Inspiration
Artwork 1: A simple quick sketch made by Andre Burnier. The concept revolves around using the mouse click to make the ball interact with the various lines.
Name of the Artist – André Burnier
He is a graphic designer and coder, based in Brazil. He has done his masters in graphic design at AKV | St. Joost in Breda – Netherlands.
Andre focused on actively researching the interaction between graphic design and programming. Expertise includes generative design, custom-made designer bots, as well as more traditional graphic design – logos, visual identities, and editorial.
We were inspired by the simple graphics and movement of the ball to make a fun interaction with it, maybe something similar to an interaction-based game, because we wanted the user experience to be a very fun one.
In order to manipulate the overall experience, we studied the collisions of the balls.
This also led us to search for other interactive games with balls and different objects and we came across the brick breaker game.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgkarqFOlN-/
Searching further for interactive games, we came across this large-scale game created by the Moment Factory.
Artwork 2: HOTSPOT – An Interactive Sprint With Moving Targets
In the game, players must catch moving hotspots. The gameplay focuses on agility and speed. Physical obstacles optional
1 runner at a time – 3 minutes
This game is 100% customizable and adapts to all types of environments.
Moment Factory is a multimedia studio with a full range of production expertise under one roof. Their team combines specializations in video, lighting, architecture, sound, and special effects to create remarkable experiences. With its headquarters based in Montreal, the studio also has offices in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore. They have created more than 500 unique shows and destinations.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CgkarqFOlN-/
This inspired us to combine the world of a virtual game with physical space and also to explore real-time tracking and projection mapping. Virtual games can be integrated anywhere and tailored to any audience, making them ideal for public display.
Also, incorporating virtual gaming with physical activity, as it is no less than a workout, can also be used to relieve stress or warm up at work.
As games are often very fun, we were encouraged to create something which is simple but also engaging and interactive.
Conceptualization
Breakout was among the first games to be created, back in 1976 by one of the oldest video game developers, Atari. It came out as a modified version of Atari’s first game, Pong and was referred to as “Pong turned on its side”. A concept created by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, it uses a paddle near the bottom of the screen to bounce a ball towards layers of bricks at the top of the screen. When the ball hits the bricks, the bricks that are touched are eliminated. The goal of the player is to eliminate all the bricks on the screen.
Following its success as an arcade game, there were a series of Breakout games released by Atari in the following years, as well as numerous similar games by other developers. Breakout also inspired Steve Wozniak, its original engineer along with Steve Jobs, to create Brick Out in BASIC for the first Apple ][ computer – the first software version of the original hardware creation. Where the original was a black and white arcade machine game that used cellophane strips on the screen to colour the bricks, this new version used both colour and sound to amplify the user’s experience playing the game.
For our project, we analysed the three primary elements of the game – the bricks, the paddle and the ball – to see if we could manipulate these elements to create an interesting experience for the player, considering the increased possibilities that computer vision offered us now, compared to the simplicity of the original game. We found that the engagement offered simply by bouncing the ball off the paddle was very high, especially when the paddle was controlled by an unexpected body part like a nose or a wrist, and players found that experience itself to be fairly rewarding. So we decided to continue with an exploration of the possibilities of interaction between the player and the screen, while maintaining the simplicity of the gameplay.
Some of the questions that arose during this process of exploration, helping us formulate our final concept were:
- How does the scale of the screen space impact the player’s ability to continuously engage with the game?
- What is the value of the body in creating an engaging experience with a game that is traditionally played using computer hardware?
- Is it possible to draw the player into the screen space without physically placing them within the screen?
- How can analog tools like a piece of chalk and a blackboard amplify the user’s experience of the game?
In answering these questions, we found that the best user experience for our game came from being able to present it in a life sized scale where the player is able to focus solely on the functionality of their body as the paddle and where the primary and only goal is to hit the ball. With no scorekeeping or ending, it functions as a way for the player to let go of any mental boundaries placed on the movement of their body and allows them to “enter” the screen space completely, almost forgetting about the presence of their body in the physical space.
To increase the effect of this experience, we decided to create the game with a black background using a brightly coloured ball and paddle that both changed colour based on the success of the player. This was achieved using p5.js for the design, Posenet by ml5.js for the computer vision aspect and Collide2D for the gameplay. This was then projected on a blackboard, stretching the limits of the screen beyond what the projector could offer, minimising the player’s awareness of the existence of a separate screen at all. Placing written guides on the screen, for which two parts of the body created the paddle, helped the player move more easily and offered a good level of amusement as well, by highlighting the absurdity of the placement of the paddle and how it would move. Ensuring the player could not see their actual body reflected on the screen in any way was the key to minimising how conscious they were of their physical presence.
Explorations and User Testing Link: https://youtu.be/ZJkmakvHXEk
Documentation
Demonstration Link: https://youtu.be/ZDOcGTbguUk
The ideal state of our installation would be projected onto 2 screens wherein the person would have a bigger space to run around and play with the game providing a more wholesome experience.
Editable Code: https://editor.p5js.org/zaheensandhu/sketches/ibOwdHTrA
Fullscreen Experience: https://editor.p5js.org/zaheensandhu/full/ibOwdHTrA
Bibliography
“Fun Solutions to Transform Any Space into Immersive Playground.” Moment Factory, 2020, https://momentfactory.com/work/destinations/public-spaces/augmented-games.
https://momentfactory.com/about/segments/shows/lumina-night-walks
“Fun Solutions to Transform Any Space into Immersive Playground.” Moment Factory, 2020, https://momentfactory.com/work/destinations/public-spaces/augmented-games.
Çimen, E. Gökçe. “A Brief History of Brick Breaker Video Games.” Hero Concept, 9 Sept. 2018, https://www.heroconcept.com/a-brief-history-of-brick-breaker-video-games/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2022.
Wozniak, Steve. “How Steve Wozniak Wrote Basic for the Original Apple from Scratch.” Gizmodo, 1 May 2014, https://gizmodo.com/how-steve-wozniak-wrote-basic-for-the-original-apple-fr-1570573636.