The phase three presentation summarises the creation of our group (Emilia and I), how we shared and combined our research and ideas, formed our essential experience, and developed our game ideas and prototypes.

The purpose of the presentation was to proposed our three distinct game ideas to the class along with the supported prototypes but we though that it would be informative to the class if we also presented to them, our journey.

Presentation slides & notes

The presentation was split into two parts so Emilia and I had a shared contribution. We documented the content of the powerpoint presentation together. In class, I presented slides 1 -12 and Emilia presented 13-17 as well as the supporting videos that demonstrated our prototypes.

Slides 1-6 began with the announcement of our team name EKGAMES and then we explained our initial design process that was supported by our research in phases one and two, as well as the ideation methods that we undertook. Those include, the lotus flower, mind-maps, establishing project aims and sharing out research.

Next we share with our class the essential experience of our game and the reasoning behind it. We share a great ambition to do what we can to make positive change with particular interest in mental health. And so our essential experience is “Providing the experience of immersion as a tool for regulation through effective sound design and visuals. We intend to provide a game experience that leaves our players relaxed, refreshed and recharged.

Establishing our essential experience and target audience allowed us to to take considerations for the needs and desires of the player and we put a lot of research into this, including user-centred design, inclusive design and player agency.

We also crated personas to reflect our target audience. They are both students who are struggling to manage the responsibilities of student life, with deadlines and work stress weighing heavy on their minds. They require the space and tools to help them regulate these feelings.

As our features of focus are visuals, sound and immersion, we have deeply researched how we can use immersive technology to achieve our desired experience. Examples of this are physical adapted spaces such as bods, boxes and domes, and surround sound, projections and interactive light displays.

One physical space we have visited to support our research was The Astrodome, an inflatable planetarium that projects visuals onto its walls. It is used here at the university to teach students about astronomy. Another space that we intend to visit this week is the 6m Cylinder developed by Igloo Vision. It features surround sound and 360 degree projections. Furthermore, it has the ability to explore motion sense, gesture control and we could even make use for a controller to interact with the space.

Once we had developed supporting research, we were able to start idea generation which we kicked off with methods such as crazy 8’s. From those ideas generated, we had discussions to refine them before forming some gameplay loops and basic visuals for our strongest ideas.

Slides 13-17 presented by Emilia. Supporting videos are available on the course sharepoint or on my prototype pages in Phase 3 documentation Prototyping and Testing.