The most recent version of an infographic created as a metaphor for comparing Evaluation and RPGs.
This infographic compares the roles that evaluators typically play with the roles that are typically included in Role Playing Games (RPGs).
When we began discussing the various types and kinds of evaluations in my evaluation course, I couldn't help but think about how such roles could compare to the roles in an RPG. When I began this project it was originally overly ambitious. I had determined that I was going to include several sub-classes for the classes you see above (So TANK would be further divided into Paladin, Dark Knight, and Berserker, SUPPORT would be divided into Healer, Crowd Controller, and Tactician, and DPS would be divided into Archer/Ranged Damage, Magic Users, and Melee Rogues); however, as I began to detail each of the sub-classes I realized that I was going to end up with lots of overlap (which usually exists in RPGs anyway). Thus, I arrived at just including these three basic roles.
I also went through several design drafts. I originally had different textures for the header text, and late into the process decided I needed to change them. You can see my 1.0 Design below.
An early 1.0 saved version of the final design. Note the changes made to the overall background and the background headers.
The 1.0 design was a mid-draft design where content was still in the process of being developed. You can see that the DPS section was not fleshed out yet. In addition to texture changes and information development, the icons for each class also went through several drafts, except for the TANK icon, which needed no alteration. All images used for textures and icons were from CC licensed materials. The sprites used in the most recent iteration are from the Fire Emblem Fates games and provided courtesy of spriters-resource.com. You can see the draft of my class icons below.
Icons designed for the RPG classes.
The SUPPORT icon was originally going to be some kind of staff with a crook, as well as the heart and several potions, but I could not find a satisfactory way of making the crook look how I wanted, or a way to place it behind the heart without it showing up too much or appearing stunted. Additionally, I had trouble with the DPS icon because I wanted the bow and arrow to appear behind the spell-book (created using a book vector and four separate element vectors), but I struggled with editing the bow so that it wouldn't appear behind the book once I made both vectors opaque in the final draft. I finally decided to simplify the idea by using arrows and a fireball placed in front of the same book vector that I had been using. You can see by comparison that this icon also changed once it reached the infographic.
The last part of creating the infographic was adding the sprites. I had toyed with what kind of sprites to use, and I found a really cool source for creating CC licensed 32-bit sprites called Pixel Hero Creator at http://insaneplayers.net/pixel-hero-creator/. However, the options available didn't quite fit the aesthetic that I was going for, and because this project isn't commercial, I decided to use sprites from Fire Emblem Fates. Again, I took the initial sprites from spriters-resource.com, then altered them in Adobe Illustrator, which I used to make the overall graphic. All of the character designs that I considered are seen below.
Despite concluding this project for now, there is more that I would like to do. I limited myself to an artboard that was 8.5" by 11", the standard piece of copy paper. I would like to enlarge the artboard so that I could add more content. I would like to provide more details about each evaluation method as a rationale for why I placed them where I did, e.g., explaining why I think TANK and SUPPORT characters are mostly formative and internal as opposed to more summative and external like DPS characters. I also would have liked to list famous evaluators under each class. For example, adding a section to the TANK category called TOP TANKS that listed evaluators like Tyler, Provus, and Weiss; adding a section for SUPPORTS called SUPER SUPPORTS that listed evaluators like Stufflebeam, Alkin, Guba, and Lincoln; and a section under DPS called DISTINGUISHED DPS featuring names such as Scriven, Eisner, and Accreditation "Guilds." If I had more time, I would love to create a larger poster with more sprites, more evaluation details, and more recognition for leading evaluators.
Once again, here's the most recent version of the infographic:
