HIT ME!

June 06, 2005

Thesis Performance: Tournament

I planned way for this event and was unable to reach all my goals. I almost broke the game the morning of the tournament and instead of buildling up the various stages of the tournament I was only able to do the semifinals and finals on the night of the show. All in all it worked out fine and I was pleased about the feedback from the spectators and the various techniques the players came up with. Also, I really liked the way the judge's role worked with the rest of the game.
Prithvi vs. Chantal video video

Kate vs. Minah video

Prithvi vs. Kate video

Posted by kaho at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2005

Playtesting2

Sunday April 24th, 3-4 pm
10th Floor lab Rm 1005

I bought too many Japanese snacks...

The simultaneous video input thru firewire and USB turned out to work really well. I was really pleased with the relatively clear photos and very little lag. I suddenly feel this game will actually work by the end of the semester, with this break through. Because after this, the problems are more things I can control. Playtesting went well today, I thought.

People came and went. People were usually watching and they enjoyed it, it seemed. There were about 5 games played with different people -- people of different heights and there was one pair that was boy vs girl.

Here are the photo rules I used:

1 pt for a hit (director automatically awards)
0-2 pt for a photo (judge awards)
...2 pts when opponent's face can be seen
...1 pt when opponent's body part can be seen
...0 pts when there is nothing

-- Ideally there would be a seperate judge and ref, but due to limits in time, I just played both.
-- I used a 10ft diameter circle which was perfect. Not too small, not too big. I am not sure exactly if there needs to be a rule or not here but this is something to still consider.
-- The game was only 30 secs long, but it seemed long enough that there were enough hits, it didn't get boring, and people didn't get too tired. I installed a button that manually freezes the timer and score and plays a boxing bell to announce the end of the 30 secs.
-- I curved the straps more so that the box lies further towards the front. This makes it easier for people to get hits and for the camera to take good shots. This was pretty successful I thought.
-- The starting position was good, especially when the players have their arms outstretched, because they can't get into a hit position before the game starts.
-- I am starting to get a hang of the phrases used by the ref, like "get into your ready positions" or "there is 15 seconds left on the clock," etc...

====

Comments I got:
-- People ALWAYS ask me why the top of the head. But when I explain the reasons, then they usually think it's fine.
-- People thought it was suprisingly physically tiring although they thought the 30 sec interval was pretty good.
-- There seemed like a little confusion about the photo and hit points. Charles Truett, good friend and avid gamer, gave me some great advice. What if there were no automatic awarding of points by the comp and instead the comp would only show who made the hit. Then the judge would award the points. This makes sense since, there needs to be more clarity with who hits. A lot of people would ask who made the hit when a hit was made. Also, the all the points responsibility goes to the judge. It makes it clearer that way what is happening. In this case the point system would go something like it does above, but he judge would be the only one awarding the total points. So, a sort of control board -- something easy to use -- would have to be created with the following buttons: START, RESET, 1pt, 2pt, 3pt, END.

Posted by kaho at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2005

Prithvi's Mantis Technique

Prithvi told me that his technique where he keeps his hands up while his head is away from the opponent is called the Mantis Technique.

Posted by kaho at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)

