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.