I wanted to look at Phoenix Perry and Heather Kelley because they are both game developers. Phoenix Perry created a game called Bot Party where it explores intimacy through physical play using sound. It’s an interactive sound experience for humans and the bots need help from humans to communicate with their friends. The technology itself uses proprietary bot to skin to skin to bot communication protocol to send encoded secret messages.
Phoenix explaining her game and why she made itCloser look into the aspect of the game where the bots have to touch each other
Heather Kelley collaborated with several others on the project Fabulous/Fabuleux. It is a physical interface game for public interior spaces where players solve “connect the dots” challenges using the hotspots of the room. The players uses a “squisher” interface object and by connecting the hotspots it reveals objects on screen which relate to the fairy tale “The Girl Who Trod On A Loaf.”
Video demonstrating the game being played
Both of these games interest me because they require physical human interaction within it. I will be doing a project that requires human interaction, so I was inspired by these projects.
The first artist I researched was Greg Borenstein. Greg Borenstein is a game designer, technologist, and teacher. His work explores game design, computer vision, drawing, machine learning, and generative storytelling as media for play and design. His game “Sneak” is a hybrid digital-physical tabletop game that began as his thesis in the MIT Media Lab Playful Systems group. It attempts to combine the social richness of a boardgame with the systemic complexity of a video game. This is relevant to my final project because I also would like to make an interactive game.
A demonstration of the GROW screencast
The second work I looked at was Moritz Stefaner’s “GROW Soil Moisture Maps.” The GROW Observatory is a European-wide project engaging thousands of growers, scientists and others passionate about the land. They developed the Dynamic Soil Moisture Map as a demonstration of an information service which could be used by farmers, scientists and policy makers for applications in agriculture and climate forecasting. These maps use GROW sensor data combined with satellite data to generate a continuous estimation of water content over a terrain. I admire how they look at real world data. This relates to my final project because it is also about the environment and the wellbeing of the earth.
For this final project, I want to utilize the generative landscape and sound to create an imaginative, colorful world. There are many artists who I will be thinking about over the course of developing this project but there are two that will be prioritized.
One of these artists is Maxim Zhestov who is a media artist who concentrates on film, installation and computational design to stretch the boundaries of visual language. He is famous for his digitally-rendered gallery designs which produce choreographed and calculated movements of elements and shapes using physics and computers.
Computations, Maxim Zhestov
Another one of the artists I would like to explore further along this final project is Mike Tucker who is an interactive designer and director who focuses on audio-visual exploration who co-created the app, Tónandi, which had a feature of a VR experience of a fantasy-like landscape.
A peak into the virtual app created by MagicLeap, Tónandi.
Although Mike Tucker was able to create an environment that was able to interact with his audience, I felt Maxim Zhestov’s piece would have also been more interesting if the audience was able to interact with the visuals as well although fully computer-generated. However, both beautifully generate a new, fantastical world that fascinates me the most.
The first precedent project I found relevant to my final project was Drawing Water by David Wicks. The project is a data visualization overlaid on a map of the US that shows the relationship between where rain initially falls and where urban water is most consumed. The result is a series of curves with varying saturations and opacities to further represent the patterns and movement of water. To create the project, Wicks pulled Water consumption data from the USGS and rainfall data from the NOAA/NWS. This data was then input into a series of python scripts to create the final visualization.
Earth by Cameron Beccario
The second precedent project, Earth by Cameron Beccario, is a near realtime weather visualization on a global scale. Similarly to the previous project, Earth also generates dynamic linear paths that in this project represent wind patterns as well as changing colors to represent various other weather conditions. Earth also pulls weather data but from a wider array of sources and makes use of supercomputers to create and constantly update the visualization.
The Two projects discussed in this Looking Outwards are the Zaha Hadid Volu Pavilion and Water Drawing Project.
The Volu Pavilion appears to be made from a continuous piece and features an oval roof that tilts downwards to create a shade for dining. Comprised of a series of structural bands collecting at the spine and expanding overhead, the patterning of the pavilion is optimized to be at mose singly curved.
The Patterning of the single curved Pavilion
The second project is the Drawing Water Project which collects national water consumption data with rainfall data into a series of maps. The data are parsed with python scripts and each line in the drawing corresponds to a daily rainfall measurement. The length of the line and its initial placement are dtermined by the amount of rainfall measured and where it fell. The final placement and color of each line are determined by the influence of urban water consumers. When the rainfall is pulled farther from where it fell, it changes color from blue to black. Such a mapping strategy creates an interesting artistic and informational drawing that tells information in a more direct way.
A scripted generated art by collecting rainfall and water consumption data
What I find the two projects interesting is that both projects demonstrate a strong sense of visual impression, no matter in 3D or 2D forms. Such strategies can be learned to apply to the final project for visual aesthetic pleasure. Meanwhile, both projects give a more interaction based opportunity to investigate either the law of physics may impact on the patterning of the structure or the data of rainfall overtime can change the overal composition of the drawing. Both projects definitely inspire me with such interactive quality and the strong flexibility and enlighten me to make a final project that can be a combination of generative art, interactive art, dynamic drawing, and computational drawings.
