Hello and welcome back to IGT-Lab development blog! We have combined this and the previous week together, as Spring Carnival shortened our work week.
Right up to our preparation for Soft Opening, our team worked hard to deliver a working prototype for feedback.
We made some radical changes to the way the game functioned in an attempt to fix the sync issue that has constantly caused us problems for the past few weeks.
Technical Update
We have decided to do away with the original code around hitting notes. Using midi files to detect when to press the button proved unreliable as the midi file and the music drifted out of sync overtime. We believe that the sync issue can be attributed to Unity, though the exact culprit is yet to be determined.
Instead, we decided to create an invisible ‘box’, where the players can press the button to activate. Whenever the beat object enters this ‘box’, the player can hit the button, and the ‘box’ will destroy the first beat object to enter the ‘box’.
This proved effective. The beat objects were destroyed reliably, every time it entered the ‘box’.
This solution did not fix all the issues, however, as the beat objects were still being generated by the midi file, which was still drifting out of sync with the music. This meant that our experience would work very well for the first minute, and then slowly you would notice the objects coming in slower, and slower over time.
Design Update
Our designers have worked hard to redesign some elements, following our softs feedback, which we will share a summarized version later in this post.
One big change was the addition of a large central piece, that is meant to be a shape that can only be broken when all the players press the button at the same time. This was an attempt for us to try and bring in the social aspect of our game, and we wanted the guests to feel like they were playing the game together.
One issue that came up over and over was that the players were just laser focused on their side screens/windows. This was a problem as the behavior directly contrasted with our intended goal, which was to enable a more social and collaborative gameplay.
This led to not just adding the large star object, but also redesigning the collision ‘box’ where instead of the boxes being on the sides of the car, it would be out in the front.
By having all the beat objects spawn in front of the car and have the hit zone also be on the front, the intention is that all players will face the front screens, creating a shared viewpoint.
We’ve also created a visual lane system, to indicate where and when the button should be pressed. When the beat objects land on the horizontal line across the lane, the button must be pressed.
Softs Feedback
This year for softs, we had 3 – 4 faculties come in individually or in pairs, to sit down and experience the project at length and give feedback.
- I liked the space, I liked sitting in there.
- I was focusing too much on the [beat object] itself than the ride.
- Because the [hit box] is on the periphery, I’m looking at the side only, and not my whole view.
- It was cool to see the object move through, but I was focused on the side
- You’re sacrificing the periphery. You have interesting scenes all around, but with the rhythm game, you are only attending to the ‘action stripe’, and laser focused on the vertical line.
- Collaborative effort
- Suggestion: Have objects move around where players have to collectively hit them all around
- Suggestion: Give players different roles to get people talking
- The thin line makes it feel like a ‘precision’ game, but if it’s more about connection, allow greater tolerance.
- Right now, the shape is blowing up, but I don’t know if I did well or got points. It needs more particles.
- If you are going with EDM, lean into the genre with amazing visual effects.
At the end, we received a lot of feedback, some conflicting in opinions, but the overall consensus was that it seemed like our team was fighting against the system that did not want to do what we wanted it to do.
One point of suggestion that our team decided to lean into was the idea of documenting our project and process of building this experience, and putting that forth as our primary deliverable.
While we could not deliver on the goals of the experience, there were a lot of accomplishments and learnings that happened throughout the semester. Everything from designing and building the simulator platform to working with a brand new Linux-based software platform, we were faced with challenges and overcame them in ways that may not be immediately apparent from the outside.
As an example, from working on an in-car entertainment project, we have unknowingly learned a lot about what it means to play a game inside a car, what are some things we have to look out for, and what are some things that we might avoid in the future. This space is a growing space, that could be categorized as an entirely new genre. We took a stab at beginning a conversation around in-car entertainment at our school, and we should share the learnings that we have found.
In an effort to verify these learnings and to show the value of this platform moving forward for the school and future students, we decided to host a game-jam style hackathon, where we would invite our peers to come in and attempt to design and create interesting experiences for cars using our Unity template and the simulator rig.
This would accomplish two things:
- Our team would get a chance to refresh ourselves, and be inspired by fresh ideas coming in from the outside.
- We would be able to showcase a real value-proposition for the ETC moving forward, and how this simulator and platform we have built can be used for designing experiences in this rather young genre of entertainment.
While we understand that as we draw closer to the end of the semester, it might be difficult to find students willing to participate, but it will still give our team a chance to prototype something new very quickly, and… Have fun!