Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 3. Controller Ideas...

At first I came up with an idea of a small board with 3 piano keys in the board and either side would be a pressure ball that you would have to hammer your fist onto the pads so that way you are playing a mixture of piano and drums. I like the idea but I think it is too simple and that having 3 piano is a bit lazy since I might as well just make a keyboard. I'd like to come up with something better.

My next idea is an odd one that is hard to describe. I got the idea from a viral video of a Marble Machine Instrument by the musician/innovator 'Wintergatan'. ->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q

It would be an L shaped board with a spoon-like lever on the bottom board, that has a marble roll down the handle and you knock the handle to throw the ball to hit one of the pressure plates. But there are so many problems with that. First of, the accuracy you would need would have to be spot on. Then you would end out missing and losing the marble ball is you hit it too hard. It would also mean that you can't hit 2 buttons at the same time and most importantly, it would be too slow. So that idea is completely scrapped.

I ended up thinking, what if playing, could also significantly increase you're motor skills... Then I came up with an idea, that I will reveal in the next blog.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 2... Assignment Time...

We were given the assignment for this module. There is a game called 'Frets on Fire' that we have to design a controller for. The game Frets on Fire is a clear knock-off of the popular game serious 'Guitar Hero'. The game consists of coloured icons scrolling down towards you, down a guitar fret board and you have to press the correct coloured button in time with the button on the screen. There are five buttons that you could use. That means our controller must have five buttons. We were told not to make anything the is very similar to your standard Playstation/Xbox controller as those are too popular and we are being graded for innovation. So I need to think of a good few designs and pick the best one. Obviously since timing is a very important part of the game, I can't make anything that won't react to the same speed as the player. In my next post, I'll talk about controller designs.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 1 - Circuit Bending

One of the first things we were shown in this class was that there is an ability of some sorts to take pieces of technology, such as children's toys, open them up, switch around the circuits and the flow of electricity to make the toy give out a range of distorted wave sounds. There is a culture around this idea, with circuit bending camps being created where people all meet up with each other, mess around with toys and show the result of something they have created. There are also cafe bars that have people go up on stage to show off what they have created. People are quite passionate with this culture, with famous musicians also taking an interest.

The reason why the majority of the technology being used for circuit bending is children's toys is because to circuit bend, you need to pick apart and manipulate microchips. And the problem with microchips for modern technology is that they are extremely small as they made by small computers and robots. Whereas back then, especially with children's toys, the technology was made by hand. So it's easier for the technology to be manipulated by hand.

I find the culture fascinating, but at the same time I have no interest in it whatsoever. It would be interesting to know more about it though.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 3 - A similar reality...

I'd like to talk about a video that was shown to me in class today by our lecturer. It was called HyperReality. I have seen a lot of videos on the internet. I mean an obsessive amount. I have integrated myself in internet culture to the point where I am fully aware of my addiction to be up to date with everything that I see. And through my countless hours of technology news, evolution advancements, FAILS and crappy cat videos, there are very few videos I have seen that have blown my mind to a point where I feel deeply educated and changed as a person. HyperReality is one of those videos.

I would also mention the video 'To This Day', made by a poet Shane Koyczan, where he uses his words along with amazing visual effects to deliver a message to all of those people the were bullied and brought to the brink of suicide, just to let them know that although things may not turn out the way they could have, that there is still hope.

Another video that is just as incredible is a music video named, 'MEMEME' and I can't stress enough that it is not safe for work and not for the shy, due to the nude and bloody animated imagery. Most people will look at it's flashing imagery as hentai, (japanese animated porn), however it most certainly isn't. It's as much porn as Game of Thrones is. But it shows the power of obsession to the internet, games, and isolation through unbelievable visuals and a song that switches genres multiple times throughout the 6 minute video. How your life can be torn apart by the fascination of living like a hermit, obsessed with a better reality that is not real. And that trying to get away from it and back into your normal life can be as easy as getting off heroin.

