Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead: The Final Project
For the version of "Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead" which would be exhibited at the final degree show, I chose to have the controller only rely on two tilt switches to move Ghostboi. After a few rounds of user testing, I found that making players touch the eyes/teeth of the controller was too difficult to do while controlling Ghostboi's position by using the arms. This way, if Ghostboi hovers over a burger for a certain amount of time, he is able to eat it.
Admittedly, I didn't spend too much time around my piece during the degree show and spent that time enjoying the other student's work and catching up with friends. However, during the few occasions that I stayed close to my work, I was able to observe how the audience reacted to it.
I noted that some people were hesitant to pick up the controller unless they were specifically prompted by me. A few others were not comfortable with bendind and contorting the controller as much as was need to move Ghostboi, unless prompted by me to do so. However, many others were eager to do so and figured out how to use it with minimal guidance for me. Overall, I found that it was much clearer to use this controller than it was to use "Void of Memory". Also, the audience responded well to the haptic feedback I included in the controller. The vibrating sensation emphasized the sense of discomfort happening on the screen.
I am quite excited to take Ghostboi to gaming-centered exhibitions in order to see what the audience reaction will be like and to see whether the crowd over there is as hesitant to pick up the controller on their own and how much guidance they need from me before they figure out how to use it.
As mentioned in the previous blog post, I would like to keep working on Ghostboi even after this course has finished. I would like to push the medium of this fleshy controller to its limits and move farther away from the familiar input styles present in the current controller.
