Category: Uncategorized

Week 14: Final Presentation and Reflections

This week marked the end of our project journey, and our primary objective was to complete and deliver all final components: the presentation, the design document, the video, and updates to our project website.

Objective of the Week:
Deliver a successful final presentation and submit all remaining project deliverables.

We’re happy to report that our final presentation went smoothly! It was a great opportunity to share our work and demonstrate how our sensory exploration prototype came together. During the presentation, we received thoughtful questions from the audience, which gave us a chance to reflect more deeply on our design process. Key Questions & Our Responses:

1. How did you match sounds with directionality, and what was your audio process design?
   
   • We explained that directionality was achieved through spatial audio, not haptics. To guide users through the experience, we introduced soundscape elements one by one. This layering allowed participants to gradually form a mental image, creating a more immersive and intuitive exploration.
     
2. Why did some users interpret fear, and were you aiming for that emotion?
   
   • Our goal wasn’t to focus heavily on conveying specific emotions. Instead, we aimed to make the experience effective and open to interpretation. Interestingly, many users reported feelings of surprise from the directional sound and haptic floor, while others described the experience as meditative. Emotional responses varied, highlighting how personal and subjective sensory experiences can be.
     

Final Thoughts:
Wrapping up the project with the final presentation felt both rewarding and insightful. The feedback we received will be incredibly valuable for any future iterations. We’re proud of how the project evolved and how it resonated with users in unexpected and meaningful ways.

Link Presentation

Week 13: Final Presentation Prep and Wrap-Up

As we reached Week 13, the focus shifted entirely to bringing everything together for our final presentation. This was a crucial week as we aimed to prepare not just a polished presentation but also a functional and engaging demo that showcased the culmination of our project.

Objective of the Week:
Our main goals were to finalize the design document, create the final presentation with detailed speaking notes, and prepare the RPIS sound system for the demo. We also dedicated time to rehearsing both as a group and in front of faculty to ensure a smooth and confident delivery.

Challenges of the Week:
The biggest hurdle was time. With so many final elements coming together simultaneously, it was a race to complete everything on schedule while also ensuring the quality and cohesion of our work. We had to make sure that both the presentation and the live demonstration worked flawlessly.

What We Completed:

• Finished building and testing the face motors, and designed how to properly attach them to the structure.
  
• Created and practiced our final presentation, including a live demo to illustrate our progress and results.
  
• Finalized all project components including artwork, sound design, interactive elements, and the environmental setup to create an immersive experience.
  

As we wrapped up the week, it was incredibly rewarding to see all of our hard work come together. The presentation felt like a celebration of everything we’ve learned and accomplished throughout the project.

Prepare for Softs

This week, our team is in full swing preparing for the upcoming soft opening. With just a bit of time left before we showcase our experiences, we’ve been focused on polishing key elements in both Safari Hike and Underwater to ensure a smooth and immersive presentation.

Safari Hike

On the Safari Hike front, we’ve been refining the narrative flow to better guide our guests through the journey. We also spent time enhancing the soundscape, layering ambient sounds and cues to strengthen the sense of place and progression. In parallel, we continued developing the microcontroller system for the staff, ensuring that it feels responsive and intuitive as a core interaction mechanic.

Underwater

For Underwater, we addressed several sound-related issues. One of the big wins this week was successfully implementing footstep sounds that vary depending on the character’s pace. We also worked on pitch adjustments—now the soundscape dynamically changes based on movement speed, helping to reinforce the underwater illusion and giving more personality to the experience.

Looking Ahead

A key discussion for our team this week is deciding whether or not to proceed with the Sound Jam event scheduled for Week 13. With the soft opening so close and priorities shifting toward polish and playtesting, we’re weighing how this decision fits into our overall timeline and goals.

Week in review: Microcontrollers, Headset Research, Level Design

This week was a bit shorter due to Carnival festivities, but we still made steady progress across both of our experiences!

