Projects
I hope you are as excited about your projects and Maze Day as I am! This is going to be great. I think your projects are going to be a ton of fun. But… We’ve got very little time remaining to bring all this together.
Here is my understanding of who is doing what. Correct me if I’m wrong:
BethanyJ, ChaseJ, ChristyS: Music creation using pad and/or camera.
BrennaC, CatherineC, RyanS: Tennis
DanielB, ElizabethK, LizzyR, SarahT: Drums
RandyS, WaltJ: Light Saber Practice
MaggieS, RhiannonL: Guitar Hero (hopefully with vibration)
AshleyA, JayH: 2 pad Simon with musical notes
AlishaA, JasmineG, LalithaK: Bop it
BrennaK, SaraW: Tactile Maze
I’d like to talk to each team for about 1 hour outside class as soon as possible. Check my calendar and propose an open time that works for you to me via email. My “prep” time on Tuesday and Thursday is available for this purpose.
I’d like each time to post to the blog a description of your project. After you’re logged in you all should have the ability to post new articles. Just put them in the Projects category like this one. In your description I want to know what need from me (equipment, software, information, help).
November 8th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Team AlishaA, LalithaK, JasmineG
We will be implementing the “Bop It!” Game, where we will use several boxes in camera view. When covered, each box will play a different sound. There will be a corresponding commands for each box with a set time range for each action. The commands will get faster as the game goes on with a lesser time range to get to the boxes. Score will be counted manually. For this project, we will need one camera and a large area to work with on the wall. To increase difficulty, we may add extra boxes. We will also need a speaker for sound.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I am on a team with Jay and our idea is to create a Simon game with the DDR pads for the kids to either play against a computer (which will play a sequence of sounds) or against eachother where one player makes a sequence and the other has to repeat it correctly. We will either use one pad and have them use three side buttons and either the up or down arrow depending on the side. On each button we will use shapes that they can associate with the sounds and also enable them to find the sound they want easier. Another idea was to have two DDR pads and for the smaller kids have them sit in the middle and the sounds would be enabled by pressing the diagonal buttons so that they get more arm involvement. For our game we need 2 DDR pads, a program which we can assign sounds to certain buttons and be able to create sequences on the computer to put out for one player games. This being said we also need speakers.
November 12th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Guitar Hero
by: Maggie S. and Rhiannon L.
We will be trying to implement an accessible Guitar Hero. We are hoping to use vibrations to signal the notes. We will be keeping up with the high scores for each player. At the beginning we will show them how to play the game by putting our hands over theirs to help get the timing down. We hope to get the vibrations computer controlled but if not we will do it manually. We hope to set up two games and use two guitars so that more people can play. If the vibrations don’t work, we will use voice commands. For our game, we will need the guitar hero game(or frets on fire), two guitars, vibrators, and possibly headphones depending on the noise around.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Music Creation
Bethany, Christy and I will be making a music creation game where standing on the DDR pad gives sequences of percussion rhythms and the camera allows the child to create a variety of tonal patterns (Played over the percussion rhythms). We hope to create an array of five boxes on the wall, each yielding different sounds and patterns, allowing the child to insert them into the percussion rhythm they have created on the floor. The pressure on the pad remains constant, and we are hoping they can even overlap the percussion tunes. On the wall, if they obscure the box once, we are hoping it keeps playing as a build, and then if they obscure it again it stops playing that particular tone. Points are awarded for complexity , but in the end we hope the game is fun and interesting enough that it provides an outlet for young children and older children alike to “create” music. In addition, each of the boxes on the wall are going to be “filled in” with different material so the child can also feel the areas instead of just imagining them.
All this said, we will need a camera, a stand, and the software for the music creation, a DDR pad with connection cables, and a wall. We hope everything runs smoothly and this game is really fun for those who will play it.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Our team including Catherine, Ryan, and I will be creating a tennis game. We felt that a game that incorperated sports would be interesting and different from the typical computer games made for the blind. The game will also encourage arm movement and strength. The game will be able to be played by all ages and will cover a larger range of blind people. The game wil be the basic moves of tennis. There will be three fairly large squares set up on a wall. We will make the squares tactle so that the players will be able to feel the squares before the game and become orientated to where they need to get their raquet to. The sqares will be placed so one is above the player, signifying a serve, and then one on each side of the player. The dominate hand side will be an open hit while the opposite side will represent a backhand swing. The game will start by the computer player serving the ball. The compute will say service and then the sound of the ball being hitting a raquet will be made. The next sound will be telling which sqare the ball is going to and the ball hitting the court on the players side and then three beeps will be sounded. On the third beep the player must have their raquet in the appropriet square. A sound of the ball hitting the raquet will be played along with cheers if the player gets in the right square on time. The game will continue with the computer player hitting the ball and then noises will indicate again where the ball is going and how long the player has to get there. If the player misses or goes to the wrong square, the computer will just start over with another service. The game will be scored according to how many times the player made the raquet into the correct square and at the precise time. What we need for this game is a camera that will read motion in a certain square at a particular time. The sounds can be programmed to keys on a computer system and we can play them as the game goes along. We will however need help putting certain sounds to the keys. This should be a really exciting game to play. We can not wait till Maze Day
November 15th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Brenna K and I are making mazes for Maze Day. We will have two tactile mazes through which the children navigate with their hands. One will be easy, and one will be more difficult. We will be using large posterboard as the foundation, and we will be making walls out of posterboard as well. The floor of the maze will be lined with felt along the correct path and a rougher matierial for the wrong turns. At the end of the maze there will be a button, and when pressed, it will make a reward sound. Dr. Bishop, if you have any recordable audio buttons, please let us know. In addition, we will construct a lifesize maze in the reading room on floor two of Sitterson. It will be made from styrofoam blocks, bookcases, chairs, and other furniture. At the completion of this maze, the children will exit through a door with a hanging bead curtain to signify their success. The tactile mazes will also be set up in this room.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Catherine, Ryan, Brenna need from me:
At least the MusicPad software to play sounds
What they would like is the ability to trigger a sound, then specify a window in time that another key has to be hit. If it is hit, play one sound (whack) and if it isn’t hit within the window or any other key is hit, play a different sound (swoosh).