Recitation 9: Final Project Process by Sharon Xu

Group Mates: Karen Zhang, Celine Yu, Alice Frank

Karen Zhang:

The Project

Karen’s project is called “Pickmon,” where users will be given different types of Pokemon (4 in total) based on their heartbeat as well as their answers to the questions. It is inspired by the sorting hat from Harry Potter and is interactive because the project involves input, processing, and output. The output given to the potential users will be presented through-3D printed boxes, inside which there would be a cute Pokemon. I find the Pokemon would be attractive to many users because Pokemon is the memory of childhood for many people. I find the project interesting because the type of Pokemon the user gets is unknown and personalized. But for me, a person who is not familiar with Pokemon, the project is not as much as attractive.

The Feedback

As for feedback, we came up with many ideas that we thought would help Karen’s project be more interesting and interactive. I suggest that the questions designed be Karen not too personal, but interesting, such as some quiz or NYUSH related questions. I found the most interesting idea given by Celine is that after the two players go through different ‘tests’ that would determine their Pokemon type for them, the two Pokemon the users were given would then ‘battle’ with each other. This idea would make the project more competitive and interactive. The users need to move quickly or use other methods to raise their heartbeat to win the game and the increasing heartbeat would make them excited. By realizing this idea, I think Karen’s project would be more attractive even to those who are not familiar with Pokemon and make users feel motivated to start a new round of input, which meets my definition of interaction.

Celine Yu:

The Project

Celine’s project is called “Break Free”, which is aimed to help people deal with stress and overcome their failures of fear. As the escape room, Celine’s project would use Processing to create a virtual scene. Users try to escape the room by interacting with real objects or cracking some clues. The goal of this project is to enable users to feel the pressure released by breaking the sense of imprisonment. I found the project interesting because it’s interactive and can create a sense of virtual reality. However, I think this project needs more thinking and improvement in terms of helping users release pressure because I didn’t feel it’s exactly a method for people to release pressure.

The Feedback

The advice my group members and I all had for Celine’s project was not to make it too difficult, because then users would feel the pressure to escape from the scene, rather than release the pressure. So the game can be divided into different difficulty levels, allowing users to choose according to their personal situation. I also suggested Celine not to make the interface too scary. Instead, try to make it fun and light, even with some interesting Easter eggs. In addition, the outcome of the game requires more design. We suggested designing some reward mechanism to make users feel encouraged once they finish the game, for example, showing the number of people who have escaped the room to tell the users that they are doing well, so as to make them feel confident about themselves. Karen suggested using a joystick instead of potentiometers, which are sometimes not so easy to control.

Alison Frank:

The Project

The name of Alison’s project has not been decided, but it is basically a project based on a storyline.  Alison is in charge of the code, her partner is in charge of the storyline. By making different choices, users can get different storylines, which I thought was like my favorite game Detroit: Become Human. The focus of the interaction will be achieved by using a distance sensor, which will record the detected movement of the user’s hand. I feel the project inactive because users can become the protagonist of the story, leading the clean development. But I think it would be challenging for Alison and her partner to design a large number of storylines based on users’ choices.

The Feedback

Based on what I thought about Alison’s project, I suggested that she simplify the plot as much as possible by, for example, adding a few plot lines that can overlap. Alison’s storyline isn’t finished yet, so we can’t suggest anything more about the storyline. But as a plot-based project, the project requires higher quality sound effects and pictures, which requires Alison to give more consideration. Also, audio copyright issues also need to be considered.

My Own Project: Feedback

My final project is based on the traditional mask-changing performance from Sichuan Opera. OpenCV could help me recognize faces and add mask stickers. Users can change the mask by pushing the button connected through Arduino. I think the feedback I received is quite useful.

1.“To have text alongside each mask to provide additional information to the user about its culture”

I think this suggestion is useful because it meets my aim to design the project. I want users to learn more about the traditional mask-changing performance from Sichuan Opera by designing the project, so more background knowledge is needed to provide to users. I plan to add a small clip of video about the mask -changing performance at the beginning and more introduction information for each mask in a folder which can be opened by users.

2.“ The point of interaction be changed and much more intuitive and creative by placing the sensor next to the camera”

This suggestion helped me a lot. Changing an input from a button to a distance sensor meets the users’ performing process, which means users can alter their faces with performative gestures instead of mechanically pressing buttons. I plan to install a distance sensor next to the camera to detect changes in distance, triggering the computer’s output.

3.  “To implement different cultures into the project, we also suggested and asked if she could insert different forms of interaction”

I understand this suggestion because cultural diversity is a very important factor. But at this stage, I want to focus on the mask-changing culture first and provide more information about face changing masks. After the initial completion of the project, based on the feedback from users, I will consider adding masks of other cultures to expand the cultural diversity.