This week

This week we shared our concepts and use poster as a visual aid. Afraid of the network delays, I made a pre-recording to share my concept with class through zoom. Although it was through the Internet, I was still amazed by the inspiration of many students. There are various ideas covering many aspects, such as music, smart home, protecting the environment and change daily things etc., and also has the similar idea with me about the shadow interaction.

A few of them impressed me. The first one was a game that had the same interaction ways with me, using shadows for basic interaction. His concept is called the Shadow Wall, which requires the players to use their imagination, and to use the shadow cast on the wall as the digital image to increase the level. What attracted me of the game was the infinite possibilities. Players create extra functionality by using real-life items to create different shadows. For example, players can use their hands to create a shadow of a gun to defeat the devil. The game has a lot in common with my concept, and I love this idea.

The second concept that I really like is called Running Hand. The device can be played within just two fingers. The player can be controlled by two gestures, walking and jumping. And the ring will vibrate to inform the player. This game is very convenient, and has a certain degree of competitiveness, I think it will be a very interesting game. In addition, I like the clarity and simplicity of this poster.

Work to do

Because of the travel ban, I didn’t participate the soldering induction as well as the discussion of theme grouping. But I will arrive at the school next week and will definitily participate the World Cup discussion. Lorna has summarized 17 topics for us. At present, I am interested in the two topics of 'Creative Learning' and 'Body as controller', but I will wait for the discussion next week. New ideas and collisions will be generate after the World Cafe. I can't wait to get back to school. See you next week.

Dance with Light

Explanation

My concept named Dance with Light.

This installation is consists of three parts. A huge screen, some blocks of different shapes, and the movable light.

People freely assemble blocks together and adjust the light source. By irradiation, a shadow will be formed on the screen. When the shadow's outline match some certain patterns, the system will be triggered and the black shadow will change to the colorful animation to inform the players that they have succeeded. For example, two blocks that look completely unrelated to each other, through constantly rotating and trying at multiple angles, end up with the silhouette of a fish. Then the system is triggered, the fish swells its tail and the screen becomes the ocean.

This installation can be played by multiple players at the same time and also has a competitive mode to make it more interesting. This game needs the player's imagination and creativity, promotes the coordination of hands and brains, and improves the ability to control spatial and planar graphics.

And here is my A3 concept sketch

Inspiration

This installation was inspired by a game I used to play as a child: step on the shadow. We chased each other in order to step on each other's shadow. And hand shadow: use our hands in different gestures to get many different shadows, usually of animals such as butterflies, spiders and wolves.

Progress

Therefore I set out to design my concept. At first, I just thought of a table with blocks on it and a light source suspended in the center above the table (figure 1). Then I thought, why not hang up all the building blocks as well (figure 2), however, another problem arose. What if the light source could not be distinguished? If the light source is fixed in one place, the user will be very inconvenient. So I designed multiple light sources and made them mobile through the track(figure 3). Finally, it occurred to me that the rectangular table was not convenient for the user to put the two blocks together. If the table/screen is designed to circle shape, it will be more reasonable, and also more convenient when the player is in competitive mode(figure 4).

Other resource for the future work

After completing my concept I have done some research and found that one game that really coincides with my idea, called ‘shadowmatic’. Here are some screenshots of the game.

This game is very simple and delicate, I believe it will provide some help to my future work(eg. in the design of scenes and objects).

Hi there

I’m Jiajia, a third semester master student of Interaction Design.

In the past year's study, I have understood the principles and processes of interaction design adequately, and participated in as well as completed several projects, which made me more and more interested in this field. However, most of my previous projects focused on traditional interaction ways, such as web pages and apps. Therefore, I hope that I can accomplish some things I have never tried before in the PhysComp class, with some positive innovations, could make things interesting and meaningful in the real life.

I have good function and practical abilities. It is very excited for me to hear that this course will involve laser cutting, woodworking and other things like that, but programming is the part that worries me. I hope that in the future study, I can improve my programming ability on the basis of give play to my advantages. However, currently, I am also concerned that because of the Australian travel ban, I can only participate the remote learning and cannot go to the classroom to participate the discussion. Despite Lorna's and I work hard, such as this Wednesday’s, the article of 7 challenges. I was able to share my thoughts with others online and get their perspectives as well. But in the second half of the course, I’m not very involved in the poker game. For next week's presentation, it's also a challenge. Therefore, I think I must spend more time and energy on pre-class preparation and after-class review to minimize the influence.

I have a feeling this course is not going to be easy, but it must be fun and useful. I hope I can record and reflect continuously, and really learn something.