{"id":478,"date":"2026-04-10T19:29:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/?p=478"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:47:34","slug":"week12-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/week12-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 12 &#8211; Apr. 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Progress Overview<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Our primary focus this week was drafting new interactive experiences and deepening the world\u2019s narrative. We completed two major interaction drafts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\"><strong>The Window Portal:<\/strong> By pulling open the blinds, players are transported into the &#8220;Witch\u2019s World.&#8221; This brings the player face-to-face with the Witch, bridging the gap between the player and the core narrative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\"><strong>The Botanical Puzzle:<\/strong> This dual-layered interaction involves solving a painting puzzle to trigger a water flow, which the player must then catch using a physical planter to revive a withered plant spirit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While integrating our art assets, audio, and animations, we achieved a high-fidelity feel. However, the window transition currently causes significant frame rate drops due to the heavy rendering load of the new scene. Our technical team is prioritizing optimization for this in the coming week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I. Art Progress<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\">Environmental animations were added to the Window scene. Also, the art team created unique interaction cycles for two spirits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1338\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 2380 \/ 1338;\" width=\"2380\" controls src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Recording-2026-04-08-182755-1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">II. Playtests<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\">This week, we did 7 playtests with naive players. Those playtests yielded positive feedback on the overall atmosphere, but highlighted friction in the new mechanics. <strong>Players felt frustrated with the plant puzzle due to a lack of clear guidance and feedback.<\/strong> Furthermore, while some simple triggers worked technically, they felt &#8220;disconnected&#8221; from the world. We are currently trying to find ways to tighten the feedback loops to ensure every interaction feels like a natural part of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"582\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-1024x582.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-1024x582.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-768x437.png 768w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-1536x873.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-2048x1164.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s Next<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\">Refine the UX\/UI feedback for the plant interaction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\">Finalize the spatial placement of the Window scene.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\">Script and record dialogue for the updated narrative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-base-font-size\" style=\"line-height:1.6\">Polish VFX and integrate the latest audio\/animation passes into existing builds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Progress Overview Our primary focus this week was drafting new interactive experiences and deepening the world\u2019s narrative. We completed two major interaction drafts: While integrating our art assets, audio, and animations, we achieved a high-fidelity feel. However, the window transition currently causes significant frame rate drops due to the heavy rendering load of the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-transparent-header":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aktis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}