I’d like to pick 3 of these projects.  I’d like to do a bit of a spread over different age groups, and different technologies.  My initial thoughts are Tower Defender (because it’s a game for older children, and competitive), Alphabet Soup or Mustache Mayhem (because it’s aimed at younger children, in a group setting) and Spelling Bee or Tic-Tact-Toe (because it’s aimed at children a little older, plays off the neural network technology, and is single player).  I think Mustache Mayhem would be the more fun choice for the younger group.

Tower Defender – This game is specifically for children learning about angles and geometry, though younger may be interested in playing.  Thus, the target age is High School: 15-18 years old.  The digital game board would be set up similar to an air hockey table or soccer field.  On the two ends would be two towers with a gun on the top.  The gun launches a puck or ball toward the other person’s tower at some angle (determined by the player).  Each tower would be a semicircle, centered along either edge of the “field” with 3 targets (1 facing the other person directly, the other two at 45 degree angles – something like this: \ __ / ). The goal is to hit the other person’s 3 targets before the other person hits yours.  The only defense you have would be 3-4 walls that you can set up at the beginning of the game to defend your tower.  The walls wouldn’t be huge, but big enough to deflect the ball off in a certain direction if it reached a certain space.

Alphabet Soup – This game is aimed at children 3-10¹, depending on their developmental level, handicaps, etc.  The idea is that the screen is a “soup” of letters.  The game is to find whichever letter the game asks you to find.  The letters to search for would be both audibly and visually represented. A selection of a letter would warrant either positive or negative feedback – again both audibly and visually most likely.

Mustache Mayhem – This is a finding game that doesn’t require any language.  The idea is basically to find all the people with a green shirt, find all the people with stripes on their shirt, find all the people with a brown mustache, etc.  Instead of the alphabet soup setup, this is a sea of torso’s and faces, all with randomized characteristics.

Spelling Bee – This game is for children who know how to form letters², but need practice making words.  The idea is that they can draw a letter at a time and the software will recognize the letter, adding it to their word.  There would be a free-form mode in which the child could create their own words, or a spelling mode where the child is given a word to spell.

Tic-Tac-Toe – The classic game of tic-tac-toe, enhanced by the touch surface and neural networking to allow each person to draw their xs or os and the program will discern which is which and declare a winner.

To recap the week on this project… I started out the week re-evaluating whether I should do the project based on new cost projections for the hardware components.  The question was really “is the quality worth the cost?”, and I think the answer I’ve come to is yes.

I met with a man named Kevin Klughart, who is a patent engineer.  He’s one of the most well educated and intelligent men I’ve ever met. In addition to his law and engineering background, he also works with metal and wood.  So I took my plans to him Wednesday night and we looked over them.  We decided the project is worth doing and could be done for a reasonable price.  He also helped me think through the design so as to make it better handle the internal heat produced by the computer and projector. So I’m proceeding.

The next task I tackled was research. I printed a number of articles from the databases here at the Art Institute, mostly about Education and Technology.  The one article that stood out more than any was titled “The Right Stuff” and it was about a man who is using multimedia to engage special needs kids.  Here’s an excerpt:

“Last year the reading levels of his fourth graders increased more than a grade and a half within one year, and behavioral issues have decreased by over one half.”

His website is http://mrfoote.com/.  I plan on mining his “notable authors” list in the very near future.
Another article that I read talked about how using computers with small children didn’t always help, but actually hurt the child’s progress.  However, as the child progressed in age, technology became more and more important.  Specifically the article centered around learning to read, diagramming sentences, etc.

The last task I worked on this week was trying to come up with a specific application design for my project.  So, my idea is to do at least 3 miniature vignettes – small programs that help kids learn.  The idea I fleshed out this week is a game I’m calling “Castle Defender” at this point, but the title will probably change.  It’s a Crossbows and Catapults meets Air Hockey meets Scorched Earth meets Pinball game.  The idea of the game is to teach kids about angles of reflection (geometry) in a fun and interesting way.

Basically, as I envision it, the board would be set up similar to an air hockey table or soccer field.  On the two ends would be two towers with a gun on the top.  The gun launches a puck or ball toward the other person’s tower at some angle (determined by the player).  Each tower would be a semicircle, centered along either edge of the “field” with 3 targets (1 facing the other person directly, the other two at 45 degree angles – something like this: \ __ / ). The goal is to hit the other person’s 3 targets before the other person hits yours.  The only defense you have would be 3-4 walls that you can set up at the beginning of the game to defend your tower.  The walls wouldn’t be huge, but big enough to deflect the ball off in a certain direction if it reached a certain space.

