Project 2 - Proposal - Iliana Shabatova

What do young adults at OCAD find fun?

LEGO….NO!

Barbies…..no!

A fluffy toy…depends on the occasion, but not really.

Books…may be…

Recipes…may be.

Drawing… yes.

Cocktales…YES!

Partying with friends….OH YEAH!

Therefore, the solution must be a game to entertain a group of people and make their time more enjoyable by following simple cocktail recipes! Getting drunk will not be as fun, if there was nothing to spice the game up, such as the fun caricature skin drawing, questions regarding the opposite sex and other “inappropriate”, but educative questions.

Players must be over 19 years old and comfortable with answering any personal questions. The instructions are as follows:

1. Every player must have a shoot of their choice before starting the game.
2. Each player is assigned a token.
3. The start of the game is at either question card pile.
4. To enter the game everyone must answer a question correctly, read by a different player to them.
5. From then on rolling the dice each player moves accordingly.
6. Falling on a “STALKER” card means that it must be picked up and the instructions must be followed. After completing the instructions, the player gets to choose any spot from the inner square to go to.
7. Falling on a “?” card means that it must be picked up by another player, read out loud and answered the player which landed on it. If answered wrongly, one must loose a turn.
8. When landed on any of the black arrows, you transfer to the level towards it points to, roll one your turn and land on whichever cocktail. The player then must return back to the inner square, once he/she had made the drink for themselves.
9. If a mission is failed, then the player cannot return to the outer square involving alcohol for 5 consecutive turns.
10. If a total of 3 missions are failed by a player, they loose.
11. Vomiting is a clear loss.
12. The winner is the one who lasted the game.

The Slamin’ Shake is a board game with 24 recipes of drinks in four categories: martinis, premium drinks, shooters and regular mix, labeled on the outer square. A professional bartender has been consulted regarding mixes and minimum requirements for the base and sweet liquors, juices and garnish to play the game. Once in the outer square, players throw the dice one time, and then they return back to the inner square, where they are surprised with questions, dares and tests. Instructions (on the inner square) checking the players’ degree of drunkenness include the reading of a joke written in very small text with both eyes open; walking in a straight line from one wall of the room to the other; hopping on one leg from one wall to the other; building a pyramid structure out of shot glasses in 30 seconds; spinning 10 times and walking 10 steps without falling; singing a song that contains certain words in it; etc. The spiciest parts of the inner square is when blindfolded while your personal caricature is drawn on your skin, answering a “?” card or a “SALKER” card. The Slamin’ Shake improves the player’s cocktail knowledge, sex education, alcohol resistance as well as helps all players to get to know juicy facts about one another.

After the testing done for this game, there were a few concerns regarding the low signal-to-noise ratio. The separation between the inner and outer squares with only a single silver line has not been enough; the uniform contentedness can be improved by leaving a greater space between the two square paths. In terms of font legibility and going by the Law of Pragnanz, I think the game is successful, as the Times New Roman font was been used throughout and the only changes in font are for each drink’s title, so as to make the game more interesting and intrigue the players. Further helping legibility, each drink recipe goes by the legend described on the instruction sheet using highlighting techniques to bring attention and differentiate between the lines:
line 1 (in a unique font - cocktail name)
line 2 (in brackets – glass type)
line 3 (method of preparation)
line 4,5,6 ( underlined – ingredients)
line 6 (italic – garnish)

Regarding the starting points confusion commented on, perhaps a “start” sign and an arrow pointing towards a clockwise direction over each question pile would help the players, who are in a rush to start and have no time to read the instrunctions.

This game also involves orientation sensitivity effect, since all elements on each square path are equally aligned and spaced. The oblique effect is there due to the use of line orientation for each square path. The pop-out effect is emphasized by the solid black arrows at each corner, where line switches between outer and inner square paths take place.

Having the title in the middle diagonally, relating to all sides and the alignment between the two square paths, incorporates a good sense of the common fate principle of design.

