Week 4 - Prepping for Final

A p5 Maze

The Idea

I want to create a p5-interactive game, which users can control with a rotating potentiometer (or possible the internal gyroscope of the Arduino Nano, depending on how the creation process plays out.) The sketch will generate a random polygon in space with a ball trapped inside of it. This ball will react to the physics of the internal space. The user will use a rotating potentiometer to spin the shape and try to get the ball to fall through a small window in the polygon. It's reminiscent of the Perplexus 3D maze ball, in which you have to physically navigate through a maze.

Additional features include a button to reset the game, and possibly a button to increase/decrease the complexity or difficulty of it. As mentioned above, while the first iteration will be using a rotating potentiometer for control, it might be fun to explore controlling space with the Nano's gyroscope, which would be even more similar to the perplexus experience.

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How I Got to the Idea

I had a difficult time figuring out what I wanted to build for my final project in Interface Lab. When I sat and tried to think through an interaction, I found myself coming up with ideas that felt like a p5 sketch, which coincidentally would have a physical input or output. I realized that I was trying to design with the goal of "designing something which includes physical interaction," which is a rather boring misinterpretation of our project prompt. While working through all of this, I figured I might as well keep building stuff, to try and bolster up my skills, confidence, and experience. (And hoping something would maybe spark a little inspiration!)

I have a book of Arduino Uno projects that came with a starter kit that I own, and working through a few of those helped loosen me up a bit more. I built a light-responsive, color-changing led, a zoetrope, and a digital crystal ball. This helped give me a wider range of hands on experiences. I ended up with a lot more to think about in terms of interaction and the experience of different physical inputs and outputs.

With this additional experience, I went back to revisit the project prompt.

"Create a device that allows a person to interact with both the physical and digital world."

I realized I was doing the prompt a disservice. Focusing on the needs of myself as the creator, rather than thinking through the user's experience and desire for/joy from interaction. Time to start really brainstorming around this much better goal. I started by thinking about what I react to as a user of physical interactions. I came up with a short list of "Feeling important, feeling useful, physical sense of control, delight/surprise." The image that came to mind for me of an enjoyable physical interaction was thinking about trying to pull some type of elastic to see if I could get it to stretch to a certain length. This is a physical interaction which is ok on its own, but when you introduce of imagine a threshold for it, it becomes a great deal more enjoyable. Keeping this type of experience in mind, I came up with another list: "Reaching thresholds, Lining things up, Crossing boundaries, and exploring edges." And finally, I felt like I had an idea.