Hey!

Welcome back everyone! We’re on week 7 now, the week of halves presentations! We had our presentation on Monday.

Halves Presentation

The presentation for the faculty went well. We had several great questions that provided valuable feedback for us going forward. You can find the record of the livestream here.

Below are some pictures of the presentation:

Playtesting

On Wednesday, we playtested the current version of our experience with students from Stephan’s class. We got lots of great feedback. All of the playtesters seemed engaged, and most of the playtesters said they would be willing to store their answers in the archive.

Art

We have started working on a 3D asset of the archive along with some preliminary animations. We’re working with lighting to see how we can invoke the idea of “active listening”, making it so the environment really feels like it’s changing with the guest. There is a prototype of grass and ivy growing on the floor, which brings “life” into the room as the guest speaks into the microphone. 

Script

For our script, we are trying to streamline the on boarding process, so we are testing a draft that slightly changes the initial situation of the character. There are two versions built from the results of our playtest, one that goes straight to the point of the question asking and one that cuts some of the fluff but also elaborates on the world that we’re building. The second version is about the same length of the version we had before and the first is a quarter shorter. We will be playtesting both moving forward and seeing what guests respond to more. 

Tech

We have brought the phone to the GLCR and successfully had it running, so the hardware is now able to be moved and work in different locations. We are now working on a copy of the phone to bring to the room full time that will only need software updates whenever we want to test a new version of the experience. This will be completed and installed by Week 8. 

Design

We have started looking at how we can decorate the room. There isn’t a lot of space to put furniture, so we are focusing on choosing items that can easily be stored in case the room is needed for something else.

Client Feedback

When we were at the playtests on Wednesday, we let our client run through the experience as well. He was very pleased with what we had so far. He is excited to see how it evolves from the playtest version that he interacted with.

Sound Design

We are creating background music to create a relaxing and dreamy atmosphere.

Voice Acting

We are talking to different people about voice acting, trying to find the right voice for the character, as we got mixed results for Thomas’ voice during the playtesting session. Some found his voice soothing or friendly, while others found him creepy or unsettling. We are planning on working with Brenda to see if we can find someone from the School of Drama who would be willing to help us. 

Conclusion

We have gotten lots of feedback this week, and we will be considering it all carefully. Spring Break is next week, so there won’t be a post until the week after.