Week six update:
This week we have really focused on honing our non-virtual experience prototype for the next sprint. Our designers have come up with a system that they want to test, primarily using a virtual TV that will display information on the inviter’s side. For the invitee, they will be pinged with the use of a watch, and if the invitation is accepted, they will be transferred to the host’s room via a teleportation beam. Instead of a knocking entry system, the system will play a sound effect to notify the host that the guest has entered the space.
Once in the space, the guest and host will have one simple interaction: 20 questions. This will be initiated via the TV – one person will see a word/topic, and the other person will see the number of questions they have left to ask. This is intentionally left free-form to allow conversation to take place around the various topics.
With regards to exit, we plan to have two indicators of the passage of time: the weather and a grandfather clock. Exit will be handled in the same way that entry of the space was – the guest will step into the teleportation beam and if they stay in it for more than 3 seconds, will be teleported back to their space.
On the tech side of our project, we have made good progress with our basic groundwork moving forward. We now have two separate spaces for the guests to start in – the host starts in the hearth, and the guest starts in a version of the meditation room. Currently our invite system is a little hacked, where we notify each other during the playtest that the host has sent the invite and one of us pushes space to pop up the invite for the guest. Knocking is still being tested in our virtual prototype as well, and we have the addition of a simple ball object that the two users can interact with.
Continuing off of the ball interaction, we have also made interesting observations from our playtests this Friday and Saturday. Most notably, the addition of the ball has resulted in the two users having a common interact-able object in the space, and in a lot of the playtests the hosts (who were able to spawn the balls) would gift the guest the ball on their way out. Another interesting observation regarding the ball is that even if it reinforced exit rituals, it also became a magnet for the majority of the conversations in the hearth space.
