Playtest Day
Playtest Day was on Saturday and went well. We got 9 total testers, 5 of which used the Hexoskin with live respiration data. The other 4 used either pre-recorded data and an Apple Watch or the Equa mobile app. All users reported more positive feeling changes after the meditation with all using VR being satisfied or very satisfied with the layout, location, and color palette of the virtual environment. A lot of the feedback we received confirmed our own criticisms of our experience.
In general, most people missed the environmental biofeedback and really enjoyed following the dragonflies around the environment. Additionally, we noticed that some playtesters were getting the “pause” and “play” hand gestures backwards. We were also told about some graphics and optimization bugs by a particularly astute playtester. There were also a few issues involving the user positioning relative to the environment. Playtesters found it particularly frustrating if their player bounds were offset from the orb/box choice objects.
In all, some major actions going forward to address problems will include:
- Switching hand gestures
- Adding a “play period” at the beginning of the session for users to familiarize themselves with how their breath is connected to the environment
- Continuing iteration on the end graph that displays biometrics
- Making choice objects relative to user position
- Continuing to optimize assets so that they display well on a Quest build
- Adding more biofeedback indicators and making the existing ones more sensitive by setting a user specific baseline
Since this week only includes 3 days of classes, most of these changes will occur in the following two weeks.
Optimization
This week Lauren and Zibo continued to optimize assets for our Quest build by decreasing the number of triangles and vertices in the environment. Currently our environment has 2.3 million triangles and 1.5 million vertices, so optimization is a big priority as we begin to round out the semester.
Breathing Summary Graph
Faris and Constanza worked on the second iteration of our breathing summary graph in Unity. While it is more legible than it was last week, the graph continues to require some changes as our team tries to decide what details are most relevant to a meditator.
Additional Biofeedback Indicators
Lauren created two more biofeedback indicators this week. The first indicator is a lotus flower that can open and close with the user’s breath. The second is an updated particle effect during the feel stage that allows the particles around the meditator to slowly move upwards using the same “relaxation” calculation the cattails operate on.
Website Building
Gillian gave the website a partial revamp this week so that it includes more detail about our project, Equa Health, and contact information. It has also been updated to include more photos of the environment.