Author: sheep

Looking Outwards # 1 – sheep

A touchstone for myself would be the Connected Worlds exhibit at the Hall of Science. A giant immersive animation confronts the viewers, who are mostly children visiting the museum.

To make Connected Worlds, NYSCI used Design I/o, who make immersive installations as their main practice. In addition to Design I/O, other collaborators included Zach Gage, Josh Goodrich,  Big Show Construction, Yale’s Cognitive science dept, Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information network, and NYU’s games for learning institute.

The project contains six different ecosystems, each one using OSC to send and receive sounds. The installation uses Kinect cameras to capture passerby’s movements as well. From what I see, a lot of it was programmed in C++.

I think a lot of the project was inspired by Disney’s theme parks. I think the sort of visual language, whimsy, and layout reminds me of a theme park approach. I also think they took inspiration from the interactive spaces of Teamlab.

I can see this project inspiring further large scale installations. I also think that projects like DynamicLand, that projection mapping real world coding workshop, may benefit from considering how kids can engage with their environments and how code can react.

Link: http://www.design-io.com/projects/ConnectedWorlds/

Video:https://vimeo.com/131585517

Behind the scenes: https://vimeo.com/131665883

sheep – reading1

Flanagan’s Critical Play is a text I have only read excerpts from, though I hadn’t read this section before. I have often wondered about strategies to allow players to stop what they’re doing and analyze their play. I really liked the idea of toying with the notion of goals. I think the reason this is so attractive is that games like these can explore new conceptual realms with familiar goals, which can be used to guide the player along a journey. I think that emergence can allow for goals to be completely turned on their heads, and also giving the player freedom can lead to endings. These endings, brought on by the decisions of the player, can defy narrative and be unsatisfying because of their choices. I am interested in seeing what sorts of systems can yield defined conclusions that provide critique with them.

2D Physics – sheep

Chicken Physics Control in Unity2d

Description: In this interactable I wanted to experiment with motion, specifically how one might make a convincing chicken using Unity’s 2D physics. For me, it was fun to think about the action of pulling worms out of the ground and play with the tools, rather than do anything too complicated. The result is a funny little experience in which you play as a giant headed chicken.

My goal was to make a game, but this doesn’t have an explicit goal or UI or instructions. Instead I would call it a prototype. The controls are left and right or A and D to move the chicken around, and the mouse to reposition its head and the left mouse to bite down. I initially had plans for a larger sort of story about a chicken whose eating gets too big for its surroundings, but the systems are in place to tell a story like that in the future.

Gif:

Video:

Link:

http://perebite.itch.io/chicken-physics-prototype