{"id":177,"date":"2026-09-28T03:52:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/?p=177"},"modified":"2026-10-02T18:22:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:22:26","slug":"week-3-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/week-3-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 3 Quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Because of Labor Day and Quarter, Week 3 was a shorter production week. However, Quarter gave us an important opportunity to step back, clarify the project, and present our current direction to faculty across the ETC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, we also made one significant change to the game\u2019s scope. We removed the Arcane rig and narrowed our current character selection to two rigs: Tank and Swift. Tank focuses on durability and power, while Swift emphasizes mobility and positioning. Reducing the number of rigs allows us to concentrate on making these two playstyles meaningfully different before expanding the system further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presentation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We divided our Quarter presentation into two parts: project overall and how RFID connect foundry and arena.
The game is divided into two connected spaces: the Foundry and the Arena. In the Foundry, players create their own homunculus by choosing a rig and assembling different body components. Each component changes the homunculus\u2019s build and grants access to different spells. The creature a player assembles is therefore not only visually customized; its physical construction determines the options the player will bring into combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once both players finish building their homunculi, they move into the Arena and put those choices into action. During Quarter, we demonstrated our current gameplay prototype. The demo allowed players to select their starting positions, move freely around the arena, rotate a physical puck to choose a spell, aim it, and cast it. Although this was still an early version, it helped us communicate the full path from constructing a character to controlling it in battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also introduced the tournament side of the project. SpellChemists is not intended to exist only as a prototype played within our team. We plan to hold three tournaments over the course of the semester. The first will take place within the ETC, giving us an opportunity to test the format with a familiar audience. The second will be held outside the ETC, although the location has not yet been decided. The third tournament will take place during the ETC Festival in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Faculty’s feedback<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During Quarters, we received a wide range of valuable feedback from faculty. One recurring suggestion was to prototype the tournament experience as early as possible, even before every mechanic is complete. Testing a smaller version of the tournament before Halves could reveal problems with match length, player onboarding, repeated rounds, and the overall event structure while there is still time to adjust them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were also encouraged to think more carefully about information in the Foundry. How much should players know about what their opponent is building? Visible construction could allow players to respond and counter-build, while hidden construction could create discovery and surprise when the match begins. This decision may determine whether the Foundry functions only as character setup or becomes the first strategic phase of the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After Quarter, we took these suggestions seriously and began reconsidering how the physical side of the project could become more tangible and essential. One direction we are now exploring is the creation of 3D-printed physical characters with interchangeable body components. This would allow the act of assembling a homunculus to become a more visible, hands-on part of SpellChemists and strengthen the connection between the character players build and the one they control in the Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because of Labor Day and Quarter, Week 3 was a shorter production week. However, Quarter gave us an important opportunity to step back, clarify the project, and present our current direction to faculty across the ETC. This week, we also made one significant change to the game\u2019s scope. We removed the Arcane rig and narrowed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}