Saturday, March 23, 2013

Specification Doc

After some more research and brainstorms we came up with a specification document for our Simon, courtesy of Tamar.


1. General
1.1         Objective
1.1.1          The Street Simon Prototype will enable a short and fun interaction with the game for a single user.
1.1.2          The Street Simon Prototype will enable a short and fun interaction with the game for multiple users, both on the same side of the sidewalk, and on opposing sides of the sidewalk (henceforth known as Side A and Side B).
1.1.3          The Street Simon Prototype aims to pass the time for pedestrians waiting for the traffic light to change, and so the game will only be active while the pedestrian traffic light is red.

1.2         General Physical Requirements
1.2.1          8 life sized switches (4 for each interface)- 2 red, 2 yellow, 2 green and 2 blue
1.2.2          An analogue screen for the score board

1.3         Additional Notes
1.3.1           The game patterns will be composed of 4 visual and audio elements- element A (blue light, sound 1), element B (Red light, sound 2), element C (Green light, sound 3), element D (yellow light, sound 4).
1.3.2          “Single Player” mode refers to a game where only one of the sides is playing (either side A or side B). On one of the sides, there could be a number of players playing together, however the game will not differentiate between many players on one side and one player on that same side.
1.3.3          “Multiple Players” mode refers to a game where both Sides A and Sides B are playing simultaneously.

1.4         Synchronization with Pedestrian Traffic Lights
1.4.1          The timing program of the relevant pedestrian traffic light (for which the game will be placed) will be measured before placement of the game. 
1.4.2          The game will be active at all times when the pedestrian traffic light is red.
1.4.3          The game will be inactive when the pedestrian traffic light is green.


2. Beginning the Game
2.1         Objective
2.1.1          The User will be able to instinctively understand how the game works.
2.1.2          The system will be able to identify the type of game (single player or multiplayer).

2.2         Commencing the Game
2.2.1          The initial game sequence will commence once the user steps on the “Pad” which presents a drawing of footprints and is accompanied by the text “Stand here to begin Playing”.
2.2.2          The initial game sequence will include a short sequence of all the 4 elements in a pattern, and will indicate the beginning of the game to the user.
2.2.3          If the system identifies a player on both Side A and Side B, the game will act as a multiplayer game.
2.2.4          If the system identifies a player only on one side of the game (either Side A or Side B), that game will act as a single player game.


3. Single Player Mode
3.1         Objective
3.1.1          The user/users on a single side will be required to repeat patterns.

3.2         Interaction
3.2.1          The user/users on a single side will be required to repeat patterns.
3.2.2          Each pattern completed is equal to one level.
3.2.3          The patterns increase by the addition of a single element as each level increases.
3.2.4          Each time the user completes a pattern, the completion sounds will be played.
3.2.5          If the user steps on the wrong key (for example the pattern provided was red-blue-green and he pressed red-green), this means he has failed the game, and the “game failed” sound will be played

3.3         Restarting the Game
3.3.1          If no keys are pressed during the game for 15 seconds, the game will restart.
3.3.2          If the user has failed the game, the game will restart.
3.3.3          If the pedestrian traffic light turns green, the game will restart but be inactive until the traffic light is red once again.

3.4         Score
3.4.1          A counter screen displaying the word “score” and increasing digits will be created.
3.4.2          Each completion of a pattern rewards the player with one point.
3.4.3          The scoreboard will reset to 0 every time the game “restarts”.


4. Multiple Player Mode
4.1         Objective
3.4.1          The user/users on a both sides of the crosswalk will be required to repeat patterns and compete against each other.

4.2         Interaction
4.2.1          Both interfaces on side A and side B will carry on autonomously and accordingly to the requirements made in section 3.2 and 3.3.  

4.3         Score
4.3.1          The only addition made in multiplayer mode refers to the scoreboard.
4.3.2          Once the system identifies a multiplayer game, the scoreboard will consist of “Your Side” and the increasing score (referring to the score of that specific Simon interface), and “The Other Side”, which will show the increasing score of the player on the other side of the crosswalk.
4.3.3          Once the game ends, either by one of the players ceasing to play, or by the traffic light changing to green, the scoreboard on the side with most points in that session will present the text “You Win!”. The score board on the losing side will present the text “The Other Side Wins”.
4.3.4          If one of the sides “fails the game”, the other side will be declared winner and the failing side will be presented with the text “The Other Side Wins”.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Presentation at Class with 1st Prototype

Last week at class we all gave a short presentation of our prototypes at their current state- our one Simon button did not change (besides the color :) ) but we have some new resolutions regarding it's next design. After Passover we intend to have four working buttons with a more suitable design- mainly smaller and closer so that one person can interact with it alone with no difficulty.



Saturday, March 16, 2013

Paper Prototype User Study

On Wednesday  Tamar and Doron went to Tel Aviv University and gave students and other pedestrians a chance to play Red Light Simon.






Conclusions:
1. Smaller Buttons- closer to each other and smaller by size (easier fot one to play alone, still comfortable for two or three players)
2. Multiplayer or solo by choise- the first player can invite bystanders but the game is not multiplayer by default
3. Players like being competative and playing againg the other side is a big plus
4. Must have a scoreboard
5. Different types of playing- some bounced from button to button and others touched the edges gently (might be due to the size, shape and overall physical space used)
6. For bystanders that don't play it's a great preformance

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Making of the 1st Simon Button





 Dudi and Yael used an acrylic glass cover for a sponge frame. They used aluminum foil to close an electrical circruit. The LED's are super bright LED- green for now.


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Prototyping

This week's main goal is to create a few versions of the Simon "buttons". Dudi and Doron had a workshop today and these are their creations:



This button is made of sponge, wood and acrylic glass. The sensor in this version is a weight sensitive one to ensure durability. Over the next few days we will try a few more designs, ideally.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Select and Refine

Still need to determine what is the core of our Simon- it's been hard to choose which goal is the main one. We wanted to combine playing a game and connecting with others (fun), passing the time (lower anxiety) and producing electricity (ecological).

As advised by mentors and the miLab staff, we must have one thing that defines the interaction and will attract pedestrians to play.

Two tests can determine if Simon works-
  1. people prefer "Simon"ed crosswalks over plain ones.
  2. people keep on playing after the light turns green.
For now Simon will consist of two "consoles", one for each side of the crosswalk that can be played by 1 to 4 players. The pattern is the same for both sides and the score is gained by the number of patterns achieved in a certain amount of time (red light length). The connection can be made by the players in the same side and between the sides.

For now we will focus on the fun aspect of Simon- passing the time and connecting to others via the game.

For next week we need to prepare a few options of buttons (based on the Arduino prototype when the materials and mechanisms are varying and possible pressure to be applied is to be tested),start working on a new storyboard and plan a user study flow. We have a few industrial design students for friends, time to "take" a hand from them.