Theatre Project Proposal
By Steven Gadman
Introduction
My project for the Theatre class at Umass Lowell is going to be split up into three different released. The first release, alpha 1 is going to be code-named Moose, and will consist of a login page and a media select page. The second release, alpha 2 is going to be code-named Elephant, and will consist of the stage maker page. The final release, beta 1 is going to be code-named Panda, and will consist of add some more functions to the past releases. The following paragraphs will describe each stage in detail.
Alpha 1: Code-named Moose
My plan for the alpha 1 release, that is code-named Moose, will have the following features. First it is going to have some sort of login page. This page will feature a list of buckets from the Amazon S3 server and have the user choose the bucket that will have all of the media elements he/she is going to use for the project. After the user has chosen a bucket, I am going to change states and have the next state be a page where the user chooses what media they are going to use for their project. The user will get to choose a background music for the scene as well as up to four sound effects if need. The way the user will choose the media is there is going to be text input boxes for the user type in the name of the files they are going to be using. There is going to be two lists, one that features all of the backgrounds in the bucket and another list that features the music. This is going the easy route. If I have time I might try to get it so that the user will just click on an item in the bucket and it will enter the info for them. Once the user enters all the media they will press the ‘Enter Media” button on the bottom of the page. That is what alpha 1: Moose is going to be comprised of.
Alpha 2: Code-named Elephant
My plan for the alpha 2 release, that is code-named Elephant, is going to be comprised of the scene maker. When the user first goes into the scene maker mode it is going to have the background that they choose in the left half of the screen. To the right of the background is going to be a list of all the different props from the buckets that the user chose in the first screen. On the bottom of the screen is going to be all of the buttons for the music. I want to have the label of these buttons be the names of the files, but because of space limits, I am going to have to name them Background Music and Sound Effects 1-4. When the user adds a prop they will be able to move the prop around the screen and place it where they want. If time is permitting, I am also going to try to get scaling working, so that the user will be able to scale any image to what ever size they want.
Beta 1: Code-named Panda
My plan for the beta release, that is code-named Panda, is going to have a save scene feature, and the ability for the user to make the background any color they want. I am also going to make the finishing touches on scaling, if that was not finished in alpha 2. I have no clue how to make a save on a scene but if I can figure that out the button will be included next to the ‘Add Prop’ button. Also, if I can get the background color working it will open up the options for the user to have any color as their background. Then it is off for this program to go to beta testing.
Time-management
The plan for this project is to have it done within five weeks, with the fourth week being used for spring break. At the end of the first week Moose will be released, then at the end of the second week Elephant will be released, and finally at the end of the third week Panda will be released. The fifth week is going to be used for beta testing. After that the product will be released to the public, hopefully in a working form.