Category: 05

Almost Chicken Checkin

https://almost-chicken.glitch.me/

Video demo:

Good things:

• all the features implemented seems to work!
• chicken looking bouncy
• I have a chicken maker that will make any adjustments to the chicken fairly easy.

Bad things(todo):

• I got the screen dimensions wrong(could be fixed easily though)
• Chicken– without any features — looks very phallic(   . _.)
• sometimes springs get tangled up if you slap it too much (this should be easy fix)
• Needs chicken sounds
• Weird thing where while idling it sways towards one side, something wrong with how I’m using noise

• I haven’t implemented it on Soli yet because I want to get the features down
• I feel like it’s not particularly interesting yet, it’s just a DNA strand you can manipulate
• I like the colors

Dog Lullaby

On desktop, use the arrow keys. Otherwise, use Soli swipe gestures to change the three notes used to generate the melody and a Soli tap gesture to mute and unmute the lullaby.

I’m using RiTa.js for lyric generation (markov-generated from a text file (lyrics.txt on glitch) I’ve filled with lullabies, love notes, children’s songs, bedtime prayers, and nursery rhymes). I hope to improve the rhyming, which currently simply replaces the last word of a line with a random word that rhymes with the last word of the line before. This results in nonsense that isn’t thematically consistent with the markov-generated nonsense. More complex rhyme schemes than AABB could draw attention away from this fact.

I’m using Tone.js for the song aspects. I was initially using p5.Sound but the quality was terrible in general but especially terrible on the device I am designing for, so last night I switched everything over to Tone.js. Due to that late change, I still have to refine the oscillators/synthesizers I’m using and explore other Tone.js functionalities. I’m very pleased with the Tone.js quality in comparison to p5.Sound and wish I had used it from the beginning.

I also have to refine the animation, as it was based around the previous drum pattern I was using, which ran on p5.Sound. I specifically mean the dog (Joe <3), as there are plenty of opportunities to animate him beyond what I currently have. I might ease the stars in and out beyond the simple fade introduced by having a background set to a low alpha value, but this would require creating and storing stars in an array of stars, drawn in draw() instead of in playBass(), where it currently is. This is a relatively straightforward change, the most complicated aspect being disposing of the elements in the array that do not need to be drawn. This will be based around a timer, which hopefully will be simpler to work with using Tone.js, possibly relating to ticks.value instead of counting the number of beats manually, as I am doing now.

I also have to implement functions for the beginning and end of the song. It runs for a random number of lyrics between 15 and 35 lines, but the program ends on a scope error from there.

~xoxo

sweetcorn

Soli Landscapes

For this project, I am using the Soli sensor data as a way to traverse and look for specific objects in a generative landscape. The text quoted below in the screen is a statement that will reference a specific thing to look for in the environments. In the case of the video below, the excerpt references and eyes and so the player needs to traverse through the landscape to find them.

This project is not complete, and while the main elements of the game are complete, I still have a few things left to implement:

1. I am still working on making the objects move smoothly using linear interpolation and parallax. I think this would greatly improve the visual presentation of the piece.
2. I am working on using recursive tree structures and animations to make this environment more dynamic. I also want to add more variety of the objects and characters a person looks for in the landscapes, and text that references it. Also, more movement and responsive qualities in the background, such a birds when a specific gesture is done, currently an example of this type of responsiveness is how the moon-eye moves, it closes and opens depending on if human presence is detected.
3. Varied texts and possible generative poems that come from the objects that are being looked at in the landscape. This excerpt comes from a piece of writing my friend and I worked at but I would like to make it generative.

Here is an example of how the environments look when swiping:

 

Here is another landscape:

This demo does not work with the microphone yet (I’m working on a jank workaround). You can check out a web version here. Open the console to see the possible verbal commands. Use the arrow keys in place of swipe events.

 

This demo can be viewed on a browser here. Use the arrow keys in place of swipe events. The collision detection is pretty jank ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . The main issue is that I have to to get the shadows & lighting fixed

Screen Recording

(using left/right arrow keys for swipes, enter key for tap)

Google Pixel 4 w. Soli sensor

Concept Decision:

I decided to create an app that helps me “work out” since I haven’t done any exercise for a while due to Covid 🙁

I’ve been playing squash for years and I really love squash, but I couldn’t play since March and I really miss being on court ( big sad 🙁 ). So for this project, I recreated squash practicing experience!

Current Problem:

One thing I didn’t anticipate for some unknown reason is that the phone is vertical, hence cuts off the sides of the court. Considering that rail shots (hitting straight deep to make the ball bounce parallel to the side wall) are most commonly practiced in squash, not being able to see the sides makes the experience not quite complete.

Potential Changes to Make:

My goal for next deliverable is to make it playable horizontally as well. I could also add the sound effect every time it bounces off the wall, if I could find a nice clean sound file of a squash ball hitting against the front wall. (Often times the court echos a lot, so it’s hard to get a sound of it without having other noises.)

 

 

The app has storm, summer night, ocean, forest, library, party, driving ambiances that are somewhat interactive with reach and swipe (up, down, right, left) interactions. Sound begins when soli senses your presence. Sounds are associated with certain colors so phone can serve as a colorful lamp as well.

Desktop version because phone app is super buggy

Videos show that up+down swipes adjust volume and that swiping left changes the ambiance and color

Updates to come: fade between colors does not work – need to fix (done), adjust volume of sounds in music editing software for appropriate relative balance (done), use a different function than preload (done), auto change color instead of swipe? (based on feedback, will not implement), make rain and ocean sound more distinctive (done)

Additional ideas from feedback: simulate glowing light (will not implement), unique color and sound combos

This is aimed to simulate the illusion of driving and having random stuff that comes in the way, and users can activate the windshield wiper by the hand swiping gesture.

Currently I'm battling with the swiping effect. Also, this whole thing is just super ugly. I'm planning to add a lot more looping details to the background.

This is what I'm going for, aesthetically speaking.