APDweek11

APD Week 11 --zen mode
Create by Bingqian Guo (s3622056)
Theme : play and stillness 

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/BCzBKpA9MpM
In physics, stillness is a state often used as a reference for movement. In psychology, stillness means peace of mind, as the saying goes, "A quiet mind is naturally cool". In Buddhism, this state of stillness of mind is called "Zen". In today's society, everything is focused on efficiency and results, and the process is neglected. This week's theme is play and stillness, and I will design an interactive game based on the theme of Zen. 

Context:
On "Plants vs. Zombies", It always shown the name "Zen Garden". Zen originated from Buddhism, but after its introduction to Europe, it gradually left the realm of Buddhism and became a synonym for Westerners' longing and curiosity for the mysterious wisdom of the East, which became their subjective impression of Eastern philosophy and even Far Eastern style. In the field of games, "Zen" style of play represents a game mode that calls players to temporarily disengage from the main process of goal-oriented games, to abandon the established concepts of success and failure, and to settle in the present moment. Thus playing a role in tempering players' tastes and regulating the pace of the game. In "Play in Hybrid Reality: Alternative Approaches to Game Design", there is an argument that "This goal might be require players heightened awareness of their surroundings and the opposite to a device-centric view on immersion; such alternative game aesthetics, nevertheless, can produce games that are interesting to play". It is clear from this that the environment has a very important meaning for the game. For realistic games more consideration can be given to how to replace the realistic environment with the environment created in the game.

Method 
With Zen as the core concept, I wanted to design an interactive game.

This is my instrument. It is a guzheng, and then I will comprehend the meaning of Zen by playing the music and thinking around cause and effect.
Preparation of the game:
1. Prepare some words and phrases
2. Prepare my relaxing background music 

With the background music playing, the game starts
Players need to use their own logic to find the cause and effect in the phrases
(For example, if you find two words in a list of words: flower blossoms and flower falls, match them and show the judge the logic of cause and effect.)
When the background music ends, the player with the highest score wins. 

After the actual test, listen to the players' opinions to make changes:
With the background music playing, the game starts
Players need to blindly select 4 phrases from the word list
Combine them in any way to form a phrase
and express the phrase in any way (no text/words) before the music ends
Players will judge each other, and the player with the highest rating will win.

After listening to comments, the game has been iterated.

Players will receive a vocabulary sheet at the beginning of the game (20 words on the sheet)

The player has to form a number of closed shapes by logically linking the words together within the time limit (note that the lines must not cross)

If all the words are in the closed graph at the end, the challenge is successful

Reflection 
The intention was to design a realistic interactive game with a Zen theme. However, after many tests and feedback I found that this idea did not seem to work. There was no way for the game to make players feel relaxed and laid-back. Then, I analyzed the Zen mode of the PC game and found that the Zen mode is based on the idea that the player can completely forget about all the mental burdens they normally have to carry, and enjoy the time alone with themselves under the constant gliding character avatars and the constant flow of the surrounding scenery. The producer should refuse to set limits for the player,  and only to provide a good variety of relaxing images and music. Then turn away, leaving the player free to wander in it. So in essence the mechanism of Zen mode is anti-game. In the end I transformed the game into an experiential game, hoping that players would experience Zen as much as possible and portray it as such.

https://youtu.be/BCzBKpA9MpM