Here begins a new project at Ravensbourne, and my first shot at blogging about this stuff here on the website. In keeping with the concept of having a project log, I’m going to write it in third person. Fun eh? Anyway, let us begin:

Having spent a few sessions mind-mapping (brain-storming) there are several possible and very interesting ways this project could go. There are concepts that involve a whole range of tools, from RFID to Wii remotes; pressure sensitive floor mats to sound interactive projections. The possibilities of this project really are endless, only limited by time and knowledge. The later of which is something that can be overcome or worked around. Here are just a few of the proposed ideas.

Fill the Balloons with Water
In keeping with the traditional fair ground theme, this game requires users to use a Wii remote to fill a virtual balloon with virtual water until the balloons reaches its limit and pops! Once the balloon has popped not only does the balloon on screen explode, but the user is lightly sprayed by real water from jets set up either side of the booth.

The Independent Shadow
The user walks along the side of a large screen, on which a shadow is projected. The shadow mimics the users movements for a brief period of time (perhaps around ten seconds) before it starts performing its own actions. To conclude the performance the shadow then explodes in to lots of smaller shadows which then run around before racing off the screen.

Gymnast Trampolining
Inspired by gymnastic trampolining, the user must jump on a trampoline and perform various tricks in a certain sequence for a high score. However they jump on touch pads on the floor. The middle touch pad is where they have to jump up and down, whilst four touch pads circle them, each one performing a certain trick that they must do in order to achieve that perfect score.

Virtual Decorating
Users are given a touch screen phone, or perhaps a tablet PC onto which they can draw anything they choose. This image is then sent to a computer which is connected up to four projectors (one for each wall of a four walled room). The image is then projected onto one of the walls to decorate it. As more and more people contribute their images, the walls become more and more full, allowing for a large scale, multi-user virtual decoration of a room.

Virtual Earthquake
Projected onto a screen is a drawing of an environment (i.e. a city, forest scene, room etc.). In front of the screen are a row of pressure sensitive mats. As a user walks over the mats, the image on the screen starts to shake. When the user starts to stamp on the mats, various parts of the image start to rattle and perhaps fall over. If the user starts storming around and jumping on the mats, a full scale earthquake occurs within the image.

These are just a few of the concepts that have been proposed, there are more, however these are some of the more favored ides. It will certainly be interesting to see where this project goes, as there are some very good ideas and some very open ended concepts. For example, the ‘Virtual Earthquake’ has almost endless possibilities in the environment you could use as the image.