Week 3: Discussions with James and Emma

Thursday 17th - Friday 18th February 2022

WEEK 3 - PLAN FOR DISCUSSIONS

Today we have scheduled another discussion with James and other students, to discuss our projects. We aim to gather advice regarding our current progress and touch on ways we can make development a little easier for ourselves! We have touched on the difficulties of interactive projections and we're hoping James has some suggestions for us.

Tomorrow (Friday 18th) we have scheduled a meeting with Emma to go over the basis of our ideas and come to a clearer conclusion regarding this. We hope to gather some advice and general opinion around our project.

WEEK 3 - DISCUSSION WITH JAMES

Thursday 17th February

PURPOSE FOR DISCUSSION

Discuss progress, advice/suggestions and weekly check-up.

NOTES:

Understands purpose of our project and what we are trying to achieve.
Suggests to continue creating Unity prototype in Virtual Reality - to get the principle down first.
Re-consider using 3D assets because 2D unlikely to work as well.
P5 - 2D, primarily geared towards 2D. Generative visuals created by gestures and movement.
Make it a little easier for ourselves - consider gesture control.
Webcam processing - translate movement digitally. Convert physical movement - meet with James and potentially test in Igloo.
Image processing - what do we want to do with this input? Unique and personal experience.
Consider scrapping use of touch controllers - what is their purpose?
Look into webcam processing/pose prediction - familiarise ourselves with it. This way we can use 2D visuals.
Meet next week - James will put together a basic demo.

CONCLUSION

NEXT STEPS

Research into Webcam/Image processing and pose prediction - how might we use this instead? This'll work with 2D assets.
Kiera to continue working on VR prototype in Unity.
Map out experience - how will we use webcam processing as our input method for interaction? Is this better than Touch Controllers?

EVALUATION & REFLECTION OF DISCUSSION

WHAT WENT WELL?

We spoke with James about our plans for the touch controllers to work in a 360-degree environment, and came to the conclusion that 'Image processing' would be our safest bet. Not only is it much easier to set-up but will allow us to work with 2D visuals/assets as we originally planned. This is a method of interaction that requires body movement and physical activity, which works great with our project goals and the idea of being in control of your mind and body. James plans to have a demo ready for us by next week, to further demonstrate how exactly we can use this method of input and what it'll mean for us.

WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL?

This does mean that we will have to make some changes to our schedule. We had planned to begin with asset production in the next few weeks, but we must make sure we know exactly how gameplay works before we take anything further. As well as this, the construction of the box must be put on hold for now.

CHANGES WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS WEEK:

For the remainder of this week, it'll be necessary for us to research into 'Web-cam Processing' to gather a greater understanding around the topic, and how we will implement this into our design. We must also keep Andy Brooke and Chris O'Connor updated regarding our change in design.

NEXT STEPS FOR THIS WEEK:

To continue this week, I am going to do some research into our new input method and map the gameplay experience using gesture control. This'll allow me to have a better idea of how things will work and evaluate the effectiveness of this in-game.

Webcam Processing

Concepts & Mock-ups

TRELLO - UPDATED TO DO LIST

https://trello.com/invite/b/XQyFGSIT/821d9c2572f15025b306d2268f14624a/getaway-project-management

WEEK 3 - DISCUSSION WITH EMMA

Friday 18th February

PURPOSE FOR DISCUSSION

Discuss project, gather general opinion around ideas.

NOTES:

Outlined the basis of our project, project goals and what we are trying to achieve.
Understands the idea for separate screens, interactions.
Great that we have a knowing intended player experience - takes off the table reflexes, competitive, pressure etc.
Idea - simulate something relaxing in real life.
Interactions will depend on controls - touch controllers.
First person view restrictions - birds eye view?
Controlling birds, murmuration, flock of birds moves to your body movement, give player agency and control, no pressure.
Hardware - a struggle. Find these things out first.
Magical botany, greenhouse, plantlife.
No fail states
Pursue what we personally find useful!
Feeling of flying - nice, exhilirating
Simple beach scene - write in the sand, waves, app transferred to screen maybe.
Soft bean bags, physical objects in the space.
Is interaction optional?
Small interesting touches - animal kingdom, pandora ride, scent, engage other senses.
Beach - four deck chairs?
Research - disability studies, academic conferences have decompression chambers - low lighting, bean bags etc similar to sensory rooms.
Talk with James to be more transparent about what can be done and Liz Miller in year 1 - hand gestures to direct an avatar on screen.
Not limited by reality - can make something that doesn't exist in the real world.

CONCLUSION

NEXT STEPS

Suggests speaking with James to be more transparent about what we can and can't achieve - this'll make us feel more comfortable regarding our limitations and what we can do with hardware/software.
As for the idea, she thinks we are on the right lines and should focus on refining our idea for the bird/music more. Could potentially consider use of physical objects in the space too. Bean bags/chairs etc.
Organise discussions with James, test with the hardware we have available to us and come to decisions based on this.

EVALUATION & REFLECTION OF DISCUSSION

WHAT WENT WELL?

This talk with Emma was extremely helpful in terms of gathering a greater insight into what might be possible in the space. It was great to hear from someone with a different way of thinking as we have both spent a lot of time on this project, it was nice to hear a different opinion on things. Emma loves our idea involving the movement of birds through potentially gesture control as this will be great for slow body movement and providing player's with control. She also gave us some ideas for other interactions in specific environments, such as writing in the sand on a beach. Great example of simple yet immersive gameplay. To finish off, Emma suggested to keep focusing on the gameplay experience because this is what is most important to us and to also discuss next steps with James.

WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL?

The talk overall was great, but Emma did feel our struggle with the hardware setup and our limitations around this. But it's nothing we can't solve through testing and experimentation over the next few weeks.

NEXT STEPS/CHANGES WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS WEEK:

Prioritise - be transparent with our limitations and progress from here. To finish off this week, I am going to create some environment mockups for the space as I feel more confident in our theme/gameplay idea. Next week (WEEK 4) should also be spent refining the gameplay idea through a series of illustrations, mockups and prototypes to further demonstrate how things will work. This'll be useful for development to identify each moving part which we must develop between us.

Webcam Research

Concepts & Mock-ups

TRELLO - UPDATED TO DO LIST

https://trello.com/invite/b/XQyFGSIT/821d9c2572f15025b306d2268f14624a/getaway-project-management