Safari Hike

We continued development on the staff microcontroller, this time collaborating closely with Dave to refine its integration. It’s exciting to see the interaction becoming more responsive and synced with the overall experience—every small improvement brings us closer to a polished final product.

Underwater

On the Underwater side, we focused on two key areas:

• Headset Research: We looked into different options and configurations for the top-of-head mounts, aiming to enhance immersion while keeping the setup comfortable and functional for guests.
  
• Level Design: We also spent time developing and refining the level design. This process included improving spatial pacing, planning visual storytelling beats, and ensuring player movement feels intuitive and rewarding within the environment.
  

Even with the shorter work week, we’re happy with the momentum we’ve maintained—and Carnival definitely gave us a refreshing mid-semester breather! More updates coming soon as we dive deeper into polish and final integration.

Gearing Up for Playtest Day: Haptic Waves in Full Swing

The countdown is on for Saturday’s highly anticipated playtest day, and the Haptic Waves team has been in full preparation mode all week. With two immersive experiences in development, our goal is to test both: our Navigation Through Sound VR experience and our Passive Immersive Nature Haptic experience.

Stripping VR Back to the Basics

For the VR experience, we followed our consultant’s advice and brought the level design back to basics. Instead of focusing on complex visuals, we simplified the environment using basic shapes. This shift allows us to zero in on the raw interaction between user and sound—exploring how people perceive and navigate spaces using audio alone. It’s a fascinating way to deepen our understanding of sensory-driven gameplay and refine the design with quick, focused iterations.

Immersive Nature Gets a Sound Upgrade

Our Passive Immersive Nature scene also got a major boost this week. We transitioned to a new mixing board and began setting up Benjamin’s evolving soundscape with our upgraded speaker system. The goal here is to create a rich, ambient environment that can be passively experienced through touch and sound, offering a unique and relaxing multisensory moment.

Underwater/Echolocation: A Medium for Understanding

The Underwater/Echolocation project continues to evolve into a powerful tool for the ETC team. It’s helping us explore how users navigate environments using only sound versus a combination of sound and visuals. This research will directly inform better game design, as we work on fast iteration techniques for building and refining levels. Ultimately, we aim to develop a flexible system that empowers the ETC team to quickly prototype new scenarios.

Surround Sound Setup Locked In

Big news on the hardware front: our multi-channel speaker setup in Room 3306 is now live. Channels 1 through 4 are active, and our floor haptic device is routed through channel 5. Dave Purta is currently working on channel 6, which will power the subwoofer. Dave also recommended moving away from a traditional 5.1 surround setup in favor of discrete 6-channel audio, giving us more flexibility in how we spatialize sound in the room.

---

As we head into playtest day, the team is excited to see how our ideas hold up in action. Whether it’s underwater echolocation or a tranquil nature scene, we’re one step closer to unlocking the future of immersive sound-based interaction.

---

Holding Down the Fort: A Solo Week of Haptics, Hardware, and Sound Design

While the rest of the team was off at GDC (the Game Developers Conference), Libby held it down at home base, making the most of a quiet week to push forward in preparation for next week’s big playtest day.

Prepping for Playtest Progress

With the clock ticking toward our next major milestone, the focus this week was on getting all systems go so we could hit the ground running when everyone returned. Libby teamed up with our incredible tech team and external programmers to build momentum and make sure nothing was left idle.

Microcontroller Magic: Setting Up the Adafruit Huzzah

One of the big wins of the week was getting the new Adafruit Huzzah microcontroller up and running. With help from Bryan, we brought our programmer Petr up to speed, and together they got the code operational using CircuitPython. Not only that—they built a custom UI that lets us control the speed, sequence, and type of vibrations we send to the microcontroller. This gives us a powerful tool to prototype and test haptic feedback on the fly.

Surround Sound + Haptics = Audio Playground

Libby also teamed up with Dave P to integrate the 5.1 surround sound system with our existing setup: the subwoofer, floor haptic, mixing board, and laptop. Once everything was connected, the real fun began. We dove into Reaper, a digital audio workstation, and started experimenting with spatial sound design and how it feels when combined with haptic feedback. The whole setup became a playground for testing immersive, multisensory experiences.

