Title of the Concept: Cook the World

A3 Sketch

Description:

Inspirations:

Cooking is one of the most important activities I do every day. Since Chinese food usually requires people to do stir fry in a pan, and normally people will spend much time to use the spatula to mix the food every day. So I am thinking about how to make the boring cooking process more fun.

Problem

The problem I am addressing is to make the cooking process more interesting, and also promote people to eat healthily to provide them a healthy life.

Context

The concept is designed for people who usually cooking but feel bored with the process. By using this application, everything gets more fun. Because you can see yourself cook a unique world of your own. Your materials in the pan will change the composition of this world, and your heating and seasoning will change the weather and ecology of this world. Your healthy diet will make the world more and more beautiful, and the character in the world will become bigger and stronger.

I inspired by a puzzle video game called Witness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheWitness(2016videogame). Some of the puzzles combine with the environment like the shadow of the tree.

Therefore, I propose there is a room with one side of the wall tracking the shadow of people, meanwhile, the opposite wall reflecting the shape of the shadow into a digital prop or tool. The first idea is to place two people in that space and lets them fight with each other. The fighting capacity based on their equipment which comes from their shadow and their creativity. For example, if someone holds a book and an umbrella, the digital character can have an extra sword and shield.

However, after I considered how to enhance the playful and make the player broaden their mind, I figured out the second version of the game. It is no longer a fighting game, but more similar to an adventure game. The player needs to overcome the difficulties to accomplish the goal, for instance, if the bridge in the game is broken, the player can use shadow to create the shape of a bird to fly through it or use your arm’s shadow to create a new bridge. The shadow is functional, itself is like smashing every 3 dimension object into 2D. In terms of that, the player can also use the power of other people to build the impossible shape like tank, ladder or anything you can create. The example in the game witness:

As the picture demonstrated, the shadow of the girl is actually composed of multiple branches, stones on the second floor of the building behind and a piece of fabric.

The final version of the idea

The system aims to enhance users' creativity by post different shapes of the shadow and let the participant feel relax by the digital game or music instruments.

The more rapid development of technology, the development of children to use it also increases simultaneously. Children become addicted to smartphones and tablet devices to play, not to learn. And that makes parents worried. Some developers develop educational games to insert education while children play. Educational games are built on media with screens (smartphones, tablets, computers) and increase to Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

A large company, LEGO, followed this development. Although they make plastic bricks, recently they made AR support their products. Users can see animations or other forms of shapes they build using bricks. This idea is the main inspiration for Sky Reacher. It will integrate Bricks and AR into one product, not separate products.

However, in Sky Reacher, the form used is not bricks, but blocks. Blocks have basic shapes that are usually played by pre-school children. The advantage of this game is that it teaches problem-solving and imaginative. This game can be played alone or by the group.

The main feature of Sky Reacher is an animated game that can be seen directly on blocks without using a smartphone. So children can enjoy the game instantly without holding their device. The goal is made to motivate them to build the highest blocks possible. And challenges are inserted in a random time count on random blocks as well like the game in general, which has goals and challenges.

The process that occurs starts with the reading of markers on the blocks, then emits visual animation and games on the same block. Each block added, the visual will change. The essence of this product is a game that uses no screen at all but still has dynamic visuals.

See this:

• Genc, Z. (2014). Parents’ Perceptions about the Mobile Technology Use of Preschool Aged Children. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 146(C), 55-60. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.086
• Koralek, D. (2015). Ten Things Children Learn From Block Play. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2015/ten-things-children-learn-block-play
• License Global. (2018). LEGO Brings its Bricks to Life with AR App. https://www.licenseglobal.com/toys-games/lego-brings-its-bricks-life-ar-app

Create Wind

Because of the coronavirus, there are many people have to spend much more time at home. The decrease in the outside activities can lead people to lack of exercises. Thus, I decided to design a physical interactive game to help people do more excise at home.

As you can see, users need to waving something to create wind which can blow down the plant on the screen. They can use their hands or other objects, such as books. Depending on the strength of the wind, users can blow down dandelions, grasses, or even trees. Also，due to the directions or the strength, plants on the screen will gain different animation effects.

To be more interesting, the game will be added to some challenging factors. For example, people need to make stranger wind to pass more levels. Also, people can compete with their friends. They will gain the score depending on the completion time.

Inspiration

My inspiration is from the switch game -- Just Dance. The handle can detect people's gestures to compare with the dance on the screen and win the score. By playing this game, people can burn calories and have fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8kuhv0FcTE

Running Hand

Explanation

One of the inspirations that came to my mind was from a hand-man fight in class with my classmates when I was in primary school. Walking with fingers as legs is a very common game in our lives. So, why not make it into a video game, use my figures as legs running all the way up and use it to pass the level. This is the original source of my inspiration.

I came up with the idea of using gesture sensor to project the hand into the game and use it as a character to play the 2D game. Because using fingers as legs of the character, I thought of some very intuitive gestures to control the character, such as the character can squat and then stand up to jump, or the two fingers can be exchanged to make a walk. We can also add kicks and other actions.

Because directly using gesture sensor will lack physical feedback, especially for events like landing or hitting. And lack of physical feedback can confuse players. So, I want to use small devices such as rings to give players vibration feedback.

Inspirations

Three inspirations helped me. One is the Xbox Kinect game FRU using body as bridge for character. The other is Leap Motion, a high-precision gesture detection sensor that makes my idea possible in some extends. Additionally, HD rumble from Nintendo Switch also helps me see the possibility of vibration feedback.