Keer Zhao
Intro to Physical Computing
Plan A:
PUPPET AND PUPPET HOLDER
Group member: Keer & oLIVIA
After week 8's user testing, Olivia and I decided to make some changes of this two-player game.
From the user testing, we realized that our 'users' are exactly the opposite of what we would expect. We thought the 'puppet' would hardly disobey the 'puppet holder' and in the situation when the puppet holder's choice is different from the puppet's, the puppet would still follow the puppet holder's instruction.
My initial idea is more like a 'test' rather than a 'game'.
Plan B:
Friendship repair machine
----------- 1.0 Story background -----------
World-famous O.K company has developed a 'friendship repair machine' for people to fix some friendship issues. This machine is particularly useful to fix those complex and unsolved conflicts that happened in the past.
Andy recalled how his friendship with Bobbie broke back in 2000. Twenty years later, Andy still remembered how close he was with Bobbie and sadly, how distant they have become now. Andy then seeks help from the O.K company to repair his friendship with Bobbie.
After receiving the commission, the O.K company officially invited both Andy and Bobbie to get on a journey via this magic 'friendship repair machine.'
//Player introduction
Andy:
This is the year 2021, you are 38 years old. You saw an advertisement from the O.K company and heard that they have developed a "friendship repair machine". You immediately thought about Bobbie whom you have lost contact with for many years. Bobbie was your best friend in high school. However, you accidentally did something that was sorry to Bobbie and you just did not have enough of the courage to apologize.
Now, you are standing in front of the "friendship repair machine". The machine automatically sets the time back to when you were still in high school. Communicate with Bobbie and when necessary, rotate the dial to help him in the virtual space.
Bobbie:
One day, you received a co-invitation from the O.K company and your old friend Andy. This invitation says Andy has something that he wanted to tell you for a very long time. You recalled back to high school, you two were close friends, but one day, Andy become more and more distant to you. Twenty years later, you decided to accept this invitation and find out what does Andy want to say.
----------- 2.0 Concept -----------
"Friendship Repair Machine" is a two-player collaboration game. One player plays the role of A, who will mainly operate the physical device in the real world. The other player will become B, entering A's memory (in Unreal) and finding messages that A wanted to deliver to B, who always hesitated to disclose himself in person.
The virtual reality is set at A's room. B will need A's help (which is the physical input of the box) to explore this room. By finding essential information, B will find evidences lead to A's 'secret' and eventually leave the room.
Figure: User Journey
----------- 3.0 Fabrication Overview -----------
Basically, what we want to create this time is an "escape room game". We plan to create a virtual room setting and also make a physical copy that has some details corresponding to that virtual space. When one player rotates the rotary encoder in the physical device, it's going to trigger some effects in the virtual space another playing is perceiving.
There are in total 4 inputs:
#1 - TOP - light (white/silver)
#2 - LEFT - The safety box (red)
#3 - FRONT - Paper Shredder (blue)
#4 - RIGHT - Clock (yellow)
My goal:
To build a box that can anchor four rotary encoders in for different walls. This box must be big enough to place in a breadboard and a lot of, lof to wires.
Above it is the first version of the illustrator file prepared for laser cutting. For materials, I decided to use mat board since they are strong and thick. Even when the user clicks the rotary encoder, the box will not crush. Besides, mat board is a material that I can easily apply acrylic paint on.
Since there will be a 'paper shredder' involved in the game, we also want to build an 'roller' to mimic the movement of using a paper shredder.
Aside from making this physical device, I also made these two 'diaries' in photoshop for assisting the storytelling in the game.
----------- 5.0 Our Progress -----------
Prototypes from cardboard
Learned to laser cut for the first time!
Those cardboard turned out not bad.
Improvements:
1. Central hole (for fitting the rotary encoder) should be rectangle-shaped so that users can have more parts on the encoder to rotate.
2. Width set to 7inch rather 6.5inch (the size of the breadboard) so that when the arduino is connected to the power, the power jack can also be fit in.
3. For paper shredder side, the hole should not be centered, rather upper centered since when it rolls, it needs space for the movement.
For making the shredder, I used some 5V adapters as helpers.
Real cutting from mattboard
