Interaction and Interface Design

This week we decided on what to do next for our project.

Larry K will make notes specific notes about the game play and send them along with is art to me.

I will take Larry K’s art and use his notes to make the game interactive in Flash.

Amy will look into how to make this game prototype into a EyeToy game.

Amy I just found something that may make your job a lot easier. Apparently, you can make an EyeToy games in Flash 8 (I don’t have it yet. I might try to pick up a copy on Saturday at the school book store). Examples are at http://www.playdocam.com/ (a webcam is required). You can read how they created the games here.

UPDATE: I just ordered the upgrade (there was a $60 difference between the academic and upgrade). I’ll see if I can make any EyeToy effects with at after it arrives.

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This is not set in stone.

There will be four sections to the game:
1. The Tutorial, which will teach the player how to play the game and the Tutorial will be presented as an audition to the band.
2. Free Play, where the player has a choice from 57 venues and what song to play.
3. Battle of the Bands, where the player can play against another player.
4. Tour, where the band goes on 20 or more show tour (depending on how well the player does). Can be played with 1-4 players. In single player mode, one player plays all the instruments. In multi-player mode, other players play other instruments.

Two venues in Tour can not be played in Free Play: The Best Venue and The Worst Venue.

In Tour, there are 59 possible venues. The venues will be ranked, from best to worst. Before each gig, the player will have a choice of three venues. Each of the three venues will have the same ranking, but different types of music will be played at each venue.

The player’s tour begins with the choice of three 19th ranked venues.

If the player does well, three better venues will be unlocked. The better venues will be larger with a harder song to perform.

The audience will let the player know if he/she is having a good or bad performance. If he or she is having a bad performance, the audience will boo and throw stuff at the player on stage. The player must dodge the objects.

If a bad object hit’s the player, game play will become harder.

If the player is having a good performance, the audience will cheer and throw things the player will want to catch.

If the player has a bad performance in one venue, the next performance will be at a worse venue. At a bad venue the songs will be easier, but the audience will be more willing to boo and throw bad things.

If the player has three bad performances he/she ends up in The Worst Venue, which is the 20th ranked venue. If the player performs well at one of the Second Best Venues (2nd rank), the player will perform at The Best Venue (1st rank).

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Ok, here it is. I will show you an image first and explain it second:


Click on the picture for a larger image

So, this is how it works:
The music staff at the top of the screen moves from right to left, with the dotted line located on the left hand side of the screen staying stationary. On this staff, there are various icons that represent what instrument is to be played at any one time. For instance, when the drum marked ‘L’ reaches the dotted line, the player must ‘hit’ the left drum.

The next icon on the staff indicates the synthesizer part in the song. To play the synthesizer, the player must ‘grab’ the synth icon with his left hand. The player then must ‘control’ the pitch of the synth by following the musical note on the right hand side of the screen with his right hand by moving his right hand up and down. The closer the player comes to following the pitch of the synth with his right hand, the better he will do in the game.

Next on the musical staff is the microphone icon. This signals the player that it is time to ‘sing’ the song. The player ‘grabs’ the microphone and follows the pitches of the vocals with his left hand. Also, there is a bouncing ball that helps the player follow along with the melody of the vocals.

During the game, there must be some sort of real time feedback as to how the player is doing. For drum parts, an exaggerated audio sound of the drum playing out of sync with the game’s music will indicate that the player has missed the beat. The farther off the beat the player plays, the more exaggerated the bad note will sound.

A similar phenomenon will happen when the player is using his right hand track pitches. For instance, when the player is ‘playing’ the synth and his hand is below where the proper pitch should be, a pitch that is slightly below the proper pitch will be played, signaling to the player that the have missed the mark.

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So, it appears from the three previous posts that we are in agreement with the overall high level concept of the Eye Toy game in which we are working. In short, we have decided to create a game where a player or players are aspiring to be musical superstar. To achieve this end, the player must work his/her way through the live music circuit, playing show venues that span from the smallest, seediest nightclubs, all the way to the largest, most prestigious arena venues. During these ‘shows’, the player must ‘play’ along to the game soundtrack by activating and ‘playing’ each of the instruments and ‘singing’ the vocals. These interactions will be activated by the player using his/her whole body, with the Eye Toy as the interactive medium. The more accurately the player ‘plays’ the song, the more points he/she will score. The more points the player scores, the faster he/she will move through the concert circuit.

