Summary
This week, our team engaged in team bonding activities and made progress on various parts of our project. We completed the initial draft of a low-difficulty narrative, conducted interviews with autistic individuals, and made substantial headway in designing our team logo and half of a poster. Additionally, we initiated testing for a dialogue system with a graph view-based approach intended for use in Unity.
Production
We prepared an RCI chart to understand how the responsibilities are distributed amongst the team.
Interview
Andrew played a key role in assisting our team by helping us develop a list of questions to ask autistic individuals and offering insights on important considerations when interacting with them. In parallel, Kathy, representing the University of Maryland, began reaching out to potential interviewees among autistic individuals within her SIGNA group and its alumni.
Narrative
After receiving feedback during our quarter walkarounds, we were advised to create a narrative with varying difficulty levels. In response, we began developing a low-difficulty scenario and successfully completed the first draft, positioning us for testing and further refinement.
Art
After consulting with clients, subject matter experts (SMEs), and holding team discussions, it was evident that our game characters needed a specific design balance. They shouldn’t be excessively cartoony or overly human-like. Moreover, these characters needed the ability to express facial expressions and gestures. In response to this insight, our artists initiated the exploration of initial character concept designs and sought feedback before proceeding to the creation of the 3D models.
These were the initial concepts:
UI
We have completed the design production works, including Team logo, poster, and half sheet.
Programming
Recognizing the significance of a dependable and adaptable dialogue system, we swiftly identified an open-source graph view-based dialogue system. Our programmer wasted no time and began testing its suitability and feasibility within our project’s context.
We also started preparing a gray-boxed environment based on the first draft of our low difficulty narrative to start developing and testing player controls.
Future plans
We will be focusing on the following tasks:
- Analyzing the Focus Group Transcripts provided by Andrew, which discuss how different sensory issues affect autistic individuals.
- Progressing with the creation and testing of 3D character models, particularly focusing on facial expressions.
- Conducting an interview with AP to gain valuable insights that will contribute to the ongoing development of our narrative.
- We will also develop UI design ideas for Game UI.