HyperReality shows what the near future could be like if we changed our way of life to blend in virtual/augmented reality. It was so well done and so realistic that you could easily believe that it is possible to happen with the next 20 years tops, if we decided to go in that direction.
I brought up in class that nowadays, due to video game culture has become a huge part of everyone's lives in some shape or form, we all yearn to change real life into a game.
But when you think about it, life already is a game. Just less simplified. We gain experience as we do something. We gain intelligence/strength when we read a book/go to the gym. We Level Up when we get promoted at work or learn to do a new skill like backflipping. We spend our money earned on things we want or we can spend it on food to fill our 'Hunger Meter'. We changed the 'skin' of our 'Avatar' by dressing into new clothes. Life is so similar to a game that we, mostly ages 40 and under, want to treat it like a game. HyperReality shows this beautifully and I would love to talk about this more to anyone who has also seen it.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 4 - Data Is The New Oil...

Class today was very eventful.

Before we get onto the topic of 'Free Information', I MUST mention that I finally got to have a go at the Samsung Gear VR during class!!! I absolutely love VR and I have been keeping up to date with everything on the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and the one that I will be getting myself - Playstation VR (AKA Project Morpheus). I begged to play the Horror experience that was on the lecturer's phone. I can't remember the name of it but it reminded me so much of American Horror Story Asylum, so much so that I was convinced that it was made by the franchise owners. I had a great time on it and although it wasn't as scary as I though it would be, it was far more freaky, disturbing and immersive than I thought it would be. One point I was hanging off a staircase and I actually got nauseated because I felt as if I really was on the edge and was about to fall if I move. It's crazy how my brain can make me believe that what I see is real.

We also were talking about the belief that media/data should be free and/or shared. Although this topic was brought up to me before, I would like to believe that we could live in that kind of world but it just isn't realistic. If media was free to public access, then although the creators could potentially have the passion to bring something brilliant to the world, the company would have absolutely no reason to back/fund them. Which would either reduced the quality of the product or cease production entirely.

I remember the highly acclaimed, award winning game The Witcher 2 came out and it got near perfect reviews. But over 8 million people pirated the game before it even came out. The creators had to release a video saying that although they are proud of the fact that people love the game and that it became the most pirated game in history, they had to address the fact that if it keeps getting pirated, 'There would be no Witcher 3, which would leave the trilogy on a cliffhanger'. So that's how things are.

As media students, we are constantly being told to be up to date with everything that is in media, but of course there is no way to afford everything. I have 1 simple rule:
Pay for the things I want. Use other methods for the things I need. I support my favourite franchises. It's my own little justification for doing the things that we all do, but can't mention in case we get into trouble. We all have a way to justify our criminal acts to make ourselves believe we aren't the bad guys.

It is in every human to believe that we are always right, in some shape or form.
"Thieves are bad. I pirate music to promote the band to everyone else".
"People who do drugs are bad. But when I do drugs, it's just for fun". etc. etc.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 2 - The Year Ahead...

We were given a 20 page questionnaire called "The Year Ahead". It's basically a book filled with questions on how you would describe your past year and what you thought of it. Then you would move on to how you would hope your next year goes and what you hope will happen.

We didn't need to fill it out or hand it up but our lecturer said it would be a great way of understanding yourself and what you will want in the future.

I decided to bring it back to the apartments and show my roommates. Since they are like-minded 3rd year media students like myself, however they are in the game development course. As well as them, I also brought it down to my neighbors in the student apartments and since they were all 4th year music students, they all had very different answers.

With each group I showed it to, we started off just making jokes of all the questions. For example, to the question, "What was the biggest risk you took in the past year?" our answer was, "Not pulling out". Then for, "What was the biggest surprise of the year" our answer was, "The baby".

But then the more we got into it, the more we genuinely considered our answers and we took the time to answer properly. I found it amazing to see how everyone was genuinely interested to hear what others had to say and how people wanted to think more about themselves as they answered the questions. It made me learn more about myself as well as the people around me. It actually made us closer and have a good laugh. It was worth the time answering it.