Find Nature【Midterm】

01. Project Inspirations

1.1 Context：

Nature Conservation Through Play: In a world where environmental awareness is increasingly essential, we wanted to raise awareness of the beauty and diversity of natural ecosystems through interactive engagement. Our whack-a-mole game encourages players to interact with nature-inspired settings, featuring animals commonly associated with specific environments. By presenting these animals in a playful format, we aim to create an experience that’s both entertaining and a gentle reminder of the importance of conservation.

1.2 Inspiration：

Inspired by the goal of environmental protection, we selected three nature-themed settings for the game, each featuring a unique animal emblematic of its habitat: owls for forests, frogs for wetlands, and sheep for grasslands. These animals serve as both playful characters and symbols of their ecosystems, inviting players to connect with nature and, hopefully, fostering a sense of responsibility toward preserving it.

02. Project Construction

This interactive project is built in a triangular prism shape. Each side is representing a different area. （Ocean, Land, and Sky)

There's a little hand and a corresponding animal on each side, the animal bombs up randomly, and whenever people touch the hand, 

03. Building Process

We started making this project with the idea of a music box that makes different sounds, however, we came up with the idea that we want it to be related to nature. So we changed the plan to making an interactive toy that booms up when the user touches the hand, the animal jumps up.

We started with building the prototype, cutting the cardboard, and building the initial structure of the project. 

1. The Box

The box was pretty simple to build, the only tricky part was making sure that the size was big enough to contain the electronics inside of it. Also, since it’s a triangular prism, it’s important for us to connect the different sides. We used the cotton line for decoration because we think it looks neat and cute when we do so.

2. The jumping-up animal

I painted the animals, printed them out, and stuck them on the wooden sticks which are connected to the server 

3. A tree spinning in the middle

We built a tree out of cardboard and stuck it on the top of a stepper motor because we wanted to make it spin in the middle of the box to make it more like a forest. On the top of the tree, we used cotton and sprayed green color on it.

05. Lessons Learned and Takeaway

5.1 Lesson Learned

Throughout this project, we gained valuable experience in designing an item that facilitates interaction between users. However, we identified several areas for improvement. One key insight was the importance of considering user expectations more deeply to make the experience more engaging from their perspective.

When adapting our project from a simple "bump-up" interaction to a "Whack-a-Mole" style game, we used generative AI to help with coding. While AI provided nearly perfect code snippets, we encountered unexpected errors that were difficult to troubleshoot. This highlighted both the benefits and limitations of AI-assisted coding, especially when handling complex, adaptive interactions.

5.2 Some Changes I Might Make

After reflecting on feedback from professors and classmates, we identified a few changes that could enhance our project:

• Adjusting the Shape: Our current design has three interactive sides, which makes it challenging for users to engage with all areas effectively. We would consider reshaping the structure to allow for easier access and interaction.

• Increasing Interactivity: Adding more modes, such as a competitive option, could enhance user engagement and make the experience more dynamic and fun.