Design
SpinXSW fuses elements of gaming, dance, electronics, light, and sound. As such, the project is an ambitious blend of domain expertise in interaction design, technical design (electronics, lighting, sound) and physical sculpture.
While the gestures we will support and the game mechanics are still evolving, some of the gestures we plan to support include spinning (spinning your body on its axis), shaking (shaking your wrists), waving (waving your arms), and revving (rotation of the wrists). These gestures have been chosen to allow players to dance naturally while playing the game, and use the gestures to supplement their experience of actual dancing as they interact with the sculpture.
The game mechanics use traditional features (achievements and leaderboards) in a novel context, prompting other players into both competitive actions (such as "eating" pink berries on the board) and collaborative actions (moving in unison). As such, the game becomes a mechanism for natural interactions that help people meet each other, and have fun together.
Interaction Design
The core concept of SpinXSW is connection to multiple other players through movement. Different "dance like" gestures become inputs into a large multi-player dance game, using mobile phones as the input mechanism. These movements are then translated into points of light, these points of light being visualized on a large illuminated sphere, which serves both as the "game board" and an illuminated art spectacle in its own right.While the gestures we will support and the game mechanics are still evolving, some of the gestures we plan to support include spinning (spinning your body on its axis), shaking (shaking your wrists), waving (waving your arms), and revving (rotation of the wrists). These gestures have been chosen to allow players to dance naturally while playing the game, and use the gestures to supplement their experience of actual dancing as they interact with the sculpture.
The game mechanics use traditional features (achievements and leaderboards) in a novel context, prompting other players into both competitive actions (such as "eating" pink berries on the board) and collaborative actions (moving in unison). As such, the game becomes a mechanism for natural interactions that help people meet each other, and have fun together.
Execution
| Support | Steel central columns, with steel radial hoops to hold lighting |
| Lights | Full-color LED strips, diffused by outer tubing. |
| Power | 110V, provied by the host venue. |
| Lighting Engine | Pixelpusher light driver, by Heroic Robotics |
| Lighting Back End | Node.js server, communicating with client apps, and light engine |
| User Interface | Website client app, driven by Javascript, communication by WebSockets |
| Network | Locally generated WIFI network, bridged to internet by 4g hotspot |