Sarah J. Mahler

Associate Professor of Anthropology ​

Author, Culture as Comfort

Degrees​ ​

BA, Amherst College, 1982​

PhD, Columbia University, 1992 ​

​

• Newsletters

• Project Post-mortem


• Week Fifteen
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. Had more playtests at BVW Festival on Thursday.
  2. Final prototype done.
  3. Prepared for final presentation on next Friday.
  4. Revised design documents and programming documents.
  
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Final presentation on Friday.
  2. Finish project archiving.

• Week Fourteen
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. Soft Opening on Monday. Demoed our latest prototype to the faculty.
  2. Entered tuning stage. Now we have started polishing the prototype.
  3. Weekly advisor meeting. Summarized this semester and talked about plan for final presentation.
  4. Started preparing for final presentation.
  5. Team dinner on Wednesday.
  
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Have more playtests at BVW Festival on Thursday.
  2. Final prototype done.
  3. Revise design documents and programming documents.
  

• Week Thirteen
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. Finished new prototype.
  2. Did playtests on main campus during spring carnival. All testers are comfortable with the user interface and gameplay. And they think the product is meaningful and helpful.
  3. Communicated with a Lamaze Educator and got professional suggestions on the content and information.
  4. Weekly advisor meeting. Shared our progress with advisors and discussed about Soft Opening.
  5. Had a Skype talk with the client. Demoed our prototype to her and decided the product name as Dis->Comfort.
  
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Soft Opening on Monday.
  2. More playtests.
  3. Fix bugs and finish final prototype according to feedback from playtests and Soft Opening.
  4. Start preparing for Final Presentation.
  5. Revise design document and assets list. Start working on archiving.
  6. Communicate with the client, talking about handing over the product.
  
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. So far we have made good progress. It is time to think about how to convey our values.
  

• Week Twelve
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. New prototype 80 percent finished. The structure now is clear and solid. The baby has facial expressions and animations. The User Interface has been re-designed. Item models have been textured.
  2. Weekly advisor meeting. Shared our progress with advisors and decided next steps.
  3. Communicated with the client. We will have a meeting with her next week and demo our new prototype.
  4. Created new design document and assets list.
  5. Finished tutorial part (text version).
  
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Finish new prototype by Monday.
  2. Meeting with the client. Demo the prototype to her and get feedback.
  3. Final Playtests. Spring Carnival on Thursday and Friday is a good opportunity for us. And we will also try to find some expectant mothers as playtesters.
  4. Polish the prototype according to the feedback from the client and playtests.
  5. Get all promotional materials done for soft opening.
  
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. We are a little behind schedule and we must therefore avoid further delays by planning the playtest well.
  2. So far we have made good progress. It is time to think about how to convey our values.
  

• Week Eleven
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. Had several team meetings about the final deliverable and remaining work. Since we have received much feedback from playtests, spring break and 1/2 presentation, we are redesigning some parts to make the prototype better.
  2. Got many useful design suggestions from Jesse Office Hour.
  3. One-on-one grade meetings and weekly advisor meeting. Shared our progress with advisors and decided next steps.
  4. Communicated with the client. We will have a meeting with her next week and demo our new prototype.
  5. Already got new content and sound effect. Started working on baby's facial expressions, texture and new mechanics.
  
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Have a new prototype and demo it to advisors and the client.
  2. Unofficial playtests.
  
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. It took us a lot of time to redesign and update design documents.
  2. Need to have a new prototype as soon as possible so we can do new playtest.

• Week Ten
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. The team was at San Francisco for GDC.
  
• 2. Discussed the feedback from 1/2 presentation with the client.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. A skype talk with the client, getting clear about our goals and the final deliverable.
  
• 2. New development sprint. Assign all the tasks before Soft Opening.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. Everyone is busy doing homework and looking for internships. We need to make all the meetings efficient so we have enough time for development.

