The day before the actual game, we sent out an online notification through Instagram story to let everyone know that we are going to play a game. We invite the live audiences to come in to watch the stream and allow them to influence the results too.
Meanwhile, we also have set up a set of briefs for the chef and artist
We have chosen our artist and drawers for the two groups of people we want to compare: The Noobs in Round 1 and The Pros in Round 2.
The Noobs
Artist: Jacob
Chef: Tiffany
We have deliberately moved them away from their strengths, as Jacob can cook well but cannot draw, and Tiffany can draw well but cannot cook. It is also funny because she initially said that she could cook rice without a rice cooker, which was quite a difficult thing to do. Turns out, she could ONLY cook rice. Oops.
The Pros
Artist: Alena
Chef: Hannah
This time, we deliberately let them play in the role that they are good at so that we can compare the results between people who knows what they are doing and people who don’t.
We have also ironed out the kinks in the logistics. We will stick to cooking in Hall 2 but find a location with better connectivity.
and have split up our roles: Brendan and I will be the facilitators for the Chef, while Dion and Joel are the facilitators for the Artist.
We have decided to split up the equipments we bring. I brought the plates, bowls, and utensils; Dion brought the chopping board, knife, and cards; Joel brought the condiments and his trusty pan; and Brendan brought his camera equipments.
The final recipe:
So before anything else, let’s talk about the game.
This is the flow of the game in both rounds. The game starts with the facilitator giving the ingredient name to the artist, which the artist will have to draw within 7 seconds. After that, they will be stopped and the drawing will be shown to the chef. The chef will then interpret the item and buy the item that fits best to the interpretation. If the chef gets confused, the audience can help or influence the chef by interpreting their own version of the item. After purchasing the items, the chef will move to the kitchen for part 2. During part 2, the facilitator will then show the artist the steps to cook the dish, and within 40 seconds, the artist will have to draw it and show the chef. The chef will then interpret the drawing without using their instincts to guide them. This means that they have to follow what is drawn, no matter how illogical it seems. Audiences can still influence and help the chef at this point. After the dish is done, the artist will be invited to the kitchen to eat the dish they have made together.
The DIWO
DIWO comes in with the players, as they work together with other players to create the dish together. This thus becomes an unscripted performance that is participated by the players. The DIWO aspect also comes in from the audiences where the audience can interact with the players as well to “do it together” (although I’d say, the audiences join merely for the entertainment). The outcome of the game will be a combined effort between all parties.
The Third Space
The Third Space is the online platform in Instagram Live.
On this platform, we are able to reach out to a massive audience of friends, family members, and friends of friends. Within the Third Space, the players are able to communicate with each other despite the distance, as well as communicate with the audience. This online space bridges the spacial gap and allows for maximum participation in all parties with minimal effort, making the entire game really fun and engaging. Although the players do not actually create a Third Body, the players have made full use of the abilities of the Third Space to create the final dish.
The Glitch
The glitch comes in the form of mis-drawings, mis-interpretations, and mis-cooking. There is a complexity in the flow of the game that allows for multiple opportunities for glitches to happen. This is very visible in the first round , The Noobs, and less apparent amongst The Pros. It is interesting that glitches that happen at the from affects the glitches at the end quite a lot, and this amplified glitching reminded me of the glitch micro-project that used a similar activity of glitching a glitched image.
Gameplay
Set-up
We set up our booth in a quiet and isolated room so as to allow our artist to concentrate on the game without any interference. The tripod holds Joel’s phone that will livestream the artist’s perspective of the game. The drawing block is for the artist to draw on.
On the other side, we have Tiffany meeting Brendan and I at Giant supermarket near Canteen 2 to get ready for the game.
Round 1: The Noobs
Part 1: The Grocery
After getting ready, we kick off the game with the first ingredient drawn: Tomato. Tiffany got it right immediately. Moving on, we have Onions.
Tiffany immediately shouted “ONIONS!”, but proceeds to buy garlics as onions ran out of stock. This is quite unfortunate as we knew that Giant sold onions.
The next ingredient is the banana which is a decoy ingredient. Tiffany got it right again, but as she doesn’t have any cooking experience, she do not find it weird.
Next, Jacob drew a quite interesting take on Chicken Breast: a side profile roasted chicken, with the arrow pointed at the breast part. HOWEVER, the facilitators, audience, and the chef couldn’t understand it because it looks like vegetables on a plate. Thus, Tiffany bought peanuts.
These are the remaining drawings, with some that are comprehensible and some that are difficult to understand.
Here are some screenshots of the actual live stream during some of these drawings.
Here are some shots on-site with Tiffany.
At this point, the live stream was filled with audiences, that gave a lot of comments. It was interesting as they are participating a lot, giving not just a lot of tips but also funny comments that entertained all of us.
After this part, I have noticed that the glitch is very real. The mis-drawing and mis-interpretation have thrown off the entire recipe. I can’t imagine what we can cook out of what we have. The lack of an actual way of communication between the players have really glitched the recipe. Even the audience can’t help now…
Part 2 – The Cooking
After getting ready, we started part 2.
I’d say Jacob’s drawing here are very comprehensive. He even stuck to using the same drawings as he did in the previous part to not confuse Tiffany. However, because the items are already wrong, he couldn’t unglitch it. Tiffany blatantly follows as she does not really know what is going on. This results in hilarious things that she do.
Here are some screenshots documenting what happened.
