Tool UI + Spell Lab Expansion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Jinyi introduced character and scene selection<\/strong> and a revamped UI for what we\u2019re now calling Spell Lab<\/strong>. These changes were aimed at making the experience more intuitive and giving players more creative freedom. Yifan also made some new designs in the Spell Link<\/strong>, where the connection from interaction to code became more natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jia implemented five visual assets per scene<\/strong>, ensuring that environments felt distinct and provided a foundation for players to build stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wendy iterated on the Spell Book<\/strong>, which we decided to have as a guide to use the tool. Since we are not designing an in-tool tutorial, having a paper reference will be helpful to use the tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eva organized the flow of Playtest Day, drafting clear notes and guidelines for each team role. This helped the playtest run smoothly, making sure we could capture relevant observations and engage with users effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Playtest Day is a time every semester when graduate student teams present their project builds for real-world feedback from guests. Playtesting is a valuable opportunity to see how games and experiences perform with users, revealing what works well and what needs refining. Most kids jumped into trying out AI prompts rather than planning a story. They are trying all the code AI could give them. While the idea was to guide them toward building an interactive narrative, they gravitated more toward exploration and experimentation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many players struggled to locate the objects they generated, leading to confusion and disconnect. We’ll be exploring ways to make newly spawned items appear within the camera view<\/strong> or include a sound cue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cclick-to-move\u201d interaction wasn\u2019t intuitive. Players didn\u2019t realize they had to click on the scene first to move the character. We plan to add a visual cue or tutorial tip<\/strong> to resolve this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Unless prompted, most users ignored the spell book. This suggests we need to redesign how assets are introduced<\/strong> or add incentives for browsing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Visual effects (VFX) were a big hit. Kids loved playing with smoke, explosions, and other visuals. However, the current assets didn\u2019t strongly inspire storytelling. One suggestion was to add characters or creatures with eyes or personality<\/strong>, to evoke more emotional connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We saw strong engagement when students \u201cbroke\u201d the tool\u2014testing limits and inputting creative prompts. One kid even typed \u201cSpawn Door\u201d after learning the term from Minecraft! AI isn\u2019t just a coding tool\u2014it\u2019s a gateway to curiosity<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Kids aged 7\u201311 struggled with typing. Voice input could be a powerful accessibility upgrade, especially since many are more used to tablets than keyboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next up, we’re focused on tightening the user experience by fixing key bugs, improving clarity in character controls and object spawning, and expanding our asset library with more inspiring visuals. We’re also exploring better educational framing\u2014like adding story-building templates and saving code history\u2014to help players connect their creative ideas into meaningful, interactive stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Week 10 was all about making our project tangible for real users\u2014kids, teachers, and families alike. Our team put some touches on UI features, asset integration, and structure for Playtest Day. What We Did This Week Tool UI + Spell Lab Expansion Jinyi introduced character and scene selection and a revamped UI for what we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dev-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions\/285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/slidesz\/AGV_vUedvxgVWmCmrHN0HFb0JLOkc45xo4nHCy6zX4hPGScceDLuMZZXl1TIQo3uEud8bBSCTXEuIaa6nY2Q0UmDPlKU2t1rp5QYBukdtdzeAHLqJlR83NN7vBs-v9yD5_tzLH12JOm_Zg=s2048?key=aLyWlWBv2SrCX5_TkDL5qiHS\")
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/slidesz\/AGV_vUdwJarmHkw_McD8oiA81Lfqwo8FR9IKEhmpYmnrFWsZJOtCvoG1jDfQvUMCLWLQL7BwFyNMa27bX1RfO0xcs-1MQhxa0uC6TOi2PunLvJ29qt_Jm_BkkSB0ZJ4ch-sRNAuc_aqX5w=s2048?key=aLyWlWBv2SrCX5_TkDL5qiHS\")
Scene Art Assets<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Spell Book<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Playtest Structure<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat We Learned from the Playtest Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Using this great opportunity, we got some valuable feedback and observation to help move to the next stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKids Want to Play, Not Just Build<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Trouble Finding Spawned Objects<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Confusion Around Controls<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1-1024x768.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSpell Book Underused<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-5-1024x768.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nAssets & VFX as Inspiration<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
AI as a Discovery Tool<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-7-1024x768.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nKeyboard Typing is a Barrier<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/hello-alice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-3-1024x768.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhat’s Next?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/slidesz\/AGV_vUcx-cH9ShFo9XOaFvbuAtl6VGmtBwCgJNxEX1j_CCsjMNyDCkeOUwpdeFnPsyJ754YbGbwfNRJIylAExpJoTna6Z9fMl8I1scfTRDDLb1rEGwIua0SKIGnLzHiu0QqLGj0gJ8R26g=s2048?key=aLyWlWBv2SrCX5_TkDL5qiHS\")
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/slidesz\/AGV_vUcvnXKIGlvzJH6FP_R24FqYLAh0OPh01aeZUgoNg_gNdYM_TMpUtlZqZDv1oclu18gZTN9AF1_YZhQSU-3RGgC4mkGjL914M4kPLjO-TsbW-7zYCwiskdlq_DUEaQ0kLP6a6b4v=s2048?key=aLyWlWBv2SrCX5_TkDL5qiHS\")
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