Horse scene progress

Here is the progress I've made to the horse scene.

The camera will follow the horse and the horse will walk along a preset path and jump over the fence when the user exhales properly. There is a grass texture and procedurally generated grass in the scene.

5 Demos

We plan on making 5 demos so that we can have a range of games to choose from. Some of these ideas were based on feedback from users during our preliminary testing. The 5 demo ideas are:

- A rocketship that shoots into the night sky as the user exhales
- A birthday cake full of candles that blow out as the user exhales
- A game where the user blows down a house in similar fashion to the big bad wolf
- A game where the user tried to blow a toy sailboat across a pond
- A game where a pony is running around a track and will jump over a hurdle if the user    
  exhales hard enough. 

There will be a main sandbox type level that will contain an object from each type of game that the user starts in every time the simulation is run. Upon walking into one of the objects, that objects corresponding game will run. 

Update on concept, materials, and schedule

Concept Design

Our objective is to create a virtual reality program using Unreal Development Kit 4 that is integrated with Oculus Rift and a custom-built electronic spirometer. With this program, we hope to better incentivize children with pulmonary issues to be more willing to perform reliable pulmonary function tests (PFTs).

We plan on creating two demos, if possible, this semester. One will consist of a sailboat that is propelled across a lake based on how the child performs.  The other will simulate the big bad wolf, blowing down a little pig’s house. We decided on these two, since they are fairly gender neutral in design.

The spirometer will be created using an Arduino board and a compatible bread board, along with the following materials.

Materials

-PVC pipe

-Plastic tubing

-Glue

-Pressure sensor (Honeywell brand?)

-Micro USB cable

-Wires

Schedule

Oct. 6: Interaction Design – paper prototype

Oct. 13: Project Proposal Presentation

Oct. 20: Blocked in first game

Oct. 27: Electronic Spirometer completed

Nov. 3: Spirometer works with program/Block-in 2nd scene

Nov: 10: Update graphics for both demos/Fine-tune Spirometer

Nov: 17: Continue finishing product (graphics, precise measurements)

Dec. 1: System Implementation Done

Dec. 8: Project Presentation

Dec. 10: VIST Show presentation

Dec. 15: Research paper and Documentation Video

Preliminary tests

We had users blow into long paper bags, and answer some questions about the experience in order to get feedback on our concept. Here were some of the questions we asked our users:

1. This project is for 5-11 year olds. What do you think about that?

2. What were your initial thoughts about the project?

3. What did you think afterwards?

4. Was it engaging?

5. Did it make the experience better or worse?

6. What did you think about the sailboat scene?

7. What did you think about the airplane scene?

8. What other environments would you like to see?

9. What additional thoughts do you have, if any?