I’m torn between the idea of just having the ball bounce around until it hits either of the far walls, or something else.  Also, to re-enforce the learning concept, each time the ball hit a wall I’m thinking of having the angle of reflection appear next to the hit, and possible going into slow motion for a split second (think the Matrix).

So that’s where I’m at.  I have another idea for a different application, but it’s in the baby stages and will require more research.

Best,
Philip Likens
Texas based Interactive Artist and Web Design Instructor

It looks like it will cost me around $500 to do this project, if I do it.  I’m not sure I can justify that cost.  That’s a lot of money just for the sake of testing.  I am now thinking I may abort on building a table and stick to my MTmini-like rig.  I could probably spend $20 and make it better – usable enough for now.  I have my table all planned out – I’ve spent hours on that part, only to find I may not build it.  Hard not to be bummed about it.

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Edit: I’m now still thinking about building it.  We’ll have to see what makes the most sense.

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Best,
Philip Likens
Texas based Interactive Artist and Web Design Instructor

I had lunch with a good friend this past Saturday.  We’re both working on Multi-Touch systems, but for different applications.  I don’t actually know much about what his end product will be – we end up talking more about technique, design, coding and the development process.  One thing he pointed out, in all our hardware/software issues the real problem is that the software is ahead of the hardware.  Which means we don’t have the hardware to support the technology.  So we developers have to go around rigging setups in the mean time that are really hit or miss because the hardware technology is currently lagging behind.

Another “problem” we discussed was how designing and developing multi-touch applications is totally different than normal mouse input applications, especially if the multi-touch surface is based on a table design, ie you can approach it from almost any angle.  This means you aren’t really developing for a sure angle of contact and makes things like menu systems and the like a tougher problem.

But the whole industry is wide open right now, and that’s a cool feeling – knowing what we do right now has the opportunity to impact the direction of a whole industry.

Best,
Philip Likens
Texas based Interactive Artist and Web Design Instructor

MultiTouch Surface

Over the past few days I’ve been working on installing tBeta and getting my multi-touch surface up and running.  Currently my surface is roughly based on the MTmini. Anyhow, tBeta keeps crashing, my webcam software isn’t all that stable either, and my installation of XP was never really stable to begin with.  So – I’m reinstalling windows.  I’ve wiped the c drive clean and am reinstalling from scratch (I had a version of Ubuntu running as well, but it was as unstable as XP – as such, I never used it).

Now some may be wondering why I’m not doing this project on my iMac.  Well, it’s because 1) my webcam is not supported on the iMac correctly.  Fortunately, they make a program that will cover that – however, you also can’t disable/override the built in iMac camera.  Which, I think is horribly inconsiderate – almost as inconsiderate as Apple has made their app store approval process.  So, I can’t really do it on the iMac at this point, though I may have to try more extreme measures if my PC still doesn’t work correctly after the reinstall.

But I have hope that things will be better…

Best,
Philip Likens
Texas based Interactive Artist and Web Design Instructor

Multi-Touch Vignettes

So the question posed to me is this:  Why would you do the project you’re wanting to do?  In other words, what good would it be for anyone else, for me to do this project?  Is this project beyond just self-indulgent?  And the other question that was posed is what else is going on in this space?  So here’s an introduction to my project and hopefully some meaningful response to the questions posed:

Vignettes is subtitled “Multi-Touch & Human Flourishing”.  And that subtitle isn’t just fluf, but it’s meant to be the focus of the project.  The project will use multi-touch technology with Flash, probably utilizing some form of Artificial Intelligence, to promote human flourishing through education.  So the idea is that I will create programs that teachers could use, students could use, to teach and learn, that are specifically bettered by, or only made possible because of, mutli-touch technology.  The hard part I’m running into so far is coming up with these miniature programs – because they haven’t been created and not only have they not been created, but the technology is so young and untapped, it’s hard to imagine what can be done.  On the other hand, the door is wide open to do creative new things that haven’t really been approached before.

So that’s what I’ve got thusfar, I’m sure I’ll have more as the week/project/research progresses.

Best,
Philip Likens
Texas based Interactive Artist and Web Design Instructor