Xenopoly

Presentation and demo

https://www.canva.com/design/DAF2NWa2xco/d-Lq9rjlFCUbNLYqK9AXWw/edit?utm_content=DAF2NWa2xco&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Reflections

KATIE: With the character concepts we had in mind for each playing card, I brainstormed the style I imagined would work well with the fantasy world we were creating for the game. Since our group decided to create the cards on a wooden material, I chose to do an intricate, oriental pattern accompanied by simplified vector illustrations of the 3D characters. In Adobe Illustrator, I used various shape tools and the pen tool to create a detailed pattern. In the vector illustration, I made sure to experiment with the black stroke weight as well as the positive and negative spaces that would be created by either the untouched parts of the wood or the burnt areas. Creating the design on Illustrator was the most time-consuming part of the process but once the design was created, the engraving went fairly smoothly. When the first laser engraving looked too light, I went over the engraving twice to deepen the carvings by adjusting the strength percentage of the black strokes. I had a few test runs on different types of wood to see if the thinner or thicker wood created more of a burnt vignette as well as which texture made the most sense visually.

MAVIS: Creating an AR space requires me to consider the relationship between all kinds of digital assets and the physical environment. When we are experiencing those interactions as users, we usually ignore the intricate logic between the objects, including 3D assets, UI elements, audio, and the users’ potential moves. Lens Studio has provided me with more in-depth knowledge of how small interactions are triggered with behavior scripts, how images should be differentiated when they’re in the world space and the screen space, and also how to get the user involved in the experience with visual directions. I learned from the difficulties we have encountered, such as managing the file size and the ways to make image triggers steady. Overall, it was a meaningful experience for me to understand AR interactions in a more comprehensive way.

AMANDA: One of the hardest parts was just is eating what the escape room was going to be. This is because we had to come up with puzzle ideas but also connect them to the next puzzle to make a logical story. Additionally we made many many tweaks along the way because our ideas for too complex for the knowledge we had on the software. Although Adobe aero can sometime be powerful, in this case it was too rudimentary for our ideas. It took a lot of thinking to redesign the puzzles to actually work in ar. As for the felt letterering, it took a bit to understand the right power to put so it was visible but not burnt through, but once I figured that out it was a breeze. Overall my favorite was figuring out the storytelling and fitting together ideas on how ar can make escape rooms a little different now.

MAYA: Starting with our ideation process, I was able to learn through our process of exploration, trial-and-error, and pivoting. We drew inspiration from escape rooms and excavations, which also reminded us of Indiana Jones movies. Because of this, we created an AR experience that focuses on entertainment as that seemed to be the theme that united all our initial ideas. For me, the most challenging part of the process was the translation from idea to creation because of the complexity in which we were planning at first. We had four riddles and that sequential and led to the escape from the game. However, elements changed which sparked us to adapt our idea into one that was more practical yet was applicable to our overall design.