Senior Project - 007

AgentSheets, Inc. emerged from over a decade of intensive research in end-user programming, human-computer interaction and simulation environments. AgentSheets' widely acclaimed software environment lets non-programmers create, combine, and modify sophisticated interactive simulations and computer models. AgentSheets is transitioning from a two-dimensional tool to a R&D/service company with its main focus on distributed, three-dimensional, interactive graphical visualizations, simulations and models that are highly customizable, and independent enhancing technologies for industry and education.

The goal of the project was to produce a variation of the AgentSheets and AgentCubes applications for a video game console such as the Nintendo Wii or Microsoft Xbox 360. The exploratory nature of this project investigated how to use video game controllers as input to author AgentCubes-inspired visual programs and 3D shapes. The majority of the menus used scrolling instead of the mouse clicking, and buttons instead of keyboard typing.

Other interesting features of the project included XML save and load support from the original AgentSheets games, a radial menu which allows users to select menu options instantly without any scrolling, and the ability to use variables to create even more complicated simulations. This project was targeted at children of 10 to 12 years of age with no programming background and was written in C# using Microsoft's XNA framework.