A. Project Title
Musical Colors
B. Project Statement of Purpose
Upon reflecting on my midterm project, I have found that interaction between multiple people creates a different reaction and experience compared to interacting with a project alone. I thought of many activities that involves two people but at the same time can also be done alone and came to the conclusion of playing music. I used to play piano, which is something that can be played alone, but I also remembered the times I’ve played duets. From those memories, I remember how much different the experience was playing the piano with someone else together compared to playing a piece alone. Because you have to make sure you’re playing at the right speed as the other person, it creates a interactive experience between you and the other player. In a way, it can be thought of as an cooperative game. From that, I thought about creating a project that could imitate this experience, allowing the user to play alone or with someone else and experience two different feelings.
C. Project Plan
For my project, I plan to have possibly a preset song that will play when the user(s) press the correct keys. On the screen, there will be two rows of different colored blocks in order from left to right. The user just has to press the correct key (button) of the corresponding color shown on the screen for the note to play (the physical key/buttons will also be colored). When the correct key is pressed, the note will play and the block on the screen will rotate once as a visual feedback that the user pressed the correct key. Two players can also play. I want to have an option before the game starts for the user to choose whether there’s one or two players. When two players play, however, the blocks on the screen will only give the rotation feedback and play the note when both players hit the key at the exact same time.
I plan to first code music block notes on the screen during the first week and have it done by May 4th. Then start to work on the second half, connecting the buttons from Arduino to Processing from May 4th until the presentation.
Project Plan
Week 1: Visual coding
Week 2: Start working on connecting the buttons from Arduino to Processing
D. Context and Significance
In my preparatory research and analysis, I refined my definition of interaction from the previous research project to “interactivity is not only a process of input, processing, output, thinking, and feedback but simultaneously a process that evokes strong emotional feeling from the participants.” Then after this, I received feedback on my midterm project. Upon further reflection, I would like to finalize my definition of interaction as “an experience between a person and computer or two or more people that involves a process of input, output, thinking and feedback which evokes strong emotional feeling from the participants.” Because there are many different levels of interactivity, I would say the most engaging form of interaction is usually between two or more people. In the case that a computer is involved, it acts as a tool or form of interaction for the users to be engaged in. So for my final project, I wanted to create something that emphasizes the different level of interaction depending on the number of participants. I also wanted to focus on a fun aspect for the project so participants will experience a positive feeling when interacting with my project.