Design & Development
Week 11:
Refinements & Game Version 7
Wednesday 11th - Thursday 12th May 2022
WEEK 11 -
TO DO: BUG FIXES, REFINEMENTS & FINAL FLOURISHES! GAME VERSION 6.​
PURPOSE FOR THE DAY
Today Kiera and I have scheduled a meeting with James to discuss the current issues with gameplay, regarding the 'image classification' program and issues with the 'wrist' detection. We plan to talk through our list of priorities and discuss ways we can overcome this, with the aim to overcome these issues by the end of the Week, to begin Week 12 knowing gameplay is set in stone. After these changes, we will have produced another game version.
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WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?
We've listed out the points we need to cover in discussion with James, referring to our Playtesting session last week and the feedback we gathered. One of the most important elements we need to discuss is the 'wrist' detection script, to allow players to guide the bird smoothly, without strain or uncomfort. We have scheduled the meeting with James for 1:00pm. After gathering suggestions and advice, we will be making the necessary changes and producing another game version.
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GOALS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS​
Overcome current issues with the game, make bug fixes and refinements.
LIST OF PROBLEMS TO SOLVE THIS WEEK:
WEEK 11 - DISCUSSION WITH JAMES
Thursday 12th May​
Purpose for Discussion:
Discuss issues with the project, problem-solve, bug fixes and final refinements.
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NOTES:
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Snowflakes to disappear - get code to do this.
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Position of cameras - to cut off once players use other screen.
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Begin button - leave it and press it, potential to get a gesture done for this. No way to combat this issue - can click for players.
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Mindfulness experience - doesn't necessarily need 'instruction'.
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Natural exploration, 2-3
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Overlay image/loading screen so snowflakes fall and everything sync - note down how long to display etc.
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Reduce opacity of falling snowflakes - done
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Lower opacity of snowfall: Line 10 - rgba
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Adjust image size of snowflake
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Discovery and reflection
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No mindless tasks
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Bird to fade out at screen edges - turn down the opacity when they fly to a particular boundary.
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Cable cars - import animation gif rather than loop.
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Clouds - input cloud loop.
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Improvements to detection: would take a long time to build another program/process to detect any other part of the hand, may have to just use what we have.
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CONCLUSION
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NEXT STEPS FOR HAND-IN
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Create a loading screen to overcome the issue of waiting for snowflakes to fall/server to load.
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Indicate how to play - 2 tracks on the first screen, 3 on the next, how to collect them?
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Import animations into environment.
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Bird to fade out at the edges of the screen - turn down opacity at a certain boundary.
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NEXT STEPS FOR DEGREE SHOWS
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- Paint panels
- Cut holes into panels and embed webcams
- Position walls next to each other, straight rather than angled. Webcams must be facing parallel to players.
EVALUATION & REFLECTION​
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WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL?
We don't have a lot of time to change the interaction, and this was our biggest part of our feedback from playtesting this week. However, we have options to change detection back to 'nose', or attempt to refine the current 'wrist' detection in the next week. In addition to this, after speaking with James we were made aware that there is no way to synchronise the 'Begin' buttons, meaning they will have to be used on both servers. This won't be a problem for those playing from home, but will require a helping hand from Kiera and I at the degree shows.
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CHANGES WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS WEEK/NEXT STEPS:
James gave us the information we needed to further refine the game, with the requirements we had. We must now focus on refining these elements and getting all components working the way we expected them to. For our final game version, we must complete the following tasks:
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GOALS FOR WEEK 12
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Create and overlay a 'loading screen' to load the server and prepare players for the experience beforehand.
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Lower opacity of snowfall.
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Import new soundtracks.
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Set a boundary at the edges of the screen, to allow bird to fade out when players decide to move between screens.
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Import cable car/ski lift and cloud animations in.
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Set up one server containing all tracks for people to play from home.
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Set up both servers for projection.
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TRELLO - UPDATED TO DO LIST
https://trello.com/invite/b/XQyFGSIT/821d9c2572f15025b306d2268f14624a/getaway-project-management
GAME VERSION 6​
Kiera has updated the GITKRAKEN with another version of the game, consisting of the necessary adjustments made after discussion with James.
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NEW ENVIRONMENTS IN
SCREEN 1​
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Depth in environment
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Lake reflection
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More details
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Fluffy trees!
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Animated BIRD!!!
SCREEN 2​
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New village environment in
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Music plays
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Bird flies
IMPROVEMENTS MADE TO VERSION 7
CHANGES MADE​
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Further adaptations to detection system - to make the bird fly smoother, overall less sensitive
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User Interface added - Begin Button in centre of screen (no text)
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Canvas corrections - canvas scrolls up and down, should've been still. No longer like this.
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Two environments across two screens
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Added BIRD ANIMATION!
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New snowflake designs
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Changed opacity of snowfall - lighter
WHAT WENT WELL?​
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We have two working servers! We have successfully implemented the new environment designs into two separate servers, with their own music tracks and interactive snowflakes. To make things even better, we now have an animated bird! The bird animation brings the whole experience to life, and we love the look of this.
WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL?​
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The detection still needs improving. The bird flips dramatically. Kiera attempted to make the birds fade out at the edges of the screen, however, this didn't account for the background margin and padding. This is something she plans to further improve on for next version.
GAMEPLAY​
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Snowflakes are interactive and players are able to fly into snowflakes to develop the soundtrack overtime. In terms of interactivity, they need to be further improved, by disappearing once collected to make players aware that they have influence over the environment in some way, despite them knowing how or not.
VISUAL DESIGN​
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We love the new environments across two screens. This is how we imagined the experience to appear and we love to outcome of them. We are both happy I improved the two environment drawings as they are much better than before - more refined, more detail and a much better quality.
PLAN FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT​
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Import cloud and ski lift animations
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Make detection smoother
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Import Loading Screen
NEXT STEPS​
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INDIVIDUAL TASKS
I have taken it upon myself to create the loading screen and final ski lift animation today, to provide Kiera with these final assets to implement into the space. These two assets are vital for the overall experience, so I plan to start them and finalise them early next week. To finish this week, I am going to create concepts and the final design for the loading screen.
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TEAM TASKS
Kiera is going to spend next week focusing on refining the detection and implementing the last few assets into the environment. Main task is to make improvements to the final build. Fixes and flourishes time!
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