playtest1 video notes

NOTES FROM PLAYTEST1:
Video time 43:48 minutes
Sunday Feb 26, 2005 4pm

- starting back to back, or back to back with distance
- very, very physical, need to catch breath
- kept stepping out of boundary often
- not enough time to see boundary or be aware of it
- boundary good emough as "method of maintaining space"
- wrestling example for boundary peanlty
- the button is too far back?
- jumping is a method of attack
- penalty for boundary: restarting with one person on knee, the other standing
- target is visual
- need mats for more different moves, beyond blocking and slapping
- small amounts of time for each round -- 20 secs? aggressive for short periods of time. too exhausting.
- more time, then more creativity and strategies for moves?
- more exhausting than one would think, very tiring.
- what if no one scores and just runs around for 30 seconds?
- which is more exciting for spectators?
- strap on hat needs to be moved forward so it doesn't dig into neck
- the players feel as if the match time is a LOT longer than it really is
- back movement, can throw out your back
- putting button on a slant forward might make it easier to hit, less difference between people with different heights
- multiple buttons?
- cameras not being able to take photos due to movement, angle when hitting
- hitters purposefully taking good pictures, emergent behavior
- circle keeps you moving all the time
- not taking more than one step out of circle
- not being able to score when out of boundaries
- time limit 30 secs is good, enough time to score
- don't want it longer than that, player would be timid
- after you score it's important to rest
- boxing structure, but with 30 sec rounds -- maybe 6 rounds?
- what happens if no one scores within those 6 rounds? tie-breaker probelm
- tie breaker, like PK in soccer
- possble limitations during tie-breaker: arms tied together, can only pivot on one foot, start with locked arms
- other tie-breaker ideas: sit down back to back, arms tied
- time limit in rounds, forced to get points esp when behind
- tie breaker idea: capture the best photo by hitting your own button
- like the idea of using the camera in a different way for tie breaker
- tactic: make other person lunge and then hit them as they are lunging
- floor is too hard to use other methods, besides wax on wax off
- if you want more tactics and phsycial activity use mats and socks
- try different types of people for play testing: tall vs short, tall vs. tall
- people look really goofy, opponent looks funny

Posted by kaho at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2005

playtesting clips

fight 1
55 seconds
playing until hit is made

fight 2
21 seconds
playing until hit is made

fight 3
44 seconds
playing until hit is made

fight 4
13 seconds
playing for 30 second interval

Posted by kaho at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2005

playtesting notes

Just finished my first play test session. Jenks and Prithvi, helped me out! We were able to explore many issues.

BOUNDARIES: I set up a 8ft diameter circle on the floor of the classroom. They both liked the circular shape, as it encouraged them to move around yet stay contained in the space. The problem that arose from this is: what happens when someone steps out of the circle? Is it enough of a loose boundary so that players stick in the vicinity or does there have to be clear penalties given when a player steps out of the circle (like in wrestling, when a wrestler goes out of bounds, they restart with the player in a compromising position)?

The game is so fast, that it is difficult to stay aware of the boundaries. Jenks and Prithvi were stepping out of the circle often. However, it seemed that the boundary did it's trick -- no one strayed far from it.

HARDWARE: Prithvi's chin strap dug into his chin so he didn't put it on snug enough. That means, the strap part should be brought forward.

Jenks suggested that the camera stays in the same place, but the button should be slanted forward. Apparently it is a strain to bend backwards and also, with the button slanted forward it would take less time for a hit to be made.

SCORING/TIME: Play testing revealed that the game is phsycially exhausting! So the initial ideas about time and scoring sort of went out the window. Instead the structure of Boxing could be a good inspiration. The conclusion was to have about 4-6 rounds of 30 seconds with breaks in the middle.

The final fight that was play tested was significantly shorter than the others, as there was a 30 second time limit. With the time limit players feel more pressure to score asap and be more aggressive. It's probably more exciting to watch like this.

If we go with the Boxing-inspired structure then how would a draw or a tie be resolved? Jenks suggested something like a PK match in soccer. Such ideas were thrown around like taking the best photo, playing while sitting down, playing with arms tied together (West Side Story). I think it should be further explored especially when we start thinking about tournament structures.

RULES: The rules that I extracted from Sumo were the ones I presented to them before they started playing. It was hard to tell how far people in general would take it. I mean, since they are friends, surely they didn't want to hurt each other or get hurt.

They didn't especially get creative about their strategy. It was mostly, blocking and hitting with hands, some jumping and a lot of fancy footwork. I thought they would try to sweep with the legs or something but there was none of that. When I asked them why, they told me that would be more suitable if they were wearing just socks and there were mats. I don't like the ideas of mats though...

So I am still not sure how effective those rules are and therefore what the suitable penalty should be.

Posted by kaho at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)