The last concern is that the questions and dares of this game are “awkward” and “embarrassing”, considered inappropriate by one player and “fun” by another. The problem with the testing is that such questions would be taken differently after having a drink or two. Since the testing was done by sober players in class, when tested a second time with alcohol, such negative feedback was not received.

Wheel Of Portion!

Introducing the “Wheel Of Portion”

Getting together with some friends of the legal drinking age? Don’t forget to pack the “Wheel of Portion!”. Spin the wheel and deal your friends out drinks. Practice your drunk talk with engaging games that have you make rhymes and coherent questions. and eventually, at least once, someone's going to have to drink that whole “Wheel of Portion” game cup, and that’s when things get interesting! Fun for adults, college students, moms, dads, grandma and grandpa, your boss, your teachers, your aunts and uncles, kids breaking the law to drink illegally, that guy who played Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and even Bruce Willis. Get your “Wheel of Portion” Today!

Who is it Fun For?:

The Wheel Of Portions target audience is people above the legal drinking age. It uses simple enough mechanics to be operated by anyone and the rules are simple enough that its playable by people of all levels of intellect. It would mostly be played by people at parties and social gatherings opening it up to a wider demographic.

User Testing:

I played Wheel of Portion with my room mate and her friend. It started off fast. It wasn’t long before we were all pretty drunk. Since the rules are adopted from the card game “Kings” there were some differences. The “Wheel of Portion” game cup was so much more unbearable in this version. Also, with more than four chances to get some of the spaces (As opposed to a deck of cards that has only 4 of each number), there was much more rules, questions, waterfalls, and more booze going in the game cup than if it was played with cards. We made it through about 2 and a half games before we decided it was unwise to go on. 

Why is it fun?:

Wheel of Portion is fun because drinking is fun. Wheel of portion is a fun way to power drink with your friends. instead of the excitement of spinning the wheel to get drinks you have the excitement of spinning the wheel to give drinks. Some people could have fun ganging up on one person giving them all their drinks and also you can be creative with games like “Rhyme” “Categories” and “Questions”.

How is it Fun?:

The mere action of spinning the wheel and stopping it with a rubber stopper is fun (especially when your drunk). Giving out drinks and playing games makes it more multifaceted  than just drinking a spinning wheels.

By Che Hernandez

Project 2 Proposal: Josh Macleod

i found it troubling at first to think of a toy or game idea for a target audience around our age, something that would actually be marketable, but decided there are many opportunities for turning mundane devices into fun trinkets or toys if the idea is applied to a niche or subculture. My specific audience is smokers, who are not uncommon, moreover those like myself and my friends who are interesting in computing and vintage aesthetics.

The product is a cigarette case made to look like a stack of old 3 1/2 inch floppy disks, which, while functional, advances the product past it's predecessors by adopting an intrinsic, aesthetic statement of style. As for use, the disk cover pulls back smoothly with a the thumb of the hand it is held in, and a light tap dispenses one cigarette; the same iconic wrist gesture employed by heroes and vigilantes in any given shooter flick (though thankfully much easier in execution). Smooth as the interaction may be, in testing with varoius roomates i found the cover had a tendancy to slide off, and this will be remedied in the final product with additional clasps. other suggested improvements have been an opening mechanism to insert cigarettes more easily, and an spring, so as to only require only one hand for operation.

The simple design makes an affordance for only the movement of the sheath, and the hole it reveals not onl serves to orient the user as to which way the cigarette will fall, but also is sizes so that only one will fall at a time. (note: The image shown here displays the cigarette leaving at a dangerous angle, the user learns from the feedback of the spring that it must be held open to full retrieve any tobacco, but I needed that hand to operate the camera.)

Overall, while perhaps not a toy in the classic sense, it has thus far been applauded as an amusing and conversational reincarnation of a banal classic. Having brought entertainment to an audience where there was less before, i qualify this product as an effective toy.

tesimonials:

N. Rayner - "Theres nothing I would die for other than this. Really though, more convenient than mine, and funny-"

J. Triantafilou - "-could leave it on the counter and no one would give it a second though. I dont have to worry as much about my brother or parents or brother figuring out I smoke."