RESULTS:
Tiffany made scrambled eggs with cheese, hotdogs, mushroom, and peanuts. I am very surprised that we still managed to make something that is edible. It was not that bad tasting it, just that the mushrooms are slightly undercooked, and the pan is burnt. The glitch have not just taken place, but also snowballed from the beginning down to the end. Still, despite this uncontrolled glitch, we manage to create a result that is somewhat satisfactory, and it have at least created an outcome that falls within the boundaries of what we have in mind (something edible).
I think that the cooking phase is the part that fixed everything together, as the cooking part will allow any of the ingredients to become edible. Thus, we can actually use this round as an example of how uncontrollable glitch can still somewhat be controlled, and that cooking isn’t all that hard. We can pretty much shuffle the ingredients we buy, use the same cooking steps, and end up with pretty okay edible food.
Reflections from Tiffany: She enjoyed the whole process even though she knew she screwed up a lot. It was a learning experience for her because she hardly cooks. She also find it fun to be entertaining others.
Reflections from Jacob: He enjoyed the game and finds it interesting and funny when the two players are chosen to get out of their comfort zone. The audience comments are funny to him too. However he felt that as the artist, the game is more fun at the front than at the back.
After we concluded the first part, we took a 15 minutes break and cleaned up. We managed to salvage the pan and everything was fine.
Round 2: The Pros
Once we are ready, we started the
Part 1: The Grocery
Overall, Alena drew alright. But there are quite a few items that are glitchable. For example, the tortilla wrap looks so much like oranges that Hannah almost got oranges. But as she knows how to cook, she find that it does not make sense to have oranges. So she went around and found tortilla wrap.
Another example is the butter, which Alena just drew a cube. I like how, due to our understanding of what butter is usually depicted, we understand that a slab of something is usually butter.
Despite the potential for glitch, Hannah still understood them right!
Here are some screenshots from the livestream:
One thing that happened was that the staff of Giant was on a lookout for us as we were asked to stop filming during round one. To avoid getting caught, we kept our distance so there wasn’t much documentation or footages.
During this round, there wasn’t much audience also, which is probably because of the lateness (we started at 7pm). It could also be because we have done it once, so the second time wasn’t as entertaining. Thirdly, it could be because Hannah was doing everything very smoothly so it became somewhat boring.
It was also impressive to see that Hannah actually got most of the stuffs correct. I would hypothesise that this is due to her instincts, being someone who knows how to cook and assemble recipes together.
So after the shopping, we bought all the things and went back to the kitchen. As we have already went through it once (actually, twice, including the test run), we could do it properly this time. With that, we quickly started the second part.
Part 2: Cooking
For this part, Alena did pretty well, and like Tiffany, she used the previous visuals to make sure Hannah understands the different ingredients.
Meanwhile at the kitchen:
Again, here are some live stream footages:
As Alena and Hannah are also friends, the entire stream was more friendly and conversational. It didn’t really mattered that there wasn’t much audience, as there is a lot of communication between the two of them. We even started playing with Instagram filters like the dog filter, which made the stream more fun and engaging.
It was also interesting that Hannah keeps requesting for the next step while the previous step is still ongoing. This is perhaps also part of her instinct as a person with cooking experience, as she do not want to be waiting for instructions while the food is cooking so as to not overcook or burn the food. Hannah also have done everything properly and really well, showing off her excellent cooking skills. She fully understands what Alena draws as the instructions are very straightforward to her.
Overall, this round was much smoother, quicker, and effortless. Despite this, we were bored easily and went with the motion sometimes without actually seeing what is going on because we had too much trust in Alena and Hannah handling on their own. This creates a situation where the game wasn’t as entertaining and engaging compared to round one. This also winds up in lesser viewers, and I think this actually created another effect where the two can be more intimate with each other as they don’t have to entertain anybody.
Compared with the first round, this round was really a lot different in terms of the smoothness, the viewers, the entertainment, the timing, the speed, and communication. Perhaps one really important aspect of a good game is the glitch itself. Without mistakes, what is there to watch?
With these, we created a trailer and highlight video. REALLY APPRECIATE BRENDAN for doing these videos!!! He did a really good job compiling everything and presenting this awesome videos!!!
Final words
In conclusion, I conclude that the Noobs did a better job entertaining everyone, despite the food being badly done. While it was enjoyable to eat the perfect Quesadilla, I do not really enjoy the process. As I have mentioned in Research Critique 3, a successful performance is in its process and not the outcome. Therefore, I believe that, despite the Pros winning this game, the Noobs have won our hearts.
Also, I would like to reiterate the DIWO aspects of the game. With the players, we have allowed people to come together to participate and perform together in this game. Audience also came in to be part of the game, commenting, chatting, helping, and influencing the outcome of the game. This have created a large body of players, creating a whole DIWO experience. This could not be done without the Third Space, as we need everything to be communicated through the screen and the chatroom. The usage of the Third Space as a means of communication have allowed for maximised participation, making the entire game more successful. Lastly, without the Glitch, the game would be unentertaining and lose viewers like in Round 2.
My personal take away would be to be able to create an experience of such complexity using these concepts that are sort of closely related. It got me to be more aware and observant in these concepts on other platforms that helps me to understand certain digital arts better.
If there would be an improvement to the game, I would separate the days such that Hannah will be playing on another day. I would also change some parts of the game at round 2 (eg. maybe change the recipe) so that audiences will join in to watch the difference instead of watching them cook the same thing.
Our group presentation can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1E7nOSiH_iG4l8tcNk47lWRyv0n70YQZAoOwIZnZWO6g/edit?usp=sharing
It was a great experience hosting the game and learning to apply these concepts. It’s been a great sem learning with you Lei 🙂 I really learnt a lot. So yup. That concludes the project, as well as the semester. Byeeeeeeeeee!