Testing the Test Itself

To round out the week, Libby joined a mini playtest session with Anthony’s students. Although juggling both of our experiences in a single session proved tricky, it was a valuable reminder of how important playtest design is—not just what you test, but how you test it. The feedback and observations from this session gave us fresh insight into how we can structure our next round of testing more effectively.

---

From setting up hardware to testing vibrations and sound, this solo week was anything but quiet. With new tools and systems now in place, we’re more than ready to level up for playtest day.

Spring Break in the Lab: Diving into Adafruit and Prepping for GDC

While many were enjoying a well-earned break, Danni stayed behind to keep the momentum going. With a quiet lab and some uninterrupted time, she dove into research, tackled tech hurdles, and got everything prepped for the road ahead—including her upcoming trip to GDC.

Rethinking Microcontrollers: From Feather Sense to HUZZAH32

Earlier, we had built a motor prototype with Vivian using Adafruit’s Feather Sense microcontroller. While promising, the setup came with a big limitation—it required a Mac-only application to run the software. That restriction made further development tricky, especially for a multi-platform team.

Over the break, Danni took the reins to find a more flexible solution. After researching alternatives, she landed on the Adafruit HUZZAH32 – ESP32 Feather Board. This microcontroller offers Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities, which opens up exciting possibilities for designing and controlling haptic sensations directly through code—without being locked to a specific OS.

Catching Up & Looking Ahead

The quiet week also gave Danni time to catch up on blog posts and documentation—something that often takes a back seat during busier times. With everything up to date and a clearer roadmap in place, she wrapped the week by prepping for her upcoming trip to GDC, where she’ll reconnect with the team and soak up insights from the wider game development community.

---

Whether it’s deep tech dives or catching up on the behind-the-scenes work that keeps projects moving, Danni made the most of spring break—and we’re all better positioned because of it.

Objective of the Week:

This week was all about preparing for our Halves presentation while continuing our sensory-driven prototyping. As we reflected on our progress, we realized how much we had accomplished in exploring haptics, sound, and immersive design. We also conducted critical playtests for Rite of Passage and developed an early VR prototype for echolocation, refining how floor haptics and environmental storytelling shape user perception.

Challenges of the Week:

• Structuring our presentation to effectively showcase our research and experimentation.
• Balancing preparation for Halves with ongoing playtesting and development.
• Ensuring that our newly explored haptic and audio interactions align with our long-term experience goals.
• Improving the echolocation prototype to rely more on audio feedback rather than visuals.

What We Accomplished:

• Wireless Body Haptics Workshop: We collaborated with SMEs Vivian Shen and Dave Purta to explore wearable haptic devices, including a concept for simulating whale echolocation through jaw vibrations and a vibrating staff that responds to environmental cues like a stampede or water currents.
• Playtesting Rite of Passage Scenarios:
  • Stampede Experience: Playtesters, even without context, accurately perceived a stampede, emphasizing the effectiveness of our floor haptics and spatial audio. They desired additional sensory inputs, particularly wind and smell, to enhance immersion. Some wanted to explore, while others preferred to observe.
  • Pacing Panther Experience: Participants instinctively understood the presence of circling animals. While most remained still, a few moved hesitantly. Many sought guidance through audio cues, and several noted the absence of smell and ground texture as key missing elements.
• VR Echolocation Prototype: We created a VR build that challenged players to navigate in darkness using echolocation. While the system worked, it relied too heavily on visual feedback rather than sound cues. An interesting observation was that as we gradually darkened the scene and removed visual support—except for echolocation feedback—navigation became significantly harder, revealing a strong dependency on visual cues rather than true auditory navigation. Our next steps involve integrating better audio feedback to shift the reliance away from visuals.
• Presentation Preparation: We structured our Halves presentation to highlight our exploration process, findings, and next steps. The key discussion point for faculty feedback was how to transition from exploration into a cohesive final experience.

