Interactive Bear
Interactive Bear (link)
Raising Pets
Feeding, Washing, Sleeping, Responding
Elevator Pitch: On the basic home page, click “Interactive Pets” to enter the game website. Then press your mouse on each white square, and the bear will respond accordingly; for instance, the white square with corn would make the bear eat corn.
Abstract Description: When thinking about what to do for Project B NYU Creative Coding F22, I thought of designing a website that focused on the interaction between the user and the computer. For this reason, I thought of creating a pet that would react depending on the user’s commands. At first, I had three main commands in mind, washing, feeding, and drying. During my Project Proposal presentation, I realized that my project resembled a childhood game I used to play Nintendodogs. I tried to keep my project as original as possible and created many other tools. Additionally, to the suggestions during the experimental day. By the end of the project, I developed six tools: washing, feeding, sleeping, changing color, waving, and cleaning. The main purpose of this project is to let the user interact with the pet as they prefer. My project currently has simple commands and could be further improved. Presently, the game is a one-way interaction where the pet responds to the user’s commands. To further develop the game, the bear could make a request and more responsive actions, making this game more fun and interesting.
Process: Design and Composition
I first came up with my idea when contemplating on how to create an interactive website. Thus, I thought of creating a game with tools that made a pet respond. For the website design, I wanted it to be as simple and straightforward as it could be because I did not want the user to be distracted or lost. The final outcome does somewhat reach my expectations but lacks some realistic detail and technical improvements such there should be an instance where more dust comes and the color skin needs to be a one click function rather than press.
Process: Technical
One of the technical challenges that I faced was how to make the feeding tool more realistic. At first, the corn only appeared in the bear’s mouth. Given the suggestion of a classmate in adding falling crumbs, I adapted the game by adding crumbs and making the leaf fall once the corn disappear at a given time. If I were given a chance to do it all over again, I would make more functions slots on the toolbar and perfect the bear reactions.
Reflection and Future Development
In terms of the number of functions, I am satisfied with its outcome. With the given tight time schedule, I was only planning of creating three to four interactive responses. Nevertheless, I was able to create six tools that were beyond my expectations. Although this project is still imperfect, I had a great experience and fun with it. For future projects, I should further plan on developing the intent and interaction aspects.