APD Week 11 - Play and Stillness

APD Week 11 - Play and Stillness

Theme

The theme of stillness was not something i had any idea on how to tackle. It seemed contradictory in relation to play. The previous responses had all in common a sense of dynamic-ness about them, of change through some sort of input and output. But looking through some of the examples helped me understand that play and stillness can coexist. By minimizing the interactions a player can create, the outcome can be one of relaxation.

Methods

This was back to my roots in a sense. I used unreal engine to create the fluid simulation, but i wanted there to be a direct connection to the players stillness or lack of it. The water would be a reflection of their state of being. I used audio sampling to get the mic imput and use that to control the level of turbulence in the water. This was combined with different sound effects to give the feeling of increasing and decreasing stress. In addition, the player if they felt restless, could drop a ball into the water to disturb its surface, and 'reset' or clear their mind. Holding down a click would increase the size of this ball.

Context

The idea of using a fluid simulation, came from the video Priyankar presented during this weeks class, of the act of stacking stones near water. To me the perfect embodiment of stillness was the flat surface of water, which at a moments notice could turn turbulent, like our state of mind. The ball came from stress balls, where a person can squeeze down a rubber ball to free themselves of their burdens for a moment or two. 

Reflection

I was surprised with how well this turned out. Initially the idea i had using water was much more complicated, and involved a fully dynamic simulation. This proved impossible to create in real time, so this was the alternative. While the process of creating the piece was challenging, i found it soothing to have running in the background while I worked on other tasks, and i think that it ended up working quite well as a de-stresser.

Downloads:

Download File: 1634733549_2021-10-19-13-42-13.mp4