Recitation 9: Final Project Process by Bing Chen

Julie’s project is about creating a tapping game that measures how precisely the player pushes a button at a specific time and for a specific length. This project is interesting because it sounds like a fun game, especially because it is based off a similar game that already exists that is already established as fun. The feedback we gave her was that she should make the game more interactive by making it multiplayer; instead of just one person playing, it should be a team player kind of game. This game is significant in the way we interact with technology because the original game it is based on involves tapping on a screen. Using physical buttons takes this game back to the retro period and brings a sense of nostalgia not many games bring. 

Kathy’s project is about making an interactive car that forces the user to get up and interact with it in order to keep them from a computer screen for a few minutes so they will have a healthier lifestyle. This project is interesting in its concept because it shows that interaction doesn’t have to be fun. The user will most likely become very annoyed with the car but the fact that they were willing to get such a product shows their desire to reduce their screen time even if it means giving up their freedom to a robot car. The project’s interaction with technology is different than the standard interaction with computers, phones, and other electronic devices where a person interacts with it while sitting still. This technology will interact with the person while keeping them active, allowing them to move around and getting some much needed exercise.

Jonathan’s project is about making a game modeled after the Greek mythology of Daedalus and the Minotaur. In this game, two players (one as the Minotaur and one as a runner trying to escape the maze) play against each other to see who can accomplish their goals first. The Minotaur has to catch the runner and the runner has to run away from the Minotaur and escape the maze. This project is interesting because of how many different layers it has: the heart beat mini-game to decide the speed of the avatars, the characters, the abilities, the goals, the Greek mythology backstory, etc. Some feedback we gave him was somehow teach the players the backstory of the myth before they play so they understand the purpose of the Minotaur (and what a Minotaur is) and players and why they have to do what they have to do. We also asked him to consider the difficulty as a super-sized 1000×1000 maze would be very difficult to solve while the player is occupied with escaping the Minotaur. This is different than our interaction with technology because once again, we are using retro joystick controllers instead of the modern computer keys that would normally be used to control characters on a screen. This brings back nostalgia of the pac-man arcade days. 

Overall, I didn’t discover a new definition for interaction but I did notice that people’s interactivity seems to increase the more people are involved. So something like a multiplayer games has “more” interaction than something that is not a game. This is something interesting I discovered from this recitation.

The feedback I received for my project was to include the other senses as stimuli to affect the heart-rate in addition to just sight and sound. Someone also said that we could make the images we show react to the user’s heart-rate. For example, if the user’s heart-rate is high, we could show a picture that could slow the heartbeat. We were also advised to create an environment where outside stimuli wouldn’t have an affect on the user’s heart-rate by either using headphones or making a soundproof containment for the project. After discussing the feedback with my partner, we decided that the last feedback was very helpful and we want to incorporate the headphones into our project. The feedback also pointed out that our project is too “sciency,” I think this is the least successful part of our proposal. We wanted to make something fun but it ended up sounding more like a science experiment than an interactive project. We will need to think deeply about the message we want to send with our project since it is no longer just a simple project involving a heart-rate monitor. 

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