Month: November 2018

Austin Treu – Final Project Proposal

For my final project, I intend to  make a game utilizing the turtle code as my base for player characters. The game will be based on Snake, with changes that could include things such as maps, power ups, and passive enemies. I intend to include a multiplayer mode in which the players can compete in rounds to last the longest. Running into anyone’s trail will cause the player who does so to lose. Including a set of playable characters with different strengths and weaknesses is also a priority.

I am still considering some other interesting possibilities for the game, like having multiple control schemes (mouse, keyboard, controller if possible), or a continuous run mode in which the game functions with the players constantly moving in one direction having to avoid different obstacles as well as each other. This mode could increase in difficulty as the game progresses, allowing players to compete to beat their own top scores.

Catherine Coyle – Looking Outwards 12

For my final project, I would like to make some kind of relaxing gardening mini game. Two of my favorite games that I’ve played are the Animal Crossing series and Stardew Valley which I’ll focus on for this looking outwards assignment.

Both of these are pretty well-known video games that have less of a ‘goal’ or storyline than a lot of games (Animal Crossing moreso than Stardew Valley in that respect), and instead are just peaceful ways to relax. Both of the games feature some kind of planting or gardening activity which is what inspired the idea for my project.

I like both of these games because they make you feel peaceful when you play them. The concepts and characters are all very friendly, and the games’ art is soft and welcoming. I don’t think much was overlooked in either games’ case. They have less story and mechanics than a lot of other games, but also they don’t need that because it would ruin the peaceful feeling

A screenshot from Stardew Valley which was developed by ConcernedApe and came out in 2016
A screenshot from Animal Crossing New Leaf of Nintendo’s ‘Animal Crossing’ series

(I am using my second grace day for this post)

Yingying Yan- Project-12-Proposal

For the final project, I am interested in data visualization. More specifically, I want to represent the data of Pittsburgh’s rainfall record using what I learned from 104. The goal of this project is to allow people to “see” how much rainwater Pittsburgh gets for the past year. And what we can possibly do with the rainwater if we collected fifty percent or thirty-five percent of it. The project should also be visually attractive and easy to understand. So the audience will be interested and comprehending the message that the project tries to relate.

I am not sure how this project will look like yet.

Yingying Yan-Looking Outwards-12

The two projects I find interesting are both from data visualization practitioners. Phantom Terrains by Stefanie Posavec is an audio interface which communicates the silent wireless signals that are in London, where they collected the data from. The goal was to convert the characteristics of the invisible wireless data into sound. People will be able to hear the changes in the landscape of sound around them. I am less interested in what the experience the soundtrack creates. But the visualization that the project created is very interesting. It conveys the information while also visually attracting.

2d graphic

The second project that I am interested in is Unnumbered Spark by Aaron Koblin. This is a sculpture or building size installation that allows the audience to control the projection on the soft fabric. This project is more like a motivation for me. Allow me to see what data visualization can possibly become.

Tanvi Harkare – Project 12 – Proposal

For my project proposal, I am really interested in making an interactive game. I was really inspired by one of the projects I covered in my looking outwards for this week, which was a retake on the popular game Flappy Bird. It combines the use of the generative landscape and simple animation of an object on the screen. The object would bounce up and down dependent on a mouse click or a keypress.

I’m still not 100% sure what the theme of my game will be, but one idea that I had in mind was using another character that could fly, such as a different type of bird or even a fictional character like a dragon or unicorn. For example, if a dragon were used, a generative background of something similar to a cave could be used. While starting to code this project, I would start with something that was simple like a circle, in order to make sure the code works.

The flappy object should match the theme of the generative landscape

Nina Yoo – Looking Outwards – 12

“VOEZ”

howls moving castle howl calcifer studio ghibli pixel gif png transparent pixel art pixal 8bit 8bit art

“Howl’s Moving Castle Howl and Casper”

 

So the two things that I got inspired by is the music game VOEZ and the 8bit character versions of studio Ghibli.  I have always been interested in music games and I’ve been playing them for a long time. VOEZ is game I have been playing for a while because their music and graphics are so beautiful and pleasing to experience. VOEZ is the sort of music game vibe that I wanted to have in collaboration with the music and characters from Studio Ghibli. Ghibli’s music is very well known and it has been an iconic for being one of the most relaxing pieces ever made. Along with the music, the characters made in Studio Ghibli are amazing with pastel colors that are just pleasing to see. I also got inspired by the 8bit form because it reminds me more of a game.

 

Nina Yoo- Final Project-Proposal

For this final project I wanted to do something with Studio Ghibli and their music. So I decided to have a rhythm game where if you press a certain key then a character from one of the Ghibli films will pop up. If you press two keys as the same time and have matching characters then the music of the movie will start to play until you find another matching pair. The characters will just be bouncing up and down when they appear on the screen and I might add some actions to them. I will limit the keys from A-L and Space which will mean there will be 10 characters total and 5 pairs.  Also, along with the music being played the title of the movie or film will pop up on the screen.  This game will have a plain background until there is a match where I will load in a picture background/ scene from the movie.

Xiaoying Meng LookingOutwards 12

 

For the last Lookingoutwards, I’m looking at two projects by LIA and Beatrice Lartigue. The first project is Animal Imagination by LIA. This project uses images from nature and animals to generate abstract geometric patterns and colors. I admire this project because it uses simple geometries to represent the complex nature, creating a different form of art, a different kind of beauty. The second project is Z… by Beatrice Lartigue(only works on phones and tablets). Z… is an interactive project. The user controls the zipper to reveal the shape underneath. It is a neverending exploration and meditation. I admire this project because it is simple yet complex. It engages the user and creates a peaceful mood. Both projects use simple geometries and colors to create visuals, which is what I’d like to do for my final project too. I want to create something visually pleasing, complex yet simple.

Tanvi Harkare – Looking Outwards 12

For my final project, I wanted to create a game – coding video games is one of the reasons why I chose to take this class. The two projects I found dealing with this subject is Flappy Bogost by Greg Borenstein, and Method Random by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.

Flappy Bogost is a spin off of the popular game, Flappy Bird. It uses multiple generative landscapes to create a game in which an object must “flap” its way around the obstacles provided. One of the things that I think could have been improved is the reasoning for the landscape and obstacles – currently it is a desert landscape with green chillies as the obstacle. I believe something with a theme could make this game more appealing to its users.

Flappy Bogost from Greg Borenstein on Vimeo

Method Random was created with the intention of creating a grid of random sized squares, with a different fill in each color. There is a series of nine algorithms that perform different tasks, mainly different seeds for generating numbers for individual R, G, and B values. This could be useful for generating random colors in my final project.

Method Random

 

 

Miranda Luong – Project 12 – Proposal

Collaborator: Jason Zhu

For our final project, Jason and I want to create an audiovisual performance instrument. Inspired by the dynamic capabilities of static design, a concept honed by historic Swiss Design, our project will utilize the alternation of simple geometric shapes to visualize the kinetic nature of music. Source audio will be represented by a singular circle surrounded by a sea of triangles and quadrilaterals. The scale of the center circle and the form of outside shapes will change according to beat and frequency changes in the music. This visual display will suggest an interplay between the source audio and its environment. The concept is similar to ripples created by a droplet of water. This project will explore the communicative capabilities of flat imagery to convey movement and test our own abilities to break down music in a communicative format. Below is an example of how the visuals of this project will look.