Project 2 proposal - Kay Lee

Project 2 Proposal- Lena Hong

FUZZY MAGNET

Visual Representation of concept

I came up with my concept when I brought my toy to class as an exercise 6. The toy I brought was a rubber doll that can stretch and etc. This gave me an idea that the toy is going to be fun when you attract with sense of touch. I came up with six ideas for the concept sketches, and most of them had to do with sense of touch with interesting texture. First concept was an appeal with springs, second one was a fuzzy gloves with faces on them, third one was a caterpillar with magnets, fourth one was a throwing game, fifth one was a board game that was related to drinking, sixth one was a toy for younger kids with moving blocks in a shape of superheros.

Written description of why my toy is fun

My toy is fun because it attracts to main senses. It is designed with colourful colours of fabric, which attracts to the sense of sight. Also the pulling of magnets attracts to the sense of touch. These two main factors combined together and made my toy really fun. Also I used characteristic of magnets, which opposite sides do not attract to each other, and positive sides do. So I made a caterpillar in different body parts, and attached two magnets on each side. The user has to, then find the parts of magnets that goes together and make the complete caterpillar.

Incorporate improvements derived from user testing

From user testing in class, many users enjoyed my game. They said that the strange characteristics of magnets were used well enough in this toy. One of the user, Kay, said that "Personally I'd like to play with this toy because the magnet itself has such an addictive characteristic; the strong magnetism that attracts each other and the strange pleasure when I compulsively draw them apart".
Some of the improvements that I can make would be using bigger and stronger magnets, because it was hard for the users to actually attach them together, because the magnets were too small compare to the body size of the caterpillar.

Why should I buy this toy design?

As a result of my user testing, it was pretty successful. Many of the users were first attracted to the colourful colour of the toy, and second, attracted to the 'strange addiction' of magnets and third, they seemed to had fun finding the right magnets, an pulling them around.

The users should buy my toy because in this computer-based society all age groups can play this game; kids can play pulling magnets, students can play and/or use it as memo clipper as one of the tester suggested. Also the texture of the toy is really soft and since it has a puffy feeling to it, it is easier for the younger users to play with.

Project Two - Julian Apong

This is the xTrove - a play on the word "extrovert". It's a portable art and communications device .




(click for detailed explanation)



(click for detailed explanation)

Methodolody:



The xtrove is designed to be fun and easy to use by anyone. The potential of the device is limited only by the imagination of the person using it, and lets them easily express themselves to the people around them. The actual technology behind it is disarmingly simple, as well as inexpensive to produce.

Most users will already by familiar with the concept of a stylus. They're shaped like a pen or pencil, but with a magnetic tip. The familiarity of the shape gives an automatic indication as to which end is to be used on the screen. The buttons and switches are deliberately kept as rounded and minimalized as possible, so that the attention is always brought to the screen and what's drawn on it. The back-lighting further accentuates the importance of the screen, drawing attention to it in any situation.

User Testing:

Samantha:

"It's a pretty cool little toy. I really like the idea of the magnetic etch-a-sketch screen and being able to have any drawings I want on it. It would be nice if I could put photos and stuff on it too though."


Scott:

"I think this could be a lot of fun for younger children, especially if they like to draw. The nice thing about the idea is that it's really simple to construct and create, it would be really easy to create and cheap to buy."



Chris:

"I could use this to pick up girls. When I'm on the TTC sometimes I want to get a girls attention so I could use this to write messages and then flash them with it. It'd also be good for people in clubs and gangs so they could know what group they were a part of, or for kids who wanted to send messages to each other in secret."

project 2- katie

When first hearing about project 2 I was looking forward to making something of my own. I am a big gamer myself so given the opportunity to make something of my own to share with everyone else was something to look forward too. After my research and brainstorming was complete I still wasn't pleased with my outcome of idea's. After thinking long and hard about what I like about games I came to the conclusion that I love board games and thats where I would start. Charades is another game that I find is interactive as well as fun. By combining the two I was able to construct a game that everyone would enjoy.

