A. PROJECT
Title: Fight for Vegetables
B. PROJECT STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Obviously, this project adopted the idea of the lockdown life in Shanghai, especially in early April. Pudong and Puxi were all being quarantined, people could not go out to buy food and did not receive many of the government-issued packages, the only way to avoid starving is to use different selling platforms by keep tapping the ‘pay’ button as quickly as possible. Therefore, to record this impressive experience, I decided to create an interactive game to mock the situation of panic-buying food online. For people located in Shanghai, it is like an ironic black comedy, while for people outside Shanghai, it is an opportunity for them to experience the crisis and reminds remind them to cherish and store their food.
C. PROJECT PLAN
Just like I said in the proposal, players first press a force sensor to grab the food, then keep pressing the button to pay successfully to fight for a quota of transport. What is worse, the food in the cart may disappear, which means they are out of supply. The loser would receive the reminder, “See you tomorrow” and shows an empty fridge, while the winner can see a truck icon, and receive bags of food.
I also planned to add another mode to better present the Shanghai situation. Players can randomly choose a role before the game starts and may face distinct obstacles during the game. I think this mode can not only present how normal people buy food in Shanghai but also illustrates minorities’ situations. For example, the elderly may find the process too complicated and react slowly, foreigners can not understand the instructions, and blind people can not even see the screen.
I think this project is a soft way to spread today’s Shanghai situation to other places. Even though time goes by and people would gradually forget about the panic-buying time, ‘Fight for Vegetables” is also a reminder to everyone. The two modes can show the difficulties that almost every family in Shanghai has encountered and shared the resonance, and those that have not experienced it before could also understand the difficulties and feel empathy.
Below is my plan.
4/25-26 Processing code (design for intro, background, vegetables, truck, result page)
4/27 Arduino code (fsr+button)
4/28-29 Code for second mode (different characters, obstacles…)
4/30-5/2 More time for writing code in case I can not finish them on time, think for inputs forms
5/3-5 Debugging, decoration
5/6 User test, adjust deficiency
5/7-8 adjust deficiency, design poster, film and edit the video
5/9 Upload the final video
D. CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
I think this project meets the definition of interaction for me because players use Arduino such as sensors and buttons to interact with the computer, and the computer would process and show different responses based on users’ actions. Moreover, the result is unpredictable, we can not guess the winner after the entire game is finished. Therefore, the game is more than just a fixed program, which needs different rounds of interaction to finish. One possible concern is the unavoidable of instructions. If I did not show any directive, the game may be a little complicated for players. However, the article “Making Interactive Art: Set the Stage, Then Shut Up and Listen” written by Tom Igoe demonstrates the importance of designers not invading the users’ experience. To solve the problem, I will use short and simple instructions shown on the screen to not limit the players and give them flexible space to explore. Moreover, for the final research, I chose two examples that combine audio and scene very well. Hence, maybe I will think of inserting music or images to make the game process richer.
I think the unique part of my project is the combination of current situations and game factors. Or to say, the gamification of showing the reality. As a result, this is not only a fun game but also with social values and reflection meaning. Compared to the midterm project, I plan to design a project that has a significant topic related to the whole society, and I believe “Fight for Vegetables” can help me achieve this. It works for everyone, and for further development, I can design different modes or other types of ways to buy food to better present the recent days.
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