During this recitation, I was exposed to and analyzed three different projects besides my own.
Project 1: “Bongo with Bongo Cat” by Jackson Sayama
- This project creates a musical instrument where the cat’s paw acts as the interface where each “finger” will cause a different sound to be made on the screen. In the meantime, the Processing code will be playing a song that most people are familiar with, such as Queen’s “We Will Rock You” so that the objective of the user is to make the sounds at the correct time to complete the music.
- Cyclic process in which two or more actors affect one another is Jackson’s interpretation of interaction, and I believe this project fits into it well because of the continuous nature of the serial communication between the code as well as the user’s input.
- Some feedback:
- Make it a two player game to make it even more interactive/entertaining by adding some competition
- Add an external speaker to amplify the sound, since otherwise the sound might be drowned out especially during user testing session when the room is pretty loud
- Another solution to the sound issue would be to add headphones for players to use
Project 2: “Manamonster” by Jessica Xing
- Jessica’s “Manamonster” is inspired by the early 2000s popular game Tamagotchi but replaces the cute animal/creature with a monster. She aims to challenge social norms of beauty/cuteness. Interaction with a touch sensor, a button, and a potentiometer to control what takes place virtually for the monster.
- Clear purpose and expressed communication/meaningful and personal to the user is Jessica’s take on the definition of interaction. This project matches it well because the user is fully aware of the result or “output” they intend to see when triggering the sensors in a certain way, and they receive this every time.
- Some feedback/questions:
- How to decide on what constitutes “monstrous” features in order to achieve the desired effect of creating an ugly creature that people have been conditioned by society to be repulsed by, as goes the premise of the project?
- How will she determine whether people became enamoured by the monster at the end?
- Suggestion: at the end of the game/the monster’s growth cycle, add a question/short survey asking the user if they love their creature/if they think it is cute — in this case, add another question at the beginning of the game as well asking if the user thinks the creature is aesthetically pleasing
Project 3: “Tip, Tap, Snap” by Justin Wu
- This project is inspired by the once wildly popular game of Guitar Hero but with a picture capturing program to capture the moment unbeknownst to the user. Uses a pressure sensor for the buttons to click according to the colors on screen
- Two parties bouncing ideas off of each other while creating 1+1>2 effect with creativity is Justin’s take on the definition of interaction. In this case, the project fulfills this as the output is greater than the inputs because not only are the colored “beats” pushed and met on time, the system also captures a photo of the user.
- This project is insteresting in that it adds the nostalgic effect by using old music that most people know, as well as incorporating the snap which gives the users a more authentic memory to hold onto the experience by catching them off guard during the game.
- Some feedback:
- Add a filter to the picture, such as one for the winner indicating that they won and another one for the loser indicating that they lost
- For the two player game, split the screen down the middle vertically instead of horizontally so that it is easier for the players to distinguish between their respective beats by each standing on one side of the screen as they would anyway instead of having it split between top and bottom which can potentially be more confusing to the users.
Feedback/suggestions received for my project: “Tap the World”
- Add sound effect – maybe a swish for every time the cap makes it through one of the holes
- Increase the degrees by which it rotates every time a cap makes it through a hole to give user a more immediate/substantial response
- Count the number of caps that have made it through on screen
- Making it into hole will evoke a message onto screen with a fun fact about climate change
- Add a count of the amount of full revolutions
- Or make each cap show up on the screen and rotate around the earth
- Prompt users to throw it, clarify that it is a game — put some simple instructions somewhere
- Make an LED light up whenever a cap makes it in