The Problem
An ubiquitous problem persists through people’s every day life is that people sit too much. Sedentary lifestyle, especially prolonged sitting reduces hip mobility and poses other possible health hazards, such as poor circulation in legs and damaged organs. The hip by nature is designed for activity and generate a ton of power.
The Solution
In response to the problem of prolonged sitting, Shake Shake Revolution is a booty-shaking dance game designed to raise people's awareness of how much power their hips are able to generate, and help them improve hip mobility. Beyond a mere physical exercise project, Shake Shake Revolution is also intended for a humorous and fun user experiences.
The Concept
Shake Shake Revolution has two components, a wearable belt as the wireless game controller and the game. The wearable belt detects player’ booty-shaking movement and subsequently feeds real time motion data into the game. The game calculates the amount of calories burned from booty-shaking movement, and the only way to level up through the game is to keep shaking it off. For the final deliverable, the game will be designed as a web browser and mobile application game.
Scenario: Shake Shake Revolution targets at all demographics. It is intended to get people out of their chairs and stay away from prolonged sittings for the time being. The players simply need to put the belt on, starting the game in web browser on their computers or TVs, or in mobile application on their tablets or smart phones. Because the game is compatible with multiple media platforms, it can be played anywhere, anytime.
Inspirations: One of the major inspirations for this project came from HeadBangHero, a fun and humorous music/dance video game for improving head banging prowess, targeting at heavy mental music fans. There are two components to HeadBangHero, a wig as the wireless game controller, and the game itself. The game awards a player points if he or she bangs his or her head to the beats of the music. It is an ingenious design to utilize a wig as the wireless game controller in this heavy metal music/dance game, for the wig adds so much more fun to the head banging movement. HeadBangHero provides Shake Shake Revolution inspirations of how to incorporate fun wearables into game to create a humorous and entertaining experience.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Project Label Physical Computing, Game Design.
Timeline 2015
Role & Responsibilities
Eliana Feng — Game Design
Eliana — Physical Computing, 3D Printing
Design process
(1). Write up a rough concept plot for the overall project: what is the purpose of this project? what is the story behind this project? (2). Start with game mechanics and interface design. (3).Prepare a list of hardware materials and software programs needed. write up a flow chart of how all the components work together. (4). Test run hardware components and reiterate. (5). Modify game mechanism and interface design based on the feedbacks from hardware test runs and reiterations. (6). Continue to work on hardware and software components simultaneously and reiterate based on feedbacks from each other.
First Prototype
The first working prototype focuses on lateral pelvis tilt, or hip movement from side to side. The first working prototype involves single player. The first working prototype game interface was built with Processing in Java language, but for the final deliverable, it should work in both web browser and mobile applications.
For the purpose of first working prototype, there are 5 levels in the game. When the player hits a certain amount of calories through booty-shaking movement, he or she will be leveled up to the next round. The word "Shake" in the middle provides player with visual cues of the rhythm by changing in size based on the beats; however, player can also choose to dance freely to his or her own beats.
Future Iterations
For the next step, Shake Shake Revolution game interface will be integrated into web browser and mobile application. The game itself will be further polished. One of the ideas is that the game could be a multi-players game that involves booty-shaking dance battle. The wearable belt needs to be further reiterated from an aesthetic perspective. For more information on the first working prototype, please visit the research paper here.