Interaction & Play: Collaborative Experience
Andrew, Sheena and I had a discussion this week and we concluded that a tighter, more easily described project derived from a component of our playtesting would give it a proper direction, as well as help retain some relevance to our original concept. We decided to continue with the collaborative side of our playtesting, and our project finally has a definitive description:
We are designing an interactive installation that presents a statement on the benefits of collaborating with others.
We set up a game plan for the coming week and gave ourselves each a job to do, along with progress meetups to help stay on track, like before but more regularly. Andrew is looking into viable materials and construction methodology, Sheena is researching collaborative experiences and cooperation, and I am working on designing the actual installation as well as its functionality.
Some quick sketches I made when designing the installation that is currently untitled
To represent the benefits of collaboration, my idea was to have an installation that is impossible to experience fully without multiple users, yet can still give a partial experience to a solo user. Essentially the installation is a series of panels in several square layers that illuminate when one of the buttons is pressed, much like the Nanoleaf Light Panels (Nanoleaf, 2019). When a button is pressed individually there is an audio response and a visual response from the respective layer side (Audio output location is flexible yet unsure).
However when 2 buttons from different sides are pressed simultaneously the somewhat mundane sound from each button changes into a more prolonged and intense one, with more simultaneous side activations increasing this intensity along with adding additional effects and backing audio. These enhancements last a predetermined amount of time at the moment however perhaps the length of activation could influence the duration of the enhancement. I have put together an extremely rudimentary video below to help explain the concept further.
(Something happened to the sound while exporting that created strange popping, it’s annoying but serviceable for explaining)
This means that when more users are interacting with the installations and simultaneously activating each layer as they desire, the experience enhances, which would be impossible from a single user.
Reference for more on Light Panels
Nanoleaf. (2019). Nanoleaf Light Panels. Retrieved September 29, 2019, from https://nanoleaf.me/en/consumer-led-lighting/products/smarter-series/nanoleaf-light-panels-smarter-kit/