03｜5-in-5: Day1

The second project in Major Studio is "5 prototypes for 5 projects in 5 days." After a quick brainstorming session, I decided to use this opportunity to further explore human behavior and perception and test these ideas through prototyping.

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Motivation

A year ago, while working on an immersive interactive theater project, I encountered a challenge when designing game mechanics. To align with the storytelling, I designed a system where players could draw shapes by walking, which would generate virtual animals. However, during actual playtesting, I discovered that without verbal instructions, players couldn’t intuitively understand the tasks given by the game. (Just like the ISFS project)

Surprisingly, another part of the project, where players only needed to step on specific points to trigger animations and sound effects of creatures, received much more positive feedback, especially from children.

This experience made me start thinking: What exactly motivates players to want to play? And how can we strike a balance in the complexity of game mechanics to find that "sweet spot"?

Day 01 - Scavenger Hunt

Question

How can game mechanics stimulate human motivation? (Player experience)

Idea

‍The scavenger hunt idea actually stemmed from a test I did during the laser lab orientation. While testing, I noticed that the cut-through slices from laser cutting perfectly matched the engraving patterns. This gave me the idea that this could be a great method for creating a scavenger hunt.

Making Process

:: Laser Cutting

:: Hiding Ghosts in D12‍

Prototyping & Observation Analysis

‍The effectiveness of the D12 scavenger hunt exceeded my expectations. It took about a day and a half from setting up the game to completing the collection of the "ghosts." During this process, I received a lot of positive feedback and observed several interesting phenomena:

• Someone mentioned that, as a person with ADHD, they enjoy incorporating games into their daily life, and this interactive game made them want to play every day.
• Someone tried to hide the obvious ghosts in higher and harder-to-reach places.
• Someone attempted to steal the ghosts.
• Someone tried to re-hide the already collected ghosts.
• Some asked if there would be any rewards after everyone completed the collection task.

Through observing the participants' interactions, I found that most people were able to understand the game's objectives and mechanics through text or corresponding symbols, shapes, and context. However, on the level of gameplay behavior, I found it even more intriguing. Some tried to complete the game's goals as quickly as possible, while others found enjoyment in creating obstacles within the game.

What’s Next?