WEIWEI SHI – Reflection

The creative process of projects:

I consider the most knowledge I have learned in this project throughout the semester. For the first assignment, it was more like a practice for beginner and then developed to a higher level, which is the non-tactile project for the second one. In this final project, it is free to use tactile or non-tactile technology, which is more encourage us to develop all of the knowledge we have learned this semester and develop them. It is not only the skills using Max, but more focus on the deeper meaning, such as making the work attractive and interesting.

Before I start working on the project, I did a survey to ask several people ‘In what situation will make you focus your attention?’ The answers are: ‘Horrible environment’ and ‘When they need to think or focus on something’. Moreover, based on the feedback of the non-tactile projects, some people said they don’t like it very much because they are ashamed to make their voices or see their images through the web camera. The tactile projects make them more comfortable and willing to play it. Their responses gave me a hint to start the brainstorm, so I decided to create a tactile project which is a puzzle game of the maze for the solo project. According to the discussion, the bouncy ball game is for the group project, which requires the player’s quick and strong reaction. What makes me feel the most in the creative process is that good interactive works need to listen to the opinions of the audiences. Only by fully understanding the preferences and interests of the target audiences so that we can effectively create projects that attract and resonate with them.

During the process of techniques of interactive art making, I really get further inspiration about it:

1. Brockmyer (2009) and Cummings (2016) suggest that engagement is often created through a sense of presence, the sense of ‘being there,’ surrounded by a person’s attention and perception. By combine with my survey, the audiences prefer to do the game with physical operation tools because it makes them feel real. Thus, I chose to use tactile technology in order to cater to their preferences. For the group work, we used the keyboard and I even develop to use the gamepad in the solo project.
2. A good interactive project is not only a communication platform between the artist and the audiences but also an exchange between the audiences themselves. I only focused on the interaction between the project and the audiences in the previous works, so I am glad to develop the last assignment into a multi-player project. Fortunately, I implemented a goal that two players can interact with through the maze game.
3. In my definition, good interactive art is always accompanied by different results. Followed by Edmonds’ (2019) argument, ‘Art becomes interactive when audience participation is an integral part of the artwork. Audience behavior can cause the artwork itself to change.’ Thus, according to each person’s reaction speed, the time and result of playing the bouncy ball game will be different. Moreover, this is also the reason why I created multiple exists of the maze instead of only one in the solo work because I hope the players to get the diversity of results based on their own behavior. The different videos that appear at each exit are the best proof of the diversity of results.
4. Through the three assignments this semester, I believe that communication between artists and audiences in interactive works is a crucial factor. Only when the author clearly knows the preferences and interests of the target audiences so that the projects would be interesting and attractive enough.
5. It is important to have a clear idea of the project as well. Outline the theme idea and structure might help to create good work. Unfortunately, I did not do well in the second assignment, but I made up for this shortcoming in this work.
6. It is effective to use as many media tools as possible. Videos, sounds, subject models, and physical operation tools are used in both projects. The possibility of creating a user-generated experience as much as possible is the focus of the studio. To making the work more interactive and attractive, I encouraged the audiences to interact with the work through the use of hearing, vision, and touch. The combination of using the keyboard and gamepad are the extension tools that develop the interaction.
7. Interactive art is the result that combines multiple media platforms and tools. It is important for artists to fully use the huge number of media and online resources, for example, YouTube, Adobe Premier and multiple channels for searching variety kinds of sound are what I did in the process. I collected videos and music and downloaded free 3D models online, then Max provides a platform to organize them into the finished project.

The successful part so far in the project are:

1. The interactions between player and player.
   This is the proudest point in this project because I not only realized the interaction between the project and the player but also works on players themselves. The previous projects only can be played by one player, but this time I created a platform for two players. In the maze game, one player can make the game difficult by controlling whether the line disappears. In order to avoid the inconvenience of two players using the keyboard at the same time, I used the gamepad as the extension tool to give players a more realistic experience.
2. Respect the audiences’ preferences.                                                                                                     Combining the first two works, my ideas create interactive works based on elements that audiences familiar with. I am glad to hear the suggestions and advice from the public because the theme of the interactive project is the audiences, so it is crucial to understand their ideas (Both for the group and the solo projects). This is also why some students reflect that my work is very interesting. They are very curious about the finished product and want to play it. Fortunately, I am glad to get positive feedback from them, which means my opinions are correct.
3. Using multiple media materials as much as possible. I always try to organize more media tools in the project because I believe that high participation in interactive works is only possible when the audiences use as many senses as possible. Thus, tactile, auditory, visual, etc. are indispensable in my projects.
4. Set up some tiny difficulties to make the project colorful and interesting. For instance, if it’s just a maze, it would be boring, so I joined the element of eating bananas, which require the player to control the minion to eat all the bananas and go out of the maze within the specified time. In the group project, the time the player plays longer, the number of bouncy balls will be more, which means be harder to catch all of them. The balls will move faster as well.

Although I am satisfied with my current results, it still has great potential for improvement in terms of concept and technology.

For the solo project:

1. To create the different levels of the game would be interesting. If time is enough, I am willing to create a second level of maze, it will be more complicated and more difficult to get out of the maze.
2. I would like to insert more elements into the project, such as add one more character like the hunter or ghost catches the minion. Moreover, to let the audience have more sense of interaction, I encourage the second player to control the new character and the flexible difficulties at the same time. This might give another player a sense of nervous.
3. I am still thinking about how to make a smooth transition when the countdown stops.
4. To add more methods of interaction if it is possible. For example, use the web camera or voice recording when playing the game. However, the issue is how to make the audiences do not embarrassed when doing these?

For the group project:

1. It may be a good idea if set up the background image so that it would look more attractive.
2. I also think about how to make it become a multiplayer game.

Projects Demonstration:

In conclusion, I am glad to choose Lights, Camera, (Inter)action as the studio and really had a valuable study journey in this semester. Thanks to Camille’s teaching, I developed a new technology by using Cycling 74 Max, although it is really a hard job. I always had lots of questions when did projects, but Camille is so patient to me, so the success of my works is closely related to his instruction. If I want to use it more skillfully, I still need to spend more time practicing.

Furthermore, the skill I am most proud of in this semester is having a deeper understanding of the relationship between the artist and the audiences. ‘Interaction’ is the most crucial point of this semester and this is also what Camille hopes us can master. ‘Interaction’ is an important factor in any field. For the media, media workers need to maintain close contact with the audiences. Only by clearly understanding the interests and needs of the audiences and combining the current popular trends to cater to the public so that the successful works can be created. The media is not only a method or tool for spreading but also a means of communication. This studio not only teaches us how to use Max but more focus on exercising our understanding of interactive artworks and the practice of brainstorm. In the interactive works, the artist is not the center of the work, but the audiences. Only by constantly observing and communicating with the audiences and treating them as the key in the work so that we can achieve the purpose of interaction well.

All in all, this studio gave me new ideas and developed new skills in media work. I believe this will be very helpful for my future study and work. Finally, thanks to Camille’s patience to us for the whole semester and he is really a excellent teacher with high teaching skills.

References:

Brockmyer, J B 2009. ‘The development of the Game Engagement Questionnaire: A measure of engagement in video game-playing’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 45, no. 4, p. 624–634.

E, Edmonds,‘Interactive Art’, PDF page 1, viewed 18 March 2019.

<https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e245/df020ff7f8b8a99750f8c9c4f70f4db7971a.pdf>