• Week Nine
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. The first official Playtest. Most testers thought our prototype was useful for them and they were satisfied with our design. And we also got many helpful suggestions.
  
• 2. Rehearsal, Rehearsal, Rehearsal…
  
• 3. A clear and solid 1/2 presentation on Wednesday.
  
• 4. Got feedback about 1/2 presentation from the faculty and advisors. The faculty felt a little confused about our goal and the final deliverable.
  
• 5. Talked about next steps with advisors.
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. GDC week.
  
• 2. Communicate with the client, getting clear about our goals and the final deliverable.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. We plan to finish all the work by Soft Opening, but there are only 4 weeks left, including one week for GDC.
  
• 2. Since we do not have native speakers, we need to think about how to convey ideas more clearly to the audience.

• Week Eight
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. Finished a new version prototype, including confidence level measure, 3D baby, 3D items and environment, baby crying sound, user interface and basic mechanics.
  2. Demoed the prototype to client. Our design got approved and we improved the prototype according to the feedback.
  3. Had several team meetings. Everyone got tasks for spring break and 1/2 presentation.
  4. Finished playtest plan and presentation outline.
  5. The team got another Mac mini.
  6. Had a weekly advisor meeting, talking about the prototype and 1/2 presentation.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Join ETC alumni dinner in Orlando, get design suggestions from them.
  2. Finish the first playtest and improve the prototype.
  3. Rehearsal and finish 1/2 presentation.
  4. Communicate with the client to decide the final scope of this project. Then start a new sprint.
  
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. After the first playtest, we may find out lots of problems and the design may be changed a lot.
  2. We need to find professional support, like pediatricians and people who already are parents.
  3. We are all 1st year student so we have little experience in how to have a successful 1/2 presentation.
  

• Week Seven
• 
  Things done this week:
  
• 1. Purchased a rigged 3D baby model with face features for animate expressions.
  
• 2. Got useful design suggestions from Jesse Office Hour.
  
• 3. Presented a simple demo in weekly advisor meeting and got feedback.
  
• 4. Had several team meetings, designed the flow chart for the prototype.
  
• 5. Created a new scrum board and started to track progress more professionally.
  
• 6. Finished our first prototype with 3D models, sound, UI and basic mechanics.
  
• 7. Started to improve the prototype and prepare for first playtest.
  
• 8. Some teammates visited the project Beyond Interactions, learned what they were doing using Android and iOS.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Finish the comfort measurement part with the client’s help.
  
• 2. Playtest to get user data and feedback.
  
• 3. Fix program bugs and make the prototype better (e.g. make the baby look better and change the sound effect).
  
• 4. Prepare for 1/2 Presentations.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. Some feature of the purchased 3D model cannot be used in Unity, but we have figured out how to deal with these problems.
  
• 2. Midterm is coming and everyone will get super busy this week.
  

• Week Six
• 
  Things done this week:
  1. Developed a test program using Unity and Xcode, then exported and tested it on iPad.
  2. Revised design document, specified the events, actions and UI.
  3. Presented design document to advisors and the client. The design got approved by the client.
  4. Created development p.lan before 1/2 presentation.
  5. Programmers had several meetings about data structure.
  6. One-on-one process grade meetings.
  7. Group visit to other iOS project, learned what others were doing and how they were doing it.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Submit 3D baby model purchase request, and start to texture the baby after get it.
  2. Finish the 3D environment and items, without texture.
  3. Finish the first protope, with soudn, UI and basic mechanics.
  4. Test the prototype on iPad.
  5. Decide the plan for playtest.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. How to design playtest.
  2. Need to build the first prototype really fast so we can find out problems as soon as possible.

