all press it?
 I'm trying 
 nothing
 nope
<MVariable> .a 0
<MVariable> there we go
 but what does it mean?
 .a )
<Ben> there is a function in Flash which works like a cookie
<Ben> and allows you to store numbers and other data
 ok
 aaaaahhh
 what for ?
 just cause you can....
<Ben> we gave the file instructions to store this data in UpStage's swf-player
<Ben> then all of the avatars for the show can read and change themselves based on the numbers which are stored
<Ben> We used that to change avatar appearance
<Ben> to change the audio played
<Ben> so that each audience member got a different story
 cool
<Ben> because each computer had different numbers
 oh scarey
 why?
 did they then compare them?
<Ben> Why?  that's what we wanted to do
<Ben> there isn't really any other reason
<Ben> yes.  the first frame of each file compared the values
 So evry audience memeber got a diff story
<Ben> and then did different things depending on what was going on.
<Ben> yes
 did they know?
<Ben> every audience member got a different story
 did they compare?
<Ben> they figured it out about half way through when they started commenting
<Ben> about the people they were seeing
 yes we did work it out
<Ben> and othe rpeople weren't seeing the same people
 i could see a rose but no-one else saw it
 hahahahahha
 wow!
 darn, I missed it!
 my story was a really nice
 that's creapy!
 hmmmm - I know some peopole who'd blame - Upstage, my connection .....
 who?
<Ben> the apartment was the biggest challenge
 click on the red things
<Ben> or on black things
 wow
 or on anything!
<Ben> the cursor will shift when you can click on something
<Ben> the arrows let you navigate around the apartment
<Ben> basically, the apartment is a computer game
<Ben> where each click gives you information
 just wonderful!
<Ben> and changes the value of the variables in that other file I showed you earlier
 oh - drool drool
 yes very interesting
 i never saw the tattoo before
 What tatooo
 it is really amazing
<Ben> "i never noticed before" is the point...
 on the arm of the dead man
 some of them do not work, like the pillow in the couch
<Ben> different people see different things
 is it normal??
 or - what dead man!!!
<Ben> yes... we didn't finish
 was there anything live about it except the audience comments??
 ah ah
 did you see the race tickets in the book?
<Ben> th pillow on the couch was supposed to give you spare change
 yes, i see them
<Ben> but because it wasn't tied to the actual story, it didn't make it in
 & the coat?
 i see
<Ben> have you found the safe yet?
 no ...
 safe?
<Ben> ok
<Ben> yes
 behind the scream!
<Ben> safe
 in the bedroom
 behind "the scream" painting
 ben! super cooooooool!
<Ben> each time you click on something, it stops you from clicking for a while
 so you read
<Ben> by limiting how long we kept the avatar up
<Ben> we were able to control roughly how many clues people would find
 hen didn't see half of this during the festival
<Ben> and therefore make sure that everyone had a different story
 ben, did you drawn them and then import in flash?
<Ben> but now, I'm leaving it up longer so you can explore ;)
<Ben> yes
 THATs what I like
 it's fantastic
 are you think that some people had a same story?
 everyone having a diff story
<Ben> the drawings were done in illustrator then imported to flash
 everyone had a different story
 but maybe
 two or three
<Ben> well.. there were hundreds of possibilities
 the man's a genius!
<Ben> so I would be surprised unless they didn't click on anything
 hen: we should keep these stages available for people to explore - this one & lines
<Ben> lots of people didn't click at all
 really?
 yes - can relate to that!!!
<Ben> so they got the same story
 f: could you create a chatterbot?
 some people never "explore" a website
<Ben> definitely.  I just haven't had a need for one yet
 were tom & clarence lovers?
<Ben> in some versions they were lovers
<Ben> in others just business partners
<Ben> it all depends what you fid
<Ben> clarence had a few lovers here anyway
 lol
 ben, how long did all of this take to make?
 this is too complcated i guess
<Ben> this one took a while
 2 complicated for what?
<Ben> I had an experienced programmer on board
 that helps!
<Ben> and it took him a couple months to work out a system
 wow
 yeeeee1
<Ben> but now that the system is worked out, we can plug any image we want into it
 good
<Ben> and, yes, this file (with the code and instructions) will be uploaded as well
 wow, amazing!
 great
 merci beaucoup!
 bravo
<Ben> so it won't take people more months
 . :)
<Ben> to work out what we already discovered
  nice
 very generous
 ben - a technical question ...
