Kaboom! Concept and further refinement (Fabian and Zhou Yang)

Kaboom!

Initial idea and sketch

The idea is inspired by the traditional game catching. The catcher will wear shoes with red LED lights. The healer will wear shoes with yellow LED lights. The rest of the players will wear shoes with orange LED lights. All the shoes will have sound sensors attached to them. The catcher upon getting close to a player will stomp his/her shoes. If the shoes of the catcher and his/her victim are close enough, the sound sensors will be triggered. The LED lights of the victim will change. The healer can change the players that are caught through stomping his/her shoes near the affected players to “save” him/her.

Further development

After discussion, we decided to use slippers instead of shoes. We feel the use of slippers produces a more comical effect as compared to shoes. It adds to the fun in our proposed game. At the same time, we also decided to use light sensors instead of sound sensors to trigger the change in color of the LED lights. We realized if sound sensors are used there is a possibility of the catcher “committing suicide” by stomping his/her slippers near his/her victim. The sound he/she produced with his/her slippers will also trigger his/her own slippers. Therefore, we decided to use light sensors instead.

LED Strips Idea Generation (Fabian and Zhou Yang)

Team members: Zhou Yang and Fabian

We were tasked to generate ideas to explore the possibilities we can create with LED strip.

The following are the ideas we generated:

Idea 1:

The LED strip is used as markers on a table to indicate that a seat is taken by someone. The inspiration comes from people using tissue paper packs to indicate a seat is taken. We feel it will be interesting to use LED strips to indicate instead.

Idea 2:

This is a game concept with players playing tug of war with the heartbeat. There will be sensors recording the player’s heart rate through the pulse and it will be reflected on the LED strip. The higher heart rate, the more LED lights it will occupy to the opposite direction. Both sides will compete who has the higher heart rate. Once either side has his/her LED lights representing the heart rate reaching the other end, he/she is the winner. In order for the heart rate to increase, the pair can perform activities such as watching a horror movie or going for a jog.

Idea 3:

We got inspiration from the magic wands of Harry Potter. The LED strips will be on the magic wands of the players indicating their life points. A library of words will be loaded on the Arduino program and into the LED strip set up on the magic wands. The player can attack another player through shouting words in the working band loaded on the Arduino set up. The set up will consist of sound sensors to detect the sounds produced by the players. The lights on the LED strips will be activated by the sound produced by players. The more difficult a word is the more damage it will “inflict” on other players. A player “dies” once all his/her lights on the LED strip is lighted up.

Idea 4:

The idea consists of installations with flashlight equipped with sensors. Once the sensors detect people walking past them, the flashlight will be activated and produce flashes on the passing people. The idea is inspired by traffic camera catching speeding vehicles.

Idea 5:

The idea is inspired by the traditional game catching. The catcher will wear shoes with red LED lights. The healer will wear shoes with yellow LED lights. The rest of the players will wear shoes with orange LED lights. All the shoes will have sound sensors attached to them. The catcher upon getting close to a player will stomp his/her shoes. If the shoes of the catcher and his/her victim are close enough, the sound sensors will be triggered. The LED lights of the victim will change. The healer can change the players that are caught through stomping his/her shoes near the affected players to “save” him/her.

Randall Packer, Open Source Studio (2015) – Research Critique 1

https://www.reddit.com

The open source system allows me to utilize and stay connected with an immense amount of collective information through the convenience of technology. Technology in forms such as social media, cloud data storage and virtual sharing spaces allows me not to be confined by physical space and the knowledge that I possessed. It shortens the distance between me and the information I do not know. All I need to do is to be online and I will be connected with information. Sites such as Reddit and GitHub create optimum open source community in information and resource sharing to help benefits the online community. It creates incentives in information sharing through creating an ideal environment for online individuals to engage in extensive communication which leads to greater possibilities. It exposes me to thought-provoking projects around the world and words of wisdom spoken by creative individuals. It makes me aware of what others are doing and how I can learn from them. These forms of online intellectual interaction spark collective information and knowledge among us for the good of mutual understanding and improvement. These constant exchange of ideas and information will create opportinities for potential collaborations to occur for me and interested parties that share the same vision and beliefs. Creativity becomes something not just coming from oneself but a collective effort from everyone. 

The possibility of sharing information through open source system also allows “transparency, collaboration, collective processes, non-proprietary methods of production and distribution, and a commitment to the creative process as a social exchange: not necessarily for profit, but for the common good”(1). The ease of building up an extensive database of materials that can be shared and used by anyone that has access to the internet makes possible due to the technological convenience by open source mediums. With such a huge pool of resources available, it allows me to experiment with different materials available and consider different approaches for my creative projects with the information I find online. Materials comes in such abundance and forms that you expanding your thinking about creative works beyond traditional forms such as art canvas and paper. You start to question where is the boundary of creative works lie when the possibilities created by open source system seems limitless. The seemingly endless opportunities is intriguing.

Packer, Randall. “Open Source Studio.” Zakros InterArts. Accessed August 21, 2018. http://zakros.com/open-source-studio/#way.