Finals is *finally* here! We presented in the second block of the Monday Final Presentation session, and we overall did really well! When it came to our open house on Wednesday, we got feedback from both faculty and students on our experience. Most of the feedback was positive, and the constructive feedback was what we were expecting. Faculty were validly concerned of the temporary housing unit being installed, as it is not likely will stand up to kids handling it all day. This is something we anticipated as we did not have the scope to reinforce the housing unit and foam will not last long with kids. Instead, we added that feedback to our documentation.
Our documentation covers the project in its entirety, including how to adjust the game’s modular elements and everything about our custom controls. Documentation was fairly easy to create, although we realized new lessons when it came to cost breakdowns and writing technical steps. We realized through the cost breakdown that there were things that could be substituted for a more portable alternative, such as using a projector screen instead of the whiteboard. We put these notes into both the final presentation and our documentation
As we wrapped up the semester, technical knowledge, learning to playtest for design goals, and all the major lessons that come from a first LBE project. For the majority of the team, this was our first LBE project, so we learned a lot about fabrication timing and how to create a comfortable setup for guests. We also learned a lot about implementing different components together, such as our custom Plunger controls, reactive LEDs, and XBOX controllers. As mentioned above, we also learned about testing for design goals instead of testing for playability. This was a learning experience for us in this regard since our early playtests were ‘good’, but only fulfilling the ‘play’ part of our design goal. This was super important and overall, made a great lesson to receive from this project.
In terms of next steps, ETC K-12 will be taking this project to the Children’s Museum in Pittsburgh for playtesting, as well as modifying the project for installation. From initial conversations, it looks like they will be rebuilding the housing unit first to create something more robust. While some of the Wizard Mode team will be graduating or out of town, half of the team will be in Pittsburgh and can provide assistance if needed. We are excited to see where ETC K-12 takes this project and how they elevate it!
Thank you for experiencing Full Tilt with us! You can find our final trailer and photos of our final build below.
