{"id":68,"date":"2015-11-08T16:34:47","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T16:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/?p=68"},"modified":"2015-12-24T09:15:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T09:15:12","slug":"week-10-2-nov-8-nov-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/2015\/11\/08\/week-10-2-nov-8-nov-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 10 (2 Nov &#8211; 8 Nov 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_171\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-171\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-171\" src=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_1.jpg\" alt=\"Partner teacher Mr. Botzer plays our game at yet another 7AM Trinity High School playtest.\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_1.jpg 960w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-171\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Partner teacher Mr. Botzer plays our game at yet another 7AM Trinity High School playtest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>ART<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Worked on mechanical 3d models (Crankshaft) &amp; its animation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Made new meter system, which now rather than being a UI element are now attached to the system.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>DESIGN<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week I continued to build puzzles and iterate on feedback from playtests.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_168\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-168\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-168\" src=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_4.jpg\" alt=\"We found that one of Entropy's strengths is driving discussion and collaboration, especially when two students share one device.\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_4.jpg 960w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_4-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_4-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-168\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">We found that one of Entropy&#8217;s strengths is driving discussion and collaboration, especially when two students share one device.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>PROGRAMMING<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Added new \u201cfocus area\u201d feature of camera waypoint system. Defines an area of focus for the puzzle that will always be rendered on the screen. If the player moves within the waypoint, the camera still pans but keeps the focus area drawn on screen.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wrote a new custom particle system. The in-built system was costing a performance hit and couldn\u2019t calculate collisions fast enough to keep all the particles within their container. Those problems were solved by writing custom particle collision &amp; movement logic. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimization: Implemented zone-based loading and unloading. When the player enters a \u201cload zone\u201d, the gases in that zone are started up while gases in all the other inactive zones are stopped. This means the engine only has to calculate collisions for particles inside the active zone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implemented checkpoint system. Once a player enters a load zone, if they have to restart to the last checkpoint, it sends them back to the last checkpoint flag.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New floating joystick. The left thumbstick snaps to the finger position on the device, making it much easier to move the character without having to look for the thumbstick on the screen. Our playtests showed the new controls to be easier to use.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tweaked character \u201cweight\u201d for movement and jumping. The character feels more solid and less twitchy now. His jump, movement speed and capsule colliders have all been adjusted after lots of trial and error. I think this has made platforming easier so players can concentrate on solving puzzles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Particle slow-down\/speed-up is more obvious <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Added rewind button to work with the checkpoint system. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implemented crystal collection ability<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implemented inventory system and crystal collection UI<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>PRODUCTION<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week, I felt quite overwhelmed with the number of things we wanted to accomplish and with planning for next week. \u00a0I was also doing some academic work outside of the project that came to a head this week, which took up a lot of time and prevented me from getting as many project tasks done as I had hoped. \u00a0Working on anything other than the project makes me feel stressed out and guilty, which, now as I am typing this, seems rather silly and is a probably a by-product of the project taking over my life. \u00a0On the bright side, one of the positive things that came out of half a semester of production is that the team is embracing JIRA. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t be happier about this as it has made our tasks a lot clearer and a lot more visible to each other.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While working on many polish and iteration tasks, I wanted to focus this week on two playtests and showing the game to a handful of faculty to get feedback. \u00a0One playtest was cancelled, but we did manage to show the game to Dave, Jesse, Ralph, John, Drew and Jess Trybus, who were all very helpful and had a lot of interesting and useful insights. \u00a0We also playtested at Trinity High School on Friday, which was incredibly useful as this was our first playtest with a pre- and post-test. \u00a0Mr Botzer gave us a lot of feedback and many suggestions for assessment for learning. \u00a0We hope to iterate on assessment as part of our playtest. \u00a0I am still in the process of typing out all the notes from these meetings and playtests, which I hope to have done by next week.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also met with our first year project shadows this week, and spoke to them about the project process. \u00a0Some of them have expressed interest in coming to playtests or helping with design tasks, which could be useful for the project as we are a small team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next week will be focused on more playtesting and reaching out to a wider test base as suggested as halves. \u00a0We\u2019re going to have four playtests, one specifically with girls, and two at different schools (Avonworth and Elizabeth Forward), to address concerns raised at halves and get a better idea of how the game is performing for other audiences.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_175\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175\" style=\"width: 467px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175\" src=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_JIRABoardWeek10.png\" alt=\"The team is on board our JIRA board, which is a win for this producer.\" width=\"467\" height=\"467\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-175\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The team is on board our JIRA board, which is a win for this producer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_170\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-170\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-170\" src=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_2.jpg\" alt=\"Mr. Botzer reviews and critiques our first attempt at assessment for learning.\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_2.jpg 640w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_2-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mr. Botzer reviews and critiques our first attempt at assessment for learning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_169\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-169\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-169\" src=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_3.jpg\" alt=\"Mr. Botzer plays a key role in our iteration not only on the game, but on assessments for learning, and gives us lots of information on how teachers ask questions to draw out learning.\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_3.jpg 960w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_Playtest4_3-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-169\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mr. Botzer plays a key role in our iteration not only on the game, but on assessments for learning, and gives us lots of information on how teachers ask questions to draw out learning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-167\" src=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_RalphVituccioPlays.jpg\" alt=\"Back at the ETC, we invited Ralph Vituccio to stop by our project room to play the current version of our game. At least Julian looks like he's enjoying himself, perhaps at Ralph's expense.\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_RalphVituccioPlays.jpg 960w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_RalphVituccioPlays-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Entropy_RalphVituccioPlays-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Back at the ETC, we invited Ralph Vituccio to stop by our project room to play the current version of our game. At least Julian looks like he&#8217;s enjoying himself, perhaps at Ralph&#8217;s expense.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ART Worked on mechanical 3d models (Crankshaft) &amp; its animation Made new meter system, which now rather than being a UI element are now attached to the system. DESIGN This week I continued to build puzzles and iterate on feedback<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dev-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178,"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects-old.etc.cmu.edu\/entropy\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}