Theme
Play and Body
Context
Switch fitness ring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvHELogbm2E
Xbox Kinect
https://youtu.be/pwBQ7Fyw77c?t=275
Dancing machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BTU6I4Npfc
Game developers have made some games that require players to engage with body movement. For switch fitness ring, the motion sensor is manipulated to detect the motion of the players. In addition, Xbox made use of the camera to detect the motion of the players. Also, there are some dancing machines that players need to step on the buttons to gain marks. A spark flashed in my head that I thought of the Makey Makey pack I borrowed from the studio. I was lack of exercise due to the quarantine, and thus I had an idea of getting my body move with a game created with Makey Makey.
This game sits in the category of physical play and object play. In the gameplay experience, the physical movements and interaction with objects are involved.
Method
I programmed the game with C# in Unity. Then I create the Makey Makey buttons with cardboard and aluminium foil. The coloured buttons were connected with the Makey Makey board to the computer. The buttons and the MakeyMakey board were put onto the wall. The game was playtested by my brother and me afterwards.
Response
First of all, four random colours located at the top, down, right and left were randomly activated. When the corresponding button is clicked, the coloured object will be inactivated. After one second, the program will check if there is any activated object in the interface. If not, the players will be rewarded by one mark， otherwise, player’s health will be deducted by one. Then, another round of colour generation will take place. The game continues until the player’s health is zero.
Reflection
I intentionally put the buttons further apart, for example, I really need to jump to touch the blue button on the top and really move a step left to push the orange button of the left. I really got my body moved during the playtest. A study found that games involving body movements result in a higher level of engagement of the players as the way our bodies interact with the environment changes how we perceive the environment (Bianchi-Berthouze et. al, 2007).
Nevertheless, I discovered a problem during playtesting. Even I pressed the buttons when they are shown on the screen, as the game progress, I lost my health. I thought it’s because I linked the “RandomColors()” method with the “CheckInput()” method that the Random colour method is called 1 second after the input is checked. The colours should be generated independently from the input checking. I wanted to make the rhythm of the game increase as the game progress and hence kept subtracting the variable “Time” per frame until it’s equal to 0.9.
On the other hand, I think the game can be more engaging if the buttons are not just a colour. For instance, it can be a mole or a monster that the game is somehow supported by a background story. Or like the dancing machine game, the colours appear with the beat or rhythm of a song.
References
Bianchi-Berthouze, Nadia K., Woong Kim Whan, and Darshak Patel. "Does Body Movement Engage You More in Digital Game Play? And Why?" Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 4738 (2007): 102-13. Web.
How to convert an integer to UI.Text
https://forum.unity.com/threads/converting-int-to-ui-text-solved.484460/
How to subtract 1 from an int each second?
https://answers.unity.com/questions/1506674/how-to-subtract-1-from-an-int-each-second.html
Do After Time - Creating Delays in Unity | Unity Do Something After Time Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACDZ3W-stCE