Advisors Meeting
On October 30th, Monday, Professor Kelley and Professor Johnson provided some insightful feedback about the experience. One is that we can contemplate how spectators or groups could be woven into the game experience, offering a dynamic and interactive environment for all involved.
We also delved into the core gameplay structure, like weighing the pros and cons of a single-player vs a two-player game. Professor Kelley and Professor Johnson highlighted the need to cater to solo players. They proposed a solution where artificial intelligence (AI) could step in as the second player, ensuring that the game remains accessible and enjoyable for those embarking on the experience alone.
Furthermore, Professor Kelley and Professor Johnson emphasized that the environment in which the game unfolds should be meticulously crafted to support the gameplay. It should not merely be a backdrop but a pivotal element that actively contributes to the game’s mechanics and storytelling. This philosophy places gameplay at the center, with every aspect of the environment intentionally designed to enrich the player’s interaction with the game world.
Also, the interior of our “vehicle” looks like this during this time:
Meeting with George:
At the meeting with George on Thursday, we discussed two main tasks: getting tech advice from Sheryl and Harry and presenting Cora’s jacket design. George proposed using two computers to run the sleeve controls, which should communicate with each other. We realized we could attach the sensors to a jacket ourselves, and George was impressed with our sleeve work so far.
Playtest Day (Nov 4th)
For playtest day, we tested by observing how guests interacted with the hardware with given instructions. The instructions evolved over playtest sessions, with the final looking like the following:
- “Are you left handed or right handed?”
- Please place your arm at neutral position. Neutral position is with your elbow at a 90 degree angle, elbow to your torso.
- Now engage the thrusters.
- Only when the thrusters are engaged, you can extend your arm forward to move the vehicle forward.
- To turn, open your hand with the palm facing the front window. Shift your hand left and right to move to the corresponding direction.
We’ve discovered that as long as the sensors on the sleeves are facing the left side (from guest’s POV), the sleeve can be attached to either the left or right arm. The hand recognition can also recognize either hand for turning.
Key takeaways:
- People with greater muscle mass have more difficulty with range of motion. We may have to limit the range to enable guests to reach full speed even with limited range of motion.
- We cut the sleeves around the top to make fitting easier, but there also needs to be a cut around the bottom as guests with larger hands have difficulty fitting in.
- We are looking into designing and implementing a visual UI/feedback system for turning. As opposed to moving the hand left and right arbitrarily, we’d have an illustration/animation of a hand on left, center and right where the guests have a poitn of reference as to where to position their hand to turn the vehicle.
- The sleeve worked very reliably as long as they stayed connected to the PC upon booting up. We cannot switch out the sleeves as this will cause disconnection issues.
- Thankfully the sleeves ran on a single charge for 6 hours of playtest. This will be more than sufficient for the 4 hours of festival.
- Guests rarely, if ever looked at the two TV screens on either side. They were solely focused on the projector in front. TV screens will have to be more decorative, unless we make specific use of them to achieve a specific goal.
That’s all for this busy week. Thank you for reading and see you next week!