Team 3 Concept

We decided that we would either create a controller for the games “The Exit 8” or “Fireboy and Watergirl.” 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653790/The_Exit_8/

https://www.coolmathgames.com/0-fireboy-and-water-girl-in-the-forest-temple?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20526927077&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20526927077&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAABcGAVzefIuIZc6ncbdo1kO0LPI1i&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyL24BhCtARIsALo0fSCY5r8q4SqSHBDJ8z1Kc4Kc5eYsu5W2DCvtB1NjXESLxSfK22Hl8eMaAoWyEALw_wcB#immersiveModal

Exit 8 is an anomaly spotting game, with walking as the only thing a player has to do. Fb/Wg is a two character platform game. These two games have limited controls, and so are perfect for this assignment. Exit 8 requires a lot of looking around, but not a lot of up or down, so it will work well with an alternate controller. Fb/Wg is designed as a two player game, but is player on one keyboard. Creating an alternate controller allows for a better two player experience. 

We seemed to be stuck thinking in a box, what are some ways we could add variety?

Can you thinking of any sensor/control/input that would have an intuitive output for these games?

Team 5 Concept

 The first game we decided to make concepts for was Donkey Kong. This iconic arcade game sees the player running and jumping on platforms, as well as climbing ladders, ascending a construction site to rescue a damsel in distress from a giant gorilla. While the controls for the game are simple, consisting of mainly moving and jumping, it allows for a wide range of different controller methods. Our concepts were motivated by conveying mechanics to the game while using unorthodox controller items.

The second game we decide to make concepts for was Space Tacos. This game sees the player controlling a UFO to steal livestock and turn them into taco meat. This game was chosen for its simple controls, which would also lead to a wide variety of control methods.

Team 6 Concept Review

 Four our game controller we are considering working with either Cuphead or Vampire Survivors. 

These games are very different from each other. Cuphead is a side scrolling platformer while Vampire Survivors is a horde-survival, bullet-hell game. The core mechanics of Cuphead are running, jumping and shooting while Vampire Survivors is rather light on mechanics with the game auto-attacking and having the player focus on their movement and placement. We choose these two games because they are mechanically simplistic with a relatively small number of controls but still allow a lot of room for creativity in designing our controllers.

Two questions we have about our designs are.....

1. Which design seems the most intuitive and fun to use?

2. How can we improve our designs to be more intuitive to the user?

Cuphead- https://store.steampowered.com/app/268910/Cuphead/

Vampire Survivors- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors/

Design Sketches

Concept Review - Team 10 (Portal nd Crypt of the NecroDancer)

Portal and Crypt of the NecroDancer

We chose these two games because of their relatively simple control schemes and because both of them have rich theming that allowed us to feel creatively to achieve a variety of ideas. Besides simple movement and pick up mechanics, Portal's main mechanic is to shoot two distinct portals that connect with one another when crossed. This mechanics allows for artistic expression in the real world as the iconography of the portals is extremely well known. Crypt's entire control scheme lies within directional controls that have to be timed to a beat. This makes the possibilities endless based on its simplicity, especially in making comparisons to traditional rhythm games. The actual portals themselves and the modernistic dystopian feel of the game motivated our ideas, along with the odd references to mundane objects between both games. For Crypt, the general dance gesture inspired many of our ideas alongside the crypt/dungeon iconography in the form of chests, graves, shovels, etc. Questions for Portal: How effective are our ideas at handling movement and basic controls? What design serves the game's theming best? Questions for Crypt: Are the designs too similar in terms of high concept and gestures? Which design serves the game's theming best?

Portal Sketches:

Crypt of the NecroDancer Sketches:

  

Concept Review - Team 7

Bomberman and Geometry Dash Controller Concepts
By Donovan Peckham and Timothy Williams

Bomberman - https://www.retrogames.cz/play_085-NES.php

Our motivation for Bomberman was because it is an easy to understand game with a simple mechanic as its core gameplay. These mechanics are movement and bomb placement. We believe that creating an alternate controller for this game would be beneficial because it is a tangible piece of immersion that is directly correlated to the game. Some of our ideas for the controllers come from using the light sensor to act like you are setting off the fuse, as well as using the temperature sensor to heat up the circuit playground to trigger the bomb placement.

Geometry Dash - https://geometrygame.org/

As for Geometry Dash, we thought that making a controller for this game would be interesting because of the nature of the game. The mechanics of the game is just jumping and timing, but in order to succeed you need precision, which is why we think a game controller that enables precision would benefit this game. An idea that we thought of would be to take an important aspect of the game music and use your voice to control the cube, or by mimicking the movements needed in game in real life with our controller.

Two questions that we have are is there any other input that could be implemented into these designs to better them, and are these designs intuitive for the user.

Jigsaw Puzzle Switch- Team 14

We decided on an artistic approach for out switch. We decided to make a sort of jigsaw puzzle that, when completed, would power the LED. We decided to use aluminum foil to make jigsaw puzzle pieces that could be connected via alligator clips to a breadboard which was connected to a 9 volt battery as our power supply. This could be used for people who have issues with their eyesight to know when they have completed a puzzle if this switch were to be made on a larger scale.

Unconventional Switch Sports Mode

 

    

        

This unconventional switch lights up the LED when the Croc is put into sports mode, adding some extra power to your athletic activities! We used a 9-volt battery, a breadboard with a power module attachment, two jumper wires with alligator clips, two resistors, an LED, a Croc, and two pieces of aluminum foil. The pieces of aluminum foil are attached to the strap and heel of the Croc, and when the strap is lowered (as in sports mode), the aluminum touches, completes the circuit, and lights up the LED. For this design to be wearable, the components would have to be much smaller and welded onto the shoe, however, this works as a proof-of-concept and/or prototype.

- Thomas Dean and Sarah Walenciak