Wilson Qhang | Playing with the Senses

On the day of the field trip, the class went to allez up, a rock climbing gym for rock climbers. The gym itself is for people to train themselves or allow beginners to be part of a thrilling experience. Beginners that have no experience in rock climbing will be unaware of the techniques and will be assisted by the employees in the institute. The employees helps the rock climber beginners get prepared, such as they inform the rock climbers the level of difficulty, give tips and also helps the rock climbers get ready by suiting them up with the right equipment.

Some levels have machines where it will hold you when you go back down, however, some higher levels would require a partner. The levels that would require a partnership is where players will have to hook the checkpoints themselves in order to shorten the fall on the ground and avoid injuring themselves.

During my experience at the rock climbing after a decade, I felt very loose. I received a lot of tips from the employees such as, instead of using arms to pull up and reach the goals, I should use my hands to grab onto a rock and use my feet to push upwards. It was pretty hard at first because it has been quite a while, however with some time, I got used to it. Beginners will go through a tough experience due to lack of knowledge and training. Even if they have viewed some rock climbing montage or practice videos, they will not be able to mimic the players in the montage because reality is far different. What I learned from that day is that I should train my analytical skills and as well as my climbing skills. When I would reach to a point where I was stuck, I would only try to find a way to go upwards, however, the more time it takes for me to find a way out, the more I get worn out. Rock climbing requires a lot of stamina and its pretty physical from my point of view and experience.

The discussion between the host and the group, the most important thing that I kept in my mind is that the host mentioned that it would take approx.. 3-4 months of training before in order to become eligible in a competition. To my understanding, to train for 3-4 months consecutively is to allow the individual to train its muscle memory and as well as to analyze quick.

The rock climbing experience is quite similar to a game called Dance Dance revolution. The game “Dance Dance revolution”, is where a player is placed on a mat with arrows and must hit the arrows precisely on the screen. Both games are physical and require a huge amount of stamina and practice. Therefore, my team and I decided to make a game called the Dance of the Narwhals. The players each have a horn (noodle) on their head and their goal is to hit the balloons off of the opponent with the noodle in order to win. The players are not allowed to use their hands; so instead, they put their hands on top of their noodle cap. Both activities were very similar. The dance of the narwhals itself is pretty physical and requires a lot of stamina, which is similar to allez up. Players in the field must be analytical as well as active in order to make a strategy in order to eliminate their opponent.

2014-06-04 14.33.41

Overall the relationship between Allez up and the Dance of the Narwhals is that both game requires a good amount of physical stamina and strategies. The Allez up requires the players to be analytical sometimes in order to overcome the obstacle. In the dance of the narwhals, the players must figure a strategy in order to tire the opponent out in order to get the upper hand. Thus, both games are pretty physical and have pretty similar aspects.

Here is a link for the dance of the narwhals project.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x9qol25xhl1b815/AABWHcKNcpfs1Z1uNyabxyyia

The edge of sanity is a proprioception/kinesthetic game that forbids players from using their fingers. However, players are allowed to use their hands in a fist form. The game was inspired by our trips to “Allez Up” and “O noir””

The trip to “allez up” required the rock climbers to be analytical and use their physical strength in order to reach their goals. The importance of being analytical is to allow the climbers to think of a strategy that will allow them to reach the goal without breaking a sweat. However, by going to allez up, even though players are able to come up with a strategy, it would require players that has practice often in order to allow them to climb the way they planned.

In O Noir, the clients would experience a sense of disability, which is, to eat their 3 course meals in a full-pitched dark area. To eat in the dark is not always part of our daily lives. By attending this restaurant, it forces the players to eat outside of their comfort zone.

The way we designed the game was to push the players to be out of their comfort zone. We mainly built the game to force players to physically achieve their goal without the use of their hands. At present, the use of the finger touch is often used and one of our main rules for the game is that the players are restricted to use their fingers in order to allow them to experience a sense of disability. Our way of displaying the idea of disability is to flip the cup or carry the tennis ball without the use of fingers while following the current rule that the player has chosen. Players are given a decision to either do the rule or bring a cup along to the enemy side in order to slow down the other team, however, players must be aware that if they drop the cup on the floor, they will have to restart. Therefore it allows the players to think twice whether it is currently doable or not.

The cups were another idea that would allow the players to not achieves a sense of comfort. The cups were randomized and each cups has different rules inside. Once the player finishes the first rule, he must pick the next cup on the line which would then lead the players to feel a sense of discomfort. As we’re aware that we’re going to play on the school floor, we decide to bring some kneepads. It should allow the players to feel less pain while playing the game

As we playtest the game, we found the game quite exhausting which lead us to put tag mode in the game. It becomes a 2 v 2 game that allows the players to switch turns in order to allow one another to catch a breath and not get extremely exhausted. Cups with black tape will reveal that the next rule is a tough one and by doing a tag team, this allows the players to plan strategically and see which player should go next

Overall, the game tends to be pretty physical which increases the players to think who should take turns and who are able to do the rules without being too exhausted. The unchangeable rule in this game is that players are not allowed to use their fingers, but are allowed to use their hand in a fist form only. In order to get the next rules, the cups became an essential tool that can allow the player to flip it without too much trouble. The players can either decide to slow the other team down by bring the cup along or just complete their own rule, however, once it drops, players must restart from the start until they manage to overcome the rule. On other hand, the team that completes the most rules will be declared winner. The main goal of this game was to force players to be out of their comfort zone, as the players first complete the first rule and move to the next rule, they must accomplish what it is written which allows the players to not get comfortable.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x9qol25xhl1b815/AABWHcKNcpfs1Z1uNyabxyyia

https://vimeo.com/99558064

Documentation by : Wilson Qhang, Hope Erin, Shaun Celestrial, Kevin Ip and Philip Figiel

Playing with the Senses

All posts by Wilson Qhang

Documentation for allez up

The edge of sanity

CART-498I