<Ben> so now that people have numbers, let's bring out a scene
<Ben> go ahead
 will this also work with HTML5? (if/when we upgrade/redevelop UpStage for that)
<MSc3Suspect> I don't know
<MTable> tell me
<MSc3Suspect> whoever has the halle head, can you centre it?
 ok
 what's the halle head?
<Ben> rather, put it so that her head is in the bottom corner?
<Ben> the mtable avatar
 ahah
<Ben> I really know nothing about html5
<MTable> too far
<Ben> so I don't know how animation works there
 gone off screen
 me neither ... (hen)
<Ben> in theory, we should be able to embed flash files
<Ben> but I don't really know
 hen: i've had quite a few people say to me recently that we should be looking at it for UpStage - that it is what will replace flash
 hen: but i don't know much about it (yet)
[Ben] <I'll ask my programmers to see what they know>
 hen: something to read up about in my spare time ...
 fr: it should open a lot of new possibilities
 hen: so i'm told
[Ben] <OK... for this scene>
[Ben] <there is the table avatar (which is static)>
[Ben] <and the suspect avatar>
 the square is the suspect?
[Ben] <you can see the rectangle we placed so that UpStage knows where we want it to be>
[Ben] <when I bring this to frame 2, the magic starts>
 exciting!
[Ben] <depending on what you have as variables now that you clicked, a different person will show up>
 oooo
 so the avatar knows what we've each clicked?
[Ben] <the way the file is structured, frames 2 - 7 are one suspect, 12 - 17 another (etc)>
 do we try it?
[Ben] <I just tell it frame 2, 3, 4, etc.>
 I can t try anything
[Ben] <and the code compares variables and tells it which version to show you locally>
 it adds 10 according to what we've clicked?
[Ben] <so... here we go>
 wow
 it's the chick!
[Ben] <so a short bit of dialogue>
[Ben] <then we would insert narration (same for every version)>
[Ben] <then on to the next segment>
 who's is the kiwi accent?
[Ben] <she was visiting and we roped her into doing a voice>
 well done! :)
 what kiwi accent? am I seeing a diff version?
[Ben] <yes.  yes you are>
 ARRRRggghhhh
 everyone has a different version
<Ben> so that's what it is....
 I cant click on anything - is that normal?
<Ben> anything you want to know?
 it's pretty amazing
<Ben> there's nothing to click right now
 I still want a brain enhancement
 lol
 ben is writing a tutorial for that
<Ben> I'm working on it
 lol
 I have trouble READING that stuff!
 ben can do anything with flash
 heaps of books opened at chapt 1
 ben should write a tutorial on having great ideas
<Ben> we're working on a couple of new things right now
 give us a teaser, ben!
<Ben> we want to have a variable soundtrack
 Ben: do you do a lot of stuff intuitively?
<Ben> where we have different layers of a song playing depending on where your mouse is
 interesting!
 sorry that was diected at Ben
<Ben> because we can detect numbers and transmit them across files
<Ben> it allows us to do all kinds of things
 indeed!
 but do you find it easy to explain to the audience?
 what they need to do with their mouse?
<Ben> no...
 lol
<Ben> usually I just let them figure it out
 (or not)
<Ben> or we pretend to be audience members and are "amazed" when we can do things
 hahah
 lol
<Ben> "what?  I can draw on the screen?
<Ben> "this is so cool!?
 the fake audience ... yes, that's a staple element of UpStage ;)
 it's all fake anyway ...
<Ben> but for murder 2 we ended up having to add instructions to the beginning
<Ben> because it was too complex for fake-audience strategies
 right
 audience needs some incentive to explore screen
 but for someone younger i suppose it is not a problem
 I'm totally captivated
<Ben> finding the right in-show tutorial is tricky
 it is a way of thinking
<Ben> less a problem for people who are used to playing games online
<Ben> we designed it to look a lot like a computer game
 the arrows are good
<Ben> especially the apartment
 also use of colour
 things stand out
<Ben> yes
 yep notice that - BUT - does it obey compt game rules???
 hehe
<Ben> computer games have rules?
 conventions
 lol
<Ben> we use some of the conventions and others not
<Ben> it's like anything... take what's useful
 to fool the kids eh?
