Newsletter 14
This week we presented neuraltone to our faculty at “Soft opening”, essentially our beta release. We received a lot of valuable feedback, including some words about speed and feedback that we then quickly implemented. Faculty were also pleased with the state of the customization tool, which has come a long way since last week. We now have a working version and are completing polish and testing.
On Wednesday, we delivered a new version of the game to Dr. Holt for testing. They found some issues with the amount of time it takes to level up; sometimes up to 40 minutes just to reace level 10. We addressed those concerns for our second release on Friday, but noted that most of the problems they were having could be easily addressed by using the customization tool . We believe we’re at a place now where the game is done and the tool is all that needs to be perfected for a great ending.
Some useful Softs feedback:
1. Issue: Score and level UI are too small
Solution: increase UI element size by 50%
2. Issue: Visual suggests earning points when player takes hits
Solution: No more diamond, player does not receive points
3. Issue: Music is nice, but what about research opportunities?
Solution: Add custom soundtrack options to customization tool
4. Issue: Level up screen not juicy enough
Solution: Made it faster and more obvious that player is moving
For our final week before final presentations, were are focused on polishing the customization tool and polishing the visuals in the game. We are also conducing vigorous internal testing of the tools to make sure everything is working correctly and as it should. Our goal is to delivery our final version of the game and tool to Dr. Holt and her team on Friday, May 3rd. Then we present our project on Monday, and call this semester over! We’re excited and pleased about the work we’ve done this semester, and we hope it pays off in the form of new learning in Dr. Holt’s area of research, and a greater understanding of how useful games can be in the scientific world.