"Say it Right" is an interactive board game that requires both skill and imagination. Teams of two work together to successfully reach level 4 on the board by acting out a charade using the noun, verb, and adverb cards collected throughout the board.

4-8 players
Ages: 15+

Equipment
-Game Board -1 Dice -4 Colored tokens
-Noun Cards -Verb Cards -Adverb Cards
-Timer

Set-Up
1. Divide into teams of two.
2. Each team will pick a colored token to represent them on the game board. Each team will start on a different corner of the board depending on its color. Example- Team Red will start on the Red corner.
3. Each player rolls the dice. The player to roll the highest is the first to play. (If two or more players roll the same number than they both re-roll)

Rules
1. The team that rolled the highest number will play first. One player rolls the dice and moves their token the same number of squares that are face up on the dice. The player has the option to move in either direction. When it is the teams turn again the other team member will roll.
2. The objective for the team is to collect the three different cards available on the board (verb, adverb, and noun). A team can only have 1 of each card at any given time.
3. The first player in a team to land on a card space will be designated as the “keeper”. The keeper has to collect 1 verb, 1 adverb and 1 noun card (these cards will be kept secret from their partner as well as other players). When all three cards are collected, the player will form a sentence (scene) using the words displayed on the cards.
4. The keeper has 3 minutes to act out the scene to their partner in charade style. If their partner answers the phrase correctly then the team will advance to the next level on the board. If the partner does not answer the phrase correctly the team will not advance to the next level and the cards will be discarded.
4. Each team has to be strategic as to where they will move their tokens because there are snakes and ladders scattered throughout the board. Snakes will move a team down a level (or two) and ladders will take a team up a level. If a team is to come in contact with either the snake or the ladder they will move to the new level on the board that they are taken too. They will hold onto the cards that they have collected thus far and continue with the game.
5. The first team to reach level 4 will be declared the winner.

Levels
Level 1-Red
Level 2- Orange
Level 3- Yellow
Level 4- Blue


Say it Right is a great game for interacting with others. Not only are there a ton of laughs from both the phrases made and the words used, but as well as the wacky ways of portraying them. When testing out my game I wanted to use a variety of ages as testers. Unfortunately I was not able to get someone as young as 15 to try it out but I was able to get someone who was 19 (still a teen). The game was a success but most of the testers felt that some of the words were very difficult to portray as well as saying them correctly. The game was played a number of times and there were many different outcomes. Some of the games went on for a long time where as others did not. In conclusion I was very pleased with the outcome of my game and learned of many different ways I could improve on it. Furthermore, from the testing I realized that my game could be altered to work for any demographic audience which I found very pleasing.

Project Two (Proposal) - Derek Riordan

What Would a Ninja Do?

                              Thanks to WWND, this young man's troubles are no more.

- Guidance in the Palm of Your Hand -

The phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD) became popular in the 1990's as a personal motto for thousands of Christians who used the phrase as a reminder of their belief that Jesus is the example to be followed in daily life, and to act in a manner of which Jesus would approve. This is all well and good, but it just doesn't work for everyone. This is where the "What Would a Ninja Do?" (WWND) hand held button comes in. 

Instructions:

Whenever one needs guidance in life, and God just doesn't seem to hear you, then you can turn to the WWND button. Whenever presented with a trial in life, WWND will guide you and help you overcome said trial. Simply push a button on this hand help plastic toy, and it will show you how to proceed through life (with written text on the small electronic screen) with indispensable advice like "Unleash Fury" or "Show No Mercy", and much much more. In short, the WWND is a guide that can help any lost soul through the many trials of modern day life.

