Week 7:
Discussion

Monday 14th March 2022

​WEEK 7 - PLAN FOR DISCUSSION

Today Kiera and I scheduled a meeting with James to discuss our next steps for prototyping/testing. James wanted to speak with us regarding the equipment we are using and our desired set-up.​

WEEK 7 - TEAM DISCUSSION WITH JAMES

Monday 14th March​

Purpose for Discussion:

Discussing next steps for programming, setup and construction of the space. Overall check-up.

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NOTES:

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• Outlined idea a final time involving interactions environment and structure of the experience.

• Touched on the duration of the experience - how will it end? how long will it last? (around 10-15 minutes)

• Next prototypes - straightforward to make our first prototype. Dot follows finger across screen, clicks on a thing, something happens - this is our core interaction which we can play on a laptop and it will work!

• Will run of dedicated webcam, using image rendering from webcam to tell where the finger/hand is.

• This first prototype can be used to make sure interactions work.

• Second step! - Projecting onto a wall. Webcam in front, wall beyond it.

• Third step! - 4 WALLS PROBLEM.

• 4 walls is becoming an issue and could potentially cause us a handful of issues, limitations with this - not enough time to implement.

• Need to overcome technical hurdles if we want to use 4 walls.

• First thing get basic premise working, stage 2 we can take what we have and project it onto a surface. Stage 3, expand to left and right. Stage 4, can we add 4 walls?

• Need a server to host game on - locally then itch.

• What we need for testing - note down.

• Create milestones for the upcoming weeks.

• Consider limitations - do we stick to 4 walls or 2/3?

CONCLUSION

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NEXT STEPS

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• Make a decision regarding the box - will we use 4 walls or reduce our scope to around 2/3? How can we limit technical issues?

• Create milestones for upcoming weeks and share with James. Have a small plan.

• Create first range of prototypes - refer to step 1 of notes. First prototype should demonstrate core interaction of the space and test projections on a surface.

• Continue with essays - due next monday.

EVALUATION  & REFLECTION​

WHAT WENT WELL?

After spending the previous weeks searching for and testing with equipment including projectors and media players etc, we had a greater idea of the set up of the space and how exactly we will tie everything together. This meeting allowed us to share our findings with James and it was great to have someone double check our set-up to ensure everything is working as expected. From this discussion, we gathered a clearer idea of our next steps in terms of technicalities and can begin creating basic prototypes to demonstrate the core interaction and player experience further.

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WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL?

Similar to previous weeks, we discussed the limitations of our idea for projecting onto 4 walls. As we have decided to go down the route of using webcams, the set-up of these integrated into the space as well as being interactive in a 360-degree environment is a hugely ambitious idea to have, especially in the short amount of time we have for development. Because of this, James expressed his concern for the job we are trying to achieve and recommended to us to rethink our options of a 4 wall space, and limit this to either 2/3 walls. To be able to come to this conclusion, we have set ourselves 3-4 next steps for the next few weeks to establish whether or not we can eventually get to our expectation of a 360-degree environment. We will begin by prototyping with 1 wall, and making our way up to 4. The next few weeks will be spent evaluating the success of this and we may have to rethink the design of the space/construction of the box.

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CHANGES WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS WEEK:

As a result of these technical issues, the construction of the box has to be put on pause. We do not want to have the box made and be unable to use it the way we intended, as this would be a waste of resources and a waste of time. Furthermore, instead we plan to continue with prototyping and rethink the number of walls we use for the experience, and potentially form our own structure to replicate the box. We could even think about the possibility of using an existing room/walls, or a structure of just one or two panels.

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NEXT STEPS FOR THIS WEEK:

This week, Kiera and I will be spending the majority of our time completing our essays for the Playful Thinking module due in on the 21st March. In addition to this, we must set ourselves milestones for the upcoming weeks and have a suitable plan in place to ensure we keep to schedule and have our first set of prototypes completed by the 31st March latest. (Barclays Eagle Lab event) The majority of this week will be spent problem solving, having discussions and setting ourselves milestones to clear up any issues that may have arised.

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TRELLO - UPDATED TO DO LIST

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