Global Tennis – “Brighton to Bristol… Cardiff to Calais… Cork to New York… The globe is in your court!”

This is a blog I wrote for Brighton based GPS games developer 'Locomatrix' about some project work I have been working on at Sussex - http://www.locomatrix.com/wordpress/

One of the all time greatest computer games has to be Atari’s old school classic; ‘Pong’. For those of you that are un-familiar with the game, the aim of the game is to bounce a ball past your opponent by moving a bat left and right across a baseline. The skill is in finding the right angles off the bat, often using the sidewalls, to out-do your opponent. The beauty of Pong is its simplicity and the game-play is highly addictive.

Over the past couple of months I have been working with a team in collaboration with Brighton based GPS gaming company; Locomatrix. We have been designing and prototyping a game we have titled ‘Global Tennis’, which takes the Pong game metaphor and combines it with real world game-play. Instead of using a clunky keyboard to control the bat, players run in the real world whilst their movements are tracked by GPS. By co-ordinating ball movements on the on screen interface with bat movements through short sprints; players can now have the same fun the old school classic brought, whilst outside exercising and enjoying the weather. Plus they can compete against other players from all over the world. Pretty neat eh?!

We applied a traditional tennis scoring system to the game, with players competing for game points to win sets, and a choice of 1, 3 or 5 set matches. We were also well aware that we needed to suit the game to more or less hyperactive users, so players can adjust the difficulty through baseline length and ball speed. Want to run energetically back and forth like shuttle runs, set the ball speed high and the baseline length low. Fancy a slower jog over distance, set the ball speed low and the baseline length higher. The choice is left up to the players.

In designing the game, we followed an iterative development process. Our initial user inquiry, showed an interest for the game concept and a positive attitude in combining gaming and exercise. Our lo-fidelity prototypes of the games UI also got positive feedback from users. We kept the interface neat and simple to give it the retro character the original had. We also went down to the seafront to do some real world tests of the games speed and distance settings. The footage taken also allowed us to put together some rather amusing illustrative hi-fidelity prototype. It was a good laugh, and we can definitely see kids and families having hours of fun on the beach, in the park, or even in the back garden for those that don’t have the guts to run around in public holding a GPS unit. Over the next few weeks our team will be pulling together final prototypes of the in game menu system and developing UML diagrams and pseudo code to describe the back-end game mechanics in full. 

So if Global Tennis is produced and takes off, expect to see lots of people running back and forth - looking very odd indeed - in public at a beach or park near you soon!

Mindflex - The telekinetic super kids of the future

I recently remembered how absolutely incredible direct brain interfacing is. In particular the emotiv headset really blew my mind - which was suppose to come out last Xmas - but got delayed. It should retail at about £150, which seems like a complete bargain when you consider how cutting edge it is.

The other day, a friend pointed me towards the Mindflex from the makers of Barbie, retailing at $79.99 (see the video at the bottom). It allows kid to control a hovering ball through a maze using the powers of their mind. When I was a kid all we had was Lego. Later generations got computer games, which my generation were just as keen on. The step from Lego and action figures to immersive computer games was a big step. But today and in years to come kids are going to have toys that allow them to manipulate matter with their mind.

What I do rate is that they are going back to a physical product rather than a virtual one, taking advantage of technology and the real affordances that are naturally found in the real world. Lego was great because it got kids thinking creatively. I recently had a session in Interactive Learning Environments at Sussex University, where some research students brought out a new Lego type toy. It had movable parts and kinetic memory that allowed kids to build robotic creatures and input movement sequences through real movement. Then when hooked up to a computer the toys could replicate the movements from memory. This got kids thinking about locomotion in a very engaging way. Give a kid a text book or write stuff on a black board and half of them switch off; totally disinterested. I’m a firm believer that getting kids engaged in learning by getting them involved in creative practise is the way forward. Especially if we don’t want a future of dull robotic kids with no creative drive; “Computaa saz noo!”

The potential of DBI toys for creative learning is surely enormous and highly rewarding for a kid as well. Mind you if kids’ obsessions with games like Guitar Hero and the stupidity of certain kids taking Grand Theft Auto to the streets are anything to go by; we could end up with an army of obsessed 10 year olds terrorizing the street with their new found super power, throwing home made weapons at people with the power of their mind. But with that aside, combining DBI technologies with Lego type creative toys could be really engaging for kids. Obviously the technology needs to get a bit more sophisticated than Mindflex; but if DBI entertainment takes off properly, competitive markets will drive some very innovative products.

In fact screw giving the kids these toys. I want to try it!