A more complete list of ninja wisdom and guidance, including:

- Unleash Fury

- Show No Mercy

- Strike Quickly

- Patience

- Destroy Enemy

- Smash Something

- Do A Flip 

- Hone Skills

- Vanish From Sight

- Stealth Attack

- Get Really Mad

- Avenge Someone... Or Something...

- Train Constantly

- Silence Opponent

- Flip Out

- Flip Out and Kill Someone

- Fight

- Uppercut Someone

- Hypnotise Someone

- Stab Something

- Leave No Survivors

- Get REALLY Super Pissed

Why is it fun?

Simply put, WWND is fun because it is funny, and funny things are fun. It's simple, you push a button and get a laugh and some ninja inspired wisdom applicable to everyday life. Everyone needs a laugh, and this toy can fulfill that requirement. Furthermore, ninjas are totally badass, and who can honestly say they couldn't use even just a little more badass in their life? It's portable and extremely easy to use. All you need to do is push a button.

Variations:

For those who are not as inspired by the cold fast logic and reasoning of the unstoppable ninja (see: cowards), or simply identify better with other there could be a wide variety and a whole line of these toys, such as: 

- What Would  a Viking Do?

- What Would Henry Rollins Do?

- What Would a Nihilist Do?

- What Would Chuck Norris Do?

- What Would an English Soccer Hooligan Do?

- What Would Walter Sobchak Do?

- What Would Tetsuo Do?

- What Would Goku Do?

- What Would Tyler Durden Do?

- What Would a Pirate Do?

This last one is especially appropriate for people like Jesse Jackson who are hopelessly under the delusion that pirates are superior to ninjas, when any REAL man knows that any ninja would ruin any pirate. Period.

Who is this fun for? 

There is no concrete target audience for this product, but is widely applicable to anyone from roughly the ages of 16 to 25. Furthermore, this product is appropriate for a wide variety of young people regardless of social standing or sub-culture so long as they have a sense of humour, and/or are seeking guidance in life.

"Who is it fun for? Me! Anyone who can relate or appreciates any one of the different subjects represented (ninja, pirate, Chuck Norris, what-have you)." - Che Hernandez.

Unneccesary Post - Kaylyn Frecker

WHO WANTS TO PARTY FOR ST.PATTIES DAY???

POST IF YOU DO.

Project 2 (Proposal) - Kaylyn Frecker

Project 2 (Proposal) - Gio Petrucci

Things You've Done:

Many a time in our lives we are faced with the dilemma of making drinking funnier than it already is. Not that it’s hard to do so, since, drinking in itself is a wonderful thing, but sometimes we find it repetitive and somewhat unoriginal, just, filling a glass and sitting around waiting for the door frame to start going blurry. This is why Things You’ve Done is the perfect game to bring to any pre-drinking event or even to just sit around for a good laugh while you and your friends don’t feel like studying anymore!


The game of “experiences” has it’s own charm in bringing people together, all while pushing people to come out and expose things of their past that either make them proud or cower in shame all while still being in good fun. The game has a possibility of having from 2 to six players. Each person gets their own individual shot glass (*alcohol not included) with their colour on it. The only reason for this is to differentiate the different people’s glasses. Once each player has chosen a colour for themselves and have settled down, the group starts off with a good old fashion rock paper scissors to decide on who will be the individual to begin the game. Taking the deck of cards, that person draws one of the many, many other cards that lie before the group of eager drinkers. They then choose one person to read the card to. He/she then reads the 5 things that are listed on the card. Once all 5 things have been read, the individual who has been asked the 5 things, will then ring the buzzer in the middle of the group if they have done one of the 5 things that have been listed. This makes known that there is drink to be had, and the reader must guess which one of the 5 things the individual has done. If the person being asked buzzes multiple times there are more than one possibility to guess.

If they answer correctly, the asked will have to take their drink. But if the reader answers incorrectly they must have their own shot. And then the next round begins…


The reason this incorporates the class’ concepts of Experience as a design is because this game demonstrates that experience in life can create new ones when revisited in a friendly, game-type setting. It’s a different approach to Experience and Design but it gets the point across.

