Media Art @ CIID | 2014
This project was an exploration to bridge the gap between hardware and software using the Noam messaging platform which allows to create complex interactive systems.Over various brainstorming sessions and experiments we came up with the concept of “The Laughing Machine”. It is a musical game installation embedded in a network of booths modulated by the Noam Server. Each booth was sending and receiving values which were generated based on the interactions of people within the booth. The setup of the installation were input buttons connected to the Noam Server. A processing sketch was written to create a simple game which displayed balls moving across the screen and the user had to press the correct coloured button in sync with the colour of the ball. The trick was, the colour, shape, size and speed of the ball was changing dynamically based on the values being received from the previous booth. This increased the difficulty level of the game to a certain extent. To add a fun element to the installation the system was programmed to produce sounds of laughter or sobs depending on whether the player made the right move.
This project was a technical challenge in terms of setting up the installation in synchronisation with five other booths on the network. There was no room for errors since a break in one booth could have stalled the functioning of all the booths. This project was great learning experience to understand the working of hardware and software and at the same create an interesting experience for the people playing the game.
BRAINSTORMING
PROCESS
CREATING THE GAME
SPARK CORE
INTERACTION
In collaboration with Samantha Lim, Claudia Ciarpella, Hsiang Lin
Mentored By : Travis Lee (IDEO), Evan Shapiro (IDEO), David Brody (IDEO)