Now that the basic concept of the game is completed, we must now figure out how the player’s interactions will control the music in the game. This has proven to be a bit difficult, so we as a group have decided on a two prong approach to solve this problem.

First, we looked to another game with a similar theme. The game Donkey Konga is a game where the user plays a conga interface (the conga controller is included with the game) to play the beats that accompany the game soundtrack. The more accurately the player plays along with the music, the more points he/she scores. This is similar to our game concept, yet the Donkey Konga only has to deal with the rhythm of one instrument. Our game will not only be tracking the rhythm of multiple instruments, it will also have to track melodies as well! And, our controller is the entire human body put in front of a video camera.

Where Donkey Konga did give us a good idea was in the way the music is ‘notated’ in the game. The player must follow along with the music by following the rolling barrels. A set of color coded barrels roll from right to left on the screen. At the left hand side of the barrel’s path is a target. When the barrel reaches the target, the player must hit the appropriate conga (congas come in pairs). A barrel of one particular color indicates a hit on the left conga; another color indicates a hit on the right one. Still another color indicates hitting both congas, while a fourth color indicates that the player must clap his/her hands. What we must do now is find a way to modify this indication mechanism to fit our game where both rhythm and pitch must be performed by the player.

Our second strategy was to pick some songs to listen to, and come up with ways that we could have players ‘play’ the songs with there body movements. For this exercise, we picked the following songs:

Songs for Prototyping
We Will Rock You
Bohemian Rhapsody
Devil Wen’t Down to Georgia
Is This Love
Don’t Funk With My Heart
Black Magic Woman

So for next week, each of our group members are going to take these songs, listen to them, and come up with ideas for the interface of the game. Our biggest challenges will be to figure out how the player will indicate pitch and rhythm, how the player will determine which intrument they will be playing at any one time, and how the game will ‘notate’ on the screen what they player’s next gameplay musical action will be.

-LK

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I liked many if the ideas from the Kid’s Team meeting including the story of trying to become a big band, the dodging or catching of things the audience throws at the player, changing the player’s look, Guitar Smashing and the Head Cutting contest.

Most of these ideas can be easily incorporated into an EyeToy game. But, it does leave some technical questions. Should the player in the game be represented by his/her video image or by an avatar? If the video image is used, the main image on the screen would probably be a static shot (no camera movement). It would look like the audience was behind the player, unless the player physically places the camera to shoot him/her from behind (problems might occur if the camera has the monitor in the frame).

If the player is represented by an avatar, then options like EyeToy Cameo can be used. EyeToy Cameo allows the player to create an avatar which looks like himself/herself. But, the process looks a little boring and technical (one of the steps is putting plot points around an image of the players face). Other avatars should be available for players who don’t want to go through the EyeToy Cameo process.

Having the player represented as an avatar would free up the game visually and allow for some camera movement. The avatar could face the audience, which would look better. But, what if there was a little of both the avatar representation and the video image? Have the player be the avatar he could control by dodging and have a faded video image to hit the hot spots. I think that interface was used in the game EyeToy MonkeyMania (not available in the US).

I think the problem is how the player plays the instruments. Moving hands over hot spots at the right moment can work, but we have to be careful to place the hot spots where they wouldn’t be activated while the player is dodging stuff thrown at him/her.

This is going to be fun.

Filed by Larry W at 9:51 pm under Blog Post
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Gory Mindless Violence
Seemed to be what the kids like the most in a game. Now, I am not one of those people that thinks bloody violence in a video game causes children to grow up to be axe murders. There have certainly been plenty of murders, serial killers, and all around violent crime long before video game a TV violence became a staple in the media culture. We discussed some ways to incorporate some goriness into the game, but I am not sure that this should be the focus of the group’s efforts. This is an interface/interaction design class, so we should be more concerned with the various aspects of the interaction between the users, the Eye Toy, and the game.

Other Music Related Video Games
Our game is going to be based on interactions that create music in a video game environment. Previous examples of games along these lines include Donkey Konga and Karaoke Revolution. Both of these games use alternative means to interface with the game. For example, Donkey Konga comes with a set of bongos that interface into the game play. A player must match various rythms in the music that are notated on the game screen. Karaoke Revolution uses a microphone that the player sings into. Both games score points on how accurately the player mimics the music being played during the game. Using the Eye Toy as an interface is a natural extension of the concepts behind both of these games. In our case, the player will be able to use his or her own body to control the music of the game. The question is, do we want to continue on the theme of these other two games and have the player try to mimic the music being played by the game, or do we envision another type of game plays that moves in other directions?