User testing

This is something that was easy to make happen: offer another reason for people to drink and be merry all while enjoying a new game that they have never played before, and they will follow you. I decided to ask my roommates to play my game to test it out, and it was a success: drinking ensued and the game worked out well. No one was confused after the simple explanations, because the rules of the game prove that simplicity will bring a lot more to the table when it comes to drinking and being sociable.


Target Groups

The type of individual this game would be targeted towards would, first of all, be a legal citizen within their country and secondly, an individual who is in the mood for fun, and a little debauchery, if it were to come to that. College students would snap this up without a second thought: the promise of a legitimate reason to drink will bring in the groups of young people. This is also something older adults who are looking for something interesting to do at their dinner party afterwards, something that would help in making them feel younger and get them to stop thinking about the daily grind and have some fun in their busy lives.

Project 2 Proposal- Julian S

The toy design I decided to explore was the throwing and catching of an object which gave me the idea of the bottle game. The idea of this game is to fill a bottle with liquid and toss it back and forth between several people or two friends. What makes this game interesting and fun is that you must be able to catch the bottle without dropping it, if it touches your hand and hits the ground you lose a point from any amount given at the the start of the game. Also the bottle filled with liquid when thrown can change direction making it difficult to catch, an added challenge is throwing it bad on purpose so your friends will drop it making you closer to victory, plus you dont have to catch it if the throw doesnt suit you.

This game deals with pure interaction giving friends an opportunity to engage with each other and the object. If a player gets thirsy while playing, the water can be drinkable therefore changing the weight and dynamics of the skill involved with throwing and catching and also cooling the player down.
Improvments of this toy can be made by choosing a softer bottle or covering it in a cloth or softer material. There are some hard edges on the bottle (like the cap) that when upon contact with hands can hurt, especially depending on the height and distance the object is thrown.

I think this toy would make a good product to sell because it employs elements of skill, point keeping, physical activity, hand-eye coordination and interaction. The toy is easy to make and portable to carry around. The game can be played almost anywhere by anyone interested in throwing and catching. I liked creating the toy and idea because me and my friends have had fun playing similar games and I wanted to create something that is easy to play, easy to understand, an interesting concept that won`t make you bored, and I wanted to include a physical and mental workout testing your reflexes and body.

project 2 - phil

I came up with this idea when I was visiting my friend’s dorm at U of T. She used a 40 bottle ( big beer bottle ) to store her loose change. I then visited another friend living a few doors down and noticed he was keeping his loose change in a pickle jar. I realized that the concept of a piggy bank was still being used among people my age, and I thought to myself “why not take it a step further?”. The baby coin bank concept was created to poke fun at the miserable chore of changing a baby’s diaper. Instead of discovering a nasty surprise that’s nothing close to desirable, you end up with a nice reward for your wallet. Young adults would love this because they can relate to the horrible responsibility that a baby comes with. This makes light of the idea taking care of a baby, and therefore fun .

STINKY DIAPER? ???

( SIDE VIEW)

WAIT...IT'S FILLED WITH MONEY!!!

(over-head view)

The toys will come in a variety of colors and figures, like bini-babys. By creating them in different varieties, they become collectable and more interesting.

Project 2 - Proposal - Joanne

Shape Shifter

The Shape Shifter is a group game that can be played anytime and provides hours of fun for young adults. This game is easy to learn and play. It is never boring because it allows you to be creative and imaginative. This game can be played for a long time or adjusted to fit a short period of time.

The Shape Shifter is a game where you try to make your team guess the word (on the card) by constructing a picture of the word using the shape tiles. You must draw from a stack of cards to get the secret word that you are trying to make your teammates guess. For example if you get the word “elephant” on the card, you must try to construct a picture of an elephant in order for you teammates to guess. The player who is constructing the picture at the time is called the “Shape Shifter”. They are not allowed to talk or give any verbal clues of the word that they are trying to make you guess. The picture that is being constructed is the only thing that can be used to try and make your teammates guess. In this game there is a time limit for each round: you’ve got 1 minute to try and make your team guess as many words as possible.

