{"id":203,"date":"2025-11-12T17:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/?p=203"},"modified":"2025-11-14T16:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:30:04","slug":"week-7-half-livedemo-and-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/week-7-half-livedemo-and-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 7 – Half, Livedemo, and What’s Next"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Finally, our work was showcased in front of the ETC community. After the playtest session, Week 7 quickly became a high-pressure stretch for the team\u2014we needed to deliver a live demo during our presentation. It sounded exciting at first, but it came with a fair share of challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telling A Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with the slides.
Our first draft followed the classic \u201csandwich\u201d format: art progress, tech progress, and what\u2019s next. Classic\u2014but honestly, a bit bland. Our instructors pushed us to tell a story instead of reporting progress<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We realized that storytelling comes from two principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Solving Challenges > Displaying Results<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Instead of listing what we\u2019ve done, we focused on why<\/strong> we did it.
Each milestone had its own obstacle\u2014for instance, how we reframed our project goal after the Andy Warhol plan fell apart because of copyright issues. Those problem-solving moments became the emotional core of our talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. Live Demo > Text & Images<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nothing speaks louder than a real-time demo.
Videos can be pre-scripted; images only tell part of the story. A live demo is risky but authentic\u2014it gives the audience direct, trustworthy insight into how the system actually works. And to our surprise, the crowd reaction was much warmer than expected. (You can check it out here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the Demo \u2014 Making Conversation Feel Natural<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since Week 6, we\u2019ve been adjusting prompts and fine-tuning the logic that drives conversation.
Two ongoing questions guided this iteration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • How can we make the dialogue between two AI-driven characters and the user feel natural and unscripted?<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How can we make the overall experience more entertaining for players\u2014especially middle-school students discovering Greek mythology?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Those questions are still open-ended, but they continue to shape how we design, test, and refine every part of the experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Finally, our work was showcased in front of the ETC community. After the playtest session, Week 7 quickly became a high-pressure stretch for the team\u2014we needed to deliver a live demo during our presentation. It sounded exciting at first, but it came with a fair share of challenges. Telling A Story Let\u2019s start with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dev-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/echotrio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}