• Week Five
• 
  Things done this week:
  1. 1/4 Walkarounds on Monday, did short presentations and got a lot of helpful feedback from the faculty.
  2. Had several team meetings, decided to develop on iPad and use 3D environment + 3D infant.
  3. Designed the structure of the experience, the first situation will be dealing with baby fever.
  4. Leisen (Lead Programmer) held a meeting about development plan. Programmers started to build basic mechanics.
  5. Recap 1/4 Walkarounds with advisors, got helpful feedback about design document and development plan.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Prototype test and design document review.
  2. Client Meeting, demo our first prototype.
  3. Improve the prototype according to feedback.
  4. Plan for playtest.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. How to make sure 4 programmers can work together efficiently.
  2. Lack of 3D modelers and 2D artists. Art style is a huge challenge.

• Week Four
• 
  Things done this week:
  1. Had several team meetings, predicted the outcome of 2 potential ideas.
  2. Had several talks with advisors, got helpful feedback about ideas and suggestions about 1/4 Walkarounds.
  3. Had 3 meetings with the client, nailed down the direction of the project: a digital experience in which users need to take care of an infant (stop crying, recognize symptoms, etc).
  4. Published all promotional materials.
  5. Prepared the presentation for 1/4 Walkarounds.
  6. Team Building: celebrated Ronny’s birthday.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. 1/4 Walkarounds on Monday.
  2. Concept, art and technology test.
  3. Give the client more detailed possibilities and get enough feedback, then lock down to a specific direction.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. Decide the direction as soon as possible to catch up with the overall schedule of ETC.

• Week Three
• 
  Things done this week:
  1. Built a great team atmosphere. We not only have open and respectful discussions, but also have fresh fruits everyday.
  2. Set up daily scrum meeting time.
  3. Had several team meeting discussed 12 ideas we have and finally chose 2 best ones to propose to the client.
  4. Started to prepare promotional materials for 1/4 walkarounds.
  5. Finished team logo and website.
  6. Had two meetings with advisors.
  
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Get feedback from the client and set up skype meeting with her.
• 2. Determine the project topic and start to create prototypes.
• 3. Prepare for 1/4 walkaround.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. Our time is limited. After getting feedback from the client, we need to improve our ideas as soon as possible.
• 2. It is hard to design promotional materials when we are still choosing the way to go.

• Week Two
• 
  Things done this week:
  1. Group lunch on Monday.
  2. Decorated the project room.
  3. Updated team schedule according to the change in everyone’s elective courses schedule.
  4. Started brainstorming specific scenarios for the project and doing research on feasible method to implement the project.
  5. Finished team logo and website.
  6. Had several talks with advisors, changed the weekly advisor meeting to Wednesday 1:30 pm.
  7. Created a folder on Google Drive for sharing materials with the client.
• 
  Plan for next week:
  
• 1. Discuss and organize ideas we have and share them with the client.
• 2. Prepare other materials needed for quarter.
• 
  Challenge:
  
• 1. Since now we are brainstorming and doing research, it is difficult to track team progress.
• 2. Super busy with class and global game jam.

• Week One
• 
  Things done this week:
  1. Set up the project room.
  2. Had a group dinner on Monday.
  3. Established a team folder on Google Drive for project management. Also created a team schedule on Google Calendar.
  4. Decided the team name “HEXAD” after an extensive brainstorming.
  5. Divided up basic roles and tasks: Orange is the producer, Ronny is the co-producer, Euka is the lead designer, Leisen, Jenny and Key are programmers.
  6. Started working on logo and website and already got prototypes.
  7. Had several team meetings discussing our vision and what we hope to do.
  8. Had several talks with advisors and Anna Roberts, set up the weekly advisor meeting on Friday 4 pm.
  9. Had two meetings and one dinner with the client. Discussed requirements, expectations and how we work together.
• 
  Plan for next week:
  1. Group lunch on Monday.
  2. Update team schedule according to the change in everyone’s elective courses schedule.
  3. Started brainstorming specific scenarios for the project and doing research on feasible method to implement the project.
  4. Finish the first version of team logo and website.
  
• 
  Challenge:
  1. Balance project tasks with classes’ assignments.
  2. Communicating with the client efficiently and professionally.