Research Methods Essay 3 – Materials and Methods

My plan while exploring the impact of nontraditional user interfaces in videogames will be to create several games that have different approaches to the same subject. Perhaps one will deal with loss, another with attachment, or perhaps all of them will attempt to immerse the player through different immersive tactics. Obviously, I won’t have the time to create a game on the same level as a triple-A industry title, but I will attempt to generate the same amount of emotional impact with a much smaller concept. Originally I would have said this is impossible, but after seeing some of the independent games that have been produced, specifically games like Rohrer’s Passage and Giant Tank (A work by a prior graduate student), I believe that this is not only possible, but also quite doable. In order to accomplish this, I will need three types of materials: firstly, I will need to research the aforementioned videogames as well as the ways in which they convey their message or messages. Secondly, I will need to create the actual game, which will require some programming as well as a game engine. Lastly, I will need the actual nontraditional user interface devices that I mention.

One of the more problematic and interesting facets of recent videogame history is the trend toward motion gaming as well as an increased fascination with and reliance upon the physical. A very interesting and popular example of this is the Skylanders series. The game involves the use of small figurines and a device that allows you to “import” said physical figurines into the game world, level them up and then move them to different games or consoles. Similar, less sophisticated things have been done with Kinect shape recognition. For some time, Burger King produced toys to be included with their children’s meals that, when presented to the Kinect sensor while playing the game Kinectimals, would produce a replica of the toy in the game world. Of course, this is not to mention the wildly popular Wii, with its surprisingly innovative (for the time) motion controller that used several accelerometers and similar devices to control games, as well as the Kinect itself, which creates some very interesting phenomena as far as user awareness and spatiality. As a mechanic, I feel that nontraditional interface devices that have an actual physical presence seem to work better than motion controllers that actually imply objects or weight. Another solid example is the popularity and immersive qualities of the Rock Band series. Both Skylanders and Rock Band use the physicality of their peripherals to augment the user’s experience positively, whereas motion controls that require a degree of imagination or extrapolation on the user’s part or an exceptional amount of actual physical space (like the Kinect) seem to fall a little short. I am fascinated by the concept of having a character or device that occupies both a digital and physical space, and I believe this may be an exciting and interesting way for videogames to evolve. I plan to use powerful and moving physical objects to heighten the connection between the player and the game as well as to build emotional attachment or incentivize certain behaviors. I will combine these physical objects or artifacts with the techniques I have observed in other videogames and that I have read about to produce thought-provoking critical games that explore this kind of immersion and emotional engagement.

While there is not a substantial amount of research done about videogames and their history, impact, or projected abilities to persuade, there is still quite a bit of research and literature for me to read up on and study. As I mentioned before, I will be leaning heavily on the writings of Ian Bogost, specifically How to do Things With Videogames. I’ll also be using Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken, among other works, various works by Gonzalo Frasca, specifically his theses. Hopefully in my exploration of the bibliographies contained therein I will be able to follow the research threads of said individuals and find even more impressive and pertinent information on my area of focus. I plan on reading entries from the Well Played journal to get some ideas and perspective as to which techniques used in contemporary and classic videogames work well and the kind of impact these techniques have on their players. There is actually a fairly pertinent body of work on this topic produced by other students in a class I attended previously in this program (Interaction and Collaboration), and I would like to review the videos we took of the play tests and see what specifically worked when we used the Microsoft Kinect platform, and various other non-traditional interfaces used in that class. In particular, there was an interesting project that consisted of wiring a stuffed puppy with an Arduino and then using at as a USB peripheral capable of feeding input into the game it was connected to, allowing users to interact directly (or at least that was the idea) with the puppy on screen in the game.

The actual creation of said games will be substantially more difficult and constitute the bulk of the time I spend on this project. Firstly, I must choose which game engine or programming language to use. This will be a very weighty decision and will require much deliberation. Currently, my programming expertise is actually quite limited. Ideally I would prefer to do something involving three dimensional characters, objects, and avatars. Due to the fact that the bulk of my programming background is in Processing, this could be an issue. Currently, I could use Processing or Max to create my game, as they are the programming environments I have the most experience with, though I feel that they will be inadequate as a means to handle three dimensional figures and spaces. I have, however, considered using Max to mock up some of my code or “moving parts” as it were in order to more appropriately visualize them and how they will function. While I feel that I could create a fairly competent and enjoyable game in Processing, as it has been the basis for the majority of my programming with nontraditional UI devices like the Kinect, I feel as though Processing isn’t the appropriate platform for the more complex type of game I hope these become. This, of course, raises another set of issues. I need to study different kinds of game engines to see which would actually be the most beneficial and useful for me to use. As it stands, I am seriously considering using the Unity engine due to its accessibility and what I’ve heard of how it handles 3D objects. The primary issue with Unity, however, is that I have never used it and I have no idea what the boundaries of the engine are, or what it is capable of. This means that I will have to learn Unity (or any other engine I choose that isn’t Processing or Max) from the ground up, and that will take an exceptional amount of time. The final challenge I will need to surmount on the software side will be learning how to use 3d modeling programs, such as Maya or 3DS Max. I have only touched briefly on 3D modeling in the past and have very little experience with it. However, I will be remedying this situation by taking a 3D modeling class in the winter. Hopefully this will teach me the skills involved in 3D modeling and I will also possibly be able to create some content for the games I plan make for my thesis project as well.

One of the reasons that I feel 3D modeling and the appropriate handling of 3D objects in a game engine are so important is that I plan to do some 3D printing in addition to simply making 3D models as content for the games. Materials-wise, this means that I will require access to a 3D printer, the more user-friendly the better, as I have also never really used any hardware like a 3D printer before. I will also require the means to playtest the games I produce, which should be no issue so long as they run on most of the computers accessible to us as students. Depending on the directions I take, and how non-traditional I want the means of user interface to be, I may need photo sensors, infrared sensors, and maybe even cameras. Also, if I choose to create some form of physical object with a digital presence, I will either need a Kinect and a library that is capable of recognizing objects, which at the time I learned Kinect programming was not available, or some manner of RFID chip similar to those used in the Skylanders games. This would present an additional challenge, as I have no experience using similar systems, nor do I know precisely how said systems work. Taking a page from other students, it would also theoretically be possible to produce a stuffed animal or plush toy that was a peripheral that responded to touch or acceleration and whatnot through the use of an Arduino.