<Ben> to tell the story
 ok
<Ben> So this is what we can do so far
 it can be useful to draw on familiar conventions - but it can also work well to draw on them & then break them
 yep!!
<Ben> what do you want it to do next?
 fly?
 great job ben
[Ben] <ummmm>
 fool us
 JUMP
 it will be interesting to see how others might take your code & use it differently
[Ben] <pretending to do those things is easy enough>
 undo our assumptions
 for example, a different show using the lines code
 for a different purpose
[Ben] <seeing what others do with the code would be interesting>
[Ben] <that's really what I want to see>
 yes thats the 'art' part
 ben is asking us on skype what we want ...
 i was wondering about the murder 2
 are you skype chatting or talk?
 talking
 it is totally interective moment
 was it all prerecorded except tha audience?
 I like it
 we're multi-multi-tasking
<Ben> murder 2 was partly pre-recorded and partly live
<Ben> the voices were recorded, but all of the narration and timing was controlled live
<Ben> as were the animations.
 it's pretty complex
 by using the upstage chat ?
<MPrologue2> yes
 it really looks complicated
 hahahaha
 oooooo music
<Ben> it was pretty complicated to put together
 sommertime - but not
<Ben> but worth it
 have you done it again since 101010?
 how many people where you working behind it?
 mirage? (are all of you see what I see?)
 i think we all see the same at the moment
 this is from the beginning
<Ben> for murder 2, we were 5 + voice actors
 a spaceship?
<Ben> 2 of us writing, 2 actors, an illustrator and a programmer
 noooooooooooooooo
 the audio is in stereo too, that's cool
 & how many during the live show?
<Ben> 2
 you should do it again
<Ben> I controlled the narration and fadees
<Ben> the other controlled the avatars and backgrounds
<Ben> I'm planning on doing it again in the fall
 yes, you shoul do it agian!
 why wait til then?
 yes
<Ben> some of the illustrations are being revised and improved
 ahah
 is that like Oct?
<Ben> so I need to give the artist some time
 hen: don't forget to tell us so we can come !!!
<Ben> Oct and maybe again for an interactive narrative conference in November
 hen: & put it on the web site
 great
<Ben> definitely
 cool
 thanks
 nice
 hen: could be reprised for 11:11:11 as well - special guest appearance? :)
 thanks
 yes hwen
 yeahhhh
 thanks a lot!
 Hen
<Ben> because it's only a 2-hander, we can really pick it up any time
 yes, that's great
<Ben> so bringing it back for 11:11:11 is definitely possible
 hen: ok, you're booked! :)
 yeaaaaaaaaa
 hahaha
 I'm coming
 even at 3a.m.
 with torch under the blankets
 secretly watching
<Ben> francesco: I'm going to be putting this online... 
 hen: thank you very much ben
<Ben> let me know if there's anything you need to see there
 hen: we can put the logs from this session online too
 hen: i will do that
 Liz: I will now look at my flash book much more lovingly
 F: unfortunately I couldn't record 
 hen: bummer!
 hen: but we have the logs
<Ben> thank you all for coming, and feel free to experiment with the avatars and stuff
 omg
 hen: & ben wil put everything on the web site too
 thank you
 F: thank you very much Ben
 hen: thanks heaps ben, i learned a lot :)
<Ben> my address if you have other questions is: bau@sfu.ca
 Liz: scared we might "break" your stage
<Ben> it won't break
 hen: never be scared!
<Ben> besides, I have backups ;)
 muck it up for you!!!!
 K: ciao and hope to will see 
 box coupling
 goodbye
 thanks again
 f: ciao a tutti
 hen: thanks everyone for coming :)
 cous cous!
 f: grazie Ben!
 LIz: thanks so much Ben
<Ben> no problem
<Ben> I'm glad we made it through all of it
 ata marie
 hen: very very interesting :)
 time for breakfast - nearly
<Ben> now I just need to get it all together and online
<Ben> and off to lunch for me.
 hen: i willget the logs now
<Ben> see you all soon
 hen: thanks very much ben, & thanks louis for your patience!
 yesterdays lunch! hehe
<Ben> exactly
<Ben> was it good?
 lol
<Ben> ciao ciao
 nah - but you can improve on it
 hope so!
 f: ciao!
 hen: cous cous!