With Halves behind us, our next focus is integrating our discoveries into a unified design. How do we merge wearable haptics, floor interactions, and spatial audio into a singular immersive journey? That’s our challenge for the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

Week in Review: Prototypes, Playtesting, and Progress

This week, our main objective was to build prototypes and begin the playtesting process, all while navigating the usual hurdles. One of the challenges we encountered was the complexity of cross-campus communication, especially when coordinating with external team members. Additionally, we had to sift through feedback carefully, determining which insights were applicable to the project.

Here’s what we accomplished:

For the rite of passage, we successfully built the floor haptics and completed the handoff. We experimented with sound waves to simulate the effect of a stampede, which added a unique touch to the experience. A 3D hotkey prototype was created to represent a lurking predator, and while we took steps to create a wireless motor, we’re still waiting for a meeting with our SME to finalize the build.

For the echolocation feature, we crafted both visual and audio prototypes. After some consideration, we decided to scale the project down to use the Woojer vest. This choice was made because the Woojer vest doesn’t rely on a separate code base—it’s sound-driven, which aligns better with our needs. We also had to iterate on the game scene, shifting from a sea bottom setting to the middle due to shader problems with the Unity terrain.

All in all, it was a productive week with tangible progress made on both fronts. We’re looking forward to refining our work further and making the most of the upcoming play testing!

Week in Review: Iteration and Prototype Preparation

This week, our primary objective was to focus on iteration and preparation for the next round of playtesting. With the prototyping phase approaching quickly, our goal was to catch up on our timeline and ensure we were ready to begin prototyping without delay. This week was all about setting the groundwork for the next steps in the project—aligning the team’s efforts, securing resources, and making sure we were prepared for the upcoming stages.

One of the major challenges we faced this week was catching up on our timeline goals. The project is progressing rapidly, and in order to stay on track, it was crucial to start iterating as quickly as possible. Prototyping plays a key role in testing and refining our ideas, so we needed to ensure that everything was in place to move forward. This involved aligning with our programmers, finalizing design concepts, and ensuring both physical and digital resources were ready for use.

Despite these challenges, we made significant progress across multiple fronts. We began by meeting with each of our programmers for one-on-one iteration discussions. These meetings were instrumental in aligning our goals, defining technical requirements, and ensuring everyone was clear on the next steps. It also provided us with an opportunity to offer context and answer questions, helping the team move forward confidently.

While the week was filled with work, we also made time for team bonding. We had a great time at Sandbox VR and followed it up with a visit to the food court. These moments of relaxation not only gave us a much-needed break but also helped strengthen the camaraderie within the team—something that is just as crucial to the project’s success as the work itself.

In addition to team bonding, we spent time planning the next steps. With the playtesting round fast approaching, we outlined our immediate goals for the prototype, identified key focus areas, and discussed how to integrate the feedback we’ve received so far. Having a clear roadmap in place is vital for maintaining momentum and keeping everyone aligned.

A huge milestone this week was securing a dedicated room for prototyping. This space will allow us to test physical components, conduct playtests, and iterate on our design in a controlled environment. Having a dedicated space for prototyping is essential to the success of the next phase of development.

We also dedicated time to research the motors needed for our haptic devices. This research helped us identify the best options in terms of performance, size, and cost, giving us the foundation we need to integrate them into our prototype for more realistic tactile feedback.

Lastly, we officially began the iteration process with our programmers. The team has started refining the functionality of the components, testing different interactions, and adjusting elements based on initial feedback. Early iteration is crucial for uncovering potential issues and enhancing the overall user experience before diving further into the prototyping phase.

Looking ahead, next week will be focused on refining prototypes and preparing for the upcoming playtest. We will continue iterating based on feedback, test new ideas, and further explore the integration of haptic technology. With the strong collaboration and team bonding from this week, we are ready to move forward with a more focused and cohesive approach. We’re excited to continue on this journey, and we can’t wait to see where the next iteration takes us.