Beth is posting things! Ahaha so I decided to do my part at the last minute. I know other people have done these sections too but this is my take on it. Copied and pasted from my blog entries made throughout today:
I'm going to chuck it all in one blog post so I'm going to put in a PAGE BREAK.
Decomposition and elaboration of brief:
The brief is "to use any specific boardgame as inspiration to create a novel interactive experience".
We had to pick our game, which could be a boardgame, card game, puzzle, anything that wasn't already digital really. We had some generic ideas like Mousetrap and Monopoly initially, but it wasn't until Sidd showed us his interactivity idea that we knew what to do: augmented reality, which he showed us in a YouTube video:
(OK well my blog post had a link to the video, but it's the business card one Christa posted in the first post in this blog)
This gave Christa the idea of using the Pokémon Trading Card Game. She was already a card collector, and both me and Sidd were in the past so it was something we could all relate to. This video shows what we have in mind:
Ideally we'd like to make the full Pokémon TCG with augmented reality, but we figure basic attacks like in the above videos would be more feasible in the time allowance.
The location of the game would be anywhere you would play Pokémon TCG, most likely a table, big enough to fit a laptop on as well. Basically have the game going on, and the laptop would display beside the players what the Pokémon were doing as the game plays out.
Selection and justification of the "inspiring" game:
We love Pokémon. It was a big part of our childhood, and it still is a big part of our lives as I'm playing the new Pokémon White in my free time. I'm going into town later to buy another TCG booster pack. I'm thinking about getting a Diamond and Pearl - Stormfront one; it's still in rotation even if it is old, and even though it's probably going to be rotated out for the next season it's still good to use for games between me and my friends. And Luke gave me a Pokémon TCG World Champions deck that had mostly Stormfront cards, and those Gyarados looked pretty bitchin'. Or I could get a Platinum - Supreme Victors booster, I've been getting a lot of those recently. I wonder if Antics have any different decks?
That wasn't entirely just pointless rambling; I know my stuff about this game and it's not just a childhood memory. I know all the rules, I've entered myself in tournaments, I've got so many card pages to display my collection, my room is basically a booster packet graveyard, and I really, really enjoy the game. And I only started collecting the cards again less than two months ago. I'm too scared to count how many I have acquired in that time.
Having been to Antics a lot recently, I have seen a lot of people who are also interested in the game. NERDS. SO MANY NERDS. They enjoy playing it on the tables upstairs and I doubt they'd want a laptop next to them showing them what's going on, but at home I think they would be excited to see their decks come to life in front of them. Nerds love technology. I guess kids play the game too, kids would love to see little Pokémon moving around and battling instead of still pictures on cards. They could feel more like trainers sending their well-trained Pokémon out to battle.
I would quite like to feel like a trainer sending my well-trained Pokémon out to battle. :>
Background research:
OK well this is something I've been doing for my own personal benefit anyway over the last two months.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first introduced in Japan in 1996 with the base set, which wasn't released in America until 1999. This original set featured 69 of the 151 Pokémon in the games. The next expansion was Jungle, followed by Fossil, Team Rocket, Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge, all of which added new cards which deepened the TCG experience.
Those were the original era releases. Generally a new "era" of expansions is marked by the release of a new game. The Neo era expansions featured second generation Pokémon introduced by new games Gold and Silver. e-Card releases were just to interact with the e-Card reader really. EX era was to coincide with Ruby and Sapphire and third generation Pokémon, and later FireRed and LeafGreen, and the Delta Species era was really an extension of this. DL era is when Diamond and Pearl were released, and expanded with all the new fourth generation Pokémon. Majestic Dawn, Legends Awakened and Stormfront are expansions in this era that are still tournament-legal, with the earlier expansions having been rotated out. The PL era has expansions Platinum, Rising Rivals, Supreme Victors and Arceus. HS era has HeartGold & SoulSilver, Unleashed, Undaunted, Triumphant and kind of Call of Legends, although the latter is filler really. And now collectors like me are eagerly awaiting the new BW era, and the Black & White expansion.
To keep things fresh, there are "tournament-legal" expansions. Currently, they are from Majestic Dawn onwards, and anything released before that cannot be used in organised tournaments. This is because older cards are now seen as underpowered compared to newer cards, or so that people don't keep the same older, strong cards in their deck forever. Rotating expansions out means that it is not hard to get into the game and eventually create a deck that can rival others, and so people have to think of new tactics when creating new decks. It keeps things fresh. However I think when the new expansion is released, a few older ones will be rotated out, and I have a lot of Rising Rivals cards which I probably won't be able to use. :<
Pokémon Organised Play means that players can participate in local city tournaments, and can advance to larger tournaments and there is a yearly world champions event, which crowns the winners of the year in three different age categories. I want to get in on that this year. :>
I bought these two boosters today:
I did buy a Stormfront booster :> it was only £3, and I got a Torterra which is very useful, I've been stuck on just Turtwig and Grotle for a while. Also this:
Anyway, artistic research:
Google search for "augmented reality art" first. Here we have "Hand from Above" by Chris O'Shea and I KNOW THAT NAME AND I SHOULD KNOW WHO IT IS. >:/
- http://vimeo.com/7042266 - Hand from Above
- http://www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/2009/10/augmented-reality-outdoor-art.html - Augmented Reality Outdoor Art Installation
- http://gizmodo.com/#!5381469/augmented-reality-finger-billboard-prods-destroys-passersby - Augmented Reality Finger Billboard Prods, Destroys Passerby
This installation shows that people of any age that are just walking through a street are interested by augmented reality and the "magic" of it, and are happy to interact with it.
OK so artistic research wasn't in the list of topics to address so NEVER MIND
Environmental survey and contextual study:
Right so the environment would be usually the home, and... I can't really survey that. Another place we might play TCGs are upstairs in Antics, where there are three large tables just for people to have TCG duels on, build decks and trade cards. There are snacks and drinks available to buy too to encourage people to stay and hang out for the afternoon. These tables are perfectly large enough to put a laptop on beside the card battle, and I'm sure if people are nerdy enough to play card games upstairs in a shop then they'd be nerdy enough to appreciate technology bringing their cards to life with augmented reality. I say this because I am this nerdy.
Also thanks to the ingeniousness of the new Pokémon games, I can do surveys of people also with the games on through wireless communication. I have taken my DS to Antics where a bunch of people were playing card games and on their DS, and it has also surveyed my friends who play the TCG too. Now I know highly important facts like 10 out of 10 people I passed by chose video games as their hobby (technology! Visual stimulation! Of course they would like augmented reality!), 10 out of 10 people chose student as their occupation (young people! New tech! They would love this stuff!), and most people were female... can't really say much about that. Um well I am a girl and I like cute things obviously and I want to see cute little Pokémon hovering above my cards.
OK I shall be drawing this to a close now as Christa has posted the last few topics on the group blog. But here is my design too! :>
Specification and design:
Here is a cute picture of what this game would look like :D
Two Pokénerds having a fun battle and thinking our technological interactivity is amazing.
THE COMBEE'S KNEES FOR SURE.
Also here is an example of a 3D model we may use:
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