Welcome back everyone! We hope you enjoyed your refreshing Fall Break and were able to get some good rest! This week has happened a looooot!
Advisor Meeting
On Monday, our team had a discussion concerning the development and technical details of a project, covering topics from game mechanics to physical setups using the Arduino and Unity software and also precise data collection. We acknowledged that not all team members operate with the same data needs, and there was a suggestion to explore different alternatives.
We delved more into the technical side of our project, discussing the implications of movement and gestures in controlling the vehicle. Our team noted significant input coming from the sensors, suggesting the possibility of one-handed driving. George introduced us to a prototype jacket designed for athletes, which is more of a connected sleeve garment. This design could potentially make it easier to integrate our tech suit.
There was consensus on our team to work on two or three jacket (or the suit) designs, taking into consideration fabric types, dimensions, logo colors, and placement. We’re looking at either a velcro attachment or a separate sleeve for the tech suit. Our target is to finalize the design this week and have it ready for submission at the beginning of the following week (next Monday).
Our team also discussed the complexities of the jacket and vest combination. The suggestion was to start with the essential elements of the vest and find innovative ways to merge it with the jacket, possibly through Velcro or similar methods.
Feedback was given on the state of our build room. We acknowledged that adjustments had been made since our last meeting, like changing the room’s width for comfort. Suggestions were made to introduce cardboard to shield heat signatures from thermal cameras.
Lastly, our team explored alternative ways to gauge interaction and feedback for our project. The idea of ultrasonic sensors combined with haptic feedback was discussed as a simpler and more efficient solution given our timeline. Also, we were considering abandoning the idea of changing time using hand gestures.
Christine Barnes Visit
On Wednesday, we had ETC alumni Christine Barnes visiting our project. She didn’t play the whole experience but we explained the gameplay and shared our concerns with her. She provided lots of insightful feedback, including:
- Divide the room into 3 sections: onboarding, fitting, playing
- This will help circulate the people
- Put seats (x6 is what we are thinking right now)! People want to sit down at the festival – better user experience!
- People can also watch previous guests playing through the level
- Place fans in the room; helps with nausea and heat
- Figure out the timing of flow; when to send guests to next section
- Check off Mickey’s 10 Commandments (which will not be included in details in this Blog Post)
- Decorate the walls to theme up the room
- Buttons & lights
- Black light
- Might be reach goal
Based on Christine’s feedback, we decided to start working on the onboarding part. Thomas and Sher will be the onboarding video voice actors and during this onboarding session, we’ll outline the backdrop of our narrative.
Friday’s Meetings
After Sher and Harry integrated the tech into unity in our build room, Charles, Heather, and Ricardo also played our experience. Everything for now works fine but it seems the audio has not been working. Here’s the feedback from Heather, Charles, and Ricardo:
- Heather
- Vest vibration issue
- Explanation of why water level is limited
- Speed-o-meter?
- How do I know I’m traveling full speed?
- Difficult to tell what time of day
- Scope is really big
- A suggestion: this can be a single-player experience
- Charles
- Proximity to cargo is not clear
- Making the jacket is a good idea;
- Perhaps get different types of jackets
- Neoprene
- George visit – when would be good?
Recap of our Progress:
Tech:
Successfully connected 1 Nextiles sleeve to Unity, but struggling with disconnection issues.
Tactsuit vest set up with corresponding haptic feedback.
Sound:
Vehicle movement SFX sync with the speed
Onboarding Voiceover
Design & Narrative:
Narrative havent been changed a lot but we have Harry making a level design for the game: we wanted to have different
Art & UI:
The Jacket design looks like this until the end of this week and we are planning to show this to Nextiles to talk about the next step.
This week is really a busy week and next week we will have the Playtest Day and we will prepare for that next week. Thanks for reading and see you all next week!