This game is fun because it allows all the players (both the guesser and the shape shifter) to be creative and imaginative together as a group. It challenges you in creativity and imagination because there are various possibilities of combinations and pictures that can be made and seen with the shape tiles. This game employs ockham’s razor both in the concept and the instructions in the game so it is easily understood and played. This game is also easily understood because it is similar to other guessing games. This game has a functional mimicry to games like pictionary, taboo, charades, and cranium through its guessing concept; but its difference is that its main focus of the game is guessing from using the pictures made from the shape tiles. This game is also fun for the targeted audience because it fits with the hierarchy of needs and satisfies functionality – through the simplicity of the concept of making pictures with shape tiles, reliability – through its various combinations of designs that are possible with the shape tiles, usability – through its forgivingness on the designs of the pictures that are constructed because they can easily be changed, proficiency – through the players learning and becoming more comfortable with combining and creating design and pictures, and creativity – because it allows the players to be creative through the whole game.

In a way this game uses storytelling by creating imagery and understanding through the interaction of creating the picture with the shape tiles between the shape shifter (the storyteller) and the teammates (audience). In this game iconic representation and the law of pragnanz is very much part of this games strategy. Iconic representation helps the players easily identify, recall and recognize the object of the word that they are trying to guess. While the law of pragnanz helps players interpret the complex and ambiguous designs with the shape tiles as simple and complete, so they can easily identify the object of the word.

The design process for this game started in the research and in class activity on what made a toy fun and what was considered fun for our targeted age group. Then the next step was creating 6 different concepts of a toy or a game. My concepts were influenced on the research and also some of the toys and games that I have played or the experiences from them. I recognized that group situations, creativity or creativity through customization influenced and were part of what was considered fun for our age group/ targeted audience (ocad students). The next part of the design process was to make a prototype of the game for user testing. From the user testing, the results for the game were good because the game was challenging and allowed creativity, but I noticed some improvements I could make to my game to have a more positive user experience in the instructions. For the instructions for the prototype of the game the instructions were clear but a little too long and boring. To improve the instructions I will improve the aesthetics of the instructions so it will be more attractive to read (to improve the aesthetic-usability effect). I will also add some iconic representation on the instructions and maybe highlight some of the chucking that I did with the information and instructions, so it will be easier to understand and more attractive to read.

Proposal: Bat Cave. Kristen Burns

Proposal

Game: Bat Cave

By: Kristen Burns

The way I came up with this idea was, in class when it was said to make the game apply to students in school and my age. Right away what came to mind were paper air planes. Paper air planes have been the thing to do in school when one was bored. So I figured I could make those paper airplanes into an enjoyable game for students like me and slackers in the class who are looking for something to keep them entertained. Also at the moment teens are into things that are gloomy and a bit on the death side of things, for example

I wanted to incorporate this into the toy and came up with Bat Cave because it applies to students my age because they enjoy the dark and gloomy which are the bats.

So for my Toy called Bat Cave, I have used paper air planes shaped as bats and I have a board that is a target. ( The game is basically mapped out the same way as darts, but on the ground.) The way it works is that the aim is to get the bats into the cave which is a black box in the middle of the bored which is worth 100 points. But if you are able to get the bat on the game board it counts as points as well.

Bat Cave Instructions

Place board down on the ground and pull the yellow string as far away from the board as possible and that is where the players will stand to shoot.

1. Each player chooses there colour of bat
2. Each player gets two bats to throw each turn and you add up the points for both bats for the one round.
3. Each player takes turns to shoot there two bats
4. The player stands at the strings length away from the centre cave
5. Player tosses bat to try to get the bat in the cave or as close to the cave a s possible.
6. If the player doesn’t get the bat on the black mat then no points are rewarded
7. The game ends after the 29 rounds
   

Points

Inside yellow/green ring = 10 points

Inside blue ring= 50 points

In black cave= 100points

*If the bat lies on the line of blue or yellow or both it is whatever the majority of the bat is in.

