{"id":381,"date":"2025-04-09T22:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T22:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/?page_id=381"},"modified":"2025-04-14T05:02:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T05:02:32","slug":"week-12-april-6th","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/week-12-april-6th\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 12 \u2013 April 6th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We continued iterating on issues identified during previous playtests, focusing especially on the confusion and difficulty in the sneaking level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sneaking Level Iteration:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\uff08The video appears shaky, but it was perfectly smooth in-game\uff09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Xhaler: New Sneaking Level\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8ZRHrdtze0k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Challenges and Adjustments:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At this stage, the enemy AI behavior still feels unclear. Guards turn too abruptly and move unpredictably, which often results in sudden player deaths. This creates a strong sense of frustration and negative feedback, especially since players don\u2019t feel like they can use breathing as a reliable way to overcome these challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also realized the level layout made it hard for players to tell whether they were being seen or where the safe zones were. As a result, the general anxiety of moving through the level overshadowed the subtle tension we wanted to create with shallow breathing mechanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To address these issues, we added a Pattern UI HUD in the bottom left corner of the screen to indicate the player&#8217;s real-time breathing state. In stealth sections, if the player breathes too heavily, a warning signal will appear\u2014giving them a few seconds to adjust their breathing before alerting the guards. This change significantly improves players\u2019 understanding of how breathing impacts gameplay and gives them more control over it, striking a better balance between challenge and fairness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wind Sensor Integration:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"641\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/wind2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-384\" style=\"width:793px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/wind2.png 641w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/wind2-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 641px) 100vw, 641px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We took measurements with a caliper and wrote down a basic shell size. We then made a first prototype making sure there was enough walls in AutoDesk Fusion. Then we printed a basic prototype and iterated off of it with issues of the wind sensors location on the model. We kept iterating until we found more issues were solved having a basic stable platform to attach to the headset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"641\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/windsensor.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-383\" style=\"width:864px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/windsensor.png 641w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/windsensor-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 641px) 100vw, 641px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Future Plans:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After a playtest session with our instructor Dave, we\u2019ve decided to further emphasize the role of breathing in the experience. Next week, we plan to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Remove or revise any mechanics or sequences that aren\u2019t meaningfully connected to breathing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add more narrative and visual cues to strengthen the player\u2019s sense of breath-driven interaction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re also preparing for Soft Opening by beginning to tie our individual levels together into a more cohesive and unified gameplay experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"348\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/empty-1024x348.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-278\" style=\"width:229px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/empty-1024x348.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/empty-300x102.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/empty-768x261.png 768w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/empty-1536x523.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/empty.png 1890w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-section-1 has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained is-style-section-1--1\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-border-color is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"border-color:var(--wp--preset--color--accent-6);border-width:1px;border-radius:10px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-100 is-style-outline is-style-outline--2\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/week-13-april-13th\/\">Week 13 &#8211; April 13th<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-border-color is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"border-color:var(--wp--preset--color--accent-6);border-width:1px;border-radius:10px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-2 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-100 is-style-outline is-style-outline--3\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/week-11-marh-30th\/\">Week 11 &#8211; March 30th<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We continued iterating on issues identified during previous playtests, focusing especially on the confusion and difficulty in the sneaking level. Sneaking Level Iteration: \uff08The video appears shaky, but it was perfectly smooth in-game\uff09 Challenges and Adjustments: At this stage, the enemy AI behavior still feels unclear. Guards turn too abruptly and move unpredictably, which often [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-381","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/381\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/xhaler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}