{"id":388,"date":"2025-04-18T18:01:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T18:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/?p=388"},"modified":"2025-04-30T16:33:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:33:44","slug":"week-13-final-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/week-13-final-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 13: Final Countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the semester draws to a close, we\u2019re now entering the final phase\u2014focused on finishing touches and polish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Narrative<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve officially locked the overall narrative structure and decided not to make any major changes. Instead, we\u2019re focusing on refining the details, such as improving phrasing, adjusting the order of audience reactions during Day 1\u2019s key event, and clarifying a few ambiguous or potentially misleading lines in Day 2\u2019s court dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Design<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the design side, we implemented a few quality-of-life improvements. Some of our choices include secondary branching options, and playtesters mentioned accidentally selecting options they just wanted to preview. To address this, we added a “go back” option for certain choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

We also found during internal testing that the affection system didn\u2019t feel meaningful if it only surfaced during break scenes. To fix this, we made the phone permanently visible in the UI, so players can check affection values and other info in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

UI & UX<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to player feedback, we made several UI refinements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Speaker name tags now have distinct colors to clearly indicate who is talking.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • We added pronouns to character profiles for better representation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • The affection meter was changed from a bar to a heart-based system\u2014one heart equals two points, half a heart equals one point\u2014making it more intuitive and readable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n

      Art<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Visually, our main focus this week is completing the title screen<\/strong> and polishing all background art<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Our character artist is currently working on the title screen illustration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Environment artist Lutong is doing paintovers on the 3D-rendered backgrounds to ensure a unified visual style.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

          To enhance the player experience, we also added several small touches like a custom cursor and a hand-drawn credit page to wrap up the game with personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

          Programming<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          On the programming front, Jack continued pushing through bug fixes and final implementations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Fixed issues like dialogue mismatches, missing sprites, and option display errors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Refined interactions, including a small but important tweak\u2014allowing players to exit the phone interface by clicking outside the screen area, which better matches user expectations from prior gaming experiences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Implemented design-related updates such as updated affection logic, win\/loss condition logic, and support for final visual\/UI assets like the 2D map, heart system, and cursor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            \n\n\n\n

            Sound<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

            While we\u2019re happy with the current background music variety, we felt the game lacked feedback-based sound effects. This week, we added SFX for review quiz interactions and affection point changes, giving players clearer audio cues tied to their choices and performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n\n\n\n

            Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

            Next week is our final sprint before the presentation. We’ll be shifting our focus to preparing for the final showcase, while continuing to polish where we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            We\u2019re mostly satisfied with the visual presentation, but we suspect there\u2019s still room for tuning the affection system and score balancing. To that end, we plan to run a few more playtests to evaluate whether the current numbers feel fair, rewarding, and meaningful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            As the semester draws to a close, we\u2019re now entering the final phase\u2014focused on finishing touches and polish. Narrative We\u2019ve officially locked the overall narrative structure and decided not to make any major changes. Instead, we\u2019re focusing on refining the details, such as improving phrasing, adjusting the order of audience reactions during Day 1\u2019s key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/expression\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}