Do Re Mi

Proposal

For this module I would like to rework the ukulele projection mapping project that I worked on in the previous module. Using basically the same rules for the game, rather than using the ukulele for distinguishing colors I would instead like to use the major musical scale (Do-Re-Mi). The scale is something most people are familiar with and if not it is rather easy to learn. With this new format, this game can now be geared towards music education for children in a fun and engaging way. In addition to these new rules, I would also like to clean up the interface of the previous iteration of the game so that it can run smoothly and seamlessly, so that the participants (or performers) can focus on playing the game more rather than trying to figure out how to navigate. Also as this game is more focused on children, I would like to extend the board from just the wall to include the floor as well. A full body interaction will help engage the children more and keep people's attention on the game.

Curatorial Statement

Do Re Mi is an interactive installation game aimed at  teaching children ranging from ages 6 to 9 about their major music scale.Learning the musical scale through just rote memorization and repetition can be boring and is outdated with all the technology we have today, so this game is a solution. The object of the game is to touch the corresponding note on the bored before time runs out in order to stay in the game. Each round randomly generates a new grid of notes and also randomly chooses a note to play for the round. This piece not only aims to help children become familiar with the individual notes but also with how the notes relate to each other on a relative scale, through coming up with their own strategies for playing the game. With this method of learning, rather than just outright memorization, participants begin to get a much more personal understanding of the scale and relative distances of the notes.

Product

The polished version, which can be seen below, was created solely using Python. The grid of notes is represented by a 2-D array with each cell randomly choosing a note using a random number generator. The rest of the interface was made using Tkinter, WinSound, and images from the internet in order to create a colorful experience that is pleasing to look at as well as to play. At the beginning of each round the game begins playing a note at increasingly faster intervals until the end of the round where all the notes except the one that is played disappears. There are also different difficulty settings where at this point only changes the amount of time you have to figure out the color (i.e. hard difficulty gives you the least amount of time to figure it out).The interface of the game uses the laptop only to start the game and progress to the next round. Each individual round is automated, so it chooses and plays each note and removes the other notes from the grid by itself, unlike in the previous iteration of this installation. The videos below show a sample run of the game from two very appreciated participants. 

Context

The first work that inspired the rules of the game comes from the user-made Minecraft mini-game (hosted by "The Hive") called Block party. In each round of the game a color is specified and you must run to that color block before time runs out, then all the blocks except the specified color disappear. This game really helped form the foundation of my idea, but I wanted to extend it in order to ground it as a physical experience and give it more purpose than to just play a game.

During our performance of the first iteration of this work, Almeda mentioned that this game would really go well in children's museum as it was pretty engaging and colorful which is perfect for children. So I looked into some of the Exhibits in the Pittsburgh Children's museum and found the Tough Art museum where artists are tasked with creating interactive experiences for children. The work that stuck out to me was the Bubble Machine #5 by Nicholas Hanna, which is an installation that generates giant bubbles then blows them to the middle of the room where children are free to jump around and have fun with them. This gave me direction for my installation as far as the behavior of children participating in an art installation and what type of things attract their attention. Although this installation is a lot more free and less structured than my game, the insight it gives on keeping children's attention is still applicable. This is important for me to plan around so that I can make the an appropriate game for the children but still have it be engaging enough to keep their attention.

STREETPONG by Sandro Engel and Holger Michel gave me a bit more direction in terms of the competitive nature of my installation. The installation was set at a traffic crosswalk in central Germany and it allowed you to play a game of pong with another person on the other side of the street while waiting to cross. I found this very interesting as in most cases one would be playing with a complete stranger. However, as the video shows, the longer the game goes on the more the sense of competitiveness increases, which I found interesting. I also liked the fact that when the game is over you have to cross the street and see the person you just played and it's hard not to want to interact with that person directly as you cross because you guys both shared that experience together. I would like for my installation to have a somewhat similar effect, so that participants can enjoy playing the game as well as learning about music with other people regardless of if they are friends or strangers.

Process

The original iteration of this project can be found here: http://ideate.xsead.cmu.edu/gallery/projects/untitled-e6a9118e-bf69-4629-95ba-835ed57354a6

The original idea definitely provided a good foundation but there was a lot of refinement that needed to be done. The first thing I decided to work on was the refinement of the UI which was virtually non existent in the original. There was only one screen and the installation was almost entirely manually operated which would not be good for children as simple things tend to engage them the most. So I started by adding a start screen as an introduction. I also realized that in order to get a meaningful amount of play the children needed something to work towards besides just competition. So I added different difficulties in another screen so that their is a more tangible goal to work towards rather than just learning, which is not always appealing to children. I decided that in this iteration difficulties would be distinguished by the amount of time you have to figure out the color.

Now looking at the game itself just having a grid of colors seemed like not enough so I decided to add a legend at the top for the scale in increasing order and with its position and size it also served as a title. For playing the note I was not sure whether or not I should just play the note once and have a timer or just play it consistently throughout. I decided that playing it in increasingly fast intervals was the best route as it allows participants to know which note is played and also creates a sense of urgency as the sound begins to speed up.

Once I finished all of the functionalities, I began working to refine the aesthetics of the app. Initially I manually drew all the buttons but found that they looked a bit weird so I instead created my own buttons using an online tool. I then began to inspect different elements of the game and to my surprise, not too long before the showcase, I found that the "Si" note in the package of piano sounds that I used was not in the right key for some reason. So I had to hurry to find a replacement sound within a very short time frame. The finished product for the UI and flow of the game can be seen below.

Reflection

This project was a really good experience on improving on a previous work. A lot of times I find myself leaving things as they are and moving on to the next task without really think about how I can improve what I have already done so I really appreciated this project for that. I really enjoyed making this project because it had a fairly clear objective which made for very interesting and most of the time directed work with a purpose. Of course there are still things that I would like to improve on but most of it is aesthetics such as adding animations for disappearing circles. Also since the game is so simple there is potential to add different game modes such as last man standing where you have limited lives that go down when you lose a round or survival where you have 1 life and you have to see how many rounds you can beat in a row. So there is a lot of room for additions. I would also like to incorporate a Kinect into the game as well to make it a more fully interactive experience rather than having to go back and forth from laptop to grid. In comparison to the original iteration and my goals for this one, I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

Attribution

Minecraft Block Party:

https://youtu.be/7cDCgtbcHF4

Bubble Machine:

https://youtu.be/Zqv2s5pEIlM

STREETPONG

https://youtu.be/C3Ozz6_pdMI

Buttons Used in App:

http://www.clker.com/clipart-2593.html

http://www.clker.com/clipart-2580.html

http://www.clker.com/clipart-2592.html

http://www.clker.com/clipart-2594.html

Scale Used as Title was taken from a cropped screenshot of the Piano Kids app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.superkung.pianokids

Package for major scale notes:

https://www.freesound.org/people/Jaz_the_MAN_2/packs/17749/

Replacement "Si" note:

https://www.freesound.org/people/RandyMcMillan/sounds/85335/