Sprint Report 6 16‐6 27 - RutgersGRID/DanceAutism GitHub Wiki

Brain Dance Project: Sprint Update (June 16 – June 27)

Executive Summary

The Brain Dance project is currently in a focused development phase, making significant strides in game design, character design, and music. Technical development is currently paused but poised for reactivation with the upcoming onboarding of a new team member.

We’ve successfully expanded our team with the addition of Jackie Firme, a character designer, and are looking forward to welcoming Eric Yang, our programmer developer, who will resume technical implementation efforts. While Rick has had to pivot to another project, we have proactively identified several potential pose detection methods, which Eric will evaluate to determine the most suitable technology for our needs.

The game design team has also gained valuable insights from a recent workshop, which will inform future design iterations. Our music team has made excellent progress in defining a unique musical approach, blending lo-fi hip hop, chamber music, and post-minimalism, and has already produced initial tracks.

  1. Link to 6/16/25 Sprint Meeting Summary

Action Items & Pending Content

  • Natalie: Create low, mid, high choreography videos so that designer, developer, and musician can base their next steps on (Monday.com Task)
  • Aaron: Cross-lateral music design (Monday.com Task)

Current Progress

Game Design

  • The game design team (Maka, Kenny, Jackie) attended a relevant workshop, gathering valuable notes and insights.
  • New insights from the workshop are influencing and refining current game design concepts.

Character Design

  • Jackie Firme has officially joined the team and is actively contributing to character design.

Music

  • Musical Approach Defined:
    Aaron is developing two distinct musical styles:

    • The Soothe (calming elements)
    • The Groove (rhythmic elements for movement)

  • Inspiration & References:

    • Lo-fi hip hop (danceability, sensory comfort)
    • Chamber music (simplicity, sensory accommodation)
    • Post-minimalism (calm, atmospheric; e.g., Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt)
    • Additional references: Handel’s Water Music, Adagio for Strings

  • Aesthetic:
    Aiming for a "Lo-fi hip hop meets Disney" feel. Later levels will draw from classical dance music to support more active movement.

  • Techniques:
    Utilizing sampled chamber compositions to create lo-fi beats. Influenced by golden age hip hop (e.g., A Tribe Called Quest – "Electric Relaxation").

  • BPM Considerations:
    Exploring BPMs suitable for different movement intensities (noting that 60 BPM is too slow, and 120 BPM is too fast).

  • Research & Creative Approach:

    • Identified gaps in dance therapy, dance games, and VR games.
    • Using spectral analysis and iterative, qualitative auditory design methods.

  • Planned Research:

    • Recruit 10–15 adults (18+) through the Rutgers autism support program.
    • Conduct semi-structured interviews to evaluate sensory, motor, and emotional responses.
    • Studies will be conducted twice before December, including participants with varying mobility and verbal skills.
    • Participatory feedback is currently being used in lieu of the IRB process.

  • Production Progress:

    • Two tracks completed: "Lo-fi Flow" and "Lo-fi Groove"

  • Future Plans:

    • Publish the OST as a Spotify playlist
    • Track and incorporate key musical terms: soothe, groove, pulse

Technical Development (Currently Paused)

  • Technical work paused while Rick is reassigned to another project.

  • Identified potential pose detection methods for testing:

    • BodyPixSentis
    • BlazePose Lite/Full
    • BlazePose GHUM Holistic
    • YOLO-NAS Pose
    • Poseidon (ViTPose Ext.)

  • Upcoming:

    • Eric Yang will be onboarded to take over technical implementation.
    • He will evaluate pose detection tools for Unity integration before taking leave (June 30 – July 9).
    • He will resume work on another project post-leave and return when available.

What We Have So Far

  • Initial game design concepts, now being refined with new workshop insights.
  • Active character design work by Jackie Firme.
  • A unique and well-defined musical vision with genre-spanning references and creative strategies.
  • Two completed tracks: "Lo-fi Flow" and "Lo-fi Groove"
  • A research plan for gathering sensory and emotional feedback on the music.
  • A prioritized list of pose detection tools for implementation.
  • A clear technical roadmap with Eric Yang’s onboarding.

Meetings & Schedule

Sprint Meetings

  • Regular UOES team meetings (Kenny, Maka, Rick, Jackie)

Whole Team Meetings (Kenny, Maka, Rick, Jackie, Aaron, Natalie)

  • June 27, 2025
  • July 11, 2025
  • July 25, 2025
  • August 8, 2025
  • August 22, 2025
  • September 12, 2025
  • September 26, 2025

Reference Materials