I reached the halfway mark for this project this week. I went ahead and submitted my M3 Interim Report, accordingly. While I have not yet been able to return to the direct production of the project, I looked into research regarding character designs, in regards to games/simulations, and user response. I also had a conversation with my Autism Across the Lifespan professor, who has continued to provide support as an unofficial secondary advisor, and with a student in the course regarding this same topic. They were both able to provided some useful feedback. Basically, my initial inclination to steer away from realism seems to be the proper appoach to character design.

I am continuing to steadily work through this IRB Application process. A PhD student, who works with my advisor, shared an accepted application for their current project with me, which has been incredibly helpul. I should be able to finalize and submit my application within the next couple of days. I also helped this same student out by serving as a pilot study participant for their project, which has put some of my study planning procedures into clearer focus.