* Even if it bounces and lands somewhere is still counts

I have also come up with an easy way to keep score so then you can challenge you friends to this fun and exciting game. I made the game 29 rounds because the game is challenging, and you need enough time to actually get it in the cave. It is very difficult to get to the bat into the cave, which makes the appeal more to older kids.

There are some things that I noticed will have to change, when I saw people playing with the prototype. The way the bats are made out of paper, they are to light, which makes it hard to get the bat to go were you are pointing it to go. So what I would change is make the bat out of plastic and nylon, and make it very aerodynamic and weighted at the nose so it will drop into the cave.

This game is fun, challenging, colorful, and brings friends together for a good time, which are great qualities in a successful toy. It is very easily understood and all the player has to think about it trying to get there bat onto the score board more then there opponents.

By Kristen Burns

Vectorial Elevations - Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

http://www.lozano-hemmer.com/eproyecto.html

Project 2 : Miriam

P R O P O S A L

The game I created was influenced by the reseach that was done beforehand. In class we had the "Bring a Toy" activity and with that we broke apart the different elements that made the certain toy successful. I kept these suggestions open when making my toy. With my brainstorming I came up with 6 ideas, and realized that for our age group it is mostly games that attract us. Activities you can do in a group or a party. We play cards, make crafts, drinking games, craaaaaniiuuumm, etc. I also did research in stores, such as Urban Outfitters or Party Packagers, I saw the games that were set for students and used them as my reference. Things tended to be out of the box, funny and extreme. Some examples of research:

PHOTOS FROM : URBANOUTFITTERS.COM

So with this brainstorming I was able to come up with my SUPER BIG BOARDGAME (name still in progress, it’s been changed like 3 times since). I wanted something that was out of the box and also to be done in a group. I began with a simple board game shape but instead made all the game board spaces into big mats. So the players had to actually jump from on mat to the other, the player was basically the game piece. This making the game more interactive. I also intended to use a big dice at the beginning that changed into just making cards, which would each have a different activity/dare listed instead. Players were then made to do silly things in order to move around the game. I read over the improvements from before the prototype of the game and the post after the final prototype that were on my post and they were very helpful in making adjustments to the game. One post was made that it was embarrassing to play, it’s true and that’s what people want because it makes it amusing and funny to see friends in these silly situations. On another critique, iconic representation was suggested for the instructions. So, in my instructions I tried to use iconic representation to describe the game easily. The symbols made it easy to understand. Ockham's Razor was also used, I relied to the basics and made it as simple as possible. The game instructions were also one page and easy to follow. Players need to be creative in this game and full of risk, which make it more entertaining. The fact that they can place these boards anywhere, over chairs, under tables on couches makes it crazy. The game also uses aesthetic-usability because it looks like any board game making it look easy to use. Through concept prototyping I was able to quickly produce an idea and experiment it to see how it works. I observed the game being played both at school and at home. At school, I decided to be the card reader and the players just did the activities. Sometimes people weren’t too keen with some of the dares but it was fun seeing everyone do the others anyway. :) At home, my sisters played the game, oh yes and my insane dog as you’ll see in the video, and they actually played it a couple times. They had a good time and I think it would be better if there were more people playing with them. What they had to say about the game: "It was interesting and you wouldn’t know what would happen next. You don’t sit around like a normal boardgame but you actually have to get up and move around, staying active. The placemats you can rea-rrange anywhere around the room. The negative parts of the game is it can get embarssing with the dares. Also the mats tended to move around too much and we had to keep fixing them. Also more dare cards so there was a bigger variety of things to do, maybe divide them into categories." If I were to improve my game, I think I would make it easier for the cards to be read. They were just placed in a box and players had to move from their place to read the card. Also the mats seemed to move around a lot, so if there was a way to make them stay put during the game it would make it more stable and no one would need to keep adjusting them.