It’s final project time! When I read the prompt for the final project, I immediately knew I wanted to do something related to a game. As referenced in my last 2 Looking Outwards, I love video games and I think it would be really cool to try and build a game experience through p5.js. A game that came to mind was Frogger, a classic concept where a character must cross a road with incoming traffic to reach the other side. For this Looking Outwards, I looked at two examples of Frogger-style games: the classic Frogger on the C64, and Crossy Road on the iPhone.
The original Frogger is a clear flash-to-the-past, with insanely retro graphics and color schemes. Frogger was released in 1981 by Konami, and it was an instant hit; players loved the simplicity of the game as well as its addictive appeal. The premise is straightforward: the player, playing as a frog, must weave through traffic and jump across a variety of animal-backs and logs to reach safety on the other side of the screen. The player then goes through a series of levels to try and set their high score without losing all of their lives. Frogger’s simplicity was part of its charm, but I personally felt their was a level of animated complexity lacking; of course, this was likely because of the datedness of the game (1981 was a while ago, and computers have come a long way since!).
The original Frogger on the Commodore 64!
Crossy Road, released in 2014 by the gaming studio Hipster Whale, is an attempt to fix this issue by adding in flashy new graphics, fun animations, and 3D characters. It’s modeled with block/pixel-style characters, seemingly a reference to the game’s historical roots, but it’s clear after playing Crossy Road that gameplay is immensely smoother and more flowy. I’ve played Crossy Road in the past, and it was a great experience. The game was fun, and losing doesn’t even feel bad because of the charm of the game. However, one thing I felt could be improved on is the simplicity of the game; in a weird way, Crossy Road almost does too much to the original frogger to the point where the various rocks, trees, cars, and rivers the player needs to avoid become almost distracting. There’s something sophisticatedly simple about the original Frogger that reduces gameplay distractions, and that’s something I think Crossy Road misses at times.
Some gameplay from Crossy Road, a mobile game released in 2014 that drew from the concept of Frogger.
For the final project, I want to create a decorating game that allows users to create something of their own. In the past, customization/decorating games constantly appeared in people of all ages’ interests. I remember playing “Let’s create! Pottery” and discovering the endless possibilities of decorating ceramics. The game was released in 2010, and published by Infinite Dreams. Through the game, people can design realistic potteries with their own desired features. On the other hand, “Zepeto” , an application that allows users to create a 3D avatar of themselves has been very popular during the past year. The app was published by Snow Corporation, and it also have socializing functions that let users to meet others with the avatar they created. The idea of creating something that is one of a kind really interest me, and I hope to create a game that could invite users to discover their own creativity.
For the first project, I looked at “Shadow” by Scott Snibbe in 2002. This project is done by projecting a white rectangular light onto an object or person, which would cast a shadow on a wall. The projection is generated as soon as the person steps between the projector and the wall. This allows the people to be able to create cinema with the movement of their body and examine their shadow separate from their bodies. Even if the person moves away from the projector, the record of the project would be played over and over again until it fades slowly back into the white rectangle.
This is an interactive object that captures audiences’ act and generates cinematic art through the use of computational technologies. Since no group of people would create the same combination of movements, the art created would be different every single time.
The other project I looked at is “Line segments space” by Kimchi and Chips studio. It is exhibited in Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in 2013. The entire project is created in combination of nylon strings and digital emulsion. The strings act as positive elements in a dark room to create a series of abstract and undefined negative space.
A 2D canvas is reduced from surface piece and then into line segments. And the line segments then construct a 3D volume. Light is casted onto the lines to articulate digital matters.
Before starting our final project, I was extremely worried. I was unsure what to do. When I read the prompt for the final project, I knew I wanted to do something with the webcam. I really enjoyed the assignment where we played with the webcam to create texts that rained on to the screen. I was unsure if I wanted to create just a filter that can be used on webcam. While doing research, I decided that I wanted to use the webcam element and create a game. I found a game called ball strike. It uses the webcam to seem as if you are actually playing. It first senses for your body and then you start playing. The objective of the game is to “touch” as many balls as possible.
The second game that I look at was called Ball Collision Game. I thought this was interesting because you moved the orange ball with your eyes and create collisions with the blue balls. I think it is cool that both games are very interactive with the actual user. In the future, I would like to do something similar.
This game uses a webcam for people to act as if they are playing soccer. This game uses the webcam to have your eyes move the orange ball.
For reference: my final project is an interactive game about cleaning up ocean waste.
The first project I want to discuss is an app called Motionphone that was created by interactive artist Scott Snibbe. The app allows people to collaborate on a work of interactive art over a network. I liked the way that Motionphone created a whole new way for players to communicate visually over a network. It also includes some cool UI/UX elements, such as an infinite interactive canvas and a music-playing function. Some of the aspects of this work that I’m taking inspiration from for my project is the quality and fluidity of the generated objects and the ease with which the user can manipulate the given object at their will.
Motionphone, created by Scott Snibbe.
The second project I’m taking inspiration from is called EROS/ION by designer, researcher, and educator Caitlin Morris. EROS/ION is an installed performance that explores how we perceive and interact with our environment by depicting an object’s decay through the synthesis of audible and tactile experience. I was inspired by the concepts that inspired Morris to create this piece: because my project also pertains to the ideas of decay and the environment, I drew inspiration from the thought-provoking setup of EROS/ION.
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