The video above shows the first prototype being played by “naive users,” or people experiencing the project for the first time. One of our playtesters was Dave Culyba, Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Curriculum at the ETC. His feedback prompted us to step back and ask: What are we trying to accomplish, and how does each design decision contribute to that goal?

1. What is the goal? How do we want players to feel?

Our initial goal was for players to feel calm and experience an emotional reset. However, reflecting on my own experience, I felt more introspective, or even profound.

As a player, I felt I was getting to know the narrator through different extensions of herself—the dinosaur, fairy, and rocket. At the end, she thanks me for understanding her and says, “I see you too.” This creates a sense of mutual recognition: rather than simply feeling calm, I leave feeling emotionally connected, understood, and warm.

This raises a fundamental question: Is “calm” still the right emotional goal for the experience? 

2. Does movement help us achieve that goal?

The Cavern’s markerless tracking allows players to physically influence the virtual world, creating a sense of magic without requiring a controller. 

We believe movement should remain an important part of the experience, but we want to better understand why.

At the same time, playfulness has consistently emerged as a key concept in our discussions. Through our Improvisational Acting course, we have experienced firsthand how playful physical interaction can affect our emotional state. 

This also connects to the work of psychiatrist and play researcher Stuart Brown, who reported finding severe histories of childhood play deprivation among 26 incarcerated men convicted of murder. While this research does not establish a causal relationship between play deprivation and later violence, it has contributed to broader discussions about the role of play in healthy social and emotional development. 

Rather than treating movement as simply an interaction mechanic, we want to explore whether physical play itself contributes to the emotional experience we are trying to create.

3. How can we refine the narrative?

The narrative is central to how players understand the character and interpret the experience. We want to explore how changes in language, pacing, and delivery affect players’ responses, potentially through A/B testing different versions of lines.

In particular, we want to understand what makes the final message feel like an authentic moment of mutual recognition. 

4. Which elements are creating the experience?

Our biggest challenge is understanding which moments resonate with players, and why. Was it the narrative, movement, visuals, interaction between players, or a combination of these?

Rather than simply asking whether players enjoyed the experience overall, we want to identify the specific moments they remember and respond to most strongly. Understanding why those moments stand out will help us identify which design elements are contributing most to the experience we want to create. 

Technical Developments

Last week we made solid progress on the cavern and completed Stages 0 and 1. In the process, we found that mixing 2D images on a canvas with the 3D world could cause issues, so we’ve decided to keep only the UI and the opening of Stage 0 in 2D.

We also met with Dave, who has done extensive work in Unity with cameras and depth sensing. He’s the second person to recommend the ZED 2i camera, which strengthens the case for using it. However, the current CAVERN systen is not built and configured for it so may require more effort and time than we have for our project.