Kid ’s Team Input
So, besides gory mindless violence, what other ideas did we glean from our session with the kids? Amy pointed out in our debrief that the kids where more interested in the specifics of the game play then how their interactions would control the game play. I do not think that this is such a bad thing, and should not have been unexpected. Raskin and Norman both point out and strive to attain interfaces that are both mindless and monotonous. What does this mean? It means that user is not thinking about what they are doing, only about the task they want to achieve. When these kids talk about video games, they are not thinking about how the interface of a weapon selection process works, or what button shoots this gun. When immersed in game play, they are thinking ‘I need to shoot this guy with this gun this many times to kill him’. At this point the interface is transparent and the player is only thinking about the task at hand.
So I propose that we leave the interaction/interface design to the ‘future experts’ (Larry, Amy, and I), and use the kids ‘expertise’ in what makes a fun game. Of couse, this is the only way to do this, since the kids had no real input on interactions and interface issues.

Ideas From the Kids That I Liked

• Overall Story/Gameplay: I really like the idea that the player starts out as a nobody playing in sleazy bars in places like Podunk, Kentucky. They better the player gets and the more experience he or she collects moves him/her closer to the goal of playing some prestigious place such as Madison Square Gardens. This will give the player goals to work towards and serve as a marker of progress in the game.
• Head Cutting Contest: Being able to play head to head against other players is another desirable way to enhance game play. When playing music, this is referred to as a headcutting contest. Typically, to musicians alternate back and forth between solos, each trying to out play the other. If you have ever seen the movie Zoolander, you have seen a head cutting contest between two runway models. Although this example is not musical, you can get the overall idea of what this type of contest entails.
• Audition: This would be the tutorial part of the game. This is where the player hones his skills, readying himself for the big time. This part could take place in a garage or a basement, and the players parents or neighbors could periodically come over and yell at the player for being too loud.
• Audience Participation: Another great idea that came out involved the audience. When a player is playing below a certain predetermined skill threshold, the audience might start throwing things at the stage. This would require the player to ‘dodge’ the objects. The worse the player plays, the more objects he has to dodge. If he gets hit too many times, the screen becomes blurry and the player eventually passes out, and gets kick off the stage. Riots may sometime ensue. If the player improves his play during the ‘concert’, the audience that switches from throwing things, to clapping and cheers.


• Guitar Smashing: Its rock and roll. You should be able to smash a guitar somewhere in the game.


• Freebird: Somebody needs to yell ‘Freebird’ from the audience. This is a requirement.

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Game Set-up / Background Info

A musician sets out on the road to fame and fortune. Through the course of a musical tour, the player achieves greatness by playing successfully at a series of tour sites.

The game starts with an audition round which serves to teach/test the player’s ability. Once the player passes the audition, progressively more difficult stages of the game begin. Successive stages are characterized by improved and larger venues.

In addition to the general game play, objects will be thrown at the musician. Depending on their progress in the game the objects may be reward-type objects (money, flowers, love notes) which the player would want to “catch” for points or punishment-type objects (food, soda cans, small animals) which the player would want to “dodge” or points would be deducted.

KidsTeam suggested one prize for “winning” would be the game plays back your favorite song. This could be enhanced by allowing the player to accompany their favorite band in a rendition of song.

Kids Team members agree that the game will be improved if players have a variety of music genres from which to choose: Rock, Country, Orchestral, Rap/DJ. Music from other geographic regions provided an interesting topic for consideration – -particularly given the array of unique sounds the instruments might make. Music of the undead was explored as a possible music genre or as a possible Bonus Round feature.

Player attributes

KidsTeam members seemed interested in the possibility of customizing their on-screen appearance through digital costuming, gender changes, tattoos, piercings or other effects. They were equally open to their own image displaying on-screen or the use of avatars to represent themselves.

Suggested enhancements

• Player attributes: Mohawk, Tattoes,Piercings, Gender change

Interface design:


• Audio:

Level 1 Audibles (No audience /Small venue): bottle rolling across floor; burp, cricket chirping.
Level 2 – small venue audibles: disparate or limited applause (slow clap), family shout-out
• Visual

Country genre: Dog sleeping nearby. Pigs in the background.
Other: Guitar smashing component.

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